Lots and Lots and Lots....Part 2

As you can see from the title, this is a part 2. Be sure to scroll down to read all about part 1. Part 1 is recipes. Part 2 is projects!

I have been busy making stuff! A while back, I had found a yard of the perfect fabric for my mom. She is obsessed with bikes and my fabric had vintage bikes all over it. I wasn't sure what to do with it for the longest time but I finally settled on a hanging toiletry bag. She loved it of course but I will mention, this was not easy to make. First of all, make sure you have a machine that can handle vinyl. I started this project on my mother-in-law's Bernina machine and that couldn't handle it. I ended up using my old, really heavy sewing machine (remember my Goodwill one?). That thing can handle ANYTHING but obviously most people don't have a 75 year old (seriously) machine  laying around. I suppose you could hand stitch if necessary. Here  is the tutorial. A few things got a little confusing for me but it still turned out okay! (Although I will admit, I am awful with binding.) I apologize for the bad, shadowy pictures but I was in a hurry.

This is the bag all rolled up and velcroed.

This is the inside of the bag. The colored strips are the zippers. There are 4 of them (it's kind of hard to see the top one since the gold blends in so well. I'm so lucky I can get zippers for 10 cents at our flea market!)

This is the back (the side you don't put stuff in).

 I have considered making myself one but like I said, it was really a lot of work and patience. It also didn't turn out perfect, especially because the bikes are a directional print and when I was assembling this, I wasn't sure which way everything was supposed to face (so if you notice in the second picture, the last pocket of bikes is upside down).

Next, I made a chinese waves pouch. The original pattern makes a really small bag so I made it bigger. I casted on 45 stitches and went until I ran out of yarn, sort of. I had used a sugar 'n cream yarn with stripes (notice that the stripes are different than the color variations). This was a VERY simple pattern to follow until the end. I had learned how to crochet in girl scouts but since then, I have completely forgotten how to do it. I assumed I could just make the i cord and add buttons (I needed more than one button since I made my pouch wider). Little did I know, the i cord is easiest when your yarn is still attached to your project. I was able to whip stitch the sides (although I do admit what the pattern calls for with the crocheting is much prettier) but still needed the closures. I finally had David make little twisted pieces to go around my hand-sewn on buttons. It works but next time, I'll come up with a new solution.

This is the perfect project for the amount of yardage that comes in a sugar 'n cream because you knit the pouch until you have one color stripe left in your ball of yarn. Then use that to finish it off with the crocheting and such. It's perfect! That makes these really cheap and the pattern owner even says you can sell them! I'm thinking of selling them at a craft fair next summer. It hardly took me any time at all to make (until my button closure dilemma)!

This is it closed. If you notice, it still doesn't quite work out with two buttons but I think it's the way I spaced them.

This is the pouch open. Please ignore my baby monitor. 

Lastly, I made a swim cover up for our upcoming beach vacation! We are going to a Club Med in the Dominican Republic (treated by David's grandparents. About 30 people are going in all!). I do not have a picture of this yet since I am technically still in the middle of it (and we leave this week! eek!!) but it's actually a very quick project. I was just having a hard time having a baby free minute that I could wrap this up ( no pun intended). This is the tutorial. It actually does not use any machine sewing or hemming, making this super easy! I did mess up a couple times but it was okay because I had two yards of fabric and ended up only needing about a yard and a half. The butt is still a little saggy but that is okay with me. It's very comfy and I can't wait to try it out at the beach! I suggest reading some of the comments below her tutorial if you are confused, especially when cutting the tank top holes. I was glad I had the extra fabric though because she asks for fabric scraps a couple times (for the straps and for wrapping around the straps) and without that extra half yard, I hardly had anything. Cotton scraps do not work for the braiding of the straps. I tried and it was a mess. Definitely use jersey scraps if you have them!

That is the end of all my updates! I hope that didn't get too crazy. So I'm getting ready for vacation now so obviously I won't blog for a while (at least a week and a half) but I hope these two posts (part one and two) will tide you over until you hear from me again!