October Overhauling: Projects Made!

First up.  WOOT!  This is my 100th post!

To celebrate, let's double dip like crazy folks.

This is a double dip for the Green Bag Flash Mob and Pikapotamus October Overhaul. 

Now technically this second week of the October Overhaul is supposed to be organizing.  I haven't gotten to that stage yet (there's still plenty of October left) but I have gotten to the next step which is making things from your current stash.

(OH, and I'm happy to report I've stuck with the "no buying" rule so far, even though I do have one exception to the rule, I haven't bought it yet.  I'm making myself wait until mid month just because that seems more fair).

OK, so what have I made from my stash stuff?

Yeah, that's a lot of stuff.

I think we need to get some closer looks.

This goody bag was for a co-worker.  Someone started an anonymous gifty thing (it's called Boo Boo Sinclair).  I got Boo Boo'd on Friday so over the weekend I had to whip up a gift for someone else and then leave it at their desk all sneaky like.  (mind you, I didn't need to MAKE a gift but I like making stuff so this was right up my alley)

I've had the bag pattern for a while (it's a freebie over at Happy Zombie get it HERE).  It's fat quarter friendly but not so much if you're dumb with measuring (which I am) or if your fat quarters are cut all wonky (which these ones were).  I used three fat quarters from the Guising collection (and didn't use it all, I have some decent scraps left).

The bag was really easy to make but I'll confess I didn't think about the lay of the print when I was making this bag.  If I had, I probably would have made the pumpkin fabric go up and down not side to side.  But I think it still looks cute.  If I can be so bold I'd also like to brag that my first go with this pattern was a great exprience and the finished product was damn good looking (and coming from my hyper critical self, that's huge).

The "Night of the Zombies" item is a simple cat toy.  I just cut the image out of the fabric then cut a matching square of purple corduroy for the back.  Sew and stuff with catnip laced stuffing.  I put a pinch of catnip into the center of each stuffing ball before cramming it in.  It reeked of catnip when I was done so I had to bag it in a ziploc so it wouldn't stink up the whole gift.  I don't know about my giftee's cat but my cats would tear up anything that even remotely smelled of Nip (and I even wrote a warning on the plastic bag).

The kitty coin purse if from a craft book I have (don't now remember the name--I think it's picutred in my clutter photos).  It was my first time sewing a zipper and it went well EXCEPT I trimmed the zipper at the wrong end.  DUH!  Live and learn.  Oh and the pattern I used wasn't for a kitty coin purse.  It was for other animals (bear, frog, etc) so I had to free hand the ears.  Ok, not that impressive but I felt like I should mention it (I'm braggy today).

When I dropped the bag off this morning, it was stuffed with candy (pop rocks, snickers pumpkins, mini m&ms, skittles, koala cookies, gummy boogers), stickers, pencils and erasers, and a grow-a-brain (along with the cat toy and coin purse).  I totally rocked this Boo Boo Sinclair thing!

This bag and cat toys are for a Halloween swap I'm in.  I've had the cat toys made for over a week now.  They're made the same way.  I clipped images from the fabric then used a different fabric on the back.  The Giant Insect one has purple corduroy (which was a remnant I picked up at Joanne's).  The Dracula is much more exciting on the back.

Hee hee!  It's a hearse with a coffin flying out the back.  I love that fabric so much.

All the cute Halloween fabrics used to this point were from my stash.  I got them months and months ago.  I had planned to make a Halloween wall hanging with some of it but I don't think that will happen now.  I have a lot of more important things to stitch up first.  The felt for the kitty coin purse was from my stash, too.  The bit I had left was just enough to make this one purse.  (I had to dip into my newer bit of felt to make the second coin purse not pictured--I managed to buy a few needed supplies right before October started).

I didn't put pockets on the witchy bag (this is the other side).  The print was just too freaking cute to cover it up with pockets.  The print also had me cutting fabric twice and searching out my seam ripper.  My first go at this bag, I cut the fabric wrong for the pattern.  Ok, no biggie.  It left me with some big scraps which (now that I think about it) could probably still make a nice (if not smallish) bag.  I re-cut the fabric (keeping in mind the pattern) then stitched up the bag body only to realize I hadn't considered the pattern when stitching.  Tear out the stitching and reposition the fabric so it will face the proper direction on the finished product.

LESSON LEARNED.

The finished product looks super cute and I'm glad I didn't put pockets on.  I'm also glad I chose a different lining and strap fabric for the second cut.  For the first cutting (which was wrong) I had the witchy fabic on the outside and the ghosts (from the Guising set) for the inside and the tiny skulls for the straps.  I think that may have been too busy.

All this fabric was from my stash, too.  The tiny skulls I've had for a long time and really wondered why on earth I bought it in the first place.  (sometimes I get nutty when I see remnants)  But it worked perfect for this and now I just have a few scraps left which is perfect.  Maybe some of it will make it onto my USA Scrap Map.

True confession, I bought the witchy fabric right before October so I would have it just for this project.  I wanted to make a cloth bag for my swap I just hadn't decided what style.  I was going to make a bigger bag (the messenger style one I made for myself a month or so ago) but I like this one much better now that it's done.  And if I hadn't cut the first one wrong, it would have taken half the amount of fabric as the bigger bag.

Not pictured is the other kitty coin purse I made last night right before bed.  It turned out really well.  I remember to trim the zipper on the correct end.  But I made the ears a little smaller so it looks a little silly.  But that works for the swap it's part of (it's a swap through Regretsy, so "goofy" is encouraged with those folks).

Now I just need to get to the organizing and cleaning up part of the October Overhauling and I'll be good to go.

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