Jack and his sack

Jack had a great Christmas this year.

Here is a picture of him opening his Santa sack on Christmas morning.

I made the sack for him for his first Christmas last year and it seems that this year he has the hang of it. It is still floating around the lounge room at the moment because I want to make some alterations to the lining. When Jack spots it he goes and looks inside to see if there is anything else in there!

The panel on the front is from a pattern in Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine last year. It was my first attempt at button-hole applique by hand and I was hooked by the time I finished it. The rest of the bag is scrappy patchwork of Christmas fabrics around a few small Christmas panels. It took forever and I hated it from about half-way through until I had it finished. Now I love it but next time I'll use bigger strips. It took hours!

Here is Jack inside his sack last year.

Finished in time for Christmas!

Finished with plenty of time to spare!

This is a shopping tote I made as a Christmas gift. Well, it was originally intended as a birthday gift back in May but has been sitting in the UFO/WIP stash since mid-May. I really wanted to get it finished so made a bit of an effort and got stuck in.

Result - one very big tote bag, one very happy recipient (thankfully) and one less WIP on the to-do list (therefore room for at least four more projects....ha).

The bag is made from a panel and co-ordinating charm squares that I picked up a long time ago from may favourite ebay seller. The lining is green gingham recycled from a doona cover. There is a big pocket and a key clip on the inside and two hidden pockets on the back of the bag in among the squares. I based the design on one of our favourite green bags but it worked out slightly bigger but the recipient said it was just what she needed and started using it straight away!

Please excuse dodgy photos taken at the last minute before I wrapped it up - new years resolution is to learn a few photography skills...

PJ pants ticked off the list!

Wow - finally finished something!

These two pairs of pants are PJs for Jack. I started them about a month ago and got them mostly finished in a day but needed to finish off the waistbands and hem and create cuffs on the legs. The cuffs were because the pants were far too long (I made a size bigger than he really needed). I was a bit worried that the cuffs wouldn't work because they are a tapered leg but as you can see from the pics they turned out fine. Hopefully the extra length will mean he will get about a year out of them.

Jack likes the ducky ones best. I've had the fabric for about three months and every time he spotted it in the sewing room he would grab it and say "Duck Quack Quack" with the quacking hand actions. I took the photo of him in those ones first and when I changed him into the monster pants he grabbed the duck ones and tried to put them back on.

These were from Kwik Sew pattern 2918 and I think it is a great, simple pattern. I love the shape of the pants and they fit Jack's shape perfectly. The first time I used it I made these cargo pants from a light drill. I did the waist band differently because I had narrower elastic than the pattern specified, and played with the pocket position. I made these in July or August and they have been well worn and have stood up to constant washing and wearing very well.

I'm planning on making some t-shirt tops to go with the pants and will use the top pattern from the same package. I used it to make some long sleve tops for winter. He got a fair bit of wear out of these and once I got the hems figured out it they were quite simple. They were all they same size - just a really bad pic.