Badly cut bag

About a year ago I Freegled some material. It turned out to have a lot of those squares of material you see in upholsterers sample books. I cut out a lot: 10 x 4.5" squares and 32 x 4" squares.

The smaller squares will form the body and the larger ones the sides!

I will also need to make an outside pocket, handles and an inner bag.

All squares and the material that should form the inner bag (pale purple on the right). There is also a pre-cut strip of the same material that should make the handles.

The sides

The main body


So... to the machine!! Lets just hope I can remember how this is supposed to go! I have a nasty suspicion that I wasn't very accurate when cutting and I absolutely know my maths is awful, so it may not end up quite the size I anticipated! But it should be fun and I can make adjustments as I go - hopefully!

Some time later... (I can't believe it was 3 whole hours)

You can see that I wasn't very accurate with the cutting or the sewing for that matter!

I needle felted my initial to part of an old table mat that was then sewn on as a pocket.

Now I am having a rest... I need to work out how to sew the sides in. I think I should round off the bottom edge of the bottom square so I can pin it in more neatly! But that is going to have to wait! I need to stop and think, that and a glass of wine is calling.....

Of crochet, basting cotton and a magazine

I can't help it. I just can't settle on one thing to do, so I am trying out everything - and finishing nothing!!

Ages ago I bought myself the Chicks with Sticks knitting book (yes I shall review it soon). Oddly a younger colleague gave me their crochet book 2 days later. Her mum had been sent 2 copies in error by Amazon and she thought I'd like the spare one - I do!

Well, I found a crochet hook and some wool (don't ask, my stash is over 20 years old and not all of it started life as mine) and gave it a go!

I'm not sure I am cut out for it really! That loop thing you start with had me flummoxed for at least 5 minutes. I finally got my left hand to stop moving and my right hand to stop grabbing the wool and then....

... well I did the first chain and then went back along the loops to add a row and then got stuck! How do you continue?? Huh?!?! Then I realised I had sort of knitted the loops onto the needle - you don't do that in crochet it seems! So I unravelled it and started again and and again and again and again! I stopped when my eyes felt full of grit and my left hand ached like a big achey thing.

I went out this morning and bought a slightly bigger hook, I might have more of a chance of seeing the loops now :D

I also finally got round to buying some basting cotton! It has been a good excuse for long enough. Now I should get on with tacking together some of the stuff I cut out ages ago! Then I can sew it all up. So you see - no basting cotton = no completed projects. Clever aren't I??

I shall take some photos of the project as I go so you can see just how out of practice I am!

I also found a copy of Sew Eco (mycraftstore.com), it's a special issue that has lots of beginners tips. I bought it, I don't know why! It has some simple clothes alteration tips that I won't use as I don't own any of the clothes they alter and some odd stuff on making bags out of jeans - which I have been doing forever! So why I bought it I have no idea! I shan't be doing it again!