Two bags – two kids

I have quickly learnt that sibling rivalry starts young. At lunch the other day, I put some sauce on Lulu’s (2) plate, and without a second’s hesitation, she turned to her older brother saying “Na na na na” (Aussie version of Nanny nanny boo boo) complete with raspberry. Fortunately he was too distracted to notice her cheeky taunting, as I struggled not to laugh. Awesome parenting right there.

So when I decided to make a library bag for Mr J, of course I had to make one for Miss Lulu too. I decided to use up some of my paper pieced test patterns and am quite pleased with how they turned out.

I give you – two happy totes for two happy kids.



These little tote bags are super simple to make, even being fully lined. And I made them large enough to fit bigger hardback books for our next trip to the library.



Look how beautifully this bag matches my fence. I totally planned that.



Now I’ll pause to tell you about a little mishap with this bag. Or better yet, I’ll show you. Just to keep it real and show that things do not always run smoothly when sewing even the simplest of bags.



Oh yeah there were some choice words said when I realised that my awesome rotary cutting skills are not so awesome. Like really, how hard is it to check underneath your fabric to make sure that a paper pieced block isn’t underneath it before you zip the rotary cutter through? Apparently harder than I thought. Thank goodness I didn’t do serious damage, like decapitate the bird or chop its tail feathers off. This bit was fixable.

So I continued on my merry making way, and finished the bags to the childrens’ satisfaction. I even added cute lining to suit the theme of the bags.



Traffic for the fire truck bag. I’ve had this fabric for ages (I think it’s Alexander Henry – not sure though as I chopped off the selvedge for Jane’s collection) but it suited perfectly.



And while this doesn’t match in colour, it made Little Miss’s day. She loves owls so this fabric was perfect for her, if not quite perfect for the bag.

So those are my happy totes and these are my happy kids. (Excuse the pjs).



That’s my Friday Finish for the week which I’m linking up with TGIFF. It’s over at Missy Mac Creations, and it’s only because I love Erin (we have a mutual girl crush) that I pushed through the chopped off birdie block and made sure I had these bags ready to go for the linky party!



And last thing – seeing as this was a little project using up paper pieced blocks, let me remind you that you can find more ideas on how to use up paper pieced blocks through the Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop! It’s on now! Today sees Diane from From Blank Pages and tomorrow is Lara from Luellabella. See here for the full schedule of where and when, then pop over here for a giveaway.



Enjoy your weekend!