A sewing blitz

Oh I wish this was a post about what I've been making this week (which is perilously little, being this close to Christmas and still planning to make everyones' gifts).

 

But no, it's a post about the things I made last month. Or even earlier. Okay, let's be frank: it's a post about the things I've sewn in the last couple of months that I've been nagging and nagging my lovely husband to photograph for me and he's finally done it. So with that pithy beginning, let's get stuck in...

I've made some more bag tidies. The larger ones hold your regular-sized supermarket plastic bags. The smaller holders are for those little bags you accumulate from the fruit & veg aisles. And in both cases, you just feed your bags in from the top and pull them out when needed from below. The beige, Japanese-style print set above were a commission from the lovely mother of a lovely friend (good genes, those two). The brighter print below is a set for me. There, I finally made something for myself.

And seeing as I was on a roll with the selfish sewing, I made a doorstop from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. It is lovely, but huge. I filled it with a kilo of split peas and they barely made it half-way up the bag. So the top's a bit roomy, ha-ha (I'm too cheap to go out and buy another giant pea bag). If I make another, I'll be halving the whole thing!

But I've saved the best for last. This bag is another Lotta pattern: her gardening tote. I think it's too good for soiling (quite literally), and luckily my mum (who received it for her birthday) agreed. It's fully lined and the fabric's John Lewis but I think they don't stock it any more. I love it. It makes me think of Japanese sunshades, with kimonoed ladies shuffling below. 

The bag is fully lined with the same fabrics, and fits nicely on my mum's shoulders for shopping trips. The picture above doesn't show it too well, but the pockets gape at the top and are pleated at the bottom. There should be a photo of the lining too, but after quite a wait for photos I'm not going to do any complaining!

I feel quite proud of myself. It's a nice feeling.

But now that pride's going to fade as I head upstairs to cut the fabric for 60 Christmas cards I'm making and can't let myself off the hook for. Do you do that too? I make plans and promises to myself and then, foolishly, I hold myself to it. Goodbye pretty bag. Hello late night!