I Finished Something!

(Tutorial for the bags can be found here.
Patterns for the appliques are below.)

Yay! I accomplished something other than just showering today. Not that I'm saying showering isn't a HUGE accomplishment for me most days, but it was nice to have something else to add to the list today.

1. Change a million diapers
2. Transform robots again and again
3. Get the mail (True, the mailbox is next to the front door, but it gives me such joy to retrieve it.)
4. Blog hop
5. Rush Liam to the potty frantically
6. Do yet another load of laundry (Where does it all come from? Mutant replication process?)
   
7. *Shower* (Sigh.)
   
8. Finish a project AND blog about it!

I started these bags on a whim just before Teagan was born. I finished Liam's just in time to send it off with him to Nanna's and rush to the hospital.

Did I mention he likes Transformers? Oh and the color red. All our red crayons are about an inch shorter than the other crayons. Do you think they'll develop a complex?

Making four was a simple as making one thanks to this fabulous tutorial (seriously the BEST tutorial I've ever used), so here are the other three for a friend's children:

(Outside Pocket)

(Inside pocket)

I pretty much followed the tutorial word for word, but added a couple of extra lines of stitches on the inside pocket to accommodate pencils. I also made the straps adjustable.

I used freezer paper stencils for the plane and transformer ones and the branch on the owl one. I used fusible web to applique the owl and guitar ones and then stitched around the edges using the buttonhole stitch on my machine. Here are the patterns I made for the owl and guitar ones:

(Click on the thumbnail pictures below to open up the pattern files. You will need Adobe Reader to see and print it. It's free, and you can download it here. )

The pupils and leaves on the owl one are buttons. The butterflies are folded ribbon.

The pegs on the guitar are buttons and the strings just straight stitching.