Some New Finishes

This past week, the winter cold germs finally caught up with us.  Little Bear and I had low fevers and sniffles most of last week so there was a disproportionate amount of snuggling, Curious George watching, and Popsicle eating going on around here.  As a result my sewing machine was quieter than normal, but I still managed to pull together this lovely tote bag to carry my sewing machine in: 

In a few short weeks, I will be one of the few lucky ladies who gets a chance to attend and be a part of Pink Castle Fabric's Spring 2014 Camp Stichalot!  I can't wait to have a chance to learn from some amazing sewers, and to have uninterrupted sewing time!  Plus, it counts as my mini vacation before we have two little ones running around.  
I combined this tutorial from Amy Kathryn with this tutorial from Pattern Pile, plus inspiration from this bag by In Color Order and custom measurements so the bag would perfectly fit my sewing machine.  I used heavy interfacing to give it some solid structure and I sewed the straps all the way to the bottom seam so there would be no chance of them ripping off.  I also added two outside pockets (between the handles on each side) and a zipper pocket and pencil patch pocket on the inside to hold my sewing accessories I might want to take along with my sewing machine.  I couldn't help myself with the fabric choices - it just seemed appropriate to use scissors and measuring tape prints to make a sewing machine bag. 

This tote bag was a bit of a beast to sew together because I used such heavy interfacing, but overall, I'm very please with how it turned out.  It probably wouldn't have taken that long to put together on a normal week, but with us being sick, I only worked on it for a few minutes at a time.  But I managed to finished it before week's end.  Now I can't wait to actually use it!
Yesterday (Sunday), I more than made up for my lack of sewing productivity of the previous week.  It helped that I was feeling much better and my dear husband was around to help out with Little Bear.  I managed to whip together a special gift for my mom's birthday coming up this Saturday which I will share in a post next week.   I don't want to ruin the surprise for her. 
I also made two more sleeper sacks yesterday.  My husband laughs at me because I have been timing myself on how long it takes to make one of these since I have made so many of them recently, but it's good stuff to know, right?  Anyways, I'm averaging 46 minutes per sleep sack from the time I lay it on the counter to cut the pattern out, to the time I pull it off my sewing machine completely done.  I call that pretty fast work....even if that is in theory because in reality, I don't get 46 minutes of uninterrupted time...it's more like 4-5 chunks of 5-15 minute intervals!  These two sleep sacks are being packed up today and sent out to California for a possible amazing opportunity for my Etsy shop.  *Fingers Crossed!!*  I'll keep you all posted on if anything actually happens from this.  And if nothing happens, I'm still in love with these two - I think these two prints are my favorite prints I've used thus far in making these sleep sacks.  Don't they just make you wish to snuggle with a little one in one of these?

And one last finish for the weekend:

I finished up this cute set of plush blocks using some left over fleece I had from another sleep sack I made a few weeks ago.  I love the African Safari animals that are in this print and I can't wait to get them listed in my Etsy shop probably later this week. 
Now, I'm off to brave the never ending falling snow to mail a few packages, then I'll try to decide which project from my never ending pile to work on for this week - should I sew for our coming baby or for my upcoming nephew(s), or work on a few quilts for my Etsy shop, or work on the two felt quiet books I have all cute out, or work on the queen sized Irish Chain quilt I started a while ago?  mmmm.... Or I could end up doing something completely different!  Who know.  Either way, I promise to fill you all in on whatever I end up working on and hopefully finishing this week! :) 
Only 25 more days until Spring!