Erin's Owl Lunch Bag

I made Erin this lunch bag a few weeks ago and threw it in a package I was sending to her as a surprise.  So, although I took photos of it, I held off on posting them until she opened the package.  Then, I totally forgot I had taken the photos until yesterday.  Sheesh.  I'm lucky I remember to do anything anymore.

Anyway, this was the second lunch bag I have made using Ayumi's awesome tutorial (the first was Corey's Spartan Lunch Bag for his birthday).  The brown parts are duck cloth left over from Larry's 5-Gallon Bucket Organizer and the rest of the fabric are cute fat quarters I picked up at Jo-Ann's.  The cording is more of my favorite parachute cord, and I used felt for batting.  The original tutorial doesn't call for batting, but it also calls for the bag to be made from canvas instead of quilting cotton.  I also figured the felt would give it a bit of insulation.  I just scored a remnant of Insul-Brite a few days ago, so I'm going to have to try to make a lunch bag for myself with that at some point.  Maybe I'll even use the oil cloth scraps I have.  Ooh -- If I didn't have two school Halloween parties to attend today, I would totally be sewing that.

Here is the view from the top.  Yet again, this is one of those projects that turned out so cute that I hated to give it away!  Guess that means I need to make me one.

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Linking up to: ChrisW Designs

Noel's owl purse

I made this owl purse for our little three-year-old neighbor girl, Noel, based on my interpretation of this pattern.  It turned out a little wavy, but I think that's mostly because I was using Lily Sugar 'n' Cream cotton yarn, which has no "give" at all.  The original pattern made a cute little owl purse that was way smaller than I had pictured, so that's why I decided to wing it for Noel's purse.

Sugar 'n' Cream is so nice-looking and pretty that I have been trying to use it in various projects, but I'm always in pain while crocheting (since the yarn doesn't stretch, it seems to take a lot more effort on my part) and I'm never 100% happy with the resulting project.  Oh well....

I bought the clasp at Joann Fabrics and had a fun time attaching it to the crocheted "fabric".  It's pretty easy, actually!  Just a wee bit slow-going....