Lisa's 22nd Birthday Gift

My younger sister Lisa had a birthday back in May. I made her this sweater sling purse using the tutorial from Make it and Love it. I found the sweater for the outer fabric of the purse at Walmart on the clearance rack. It only cost $1 and was a size 3X. I love the clearance rack! I only used about half the sweater for this purse and I already have pieces cut out for another one. The lining and fabric strip are from Michael Miller Pretty Bird Ground Cover in Aqua, which I already had in my fabric stash. The fabric strip was added to hide a seam where I attached more of the sweater after deciding the purse wasn't long enough. I think it adds a nice touch. I love when mistakes end up making something better. For the crocheted flower, I used the tutorial here at The Pumpkin Patch.

A Car Trash Bag for Joeyman

So, I don't know how many people know this, but I belong to a family of superheroes. All of us kids have a superhero costume made by my mom. Sorry, but I don't think I'll be modeling my costume for you anytime soon. Too embarrassing.

My brother Joey (aka Joeyman) isn't at all embarrassed to be seen in his costume and was the first superhero in the family. I think my mom made it for him for Halloween once and he's been Joeyman ever since. It was his 28th birthday last month and I wanted to give him something special. Well, what better gift than something with the Joeyman symbol appliqued onto it. I was looking at tutorials online and saw this one from Make It and Love It for a car trash bag. I thought it would make a good gift. I first tried to make a couple pleats in the front of the bag as described in the tutorial and applique the symbol over them, but that didn't work so well. The pleats were held in place by the symbol and were visible through it. So, I redid the front of the bag without the pleats and just made it the same size as the back. I also used fabric instead of ribbon for the strap.

Joeyman liked the gift. He did say he wasn't going to ruin it by actually using it as a trash bag, but I think I saw it hanging in his car. As long as he likes it, I'm happy.

Bow Tie Neck Pillow for Birthday Gift

It was my mother-in-law's birthday today. I wanted to make something for her and I found this tutorial for a bow tie neck pillow at sew4home and thought it would make a great gift. I used some fabric from the Pretty Bird line by Michael Miller found here. I think it turned out really cute. Instead of using ribbon straps suggested in the tutorial, I made some 1" double-fold bias tape from a coordinating fabric. The straps are supposed to help you reposition the pillow. The instructions said it should take less than an hour to make, but between chasing Boo around and my slow sewing skills, it took me more like two hours.

My husband also picked up a gift card for her. I wanted to dress it up so I made a cute gift card holder using the tutorial here from Make it and Love it.