Notebook cover!

As is obvious...I've been slacking again! Like I said in my very first post -- I'm awful at remembering to take pictures of my projects....and it turns out I'm even more awful at uploading them to the computer! Today's post is one I've been planning since January...but the poor pictures have been trapped in my phone's memory until just last night.

My mom's birthday was in January, and I was inspired last summer to make her something. I had a fat quarter of fabric that I was going to use just a square of for a quilt (that post will come when I actually make the quilt that I've had pieces cut for for about 9 months :) ) and she caught a glimpse and said she loved the print. Mental note at that point -- make something for mom out of the rest of the fat quarter. Pause for something you should know about me...I'm a list-maker. I have to-do lists, grocery lists, sewing project lists, crochet project lists, lists of finished projects to post about and who knows what else! I also have to write everything down or I forget it. I believe I learned my list-making from my mom...who is the same way. She carries around a steno notepad in her purse, and usually has coupons, magazine articles or other papers that are important to keep. So, I had the brilliant idea to use that fabric and make her a cover for her steno pad that had a pocket for her to tuck her coupons and such. It just slips onto the cover of the notebook, so when the paper is all used up, Mom can move the cover to a new steno pad.

the cover on the notebook

the back pocket

flap to secure on the front

The cover was pretty easy to make, although I did hit a couple bumps in the process. I folded and sewed the white fabric so the raw edges were encased and no "wrong side" showed. The problem with that was I didn't quite have enough width to allow for seam allowances. The back pocket helped make up for that, and I crafted that with elastic to hold it tight to the notebook but still allow room to put things in it. The bottom seam of the pocket features a pleat, again to allow room for expansion. The front flap is where seam allowances became a slight problem...and I wound up just sewing really close to the folded edge. If (when) I make another of these, I will definitely allow more fabric so that I can make that look neater. All in all, though, I'm pretty proud of throwing this together and look forward to improving my "pattern" :)

Up for my next entry....one of my "top secret" projects is finished and has been given...so I can tell  you all about it!!

this and that

It's been a week already without another post?! Time flies, I guess. Last week, the kids and I got to spend some quality time with Mom for a couple days so I was away from both my sewing machine and my computer. It was a welcome break and we had a good time!  I have been busy with a few crafts, 2 of which are top secret :) I know I haven't posted much about my crocheting so far...and that's because one of my projects (I often have several going at once) is big, so I have a long way to go yet on it, and it's a gift so I can't very well publish about it online! I do have a couple smaller projects going so hopefully I can post about those soon.
As for sewing, I finished one project over the weekend -- a wetbag. I use cloth diapers part time, and even when not using cloth diapers, the wetbag will come in handy to hold wet or dirty clothes, or anything else that I don't want "contaminating" the rest of my diaper bag contents. It was my first experience with a zipper and it went ok. The stitching isn't pretty, but the bag is functional. Unfortunately...I don't have any pictures to post of it yet. And my other top secret project is on my sewing machine right now. I've been working hard on it...but no reveals until the gift is given!
So those are the other reasons for the break in posting, but I do still have a couple posts prepared from before I even set up the blog so hopefully I can get those up while I work on my top secret projects :)