The Lady Beekeeper

Well it’s June, so I figure it’s high time I tell you how I the Easter Bunny made those slippers in Julius’ Easter basket.  In all honesty they aren’t my best work.  They are a bit uneven and wonky looking, but that doesn’t both Julius.  He is quite proud of his slippers.  In fact Julius is already outgrowing the slippers but he still likes to put them on and prance around the house.  Have I mentioned how making things for a toddler is really rewarding?

If I make these slippers again there are a lot of things I’ll do differently – mainly I’ll try to find a better way to attach the top to the bottom of the slipper because hand stitching is a pain.

Toddler Slippers

What you’ll need (size US 6 toddler slipper):

• fat quarter size of fleece for inside
• fat quarter size of “vegan suede”
• Pattern here

1. Cut out all pattern pieces as marked.  Note you will need to flip the pattern over to cut out pieces for the opposite shoe.
2. Assemble the shoe sides.  Place long strip of leather on top of long strip of fleece, right sides together.  Pin the top and stitch.
3. Open out and stitch the fold in half so leather ends meet and fleece ends meet.  Stitch down this side, following the edge (it will form a slight ‘v’) then trim.
4. Turn right side out and stitch 1/4″ from the top to form decorative stay-stitching.
5. Place sole of slipper on top of flannel sole, wrong sides together and stitch 1/4″ from the edges.
6. Pin sole of slipper to sides of slipper, right sides together.  Make sure the end with the seam is towards the heel of the shoe.  Stitch.
7. Place the leather for the top of shoe on top of the flannel.  Stitch around the toe end.
8. Turn right side out, fold under the open end and stay stitch close to all edges.
9. Place top of shoe onto the toe area of the slipper, so the flannel side is inside.  Hand stitch around the top of the slipper to attach it to the bottom of the slipper.  Leave a 1/2″ gap from the start and end of the top of the shoe, for ease of inserting one’s foot. 
10. Repeat steps 2-9 for second shoe. 

I finished the closet!  I’m finally ready to show you the closet in all it’s glory.  Stupidly I didn’t take pictures of the closet before I started redoing it, but here are a couple candid pictures to show you how bad it was beforehand.

Trying on dresses for Andrew and Lauren’s wedding. Yes that is a pile of boxes of dresses I ordered.  Note the uneven piles of clothing on the shelves in the background.

Behind the child with the ear thermometer you will notice some of my maxi dresses forced to puddle on the floor.

And here’s some photos to show you how it looked halfway through (if the top of the closet looks neater it’s because I had already started organizing it after installing the shelves).

How could I possibly stack clothes high enough to make that above rack space on the left efficient?

The entire wall on the left was devoted to robes.

What I hated about the old closet is first and foremost that those stupid wire shelves were so slippery that things would fall through the cracks.  Second – we didn’t have any space for folded clothes, that’s why we had mountains of seasonal folding clothes on top of the racks.  Which brings me to problem three – the closet was a HORRIBLE use of vertical space.  As an engineer I wanted to maximize my storage area, so stacking things 5 feet high was the only way to do that.  Five foot stacks though are impossible to retrieve items from and prone to falling over (so now we have an efficiency problem).  Going back to the vertical space problem, since every hanger was at the same height all the way around the closet, there wasn’t a single space for me to put a long dress (problem four).  I had to confiscate one of the other closets in the house to store my long dresses and gowns in, or else let them puddle on the floor.  Which brings me to problem five – that I had absolutely no where to put my shoes except under our clothing.

What I changed…  Mostly I added shelves, and adjusted the heights of the racks.  I concocted a weird scheme that worked out perfectly to maximize space and fit everything we had in our closet all ready and much more.  I originally planned to build everything myself, but eventually decided to go with an Elfa storage solution.  I designed the entire thing myself though instead of talking to the people at the container store.  A word of warning, the Elfa stuff is frustratingly complicated to design with.  There is lots of fine print on what you need to install a single shelf, and very little information on how much clearance you need built into everything.  I actually had to put in a second order to install one set of shelves because the shelves did not come with these tiny clear tabs that are required to mount them.  They cost me $8 to order all of the plastic tabs for all 8 of my shelves, and $13 for shipping.  I was furious since I’d already waited 10 weeks for my shelving order to come in (and seriously… talk about nickle-ing and dime-ing people).  The upside to Elfa?  I could do my crazy quirky customization with a little bit of math, even on a closet that has 4 different wall heights and widths.

Shelves for folding clothes from floor to ceiling.  I also migrated my robes (and scarves hiding underneath) from the adjacent wall, to this spot where an ironing board holder stood.

On the first wall I took out the main rack holding Will’s clothes on the first wall and we had built in shelves installed.  This allowed us no problem getting into the room, and increased our folding clothes storage dramatically.  I also moved the hangers that were taking up an entire wall in the old closet over in front of the shelves where an ironing board rack had been (which never had an iron or ironing board on it the entire time we’ve lived here).

More pictures of the folding clothes storage, and the high/low clothing rack.

The second wall I divided into two sections.  The first was a high/low section for Will’s clothing, which fit all the hanging clothes from the clothing rack we removed.  Next to that I placed a normal-height rack for additional clothing.  Above that section I added two rows of shelves to house my purses.  Doesn’t that just make your engineering brain happy?  It is a way better use of vertical space.

High/low rack plus purse storage.

In the back you can see my dress rack surrounded by hanging storage and shelving.

On the third wall, tucked behind my clothing rack, shoe racks and purses, I installed a small bar for tall hanging dresses.  This space was basically useless last time because it was where two rods intersected.  The rest of that wall I kept at the same height as last time.  I even left a single shoe rack under there.

My shoe wall in all it’s glory.

On the fourth wall (formerly where we hung almost-never-used robes) I put in a floor-to-ceiling shoe rack, which is really just narrow shelving spaced close together.

What do you think?  Does it look like a mad engineer’s project?  All I know is every time I walk into my new closet I smile.

We had a fun weekend, finally getting to spend some time outside as a family!  On Saturday we did a short hike and then had a picnic at a secluded spot on top of a rock outcropping.  Saturday we went to the tiny local airport near us and sat at a picnic table near the runway watching the planes during lunch.  We even got to see a little cessna land, right before we got up to go!  Julius declared afterwards, “I love airplanes”.

On top of all that, I hosted an online ladies’ night and got to see all my friends!  It was lots of fun and worked out pretty well. But I’ll talk about planning for that next week!  This week I’m going to give you the how-to for the craft I chose for ladies night.  These Morse code bracelets are super cute and also secretly super nerdy!  I’ve made several versions to wear together and I also made versions of these bracelets for mother’s day.  Fun fact – Ezra Cornell (Uncle Ezra) made his money in the telegraph industry and was friends with Samuel Morse.  The ECE department at Cornell (my alma mater) has the telegraph that received the first telegram.  They bring it out every year at the graduating senior ceremony and as an ECE graduate I got to touch it!  Super cool.

Here is the silly card I made for Mothers Day. I attached the bracelet to the card by poking two holes, and pulling part of the bracelet through each hole, and tying in the back of the card with string.

Morse Code Bracelet

What you’ll need:

• 1mm nylon cording cut into a 12″ and 18″ segment (I used this)
• 2 colors of glass beads in size 6/0 (I used these)
• A lighter

1. Choose a short word or phrase.
   

   This is an example of one I did – but note I screwed up in the translation, the bracelet is correct… “r” is .-.

2. Convert into morse code (use this if you don’t feel like thinking, this if you do.)
3. Convert morse code into beads… I used two dark color beads for a ‘-‘ and one gold bead for a ‘.’.  Note there is no differentiation between letters, so this bracelet will be tricky to decode… but you will know what it says!
4. String your beads onto the 18″ long cord, careful not to let them slip off.  If you have trouble stringing them, you can place one end of the cord near a flame to melt it and gently press it so it will not unravel when trying to thread your beads.
5. Fold 18″ cord with beads in half so beads are in half as well.  Where one end of the beads is, tie a knot.
6. Let beads press firmly against the knot and tie another knot as close as you can to the other end of the beads to prevent them from sliding around.  Use the pearl knotting technique to achieve the tightest fit.
7. Next, we are going to create a sliding knot using the 12″ cord.
8. I think this tutorial is the best.  Start by overlapping the ends of the 18″ cord.  Then form a small loop in the 12″ cord and place on top of the overlapped 18″ cord ends.
9. Take the long end of the looped 12″ cord and wrap it around the other 3 cords 5 times, keeping the loops consecutive.
10. Thread the long end of the looped cord back through your 5 wrappings.
11. Gently pull the long end of the looped 12″ cord and the short end of the looped cord until the coils tighten forming a knot.  You want the knot tight enough that there is tension on the cords to hold the bracelet in place.
12. Tie the bracelet cords together lightly to mark them so you don’t accidentally touch them. Finish off the ends of the 12″ sliding knot cord by pearl knotting very close to the end of each side of the knot.  Trim ends to 2 mm.
    

    Knots on end of sliding knot before trimming.

13. Use lighter to melt end of the pearl knots in step 12 so they don’t unravel.  Note you barely need to put the cord near the flame to melt it.
14. Untie the bracelet cords that you were setting aside.  Adjust the bracelet size to where it will fit easily on and off your wrist.  Make sure the knot and Morse code beading are both centered.
15. With the bracelet expanded to where it will fit on your wrist, tie a knot close to where one bracelet thread leaves the sliding knot.
16. Add an additional bead, and then tie a second knot as close as possible to the bead.  Trim to 2mm and melt the ends.
17. Repeat steps 15&16 for other end of bracelet cord.
18. Voila!

I have to cut myself off from the internet!  Instead of writing this blog post I spent an entire hour searching the internet for the latest coronavirus data.  Yuck.  Talk about a downer.  You know what else is a downer?  Working weekends.  More yuck*.  It seems like I’ve been in this crunch time at work my entire adult life (it literally started the day stay at home orders were put in place).  So I guess it’s been about 20-25 years or so.  My co-worker started referring to dates before the coronavirus as “2020BC” for “before coronavirus” since as we all know there is some time dilation going on here.  I thought that was hysterical.  I guess that would make us right now “2020CE” for “coronavirus era”.

I’m nostalgic for things to go back to normal, but I am jumping on the “I’m not leaving my house until we have a vaccine train”.  I don’t know if one of those trains exists yet, but if not, you can jump on mine – just make sure you wear a mask and stand 6 feet away from me.  Speaking of masks, I finally made some cloth ones.  Massachusetts is requiring mask wearing now, so I figured it was past time.  Only one for each of us so far since I’m still experimenting with designs.  Julius got to pick out his fabric.  For this first batch I decided to make the quicky surgeon-mask type covering.  I also added a pocket so I could insert some additional protection as desired.  (If you craft along with me – you’ll have some leftover oly-fun which is a non-woven synthetic and thus slightly better protection against viruses).  The maiden voyage went well apparently.  According to Will Julius wore his mask the entire walk today!

There are a lot of tutorials out there, so I’ll show you first how I measured Will and Julius for the covering, and then how to construct it. 

Multi-sized Pocket Mask

What you’ll need:

• 1 foot or less of 1/2″ or 1/4″ elastic (I reclaimed several feet of 1/2″ elastic from the fitted sheet I used to make Totoro)
• less than a square foot of woven cotton fabric

1. Measure from the bridge of the nose to the underside of the chin where it meets the neck.  Add 1″. This will be measurement “A”.
2. Measure from ear to ear, crossing over the tip of the nose (or the part of the nose that protrudes the most if not the tip).  This will be measurement “B”.
3. Cut two AxB rectangles out of cotton material.
4. Decide on the height of your mask.  This part I fudged a bit.  You’ll want it slightly larger than the size of your ear, but much smaller than measurement “A”.  About half the size of measurement “A” is a safe bet.  Call this measurement “C”.
5. Iron your fabric in half lengthwise to mark the center, then fold a single box pleat up to the center, leaving your fabric height “C” high.  Baste on either edge. 
6. Repeat above for second piece of fabric, but make a box pleat on the wrong side of the fabric (an inverted pleat).
7. Fold short end of one rectangle under 1/2″.  Stitch.  Repeat for second rectangle. 
8. Place fabric rectangles, right sides together, with finished ends matching. 
9. Stitch long edges of rectangle.
10. Cut two pieces of elastic.  This is when it would be good to determine how the mask fits on your face to this point.    I would start with elastics 5″ each
11. Place one piece of elastic inside the mask, on the unfinished end.  Line the elastic up to match the unfinished end of the elastic to the unfinished end of the rectangle, right next to the stitching on the long end of the rectangle.  Pin. 
12. Repeat for other end of the elastic, on opposite end of the same unfinished side.  Make sure your elastic isn’t twisted.  Pin and stitch entire unfinished side backstitching at elastic.
13. Turn right side out.  This part is easier.  Place unfinished end of elastic into opening on pocket end of mask, close to the the seam on the long end. Stitch, backstitching over entire end of elastic.  Repeat on far end of pocket, taking care to avoid twisting the elastic. 

Finished Mask!

He’s saying “cheese” under that bandana.

*I know, I know working weekends sucks, but I am lucky to have a job!

Hello dear friends!  I hope all you mother’s had a great mother’s day!  I definitely did!  On top of taking care of Julius and buying me some lovely presents, Will even made me dinner!  It was delightful.  Julius made me a card and a cute heart picture and gave me lots of hugs and kisses.

The little man had an exciting day as well, because he got to go to MooMoo Town (Davis Farmland) on a car safari to see MooMoo Town (Moo Moo the cow) and other farm animals.  They opened the road outside Davis Farmland for a member’s only event since the park has not yet opened and would have opened for over a month now…  Julius asks us weekly if MooMoo Town is opened yet and is sad (but very understanding) when we tell him they are closed because they can’t risk getting the animals sick.  So when we told him we were going to go on a safari to see the animals, Julius interpreted that as “checking on the animals”.  The first animal that we asked him about checking on?  “Crocodiles” was his reply.  (They do have alligators which are basically the same.)  First animal he mentioned when asked what he saw on the safari?  “Crocodiles”.  They did not have any crocodiles (or alligators) out for the safari.

Since we’re trying to avoid leaving our house, Julius and I made the moms in our family cards and gifts for Mother’s Day. I will show you the gifts in a later post, but today I’ll show you the cards that Julius made for everyone! 

Mother’s Day Card – Toddler Craft

What You’ll Need

• Reused tissue paper (don’t use new, you’re just going to crumple it anyway!  I’ve been saving it for use in kids crafts like this!)
• Construction paper in your choice of color
• Glue
• Glue Stick
• Cardstock
• Gold Sharpie Paint Marker

1. Rip tissue paper into squares roughly 1.5″x1.5″.  Julius enjoyed this part.
2. Fold Cardstock in half to form a card.
3. Cut a vase shape (mine looks more like a cauldron) out of the construction paper.
4. Have child apply glue stick to the back and then apply to card.
5. Have adult apply glue above the vase all over.
6. Have child take a square of tissue paper and crumple it into a ball.
   

   Julius is carefully crumpling

7. Apply crumpled “flower” to the glue.
   

   Julius applying flowers to card.

8. Repeat until desired bouquet is completed.  Let dry completely.
9. Have adult write “Happy Mother’s Day” on the vase/cauldron.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous!  We’ve been eating dinner on our screen porch the last two nights and loving it!  It feels like early summer – I don’t know whether to be worried or enjoy it so I’m doing both.

Instead of enjoying the outside as much as possible, I’ve been spending my spare time inside my closet, where I cannot possibly see the outside.  Right before the pandemic I started redesigning our closet, and after deciding I didn’t feel like building everything from scratch I finally caved and ordered a whole bunch of Elfa shelving from the Container Store.  I’ll talk about the closet design in a later post, but it’s been 5 weeks since I ordered and I’m still missing 1/4 of it so who knows when it will actually be finished.  It was poor planning to order shelving at the start of a pandemic.  On the bright side, I managed to get everything back in the closet except shoes and only have one wall left to go!

Julius has wanted to help with the closet.  Yesterday after his nap he refused to go hang out with Dada while I was using power tools.  He just wanted to sit in the closet and watch me work.  I explained to him the importance of wearing safety goggles and some other safety measures and then he asked to help me.  I let him put the end caps on the clothing rods we purchased, but before he did so he picked up a pair of safety goggles and put them on.  Smart man.  They were huge, so they kept falling off his face while he tried to put the end caps on.  One hand on the glasses, on hand on the end cap (though adorable) wasn’t particularly productive so I finally held them onto his face.  I’m proud he listened to how important eye protection is.

Speaking of protection, the other day I had to go get some bloodwork done so I wore my P99 workworking/painting mask (I haven’t gotten around to making any masks yet).  To make it look less ridiculous (this is the exact model I have) I wrapped one of my pashmina scarves around it to cover it up.  I figured it would make it look less weird. When I got into the office the receptionist took one look at my face and then asked if I wanted a mask.  I said that I was okay, and she said “are you sure?” and then gestured to my scarf laden face.  I quickly told her there was a respirator underneath.  I’m not sure she believed me but when I left the office and looked in the car mirror I burst out laughing.  I might have hidden the respirator too well… someone may very well imagine I had wrapped my face 6 inches thick in scarves.

Anyway, my pashmina scarf worked great!  Good thing too because I have about 25 of them.  I love them.  Everytime I go to NYC or someone I know goes to NYC I ask them to get me a new one in a different color scheme.  Paisleys are my favorite!  Anyway – I decided to make an impromptu hanger last weekend to organize all my scarves.  I used a shoelace, a 3/4″ diameter dowel and shower curtain hooks I had bought at a thrift store and never ended up using.  IT WORKS GREAT.  I highly recommend it, and it is stylish too.

Hanging Scarf Holder

What you’ll need:

• ~2.5 feet of 3/4″ dowel
• 1 long thick shoelace (4′ long)
• shower curtain hooks or curtain hooks with alligator clips

1. Decide where your scarves will hang and measure the horizontal space.  Cut off 6″ from that measurement and cut your dowel down to that size.
2. Drill 1/4″ holes through the dowel 1″ from each end.  Sand
3. Thread one end of shoelace through one hole, and other end through other hole.
4. Pull shoelace on each side through the holes until the bottom forms a half circle. Knot the laces above the dowel.
5. Knot the ends of the shoelace together.
6. Clip alligator clips of the curtain hooks onto shoelace at equidistant intervals.  You’ll need as many hooks as you have scarves.
7. Thread scarves through the circle of the curtain hook where the rod would normally go.
8. Hang.

Finally the day you have all been waiting for, more cute dog pictures!  I’ll teach you how to finish your tiny dog’s flag football outfit – complete with tiny football and flag belt!  In the meantime though, I thought I would amuse you with more child anecdotes.  These are specifically to educate you in toddler speech (if the need to translate should arise).

twonut/Tunut fish (n) – fierce, scary fish that is also incredibly delicious on sandwiches.

oat (n/v) – the noise a pig makes, especially when it is singing for old McDonald.

grown-nut (n) – someone much, much more ancient than a toddler.

My favorite so far is tunut fish, which Julius uses to describe the scary tuna fish in the book Swimmy which our friends Andrew and Emma gave him.  He loves the book and for about a week woke up every morning saying “where’s Swimmy?  I see the tunut fish?”  On the other hand, until fairly recently Julius would only ever say “sheep” when asked what animals were on Old McDonald’s farm, perhaps because “baa” was so easy to say.  He moved on to adding cows, ducks, chickens, roosters and goats into the mix, but never a pig.  In the last couple weeks he has stepped up his game and started adding pigs, but I can tell you these pigs are unique; they sing about what they want to eat.  And what they want to eat is oats.  Grown-nut may be what he thinks the word grownup actually is.  I mean, it makes perfect sense.  He understands that some nuts turn into trees, and nuts are to trees what toddles are to adults.  I think he gets it.

Anyway, now that your education is complete, let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of this operation.  (See what I did there?  Well, what can I say, I tried.)

Pomeranian Flag Football Belt

What you’ll need:

• 15″ 3/4″ ribbon for belt
• 33″ 3/4″ ribbon for flags
• 4.5″ of 1/2″ velcro

1. Fold 1/2″ of each unfinished end of belt ribbon under and press.  Make sure each end is folded opposite from the other.
2. Place 3″ strip of loop velcro to one end of belt ribbon on to top of folded unfinished end.  Place 1″ strip of hook velcro to other end of belt ribbon on to top of folded unfinished end. Stitch all around velcro.  Velcro should attach when belt is placed around the waist, with no twisting.
   

   I do not have a picture of the belt, except this one totally finished.

3. Cut flags from ribbon in 3 9″ strips.
4. Fold top end of each ribbon down 1/2″ then place 1/2″ inch of loop tape on top.  Stitch around velcro.  Repeat for other 2 flag.
5. Cut remaining fabric into 3 2″ pieces for the flag tabs.
6. Fold strip in half. Fold under 1/4″ on each flag tab, then stitch 1/2″ piece of hook tape to the outside.  Stitch around velcro.  Repeat for other 2 tabs.

Pomeranian Football

What you’ll need:

• 1 sq foot (or less) of brown material
• 1 baseball sized piece of stuffing material
• white yarn and a yarn needle
• PDF here

1. Cut out 4 pieces of brown material.
2. Pin two pieces of material (first and second piece) together along one curve.  Stitch.
3. Pin third piece of material to second piece of material along other curve. Stitch.
4. Pin fourth piece of material to third piece of material along other curve. Stitch.
5. Pin fourth piece of material to last unfinished edge on first piece and stitch, leaving a 2″ gap in the center to turn the football right side out.
6. Clip curves, turn inside out and stuff.
7. Invisible stitch opening closed.
8. Hand stitch football stitching pattern with white yarn on seam you invisible stitched close.

Okay, I really didn’t mean to troll you again.  There will be no pictures of adorable tiny fluffy dogs this week.  But next week.   Next week for sure.  The reason?  It is Earth week!  Honestly I had this whole ridiculous idea planned for Earth Day this year.  Will and I were going to hype it up to Julius as if it were Christmas and start all sorts of fun Earth Day traditions!  Then we could have an Earth Day “party” to crown the week off (yeah I know, I was still working on this one).  Anyway I was thinking about all this about right before the shit hit the fan whole coronavirus outbreak hit the US.

Well, we still have plans to have a happy Earth day and to wish Mother Earth to continue healing so she can support our raucous, frequently ungrateful abundance of human life.  So don’t forget to show a little love to your Earth Mother this Wednesday and let her know you’re thinking of her.  Some ideas?  Eat vegetarian!  Sign up for a local CSA who uses IPM!  Plant a tree!  Clean up litter!  Send an email to the Trump administration explaining (in short sentences) how they are sacrificing the planet!  Yes I’m still bitter right now about this and this and how about going back to the start of it – this?  Sorry, I digress, the whole point of this paragraph was to explain that later in this post there will be an environmentally friendly craft so stay tuned!

Anyway, want to hear some adorable stories instead of more doom and gloom?!  Well the other day Will relayed to me a cute conversation.  Will found Julius peering down the cellar stairs and Will asked, “why are you opening the basement door Julius?”  To which he replied “checking for bears.”  Will returned “are there any bears?”  And Julius replied “I hope not.”  I hope not either buddy.  I think I had better tone down the “bear hunts” in our neighborhood.

Will and I have gotten into a sort of routine with Julius throughout the past few weeks.  We are somehow each able to do 8 hours of work while watching Julius throughout the day.  While exhausting, we each get to spend a lot more time with Julius which is really nice.  I do like that little guy.  And I want to give a shout out to teacher of the month Will over here – Will has been doing a great job teaching Julius the written alphabet and Julius can now recognize all the letters!  He gets confused on a couple – but who doesn’t?!  On to algebra!

So this tote is very similar to the bags I made for Danycon last year.  Those bags are a nice size for toting your lunch to the beach, but I wanted a bigger bag to carry bulky grocery items in so they don’t get squished.  I’d purchased this adorable farmer’s market fabric at Ikea a couple years ago, and I guess it screamed out farmer’s market tote.  It is PERFECT for the farmers market (or grocery produce section since I don’t have a farmer’s market near me).  Roomy, and I can throw it in my purse so I don’t inevitably forget to bring it!  It was super quick to make and I plan to make several more to give away.  

Farmer’s Market Tote

• 23″x40″ rectangle of sturdy fabric
• 2 xxy rectangles of same fabric for handles
• 1 7″x12″ rectangle for pocket, with 12″ side along seam allowance.
• 1 5″x1″ strip for bag hanging hook

1. Serge each 23″ edge of fabric to prevent unraveling.
2. Fold canvas rectangle in half to form an 23″×20″ rectangle.  Stitch down both sides adjacent to the fold with 1/2″ seam allowance.
3. Serge along these two sections to reinforce.
4. Mark a 4″x3.5″ square in each of the bottom corners of the bag (4″ side is into the seam allowance, so effectively creating a 3.5″x3.5″ square within the non seam allowance portion of the bag).
5. Cut out rectangles.  Starting with one side of the bag, pull the points of the two negative space rectangles you just created apart so that the two seams meet and the unfinished edges line up.  Pin.  Repeat for second corner of bag.
6. Stitch along the areas you just pinned.  Serge along each seam to reinforce.
7. Fold rectangles for handles in half the long ways, wrong side in, then fold under 1/2″ on each lengthwise side. Press and stitch.
8. Take 5″x1″ strip for bag hook and fold in half the long ways, wrong side in.  Fold under 1/4″ on each lengthwise side.  Press and stitch. 
9. At the opening of the bag, turn the fabric over 3/4″.  Press
10. Mark at the 5.5″ mark and 6.5″ mark and the 11.5″ and 12.5″ mark along the top edge of the bag.  Place one edge of one handle inside the 5.5″ & 6.5″ marks, so the edge touches fold.  Pin. Ensuring the strap is not twisted, place second edge of handle inside the 11.5″ and 12.5″ marks.  Pin.  Turn bag over and repeat.  At the center of the bag, place hook into the bag as you did for the handles, as shown. 
11. Stitch 1/2″ from the top of the bag and again 5/8″ from the top of the bag, encompassing the handles and hook.
12. Fold 12″x7″ length of fabric (right sides together) in half to form 7×6″ pouch.  Stitch along one long edge and one short edge with 1/2″ seam allowance to form a pouch. 
13. Match pouch side seam up against side seam of the bag, near the bottom.  Pin and stitch through seam allowance to secure. 
14. Turn bag right side out.
    

    Finished bag.

    

    Finished bag interior

    

    Bag all tucked away in it’s pouch.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter or are having a wonderful Passover to those of you who celebrate.  I know you were expecting more cute dog photos, but you’ll have to wait for those next week.  Instead let me tell you about our Easter weekend while it’s still fresh!  We had a great weekend prepping a bountiful feast and fun activities for Julius.  And of course watching your kids have fun is the main return on investment for parenting.

While I’m fully committed to being trapped at home, I’m trying to avoid doing a lot of online shopping.  I did cave and buy Julius a boatload of books since he has been wanting to read about 20 books a day, plus I knew the books I was buying weren’t available in stores anyway.  Two of these ended up in his basket, and the rest of his Easter basket consisted of handmade items.  Julius kept asking for slippers that were his size, so I decided to tell him “maybe the Easter bunny will bring you some”.  After that anytime the Easter bunny was mentioned, Julius brought up “maybe the bunny will bring my slippers”.   So slippers was one of the items I made for Julius.  The other ones were Easter sugar cookies and a little stuffed bunny.  (Now known as the Easter bunny bunny.)  I had big plans to make a quiet book style house to go with the little stuffed bunny, but as usual time ran short.

The Easter bunny was really proud of these cookies… so here’s a close up.

The basket the bunny brought for Julius

Julius loved everything.  It really made my month.  There is nothing like having your toddler love and appreciate the things you’ve created for them!  He even brought his Easter bunny bunny to the bunny parade!  (Where you sit in your car while the Easter bunny drives by on a fire truck.)  Julius loves fire trucks, but when I asked him if he wants to get out of his car seat and stand up to see better he vehemently said “no!  I scared!”  Poor guy, the sirens on all the vehicles were very loud.  Good news though, when he saw the Easter bunny drive by waving on top of the truck Julius actually giggled.

Julius wearing his slippers, holding his bunny and eating a cookie!

Easter Bunny Bunny

What you’ll need:

• scrap amounts of white cotton or linen fabric
• scrap amounts of pink cotton fabric
• a small white pom pom
• a tiny amount of stuffing
• blue, pink and black embroidery thread
• pattern here

1. Cut out all pattern pieces as indicated.  Be sure to add seam allowance.
2. Place two body pieces together and pin.  Stitch all around body, leaving 1″ gap in one side to turn inside out.
3. Clip curves, especially around the legs and neck.  Turn right side out.
4. Stuff.
5. Hand stitch the opening closed using a ladder stitch/invisible stitch.
6. Choose the least attractive side of the bunny.  Stitch pom pom tail onto bunny on less attractive side.
7. Create two arms following steps 2,3,4 and 5 but stuffing the arms a little less full.
8. Position top of arm just below neck of bunny.  Stitch through each arm about 1/4″ from the top directly into the torso and back out the same hole, so it forms a movable limb.  (I do this several times to make it secure.)  (Here is a site with examples – I basically did #3.)
9. Assemble the ears.  For each ear, sandwich pink fabric between 2 white fabric pieces.
10. Stitch around ear, leaving the bottom opened.   Trim excess fabric.
11. Turn right side out.
12. Turn the unfinished edge of each ear inside and invisible stitch closed.
13. Pin ears to head at a slight angle so pinks of ears are visible.
14. Invisible stitch ears to head.
15. Transfer face pattern onto bunny.  Embroider eyes in blue, mouth in black and finally nose in pink.