Gnome Bee Project Bag with Clear Front Window

One of my friend's and I both have birthdays in November, so we like to get together and celebrate sometime during the month of November. This year we each worked on our our projects together. Tara cut fabric for new projects, while I was sewing. It was a nice peaceful way to enjoy our birthdays together and do something sewing related too.

Afterwards, we had lunch together and exchanged gifts. I made Tara a project bag with a clear window to see inside and added an appliqué on the back. Tara and I both love gnomes and since she is a beekeeper now, I found a gnome bee somewhere online and created an appliqué that I stitched on the back of the bag. I also "made" a couple of scarf pins (I say made, but I only glued the little stick-pin part on it) and I also "made" a key fob wristlet, using poly webbing. 

Here is the Project Bag with the clear vinyl window I made for Tara. One of my favorite color combinations is blue & yellow. I think because when I was young I had a bedspread of daisies with yellow centers and blue background. My sister had the same bedspread in a different colorway of pink and green or was it just pink and the green were the leaves? Hmm...it was something like that. My sister has always loved pink and green together. Anyhow, on with the photos, lol!

Project bag with clear vinyl window. The yellow fabric is seen through the clear window.

I fused a butterfly from a piece of fabric I had (I didn't have a bee fabric

 to fuse and the gnome is a bee already). The end tip of his hat is a felt wool ball I hand stitched in place much like you would stitch a pincushion (in an asterisk shape) and added a few French knots in the center.

You can see the wool ball better here with the stitching.

Key fob made with blue webbing.

I made" these 2 shawl/scarf pins out of glass and glued the metal stick part of the pin on the back. I also added a silicone back closure thingee (so technical I am!) to keep the pin in place. I prefer the silicone closure thing to the metal ones, as they grip better and I don't like pinching the metal parts to put the pin on. I bought heart shaped closures with glitter in them. I thought it best to get clear so the color wouldn't show from the front side (if it could show through). (Scroll to end to see photos).

I was having issues with various other shawl/scarf pins falling out of my knit shawls and scarves, so that is what got me thinking about making some of my own. I made 5 different glass ones and I had to buy them in packs of 10, so I have extras made. Only one is a tad larger than the others. These work best in finer knitting (lace, fingering, sport weight yarns). I will use those other stick type shawl pins (made from wood or metal) for heavier weight yarns that the stick won't slip out so easily. Plus those other stick pins if they are too thick, they won't fit through the knitting without damaging the knitting or creating a hole that might not close back up after the stick is removed. I guess I am opinionated about such things, lol!

After nearly losing a shawl pin in the past (I retraced my steps and found it lying on the ground), I knew I needed to make my own pins as no one was that I could find. And not many were making practical shawl pins out of other materials either. I guess those people aren't knitters or do crochet? Perhaps there isn't a market for shawl pins and that is why I couldn't find any practical ones? But I solved my problem by making these myself and they can also be used in other materials like on a coat, blouse, etc. However, they could make a hole in a blouse that is made with fine material. Okay I blabbed on enough!

I received some nice gifts from Tara too. Tara gave me some lovely soft Merino wool yarn and a sock yarn in a variegated color, which she put into a basket and gave me the basket too. Plus, she loves paper crafting and upcycling paper stuff (like cards, calendars, etc.), so there were a lot of little cards and such that were placed into a larger cone shaped open envelope-like thing (sorry, I don't know what to call that, but it was so cute) and that created a really nice presentation.

The basket of yarn Tara gave to me.

Basket of soft Merino yarn.

This is the envelope thingee that Tara placed all the cards that she made to give to me. It looks so pretty and festive!

The upcycled cards and envelope that Tara made and gave to me.

Here are the 5 different shawl/scarf pins that I made.

This is the clear silicone heart-shaped pin back with glitter.

Can you believe December starts tomorrow? Geesh, the world is spinning by so fast!

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