Ava Hip Bag (Pattern by All Sew Petite)

Monika of All Sew Petite Patterns has designed this fabulous hip bag, called Ava Hip Bag. It is a great looking bag as well as being really functional. It can be worn as a sling across your front or back, a cross body or a waist/hip bag too. 

Ava has lots of space too! 4 zippered pockets: a zippered main closure, a front zippered pocket, a back zippered pocket, an inside zipper pocket which is great for cash or coins or both, plus credit card slots/pockets too inside, so no need to carry a wallet!

Ava measures 14" wide x 7 1/2" high x 4 3/4" deep. 

Ava pdf pattern is on sale at 30% off, no code is needed, so grab yours now while it is on sale. Sale is for 72 hours only! Monika is in the UK, so make sure you get it before the 72 hours are up. Monika also has a video tutorial so you can sew along with her making the Ava Hip Bag. 

I love this brown batik fabric with the Southwest turquoise turtles and thought it was perfect for this bag. The top zipper opens to the main bag compartment and the bottom zipper is a pocket for hold your easy access stuff like keys.

I chose to add one zipper pull for each zipper, rather than 2 zipper pulls. I find it is just as easy to pull one pull around than to have to zip/unzip one pull in each direction, which seems more fiddly to do for me. Some testers did add 2 zipper pulls and some did not. The double pulls do look nice when centered, but knowing me, I will never get them centered when using the bag 😜😂. To each her own.

Here I slung it over the chair to mimic how it would look wearing as a sling on your front or back. 

The back has a zipper pocket with an overlay. I unzipped it here. 

The back side with the zipper pocket with an overlay. 

Front pocket unzipped.

Inside the main compartment are card pocket slots and a zippered pocket to hold your cash and coins, since you don't need to carry a wallet (unless you want to carry a wallet) as this is like a built in wallet. Plus, there is still room to hold other items as well, like a glasses case and a fold up shopping bag or whatever you like to carry.

The top main zipper unzipped.

I have been using this bag since I tested it. I prefer to wear mine as a sling. If you want to make as a hip bag that converts to a sling bag, you really need to make 2 adjustable straps with swivel hook attachments so you can adjust one shorter strap as a waist bag and a longer adjustable to wear as a sling bag.

Oh, and be sure to check out the Tester's Bags too so you can see how different they look in different fabric, colors and materials used. Scroll down to see tester's bags. Mine is the first bag shown.

I love this bag to wear as a sling bag so much that I have been using it a lot since I made it. I am keeping this one for me!!!

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I am joining in on the Stay at Home Round Robin 2025

I decided today after reading about the SAHRR, that I would dive in and see what happens. I first read about this round robin years ago from Brenda of Songbird Designs. If you want to know about this or join in click this link from Brenda's blog.

I chose to use one of the Cozy Afternoon quilt blocks I made back in 2015! I made the blocks, but they have sat since then, so it was time to do something with them, or at least one of them. I thought any of these blocks would be great to use for the center block. I hope to keep up and get inspired as what to do for each round. Plus, I am not always so great at the math part of figuring out what might fit in terms of sizes of blocks or units to sew so they fit around a block! I may need to shout out to someone with better match skills to help me later😜.

Here is the center block that I chose to use~

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This block 3 from Cozy Afternoon, designed by Jacqueline Steves.

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Kokopelli Batik Table Runner #3

This is the 3rd table runner that I have made using the Kokopelli fabrics in the blocks and batik fabric scraps. I placed each Kokopelli block so that no matter where you are sitting or standing, that you can see the closet ones to you as right side up. I used batik scraps in a variety of colors. The first two I made sold. I saved this one to put in the Fiber Art Show at the Corrales Library for the month of January. It is for sale at the show. This was made in 2024.

Runner measures 12" x 30".

Cactus print for the backing of the runner.

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Scrappy Love Flowers Quilt

Happy New Year everyone!!! 

This quilt I made is also on display at the Corrales Library for the month of January. I used batik fabrics to make this quilt. I made this in 2024.

Quilt measures 26 3/4" wide x 35" high.

Horizontal wavy quilting.

Machine stitched around the flowers and hand stitched the center hearts.

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Raw Edge Art Quilt #2 & Small Art Quilt too

Here is another quilted raw edge art quilt I made that I mounted on an artist board. On this one I added a fabric border, plus embellishments of buttons, appliqué flowers, yarn couching, organza and mesh. I quilted it in a waves in both horizontal and vertical directions, as I also did when I couched the yarn in those directions too. Similar, but slightly different look from the one I posted yesterday.

I also made a small piece (scroll down to see it) that is about postcard size. Both of these will be on display at the Corrales Library too all January. More to share tomorrow as well.

16" x 20".

Closer look.

I love sewing buttons and creating a flower in the button holes.

The shiny organza adds a nice bling punch.

This small piece is about postcard size. I added tulle over the piece. a few crystals were added and some sparkly yarn bits. 

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"Oh Happy Day": Raw Edge Batik Art Quilt

I named this fiber art piece, Oh Happy Day, as it made me happy to create this piece. It is a happy mix of fibers that I quilted and mounted on an artist board. I added embellishments like buttons, couched yarn, bits of mesh netting, organza bits and crystals. 

This and some other fiber arts that I created will be on display at the Corrales Library the month of January, along with others who have submitted their fiber art pieces. There will be quite a variety of fiber art: knitting, hand embroidery, quilts, Hardanger and more. Some pieces will be for sale by the artist and some are not for sale, but just on display. I have a few more items that I have made that I will be sharing here on my blog this week for you to see what I have put in the show. I have my work for sale.

There will also be a one day artist reception and I will be bringing some of my bags to set up on a table to sell there as well, since they couldn't be hung in the show. This is the first time our stitch group will be displaying our work in a show, so I hope it goes well. We might do it again if it is well received. 

This piece measures 16" x 20".

Closeup of the quilting, buttons, crystals and yarn couching.

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Flannel Pocket Bear

I have seen a lot of cute pocket dolls online, mostly knit dolls. That got me thinking about making some, but knitting small things like dolls and animals can be rather fiddly to knit and put together, even if it is knit in one piece, rather than lots of tiny pieces. So what if? What if I made a simple sewn bear instead? It uses less material than a larger bear and scraps can be used. I have lots of miscellaneous scraps of flannel fabric on hand, so here is my cute little flannel pocket bear. Ta da!

He looks larger in the photo because of the closeup photo, but he measures 4 1/2" wide (from the tip of his paw to the tip of the other paw) x 5 1/4" tall (from the foot to the tip of his ear). I think he turned out rather cute for a first try in making him smaller. I do need to perfect the eyes. I used white felt and French knots, which works, but I need to make sure I get the size right and the colors right for future bear eyes. I could sew on buttons, but if a child under 3 years old gets one of these bears, buttons do pose a chocking hazard and I don't want that! I made a second bear, but the eyes turned out a bit odd or even creepy looking and I cannot have that, so need to work on the eyes to find a better solution. I know there are safety eyes sold, but not sure how small they go and how they would look on this bear? Plus, I want to use what's on hand and not buy anything as that is one of the ideas behind making this bear.

I used Warren the Charity Bear pattern to make this in a reduced size. Don't ask me how much I reduced it as I cannot remember 😜. I have made Warren before in full size and 2 reduced sizes, but not reduced this much. He is cute in any size. Polar Fleece is another fabric that can be used too for a soft cuddly bear.

I most likely will make a few more to donate, once I make the eyes how I like them.

Made using flannel fabrics. Hand blanket stitched the appliqué pieces.

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