More Bags

Mo liked the project bags I made her and asked me to make a couple more as there was enough fabric left.

I found another shortcut while I was making one of them. Normally I leave the bottom of the lining open in order to turn the project right side out and then sew up the opening afterwards. In reading the instructions for a similar pattern the person sewed up both bag bottoms and pulls everything through the handle. I tried that through the shorter handle and it worked! No more hand-sewing for me!

I also make a big zipped bag for myself using the same fabric and lining that I used to make a smaller one a couple of years ago.

New one in the back.

The new one is big enough to hold my brushes and larger bottles. I still have fabric left over so I'll probably make a couple more coordinating bags.

Another Sewing Blitz

Today I made several knitting project bags for Mo using my favourite pattern. Although the pattern calls them 'Grab Bags', Skip tells me they look like Japanese knot bags commonly used for carrying lunch in Japan.

Mo had given me several fabrics to pick from.  I have streamlined the process somewhat by cutting out both lining pieces with the outer fabric at the same time. Basically, I lay one fabric on top of the other and fold it over to the correct width. It takes a lot less time that way and the fronts and backs always match perfectly. I also don't attach a pocket outlined in the pattern.

This fabric reminds me of the "Flower Power" of the 60s. 

I lined it with a leafy, green fabric and topstitched with green thread.

Then I made this one with pink and brown fabric. It reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream.

I lined it with this pink fabric.

I made another one using the same outer fabric but this time, lined it with heart fabric.

Mo also included some fat quarters with very cute kitty-cat prints - so I could make some for her daughter. The bags are about 14" wide before seaming so fat quarters aren't big enough (only 11" wide when folded). In the past, I've printed the pattern at 80% and that has worked well with fat quarters. However Mo had pre-washed the fabric and it had shrunk even more. So this time I printed the two pages of the pattern at its widest at 72% and it fit the fabric perfectly.

On the left is the full sized-bag and on the right the smaller one.

I lined the bag with the pink fabric.

Reducing the bag made it proportionately shallower, however. Since a fat quarter is 18" long, I realized I had enough to extend the depth of the bag making it more useful so I adjusted the pattern accordingly. I lined it with the leafy green fabric.

This shows the difference in depth between the two bags.

The narrower, deeper bag is almost as deep as the regular-sized one. I have all kinds of fat quarters of my own I realize I can use now for these bags that I've modified the pattern. I hope Mo likes the bags as much as I enjoyed making them.

It's funny when I knit a project, I don't really like knitting multiples of the same pattern but when I sew something, I love making multiples.

Bonus!

I was out picking a nice, tender milkweed leaf for our remaining caterpillar this morning. I thought I'd have a look under the leaves of the 5 plants we have just on the off chance I'd find more eggs. Sure enough, I found 2 more eggs!

Since the caterpillar is consuming the leaves quite heartily, I found another container (mayonnaise jar) to house the newly discovered eggs with their leaves.

I call it the nursery.

Skip and I are going to be away for a couple of nights in the not-to-distant future and I have arranged for someone to look after the 'livestock' during our absence. Yesterday, I thought the care-giver only needed to keep an eye for the pupae emerging and letting them go but with the discovery of the two new eggs (which will hatch in 3 - 4 days) he'll have to look after providing them with milkweed leaves and cleaning the poop out of the 'nursery'.

Pupa Number 2

Yesterday morning the second caterpillar was making all the motions of getting ready to shed its skin and form its chrysalis.

I got busy doing other stuff and again, missed the transition.

The fresh, new pupa is translucent (on the right).

If you look really closely, you can see outlines of the furled wings just below the covering.

In 10 - 14 days the first one will complete its pupa stage, exit the chrysalis, unfurl its wings, dry them off, and fly away.

When I Wasn't Watching

I checked on the larva's progress this morning and it hadn't formed the chrysalis yet but I could tell by how it was curled up that it was getting ready to shed its last skin. The other caterpillar has crawled up to the top as well and will be going through this process itself today.

A couple of hours later, it had pupated. The other one was right against the edge of the lid and the container so I couldn't take the lid off for a closeup. Instead, I had to shoot the photo through plastic.

On the bottom of the Bug Bottle was the shriveled remains of the last shed skin. You can easily see the longer rear antennae.

Any Time Now

The larvae have been continuing to voraciously feast on milkweed leaves and have been pooping a lot as a result.

I have cleaned out the Bug Bottle twice already today but they're really chowing down. I thought the smallest one wasn't doing well but it continues to eat. I hope it catches up in size.

The largest one has climbed to the top of the bottle and has started to excrete the fibres that will attach the chrysalis (pupa) to the lid. Before it pupates, it will shed its last outer skin.

I'm guessing there will be a chrysalis hanging there sometime this evening. The other large caterpillar should follow in fairly short order as they hatched from eggs hours of each other.

Here's a webpage that has videos of the chrysalis forming and the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis.

Stay tuned...

Encore!

Marion liked her travel treats so much she asked me if I would make another set for her sister. So I made it reversing the fabrics.

The paints are on the outside.

The lighter, coordinating fabric is on the inside.

The luggage tag will be easy to spot on any carousel.

Here's the inside of it.

I need to make myself a set of these. I used 1/2 m of each fabric for both sets.

I continue my hunt for the the perfect fabric for myself...