I Made a Sandhill Sling!

 I have long been a fan of Anna at Noodlehead. I found her blog many years ago, and since then she has become a wonderful pattern designer. Most of her patterns are for bags, pouches, backpacks and the like. She does a lot of testing to make sure it's right before she releases new patterns. Her directions are spot on every time. 

The Sandhill Sling pattern came out a couple of years ago I think. I loved it then, but I knew I wouldn't use it, so I just admired it from afar. I also have a bit of a reticence to trying bag patterns, as I sometimes struggle with the bulkiness of them under my needle. 

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when my daughter saw a post on Instagram about the Sandhill Sling. She fell in love with it. She had purchased some canvas awhile back with the idea that she wanted me to make her a tote bag of some type. I told her that when she found a pattern she liked, to let me know. She purchased the pattern and the hardware kit on line and as I waited for that to arrive, along with some interior lining fabric, I read and reread the pattern.

Then, I discovered that there had been a sew along for the Sling and so there were videos of the steps to make it. I went ahead and watched all the videos before I started. As I am a visual learner, this was so valuable to me. Once I started sewing, I could do a step, and then stop the video and do the next step. It made the whole thing come together so easily.

This is the interior of the sling with the gathered pocket. The elastic gather really helps to hold things in.

My daughter chose the zipper colors to compliment the fabric. She chose to not have the zipper cover on the exterior pocket so you could see the two zippers that matched. The fabric is a Charley Harper print.

The strap and hardware also came from Anna's shop. She has exactly what you need to make this bag, which makes it so easy to get ready to sew.

When I finished, I could hardly wait to go and give it to my daughter. She loves it! And I have had a couple of other family members express an interest in having me make one for them. Also, my grandson wants me to make him a backpack from one of Anna's patterns. I hope I'm up to that!

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this make, especially having the videos to help me through the process. I know there will be more Noodlehead patterns in my future.

Sunday Stash #14

Well, it seems that winter is firmly behind us now, here in North Carolina. Not only are the days warmer, and more of them are not rainy, but the nights are warmer too. And the scourge that is the yellow pollen from the long needle pines is going full blast. One of the up sides of this is the light and weather make it so I can take my photos outside. These were a bit late in the day, so a little shadowy. It seems I have forgotten how to do this, but don't worry, practice makes perfect.

 This lovely stack of half yard cuts, I blame on Julie at the Intrepid thread. These are Essentials by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics. So soft! She showed these on Facebook and I fell for them. I showed them to my hubby and he loved them. I have a plan in mind!!

 Then, there is my love for Charley Harper fabrics. I resisted for awhile, but I finally gave in. I am trying not to go fabric nutso this year, so I very carefully selected just a few prints.

This cheater cloth is my favorite. I love the birds the best and this one has several different ones.

 Isn't this just the sweetest little birdie pair? Still thinking about how I'm going to put these together.

The last one is one I hemmed and hawed about buying. The alternate colorways of this wonderful Riley Blake print were being shown as sewn items everywhere, but I loved the red, white and blue the best. I bought a full yard and think I have come up with the perfect idea for it. You'll have to wait and see. Hope you have a lovely spring Sunday wherever you are. Linking up to Molli Sparkles' Sunday Stash.