beats cleaning the bathroom!

I got up this morning thinking that I would clean my bathroom since I had spent part of my Tuesday dusting, straightening, vacuuming my bedroom and sewing room.   Yeah, right!  That notion lasted till about 9 or 10 a.m.  I like things to BE clean but I do not LIVE to clean.  Know what I mean?

I found a ziploc bag on my sewing room pegboard yesterday afternoon with the kitted up grocery bag holder from the sew-in.  Shelia had walked Aline and I through the process at the sew-in and had all the materials ready for us but I didn't take any notes.  See, no paper in front of me!  How did I expect to remember especially when I had other creative things on my mind?

I DID find  THIS TUTORIAL on a site called Make It and Love it.  I don't think the tute used batting but Shelia had some packed in there.  I spray basted the fleece to the backing and we were to do a sew and flip method.  Then I was lost.


I could not remember what Shelia had said to do about a casing for the elastic so I kind of, sort of followed the tutorial---maybe.  I stitched it down like you would mock piping sewing the cut strip with right sides together and a 1/4 inch seam, single thickness though so not quite like binding.  I folded the fabric up to the edge of the quilted piece and then using another tip Shelia gave us, folded it up to the sewing line and dabbed a bit of fabric glue on the edge to hold it for machine stitching.  It looked perfect front and back. Then I did the "elastic on a safety pin to push through the channel thing" with a hemostat clamped on the other end to keep it from slipping inside.

I used about 6 1/2 inches of 1/4 inch elastic in the bottom end to keep the bags in the bag and about 11 inches in the top for loading purposes.  I have to say that my Brother really bulks about sewing through about 4 layers but I got the job done and the strips all line up fairly well.  Shelia did the recycle labels on her new embroidery machine but didn't quite get them centered.  I was too quick to get it machine appliqued down, like before I figured out which way the strips were supposed to go.

Lastly we made a quick run to the big box store for some black grosgrain ribbon that I wanted for the hanging loop.  I didn't do handles as one, I should have stitched that into the casing first and two, I did not want to try to stitch through that bulky seam again.  I put the loop in the back near the center.  

Yeah, I know we should use cloth bags and I do when I remember to haul them in the store but we also need the plastic ones for cat box clean out, wet kitchen garbage, liners for the bathroom wastebaskets etc. 

So here it is stuffed to the gills and hanging in its new home in the laundry room.  The old wastebasket we used to use will be used for recycling the pop cans and plastics. 

We have had some rounds of thunderstorms today plus I was getting super aggravated with the computer today freezing up and updating software.  I signed off for several hours and finished reading a library book I had started last night.

Maybe tomorrow I will feel more compelled to clean up the bathroom?  I'll find something else to capture my attention--probably my version of the Tammy bag.   It will be a new experience for me working with that purse clasp thing.  Wish me luck, LOL.

And sew it goes-----------