Finally a finish

I have been chugging along here, trying to keep my head down and SEW.  I am hand quilting my son's quilt (his first, at 2 years 3 months, can you believe it? I'm such a bad quilty mommy) and I do that at night when I'm sitting on the couch watching tv.  I have some birthday presents on deck that I need to get done soon - I have the fabric picked out, bought, washed and ready to go.  My friend Lesley's house-warming quilt is half quilted and waiting for the second half and binding.  But the sewing that I am most ashamed of? The CHRISTMAS gift for my friends' daughter.  See, when Christmas started sneaking up on me way back in November, my friend graciously said we could exchange our gifts after Christmas.  As I make most of our gifts, I was relieved and thought I would just finish up the first week of January.  Welllllllll, here we are sliding on into March and I just finished her daughter's present.  Embarrassing, right?  We won't even discuss the fact I haven't even started my friend's gift!  To be fair, we did talk about exchanging gifts in person, since they are flying here for a visit mid-March, so I guess I'm ahead of schedule, right?

Here is the backpack that I finished up just yesterday. I made it using this Toddler Backpack pattern from Made by Rae.  The fabric is Tula Pink's Parisville, both the outside and the lining.

This is the second time I've made this pattern, and it was definitely easier the second go-round.  Like the first time, I used Pellon Shape-flex interfacing (my favorite!) on the outer fabric to make it a little sturdier and added extra stiff sew-in on the bottom.

I used plastic buckles on the straps, instead of the metal D-rings I used before.  I think I actually like the look of the metal rings better, but the plastic ones look good, too, and are a little easier to use.

And of course I had to fill it with some goodies!  A book from our favorite series - Elephant and Piggie - and a cute little elephant friend.  This backpack is the perfect size and I love that Estella can carry around all of her treasures or mom can pack it with things to keep her busy on a trip.

I have got to make one for my own little munchkin!  Next, definitely next.

Anyway, I can finally scratch this off my list.  And everything I used came from my stash! Bonus!