Secret projects and sewing parties!

I had the most fun this week with some crafty friends! We joined forces (Form of a sewing party!) to make laptop/ipod cases. Mine is a project that was meant to be done at Christmas for my sister, which was foiled by no power due to 13 inches of snow. Finally I'm getting my late-present list checked off! I wish we had taken a picture of our sewing area - it must have looked pretty sweat-shop-y to an outsider and if anyone was listening in, I am sure they were offended more than once with the sailor language. We'll photograph (only - no audio!) next time.

For the laptop sleeves we used this free patten, which turned out great! I had planned to have all my pieces cut out before I went, but that didn't happen. Even without my cutting done, I was pleased at how quickly this project went - I started from scratch and left with a finished laptop sleeve - all in about 3 hours! I had my sister send me the measurements of her laptop, so I hope it fits well. I'll let you know when she gets it! We're still looking for ideas for our next group project - any suggestions? The bag is shown with my husband's laptop, which is a little small for it.

I also recently made a top-secret project that I wasn't able to post about (being top-secret, obviously) but now the cat's out of the bag! Well, Amber had her birthday. :)
I was in on the secret with her fiance, Jeremy, to make her one of the Margaret bags. She loved mine so much when she saw it that Jeremy stealthily went out and bought the fabric (which is hard because they share a car!!), delivered it to me and I made the bag. It was so much fun! Props to Jeremy for the sweetie pie idea! Here is Amber's birthday bag:

I also have pictures of Amy's bag from Christmas that I have been too lazy to post... Thanks for sending these, Amy!

My next project is from the book One Yard Wonders and it is a (late, of course) birthday present for my nieces. There are some cute ideas in this book, though I don't recommend the adult clothing pattens unless you like a lot of skin showing...

I also found this sweet tutorial for folding your fabric stash. I think that will be the next day-off project!