Recommended Pattern on Craftsy!

I'm super happy! Just found out my Bring the Basics Bag is a recommended pattern on Craftsy! Number 8 in the sewing category to be exact! Such a wonderful Christmas gift! =D

Thanks to everyone who's purchased it! <3 If you've made one and shared it on social media, please feel free to add the #bringthebasicsbag hashtag so we all can see and enjoy it! =)

I also hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I sure did! =D

We celebrated with both our families and we also hunted down and sawed down own, very first real christmas tree, we named him Grenar and I think he's so very beautiful, he's so lush and has such amazing shape! =)

Beloved Notions

After hosting the giveaway and reading up on everyones most beloved notions, I just had to share my must haves. Like most of you, my trusty seam ripper is very high on that list =)

Here are my most trusty companions that alway are within an arms reach from my sewing machine. <3

From left to right:
Mechanical Pencil - For marking on dark fabrics.
Frixion pen - For marking on light fabrics and for making notes and sketching for pattens.
Sewline Gluestick - For all troublesome things that need a little temporary hold, like when sewing zippers it's such a good tool!
Gütermann Glue - For evertying that need to stick and stick permanently, I glue everything when I make bags, totally my best friend this one! <3
Bent Tweezers - for everything from turning fabrics, poking out corners, holding fabrics when sewing and for cleaning lint out of the machine.
Clover Seam Ripper - So very sharp and nice to hold.
Clover Awl - For guiding fabric.

Top row:
Clover Clips - Big and small clover clips I just can't live without! I love how they're marked on the see through side for folding, hems and the like - fantastic! And when sewing bags they're invaluable for holding fabrics you can't pin and for seams that pins easily would distort due to many layers.
Metal Thimble - Can't hands sew a single stitch without this one!

And the Winners are...

Thanks to all who entered the giveaway! 
This has been so much fun! But I'm very sorry I haven't been able to reply to each comment with an email like I usually, do but there was just too many of you and I've had too little time this close to Christmas. <3

The comments lead to quite a bit of research on my part trying to learn about a few new notions and it will absolutely result in som shopping, I just have to try a few of these things! Like the Bloc Loc ruler, how awesome doesn't that look? Had no idea it existed!

I had quite a good laugh at the fact that the by far most common notion was the seam ripper, all of ours trusty friend when in need =D

The winner of the gorgeous Bali Pop is Kim! 

KimDecember 10, 2015 at 5:16 AM 

I love my 2 x 6 ruler. I use it to make sure my seam allowance is accurate and for placement on other sewing projects.

And the 2 random winners of the 2 Bring the Basics Bag patterns are: 

AlidaPDecember 10, 2015 at 12:42 AM 

I follow on gfc thanks for the chance!!

Happy Cottage QuilterDecember 9, 2015 at 11:28 PM 

My rotary cutter is my favorite gadget. Next to that would be pins. I might only use a few, but pinning helps me keep things straight :-)

Then I just had to add 2 more winners of the Bring the Basics Bag pattern, as they both posted so many good notions and tips in their comments, thank you both! 

JakeDecember 10, 2015 at 3:26 AM 

I found your blog about a month ago and went thru ALL the posts to the end! I love your new little purse pattern too. CANT LIVE WITHOUT MY GLUE. Yup, I'm a glued. Mostly use glue sticks, but there are some occasions where liquid glue is a better choice...so that is an item I cannot live without. As for new tools, for FMQ, why pay the outrageous price for a Supreme Slider when you can get HUGE Teflon sheets for a few dollars? I have two machines sunk into a table made from a sheet of plywood and I have covered the whole table with Teflon...total cost of the Teflon? $22...yeah, take that SS! And for ruler work...expensive rulers? I think not! I cut my own from foam board...cheap cheap cheap! And I also have a few cut from Lexan so I can use the lines. And for my bags, I just cannot live without rivets and studs. They add soooo much to bags. As for regular purchased tools, besides the basics of course, I'd have to recommend titanium needles. They really do last longer and stitch better in my opinion. Hope you like some of these thoughts. 

RobynDecember 10, 2015 at 8:03 PM 

Hmm... sewing notions I can't live without... I LOVE my hand-turned wooden seam ripper and stiletto I purchased on Etsy. The stiletto is pretty much a part of my hand when I sew, and the seam ripper is incredibly sharp... so much so that I have to be extra careful with it. (I posted about them here http://hoopsandthimbles.com/another-seam-ripper-my-magic-wand/ & http://hoopsandthimbles.com/i/)
My Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Scissors are also gush worthy Especially the curved pair, which are SUPER sharp and perfect for debulking seams when sewing with thick interfacings. I have all four sizes of the scissors! The medium size git my hand great, and are my go-to pair when I don't need the length of the large size. (They're 40% off on Massdrop right now btw; if you want to use my referral link... https://www.massdrop.com/r/RXSVMZ)
Best Press is definitely something I can't live without... hmm, what else... Oh! Tulip's Size 10 Milliners/Straw needles are THE BEST for binding quilts. They glide through the fabric like butter, and I swear I bind faster since finding them. I don't even use a thimble with them most of the time because they go through the fabric so easily I don't really have to protect my finger when pushing.
And for EPP on the go, Clover's Petite Cut threader/cutter combo is awesome for tiny sewing kits.

I hope all of you will enjoy your winnings! Congratulations! =D Emails are going out right now!

Giveaway Day! Win a Gorgeous Bali Pop or a Pattern!

Sew Mama Sew is having their lovely Giveaway Day again! Make sure you don't miss out by visiting their page and find out who else is hosting giveaways this week =)

I'm giving away a lovely, Brown Sugar Bali Pop!

I'm also giving away a 2 PDF versions of my Bring the Basics Bag Pattern:

How do I enter?
This giveaway is open to anyone worldwide, and it closes on Sunday 13th December, 5 p.m. PST.
3 random winners will be chosen among the comments and they will be notified by email, so please make sure you're not a no-reply comment blogger or include your email in the comment if you're unsure =)

You have a chance for two entries. It's really very easy =)

1. Post a comment on this post telling me which sewing notion you just can't live without. I'm hoping to find some new cool tools ;)

2. My followers (as I love you all so very much!), old and new get a second chance to win! Make a second comment and tell me how you follow.

Best of luck and and have fun blog hopping! <3

Bring the Basics Bag - How to Fold the Card Holder

A few people have been confused about how to fold the card holder (the first steps of making the bag) and as it clearly was a little tricky to show this with photos, I decided to make a little video showing exactly how it's done, please enjoy and try not to laugh to hard at me ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbBhkx6f07o

However, while my skills in this department isn't quite up to par, and my english accent changes according to whom I last spoke to (terribly embarrassing but I just can't stop it!), I found this really fun and such an easy way to show off a technique, so more videos will for sure come =)

I also just have to show you this beautiful Bring the Basics Bag made by one of my amazing pattern testers, Thisgirlissewdestructive on Instagram and you can also find here here on Facebook, isn't it gorgeous!? <3 Love the fabric choices!

Dual Zipper Baggies & Christmas Decorations

I made some gifts for my very good friends, one of them got one of these baggies a couple of years ago and she's literally used it to threads! As the creator, you can't get a better grade then that and nothing makes me happier then hearing such, so of course I had to make her a new one =)

Upon receiving it yesterday she immediately moved out of her traditional wallet again and asked if any of us wanted it, as she was going to toss it anyway, really made my night =)

Made one with Bonnie & Camille's Ruby, such a stunning line!  

One was created from the adorable Makeover UK's Patch line my mother sent me, for my dogloving friend.

And a third with Tula Pink, because, it always makes me happy working with her fabrics! And these purples are just too pretty! <3

Had much fun choosing different linings and matching but contrasting zipper pulls. 

Filled them with a little candy before gifting.

Other then this we've Christmas decorated our little home, had mulled wine and gingerbread cookies and listened to a lot of christmas music of course!

As our flat is so small, we have the smallest tree to date, it's adorable! Only 12" <3

And the snowflake star is up and so is the balcony decorations, all the lights makes me so happy!

Black Friday Shopping & A Lovely Gift

I did it, I went a little Black Friday crazy and bought quite a bit of fabric, from Craftsy I bought one Tula Pink Mystery Bundle, 15 fat quarters from one of my absolute favourite designers for only $30.23!

I also went totally crazy and got one Joel Dewberry fat quarter mystery bundle too, this one for only $24, I'm so very excited to see what's in them!!

Then I folded and bought an Evergreen by BasicGrey layer cake too, for only $18!

And I also went by Fat Quarter Shop, their 24h flash sale was just too good to pass up on, I ended up with their ruler, some batik precuts, and for good measure, a little Tula Pink yardage too =)

I also got a lovely package from my mom. Various scraps from some of the new collections in her store, and I LOVE them - thank you mom!! I love you! <3

Look at the adorable sheep! They're balls of yarn, I just love this line so much! =D

These colors are just amazing!

A little hippie for my taste but still so adorable =)

I'm so going to make a watermelon pouch from these, look how cute.

Auntie Acid is always a good idea, and look at that lovely stripe.

So adorable little giraffes and crocodiles, and those matching sketch like fabrics are just awesome stash builders. 

Gorgeous, just gorgeous all of them, imagine the black and white stripe as binding <3

And this line Patch from Makeover UK is just so perfect for so many things, look at the adorable little doggies, that stripe and those sketch fabrics, amazing! And the colors in this line are just pure love!

Daytona Bag - Version 2!

I'm so very happy with my second version of the Daytona Bag, all the kinks worked out so very nicely and it really is such a lovely bag, if I may say so myself ;)

Sadly we've had a very rainy day here today and I wasn't able to get any nice photos outside, or even with decent natural light indoors, so more photos will come. But I really badly wanted to show it off so I had to share these anyway =)

The lining came out so much better with a crisp interfacing! And I love the two zipper pockets, and also that the handy divider pocket makes the main body of the bag separated into two sections, so much easier to find my things!

I'm very happy to say that the English version of the pattern went out for testing today, and hopefully, within two weeks it will be available to the public =)

Thanks again to everyone who's offered to help with testing, I'm so very grateful! <3

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social!

The BAG Has a Name! Introducing the Daytona Bag!

While I'm having a photo session for the pattern of my latest and final version version of the BAG, Erik (my better half) suddenly says that it would match almost perfectly with his dream watch. Namely a limited edition Rolex named Daytona.

And he asks if that wouldn't be a good name for the bag, and I think it fits it perfectly! Daytona beach is just gorgeous, and so is the Daytona Rolex so I think it's the perfect name for my beloved bag <3

I've also received a wonderful message from Anki with photos of 4 lovely Bring The Basics Bags she's made <3

A Thread Rainbow and A Kitty Log!

I really do like Ebay! I bought 100 different colors of embroidery cotton thread for $11! Including shipping! Here I'd pay $3 for one color! And they look great and I don't see any issue with the quality either, I'm very happy! And I did have a fun time sorting them into a pretty rainbow.

I started with this: 

And ended up with this lovely rainbow!

I immediately had to try them and I made a "kitty hiding in a log" pencil case for a dear friend ^^ 

It came out really funny and weird looking, but you can't win every time right? She looks a little more like a bear I think, but I had fun and my friend got a laugh out it of so all was well =) 

I'd seen such cute ones on Pinterest but my little experiment just didn't turn out right *lol*

I was really hesitant about wether or not to blog about her as I'm not 100% happy with the outcome... But then I realised that I do love reading about other peoples less then successful ideas and mistakes (sounds horrible I know, but don't you? ;) ), so I did decide to let her show off here. I did at least succeed with my very first french knot for her nose and giving my friend and myself a laugh =)

A Small Post for a Small & Weird Baggy

I whipped up a weird little baggy this evening, its odd shape is because it's meant as a travel case for my mooncup ;)

It was made with lovely organic fabrics from Gütermann. They where a pleasure to work with, my mother got them for her store and I just had to try them, I honestly didn't know they made fabric too, I thought it was just threads and haberdashery items. It's top quilting quality and it's also 59 inches wide, which I just love!  

It looks very wonky in the photo, it's not, I'm afraid I didn't properly poke out the corners on the left hand side - and I threw away the pretty flower as it'd fallen off so I didn't want to retake the photo once I realised my error, as I just loved it with the flower, so please excuse the wonkiness ;)

I'm still looking for pattern testers for my latest bag pattern, if you're interested, you'll get this and both my other patterns for free as a thank you, please read up here: 

Pattern Testers Wanted

No more testers needed, thank you! <3

THE BAG!! Oh how I love it! And Pattern Testers Wanted!

I'm super excited to share with you all my latest love, my pride and joy - This BAG! I love it so much so if it wasn't for my beloved possibly questioning my sanity if I did, I'd totally sleep with it ;)

It doesn't have a name yet so all suggestions are much welcome =)

This BAG is just pure love for me! It's the perfect size, the prefect style and super practical with all its interior pockets! I'll be honest with you, it was a truly a challenge to figure out how to make it exactly as I wanted it, a lot of things I'd never done before (like a central divider pocket) had to be tried and tested, done and redone before I had it, but here it is!

I had to take it for a walk right away so it got to go with me on an adventure to Marsaxlokk right away, and Erik just snapped a photo in the moment, more serious ones will come =)

This one is sewn with waxed tablecloth and quilting cotton. It has two interior zippered pockets, one big divider one and one small for keys and such. It also has open pockets for phone and lipgloss =)

Please pardon the bulky look of the lining, I'm not happy with my choice of interfacing, this will be changed. And so will a few little details in the interior for the final version.

Isn't she so pretty though? <3

Pattern Testers Wanted!

Would you like to test sew this pattern for me, make sure it contains no inaccuracies, let me know if anything is unclear or hard to understand? This will not be a beginners pattern (however it will have a ton of step by step photos so it shouldn't be difficult) so if you have at least some experience sewing bags, that would be best. I would like a few testers for both the English version and the Swedish version. If you agree to test the pattern, I would like to ask you that you have time to make and photograph the bag within the next two weeks after you get the pattern.

The pattern should hopefully be finished for testing in a week from now or so. As soon as it's finished, I'll email it to you so if you're interested in testing the pattern, please email me at maria@pinkponydesign.com with a short description of your sewing experience or link to your blog or photo sharing site if you have one (or just attach a photo of a bag you've sewn in the email).

All pattern testers will of course get the finished pattern for free as well as both of my other patterns as a thank you. <3

This is me, fully focused sewing the final seams ^^

I'm also linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish it up Friday =)

Stash Update!

I couldn't help myself when I was in my mothers store last time and I had to bring home some new fabric of course =) I will have to add another Benno pillar from Ikea tobe able to fit my ever growing stash soon! Happiness!

A lovely fat quarter bundle of the Cats collection from Makeover UK had to come home with me of course! Just look at the little kitties and mice! <3

As I used up a bit of my basic beiges in my Circles of Times table runner I had to stock up a little, and I seriously couldn't possibly say no to the lovely sewing fabric! LOOK at those scissors!

I'm also very excited to share two beautiful Bring the Basic Bags made by the talented Sulan and Annelie, lovely work ladies! The photo is borrowed from Anki =)