with my little eye

As part of my new year's resolution of not purchasing any new craft materials, a big part of that is actually to use up what I already have and this project is perfect for that. I spotted an I-Spy bag in a magazine many months ago and I thought what a great idea it was and how I'd love to have one for Miss E, and they didn't seem to hard to actually make myself. Basically they are a bag with a little window, filled with pellets or rice and toys and you squish the bag trying to find all the toys. I used a pair of jeans for the sturdy fabric such a bag needs, I filled it with an assortment of little toys that were kindly donated by my sister. I used some plastic PVC pellets that I bought many years ago for some crochet project and never used more than a tablespoon of them. I decided rather than to print a little card with a picture of the toys to search for, I'd print a picture onto a t-shirt transfer that I had. but alas I've had them for over 5 years and they don't seem to be "transferring" properly. Then I remembered that I had some ink jet fabric (that again I've had for years and never used) and that worked a treat. I was in a hurry to get it finished and didn't type out the word for each toy underneath the image but the next one I do will have that. Miss E loves it and I will definitely make some more, even just to use up all the PVC pellets that I have.

As for my resolution, it's only 5 days in and I have bought some fabric. Only 2 metres, it was some Christmas print fabric on special 75% off. I'm trying to convince myself that it's OK because I plan to make these reusable Christmas wrapping fabric bags for next Christmas, tell me it's OK. As I past my local fabric store today I noticed that all their sewing patterns were half price and I just kept walking so I do feel good about that.