When the old year was turning to new, I dreamed a little dream of lovely things I'd make in 2011, including these bike buckets.  They came to be with Echino scraps I'd won in a giveaway (thanks Faith!), following Anna of Noodlehead's cute little tutorial.  My kiddos ride bikes quite a bit, so I'm thinking these will be a fun surprise in their Easter baskets!

It's great that following a tutorial or pattern forces me to try new things.  In this case, I worked with heavy weight interfacing for the first time and with stitching curves.  Since I know I'm not the only one who's a curve virgin, let me show you some pattern pieces:



Sewing these two pieces together was totally cool.  Two totally flat pieces stitched together create a bucket shape all by themselves thanks to that snazzy curve in the front. Amazing!  If you've done this kind of thing before, you're probably thinking, "um, duh." But, for my wee little brain, this was totally astounding. I do not think in 3-D and have a hard time picturing how things will come together. But thanks to this learning experience, I think I know how I'm going to design and assemble a 5-sided sewing machine cover for my mother-in-law.  Crossing fingers still on that one!



Working with scraps meant I had to use all sorts of different fabrics together to pull these off, which was pretty fun.  But, I'll admit there were not-so-fun moments too.  The outer bucket and inner bucket are made separately.  Then you sandwich the heavy weight interfacing in between and fuse the fabrics in place.  Only how do you fuse the interfacing without a tiny ironing board (which Anna has) or one of those teeny tiny irons (which I thought I'd never need!)?  Hmm....  Luckily I remembered that my mom had picked up a pressing ham from a thrift store awhile back.  I had been thinking of getting rid of it!  I just hate keeping things that aren't being used.  But that silly "ham" fit in the bike buckets like it was made for the job.  I guess I'll have to keep it.




So there we are!  Bike Buckets - check.  Now what else was on that list....