My Road Trip Case

I've been slowly stitching on my needlepoint pillow in the evenings and on the go, while waiting for the girls to finish various activities. All of my supplies - yarn, scissors, tapestry needle - have been tossed in a ziploc bag that I stashed in another tote bag that held the canvas. And while this system worked ok, I was thinking of making a large zippered pouch to keep it all together. I just never got around to it. Then I saw Anna's Road Trip Case. This was the solution.

The pattern contains two versions. The one I made has smaller bottom pockets that are closed with velcro and flaps. The other version has two longer pockets that close with a button and elastic. They are perfectly sized to fit those rubberband looms that are all the rage. So, yes, I might be making some of those, too.

It was a fun sew, but not a fast one. There are many steps and Anna does a great job breaking them down in a clear, concise, easy-to-follow way. The pattern uses the majority of four fat quarters of fabric. Once I had chosen which prints to use (all Lizzy House, all from my stash), I cut everything out one evening. The sewing happened over a few days, squeezing it in when I could. My guess is that it took about 5 to 6 hours total. I think the next one will go faster. It's also a good candidate for assembly line sewing. The most fun part? Sewing that vinyl pocket! For some reason, that was super satisfying and not difficult at all (I used my walking foot!). I should also note that you can choose to machine or hand sew the binding onto the case to finish it and I went with hand sewing as I was pretty sure I would not be happy with how my machine binding would look on both sides. I made the right choice.

The pockets are great for holding my small skeins of wool and scissors. The canvas I'm currently working on is long, so I am leaving rolled up in the middle of the case. It works great. There are so many other ways you could use this case. It'd be great to hold knitting notions, hand sewing projects (especially English paper piecing), cross stitch or art supplies. I bet small toys and board books would fit well, too. A little kit like this would have been wonderful to keep in the car when my girls were little and needed something to occupy them in waiting rooms or restaurants. Just an idea.

Unrelated, it's our 6th snow day of this school year. And it's only the beginning of February. Spring can't come fast enough.