Easter treat bags - Spring Quilting Blog Hop!



It's day 1 of the Sizzix Spring Quilting Blog Hop and I'm delighted to kick off the week!  We've got 5 days of fabulous spring and Easter ideas from some very talented ladies! Here's the line up for the week...

Monday 18th March - Me!
Tuesday 19th March - Carolyn Forster
Wednesday 20th March - Laura Taylor
Thursday 21st March - Hadley Gordon
Friday 22nd March - Anna Draicchio

To make the week even more exciting, you can enter this exclusive competition to get started with your patchwork and quilting adventure... Click here to enter! The closing date is 28th March at 10am GMT.

So here we go then with my project!

Easter is coming up fast, and the stores are full of overly packaged chocolate eggs that look great with all that bright cardboard and shiny foil, but once they're opened they're quite disappointing. In our house the actual chocolate eggs seem to get leftover and forgotten about, so I try to make things more interesting and use little handmade bags stuffed with favourite sweets and little eggs, and maybe a tiny toy to leave in hiding places around the garden for the annual Easter egg hunt my children and their cousins have.

I've called them 2 minute treat bags, and admittedly 2 minutes is probably pushing it a little bit, they take more like 5 or 10 minutes each, but they're still fast and you can whip up a whole easter egg hunt's worth in very little time.

You need Sizzix Bigz Die Birds 3 (number 657685)

I used layer cake squares for my bags (layer cakes are pre-cut 10" squares that you can buy in a set), and scraps of fabric for the bird appliques. Make a couple at once, using one bird shape for one bag, and the other bird shape for the second bag.

For 2 bags you need;

4 layer cake squares (or 4 10" squares of fabric - use pinking shears for a zigzag edge to prevent fraying)
1.5 metres of ribbon
6" square of scrap piece of fabric
6" square of fusible web
2 buttons
embroidery floss/cotton and a needle (to sew on the buttons)

Firstly, following the manufacturers directions for the fusible web, apply fusible web to the reverse of the scrap piece of fabric and cut the bird shapes using die 657685.

Lay one of the 2 different birds on a layer cake or 10" fabric square, in the middle but towards the bottom of the square.

Use one of the small circles cut from the die as an eye, and press the applique with an iron to fuse (because these are fast treat bags you don't need to sew the appliques on, the fusible web will hold just perfectly. If you were making something that was to be washed or have heavy use, use a blanket, zig zag or straight stitch to fix into place).

Sew a small button onto the 'eye' with embroidery floss or cotton thread.

Take the ribbon and cut into 2 lengths, set one aside for use on the second bag
Fold the ribbon in half, and pin onto the bag front approximately 3" from the top. Note that the folded end is just overlapping the raw edge of the side of the bag.

Take a second layer cake square/10" square and lay right sides together on top of the bag front. 

Make sure the ribbon is poking out the top of the bag, and pin and sew using a straight stitch and 1/2" seam allowance round the 2 sides and the bottom of the bag. Don't sew the top - it won't be much of a bag without the top edge open!

Turn right ways out and poke the corners out well so they're nice and pointy

And repeat the steps above for the second bag using the other bird shape.

When you're done, stuff with small treats and tie the tops closed with the ribbon. These little bags are also perfect for birthday party bags, or for stocking stuffers at Christmas.