In the land of things that have nothing to do with one another

Well, I guess they're red and blue, so that's something. The past few weeks have been filled with an assortment of sewing projects, and it's not always easy to group them into a logical post. So this time, you get sippy cup leashes and a drawstring backpack, 'cause why not, right?

After I made this sippy cup leash for B, a friend of mine asked if I'd make two for her twins, fellow sippy-cup throwers. But of course, I said, and so it was done.

I used the same tutorial from Make It & Love It, and it worked great. If you have a child that likes to throw their sippy cups, you must make one of these. It takes two seconds, and it's awesome.

The drawstring backpack was a project Matt requested probably more than a year ago. He's a runner and had been wanting a backpack to carry his extra clothes, etc. at races and workouts.

I finally got around to making him one just in time for the Dallas Marathon, which he ran last weekend. He did great!

It took a while to find a tutorial for a lined drawstring backpack, but I finally came upon this one from Sweet Bee Buzzings, and it was worked like a charm, though I made a few tweaks: I added a zipper pocket on the front, used cording for the straps instead of fabric, and enlarged the bag a bit.

It was my first time making a zipper pocket, and I'm glad I finally conquered my fear. It was really quite easy and will be a great place to store keys and other small items.

The bag is made of blue nylon (I really hope I never have to work with that stuff again! Also, nylon is super hard to photograph. It looks like it's glowing!), and the pocket is lined with a scrap of red fabric I had on hand.

Now, he's all set for his next run!