Bean Bags and ice cream...

I feel really accomplished. I just finished sewing two sets of bean bags. I did it myself and the last 6 that I did today only took about an hour (that is counting the time that it took to accidentally sew two of the pieces the wrong way and re-cut them out and sew it over again). Bean bags are really not very hard to make, but I still feel like doing a little dance around our living room, because I finished another useful sewing project.

You can make them REALLY quickly and easily by just sewing three sides of a square (make sure you face the sides inward that you want to be on the outside in the end). You could turn it inside out, put beans in, and sew all four sides again for a finished product. BUT they are bean bags, which means they have beans inside them. My daughter sticks EVERYTHING in her mouth right now, so I made mine double strong. Still easy, but the process for each is about twice as long (which is still not very long).

So I made 3" by 3" squares of some of my spare fabrics (light colors work best so they don't show through the outer layer). Then I made 4" by 4" squares of the fabric that I wanted to show as the outside of the bean bag. I did one set in pink felt (these ones will probably last longer) and one set in a pretty pink and cream flower print (these ones are prettier).

The inner bean bag takes about 5 seconds. You just sew up three sides, add the beans (I added about 7-8 tsp), and sew up the fourth side. Then you take the outer layer fabric and place two pieces with the good sides facing inward toward each other. Sew up three sides and turn it inside out. Put in the inner bean bag and then stitch up all 4 sides for your finished bean bag. To make it look nicer and also because the flower print fabric frays, I folded the last open side in to itself and then stitched. I did the same with my felt bean bags, though you really don't have to because the felt doesn't fray like the other fabric.

inner bag and outer felt bag stitched on three sides

felt bag turned inside out and inner bag going inside to get sewn up.

there are four in each set, but I only took pictures of the ones I did today. Pink felt bean bags.

Finished pink and cream flower print bean bags.

Last night I made another gourmet ice cream flavor from my Jeni's recipe book. It's called Blackstrap Praline Ice Cream. The pralines are basically walnuts cooked in honey and sugar. It gets the "blackstrap" part of it's name because apparently blackstrap is a kind of molasses. We don't have it, but I just used normal molasses. The book said it's just a very strong kind of molasses. Anyway, it turned out really good in taste and consistency both. The next ice cream flavor we plan to try is Kona Stout Ice Cream. Coffee and beer are two flavors Chris loves and this ice cream combines them. I don't drink either beverage, but usually don't mind things that have beer or coffee in them....we'll see when we make it. It's a win-win for Chris. He'll definitely like it and if I don't; more for him. If I do, then we can enjoy it together.

Blackstrap Praline ice cream

Wow! I'm feeling so productive I better go try to get a short workout in before I lose my motivation......