I made these drawing kits to-go for the kids yesterday. I’m not sharing the pattern, well, because I’m planning to sell them. And the pattern. Coming soon!

Each kit is a padded suit case with hook-and-loop (Velcro) closure. There is a pocket on each side of the inside cover for paper, stickers etc. In the middle there is a zippered pocket for colors, scissors and any other equipment your child might need.

These are for younger children, sized to fit A5 size paper (or A4 folded in half). For older kids there will be larger size, to fit A4/letter paper.

Boy & girl versions:

After we made such a nice blanket, we need a tote to carry it and other essentials (I never leave the house without baby wipes anymore).

I wanted to use the leftover fabric from the blanket to create a fun tote with a trim, but if you decide to make it without, simply ignore those instructions.

I remembered that I am also a web developer, so instead of providing absolute measurements and letting you calculate yourself if you decide to make it a different size, I’m proud to present a built in calculator. Simply enter the final measurements you want, click “Calculate” and all the measurements will be miraculously updated.

Final measurements:

Materials

• Main pieces, cut 4: 32cm X 42cm
• Side pieces, cut 2 & strap, cut 1: 106cm X 12cm
• Trim, cut 2: 108cm X 4cm
• Zipper pocket top, cut 1: 8cm X 42cm
• Zipper pocket bottom, cut 1: 15cm X 42cm
• Zipper at least 40cm long
• If you’d like to use this tote on a stroller, you’ll need snaps or Velcro.

It’s summer, and we go out to the park almost every day. My oldest hooks up with other kids and runs around and up and down the slides, but my little one still needs me to sit with her on the grass. I used to have a water proof blanket we got as a gift from work at some point, but it disappeared a while ago and I haven’t replaced it. Until now. And what could be better than a matching tote for carrying all the outing must haves?

Before you get started, decide the size you want your blanket to be. If you want your stitched diagonal squares to be symmetrical in all directions, you should take this into account in your calculations. I didn’t and was sorry later… I used my ruler’s width as the size of the squares, it makes it much easier to mark and make sure they’re straight and all the same size.

If you care about it being symmetrical you can do the following calculation: So, let’s say my square size is X, I’m using 8th grade math to figure out the diagonal size: X^2+X^2=Y^2 ==> Y=1.41X. In other words, multiply X by 1.41 to get the length of the of the diagonal. The length and width of the blanket should be some product of this number (it doesn’t have to be the same for both).