Drawstring Bag Toy Play Mat with Zipper

For the Texting While Sewing Contest, with Amy over at During Quiet Time blog.  The challenge was to make a bag that includes a zipper and the design of the bag must use text fabric in a creative way, well I hope I have succeeded.

How easy was that?  A Zipper Text print right there!

I wanted to create something fun for my 4 Kids Christmas Swap Partner.  He is a little boy who loves music and one of the items his mom put in her mosaic was a car play mat, but she also wanted something that could be taken to Grandma's house.  So the perfect thing was a Drawstring Bag Toy Play Mat!  and what is wonderful is that Man Sewing put together a YouTube video on how to make one, I am such a visual learner!

I made 2 changes to the pattern, I made the interior a patchwork I-Spy ABC Quilt! I had to hand quilt it since I injured my back last week and I could not sit at a sewing machine, I love the extra texture it adds to the quilt.

AND I added a zipper in the middle of it so you can fold it up and tuck the toys into the zippered pocket and not worry about the toys falling out as she drives to Grandma's house.

text fabric inside ;)

 On a few of the blocks I embroidered the letter, but not on all of them, there are a few Instrument I-Spy blocks that might be harder to recognize.
These are some of my favorite blocks from the quilt.

Those Jellyfish, so cute, wasn't sure if he would know H for Hen, and those 3 flutes can also be called Nose Flutes!

Sadly enough I did not have enough of the ABC print for the exterior outside so I added a cute Cat Music Text print on 2 ends.

I think I will be making another one in the future, cause my daughter really liked it!  I asked her to pose playing on it for a photo and told her I would only get a picture of her back, she has been on a no photo kick since our vacation this summer.

But then she surprised me!

And asked for all of these photos to be taken, yes she still has a Pacifier, (guilty look by me) but she was sick all last night so she was especially needy for it today.
She lost her tooth 2 weeks ago and this is the first photo she has allowed me to make even though I have begged her for one.  Of course this picture took me a while to get also, but at least she was telling me to keep taking pictures and I was telling her funny things to make her smile.

Please move your Bibila (Pacifier in Greek) out of the way honey so I can take a picture of the zippered text pocket.

Many of the music prints also have text written on them, and I tried to match them up next to there ABC print, so this one says Butterfly and I put it next to the Birds.  Several of these music prints I bought from Sew Me a Song a sponsor of the Texting While Sewing Contest.

Check out the rest of the entrants on IG with the hashtag #textingwhilesewing2