TGIF

On my "Get it Together Tuesday" this week I did two projects for the Sew-N-Tell Friday over on Amy's blog. First I finished up a buttercup bag I have been wanting to make for about a month from an Amy Butler fat quarter I got in North Carolina. I really love free patterns and also patterns that only require a fat quarter, could it be any better?I modified the pattern a little by adding some piping. It's an idea I saw on the buttercup bag flickr page. It was pretty easy, and I think it adds a little more pizazz to the bag. I also didn't add a magnetic clasp simply because I forgot, but I think this was a subconscious lapse of memory because I am afraid of magnetic clasps since they always seem to be too strong for my weak fabric and rip tiny holes into my sewing. Lastly, I added a zippered pocket on the inside of the purse instead of just an open pocket. I used steps from the Hobo Bag pattern, steps 12-17 to add the zippered pocket.
While I was in North Carolina Lorelei and I saw a cute little "mini duffel bag" and the pattern was for sale for $8. I didn't buy it because it was too expensive but I promised Lorelei I could make her one without a pattern. Since my return I have been kicking myself for not buying the pattern because I forgot what the bag looked like, how big it was, the dimensions. Then the other day I was poking around the blog-o-sphere and by some miraculous twist of fate the good luck gods shone down on me and I found the pattern for free online! Thanks to Indie House for the free tutorial! Here are the results:
I used some very old fabric that I have left over from when my mom made me a duvet cover sophomore year of high school. I love this fabric. I a very hesitant about using it for anything, because I don't want to waste it. But this bag is much smaller than it looks, so I didn't have to use much of the precious fabric. I did make some modifications. The first is that I added 2 tabs on either side of the zipper to hold onto to zip and unzip the bag. I also added a cover around the seams. I am not sure if there is a technical word for this but I didn't want the seams to be rough on the inside and fray and look yucky. So I covered them up, no more yucky seams. The picture of the non-yucky seam is kind of yucky, but you get the idea.
In the future I think I might make the bag a little bigger, it's pretty small, only about 5 x3x2. I will also probably use stiffer interfacing because the bag is not that sturdy. I will be buying more supplies soon to get crackin' on some more of them. The only problem is that now I have to make one for Lorelei. Just kidding Lorelei! I'll be making you one soon!

Also I have been hearing about an online holiday workshop put on by Betz White. In the workshop you make all kinds of ornaments, small gifts, and decorations. This sounds like something I would love, however, the workshop costs $40 and that's not including materials. And the materials are felted sweaters, where oh where will I find a bunch of wool sweaters to felt? Betz said you can use regular felt, but I want these things to look great if I am going to make them. So I still have some deciding to do...what do you think?

This weekend Charles and I are going to Maine to relive our college hay days. Well, at least Charlie is; he is running in his alumni meet, and I am contemplating diving in my alumni meet. I don't even know if I have a swim suit that fits me. This thought has made me realize how unfair the difference between our two sports are. If you ran in college you can keep running, it's pretty easy in fact. However, if you dove in college, good luck finding not only a pool with a diving board but also one that would let you do more than a front dive, something about liability. (Things like that make me wonder why I ever was a part of such a dangerous sport to being with). So anyways that is just my early morning rant, a.k.a. excuse, for why I would/will do poorly in the alumni meet and Charlie will run great in his alumni meet. Good luck Charlie, I hope you run great and still have a, ex-diver girlfriend who is in one piece when you finish the race!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Lauren