Bonsai Bag Part 2

Whenever I go on vacation I have the urge to make a new purse before we leave. I've been wanting to make another Bonsai Bag since my last one got so much use, but it a bit too faded to use anymore. While browsing Joann's I found a pretty purple corduroy and then panel fabric popped out at me, and I found matching piping. You might recognize the piping. Serendipitous fabric purchase. There was also no line at the cutting counter and I was out of the store before Charlie fell asleep in the car. Perfect. 

I forgot how big this purse is. It hold a whole lot of my crap. Or could, I'm trying to be better about the amount of stuff I carry around in there. 

Like my new twill tags? It's a lot easier to sew them in on the side seams. A lot of my purses and clothes have blank pieces of twill tape because the iron on transfer has peeled off. Hopefully having the tag on the side will reduce that.

I decided to opt for the zippered closure instead of the magnetic closure. Since we'll have our passports on this trip I wouldn't want to accidentally lose them! I figured a zipper would keep them more secure. 

The purse is ready for vacation, and I have 4 pairs of long johns packed. 

Lauren

Photo Challenge February Week 3

11: Entrance: This is one of the trails I take Penny walking or running on. I've never seen the gates opened before though. People have been snowmobiling a lot down the trails so they must be open for that. The snowmobiles scare Penny and bit and then she wants to chase them, but they do pack down the snow and make running a little easier. (*edit: I wrote this BEFORE getting stuck!)

12: Where You Ate Lunch: In my office, while catching up on work between students. Butternut squash/carrot soup and an orange, a very monochromatic lunch.


13: Walking: In an effort to go somewhere else to take Penny walking I tried to go to a trail we sometimes walk and run on. It was not plowed out however so I decided to drive a little further up the road and take a road that cuts around to the main road. That road was not plowed either! So, I just parked in front of a huge snowbank, put on my snowshoes (which I now keep in the car) and set out for a walk down an unplowed road. The snow was quite deep, wet and heavy due to the recent temperatures in the high 30s to 40s. Penny trailed behind me stepping in my snowshoe prints. There were tons of deer tracks. This is where we were when we turned around. We'll definitely go back walking there again. (*edit: this was also written before getting stuck, so much unintended overshadowing.)

14: Love Is.... Helping your wife dig and push her car out of a parking lot of snow, eating dinner in your smelly running clothes and dancing in the kitchen when you do the dishes. Not exactly the Valentine's Day we had been hoping for but we made the best of it.

15: Inside Your Fridge: I forgot and took this one on Saturday morning. Realized there was not milk for my cereal, it was hard but I resisted the urge to eat milk duds for breakfast.

16: Perfect: Yesterday was the perfect ski day. There was no wind, the temperature was in the high 30's, the conditions were great, and there was no one at the mountain. Charlie and I hardly waited in any lines.

17: In Your Hand: Charlie bought me a new pair of smartwool ski socks. We're going to Canada for vacation next week for a ski vacation. It is negative 6 degrees there right now. Hopefully these will keep me warm.

Hope you've had a good week. Only 5 more days until February vacation!

Lauren 

Perfect Piping Every Time

I love adding piping to projects. It adds a little extra something to a bag or dress. I've used it for lots of projects, mostly purses (you can see some past projects here, here, here, and here) It's taken me while to figure out how to sew piping without a huge hassle. It takes an extra step, but you won't regret it.  Here are my secrets to get perfect piping every time:

1. Pin the piping to the fabric you are using. In this case it's the contrasting piece of a purse. Match the raw edges. I like to leave a little tail at the ends just in case. 

 2. Sew along the already stitched line of the piping. Sew right on it! You can use a zipper foot, if you have one. Sew all the way around.

3. Check your work to make sure none of the piping stitches show. In this case there was a little section that showed so I placed pins to know where I needed to sew a little bit more. I sewed a little closer for the section between the pins in the righthand picture.

 5. Pin the other piece of fabric right sides together to the fabric and piping. Line up the raw edges. Now flip it over to the back side and sew on top of the stitches you made in step 2. Sewing on top of those stitches ensures that you will not be too far or too close to the piping.

6. Flip right sides out and inspect, fix any areas that might be too far and show the piping seems. Finish your project and enjoy!

Hope this helps anyone struggling with adding piping. 

I'm off to finish my project. It's super cold and windy so Charlie went skiing by himself while Penny and I sew and stay warm. 

Lauren 

Saturday Skiing

Charlie and I went skiing today and it was great. We thought it would be busy due to the Massachusetts kids being on vacation this week. In order to beat the rush we left early (9 am). Then we got there and there was hardly anyone around. It was great. The weather was pretty nice, it wasn't sunny but it was not windy or too cold. We did tons of runs and hardly waited at all in lift lines. 

Then when we got home we took Penny for a walk. I wanted to take a family picture. This was the best one we got. The others are of Penny licking Charlie's face. 

Now I am working on a sewing project and listening to the best station on Pandora; The Lumineers with Guster and Bob Dylan added for variety. Did you know about the add variety button? 

Hope you had a good Saturday!

Lauren 

Friday Snowshoeing Adventure

Penny and I went searching for a new place to walk/snowshoe today. We figured this was NOT a safe place to park: 

We thought that this WAS a safe place to park, so we set out for a snowshoe adventure. 

It was beautiful. I am so happy that the days are getting longer and that the temperatures are not quite a frigid. I'm also happy that there is still quite a bit of snow to snowshoe in, and not just mud everywhere. Here are some things I saw: 

A very random wood pile in the middle of the woods. 

A tiny bird nest. Look how the bird used pieces of birch bark for the nest. 

A pop of color even in the middle of winter. 

A mitten stealing bush. 

An old barn. Right after taking this picture I was thinking about how if I were with my Mom she would convince me to go inside and snoop around. Right then she called me. She must have known I was thinking about her. I did not have the guts to go inside by myself. I'm a wimp. 

A creepy underground bunker or garage of sorts. I definitely was not going in there alone. 

A bathtub, maybe? Not exactly sure what this is for. Bathing? Collecting sap? Sledding? 

The barn was wide open I suppose I could have gone in. 

A beautiful sunset on a gorgeous day. 

Here's hoping you've had a wonderful day as well!

Lauren 

Stuck!

I had great plans to go running this afternoon, come home, make Charlie a card, shower, and even start cooking dinner. Since Penny is not good leash runner we always take her to trails around our area where we can let her run free. When she's on the leash she tugs for you to go faster, then stops to sniff, and prefers to half step you, in other words runs right in front of you ready to trip you at all times. Today I took Penny to one of the easiest places to go, Profile Falls. There are old roads turned into trails and people snowshoe, ski, and snowmobile on the trail so it's pretty packed down and easy (by winter running standards) to run on. We got there, parked, thought about how there didn't used to be snow in the parking lot but now there was, shrugged, then went running. I realize this sounds dumb, at least the park about the snow. It snowed a ton on Friday and Saturday. I took Penny walking on Monday at Profile and there was some snow in the parking area, not a lot. Then I took her running on Tuesday and there was no snow in the parking lot, it had all melted or been plowed away. It hasn't snowed since then so I was a bit surprised to find that the parking lot was covered with snow.

Anyways I didn't think much of it and went for a run. An easy 3.5 miles. Once we got back to the parking lot I actually looked at the car and realized it was stuck in about 8 inches of snow and one side was sunk way into the snow. Penny hopped in the car and I surved my emergency suplies. Here is an inventory of emergency supplies in my car:

1. Wet wipes
2. Windshield scraper
3. Trash collector
4. Armorall wipes
5. Glass cleaning wipes
6. Ice skates
7. Yack Tracks
8. 3 Blankets
9. 1 pillow
10. First Aid Kit (1 pair of gloves, bandaids, gauze, small useless scissors)
11. Stale Smart Food crumbs (located all over the floor)
12. Maine Atlas
13. New Hampshire Atlas
14. Ripped map of the United States.

None of those supplies were of any help. I attempted to use the windshield scraper to chip away some of the snow and ice but figured that puncturing my tire would only add to my troubles. After many attempts to reverse and drive forward and getting no where, I put Penny on the leash and started walking home. A sensible person might have asked someone for a phone to call someone, but I didn't have anyone to call since I only know Charlie's number and he was at practice 40 minutes away and not with a cell phone,  and my parents phone numbers and they live far away. I could have asked one of the many trucks that passed me for help, but that seemed sketchy. I could have asked for a ride, but who wants to give a ride to a girl and her temperamental dog? Aside from the fact that I would never accept a ride from a stranger anyways. So we just walked. 

Since it has snowed there is little to no shoulder on the main road we had to walk on to get home. Penny nearly pulled my shoulder out of the socket dragging me down the road. Lots of drivers gave me looks that seemed to say "What are you doing wearing that, and walking that dog on this busy road?"Every car that drove by I hoped was Charlie on his way home, miraculously a half hour early. Alas he did not pass us. We walked the two miles home. This gave me lots of time to flume about my problem. Would I have to pay someone to tow me out? I don't feel like spending money on that, I'll just wait until spring. Logical reasoning right? By the time we got home I was super peeved and it was nearly dark. Instead of doing all of the things I thought I would do I ate 2 (or 4) Who Nu's. They are not nearly as good as Oreo's but I didn't care. 

After snarfing down the cookies and contemplating how I would manage until May without a car Charlie got home from work/practice. I told him the story instead of throwing his hands in the air and joining my pity party he swiftly put his boots back on and we set out to dig/push out the car. 

I swear this snow was not here two days ago!

We took turns digging, pushing, and flooring the gas. After about 20 minutes we finally got the car out; only 32 days before spring. 

You know you've picked a winner of a husband when he digs your car out of a snowy, dark, cold, parking lot. Once we got safely home I thanked Charlie for his help, and he said "It's the least I could do.....but lets not make this a Valentine's Day tradition okay?" 

Hope your Valentine's Day was special, and did not involve shoveling snow with a windshield scraper. 

Lauren