Saturday, December 10, 2011

A few finished bags

Finally, a bit of progress! I would have liked to have had a few more things finished at this point, but I ran in to quite a few problems on this last purse I made and that has really held me up.  I'm not so sure why I had such a hard time with this, but I think it was probably a combination of a difficult pattern (this one is pretty structured, so the pieces were hard to maneuver and the layers got pretty thick) and me making some really silly mistakes (including but not limited to: using the wrong pieces to make the handles, putting the handles on upside down, ripping the fabric while taking off the incorrectly placed handles, acidentally sewing the two sides of the purse together while attaching the top panel, and then there was the piping, which was a whole issue in itself.)  Of course due to all these mistakes I wound up running out of thread and having to make a trip to the store in the middle of it...needless to say, this bag has been my nemesis! Oh well, the good news is, it's finally finished and looks pretty good...the bad news is, I'm slated to make another one!  While fighting with putting the piped pieces together I was cursing myself for having already cut out the pieces for the other one...otherwise, that plan would definitely be changed.  But alas, I'm not about to waste all that fabric, so another one it shall be.  Hopefully it will go a little smoother since I kind of know what to expect now, and a few changes will probably be made as well (right now I'm debating whether or not the second one will even have piping!)   Anyway, here is the msot recently completed bag, the Sophia Carry All which will go to my mother-in-law.

Exterior Sophia Carry All

Close up of piping on Sophia Carry All

Interior Sophia Carry All

I also finished the Blossom Handbag for my bestie last weekend, and I love it! I think this one will be perfect for her. 

Exterior Blossom Handbag

Interior Blosom Handbag

Finally, here are some better pictures of the Teardrop Bag for my other bestie that I've already shown.  I finally got a new memory card so no more grainy cell phone pics, hooray! (Although, please excuse the date on the photos...forgot that function was on. Oops!)

Exterior Teardop Bag

Interior Teardrop Bag

I've still got two more bags to make and I want to make a wrislet for my mom, but I am winging the design on that one so I'm uncertain at this point if it will happen before Christmas.  Also, I'm expecting the fabric I ordered for my newphew's blankets to come in Monday, so as soon as that gets here I'll try to whip those up so I can get them in the mail.  I think I'm going to need a miracle to finish all this in time!! Wish me luck!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Because I don't have enough to do already...

In the middle of one of my bags, I realized I was about to run out of thread and had the wrong colored zipper, so I had to make a quick run to the craft store to pick up these two things...


And this is what I came out with! Oops...I should know by now to not browse if I'm there for something particular, but I just can't help myself! 


The remnants bin was all 50% off, I usually do not find anything there but at that price it doesn't hurt to look...This time I found a half yard of two nice quilting fabrics which will be nice in my stash, along with some really pretty fleece which I decided needed to be a baby blanket for my dear friend's baby.  Since I was now planning a new blanket, I also had to get the pink paisley flannel, satin blanket binding (which I've never used but I'm hoping it will help make this a quick project...) and the tan felt to put her name on it.  I'll probably put that together after I finish the bag I'm currently on, as this one's a doozy and I'll probably need something simple to relax with!  Also, I found a cute little mouse ornament, and some cheapo scissors for the house since the dog ate the handle off our last pair....All in all, I'd say my "quick" trip was a success!  Now I'm off to try to solve my tension problems that decided to randomly start when half way through my edge stitching I had to switch to the new spool of thread...grumble grumble grumble....