Bags and bags...

I love bags, big one, little ones, any shape ones!!! I think I can safely say that Kins and I are bag crazy. I have always teased Kins about her bag patterns (the girl has a ton of them!!! and she lets me borrow them, YEAH KINS!!! my weakness is Christmas fabric or scrapbook products, I have a ton of those)

I have always been alittle afraid of bags, they have those square bottoms and so many of them have Z-I-P-P-E-R-S, Ugggggg those really scare me. Well I have faced that fear and you know what it ain't such a big boogie boo as I thought! I can do it!!! I have made five bags in the last three months. I have made a duffel bag (didn't take a picture of it but it is black/brown/gold and big and has a zipper), it was the practice bag to get ready for MIL D's bag. Then I made this little tote bag with prairie points (they intimidate some people, I didn't know enough to be intimidated!!) Then I made MIL D's bag, I have teased it before but it was for her birthday and it came together really nicely. It had a zipper and a square bottom, two things I was not sure how to do.

I liked how it came together so well, that I ripped apart my kids jeans (they had out grown them) and made this little number. It came together so well and so quick. I made it very simple, no zipper!!!

It will be going into our Etsy shop when we get it set up. My little girl K liked it so much she asked me to make her one like the jean one but with the zipper top with Grandmas.

I then tackled a purse/bag/clutch, that was fun. It was also a challenge because of how tight the corners were and some of the materials used. I have been carrying it every since and have gotten so many compliments on it! It is a keeper!! (see picture above)

Kins has made this bright softball bag with grommets that is so cool!! It is really big and bright, here is a sneak at it.

I have a new one on my table now, I am creating K's bag now with this fun furry trim and have started sewing it. That fun furry trim is slippery, makes for some fun sewing. So check back later in the week and see how K's bag turns out!!!

OH YEAH!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIL D!!!!!! Hope you are having a wonderful time in VA!! Here is your bag!! (she said I could show her a picture of it since she won't get the bag till mid May) Hope you like it, have fun and see ya in a couple weeks!!! Love you so much and thank you so much for being such a wonderful MIL.

Thanks for stopping by our table and C you later, Lala

Too Scared to Try?

What are you too scared to try? Have you every been too to intimidated to try something new? I think sometimes we let things or people intimidates us into not trying something new. I know that I have been in that position, MANY times.

I let it stop me from quilting for many years. I had a Block of the Month (BOM) that I had purchased that I kept putting off starting for a longest time. I would pull it out, do a block, not live up to my expectations, put it back in the trunk. It would live there for a while, then it would come out again, another block, back in the trunk it would go!! I would look on with envy when I would go to the quilt shows, or when I would come across a blog with beautiful quilts on it. I never noticed the mismatched points or the flaws, NEVER saw them, just saw the beautiful finished product and wished I could do it that too.

I would do the same thing when I would decorate cakes. I would have to force myself to step away from the cake before I screwed them up. And in the end, no one saw the flaws that I saw when I looked at those cakes.

I have found that YOU have to be BRAVE and STEP OUT of yourself and JUST DO IT!!!! (now where did that come from?) not be a scary cat as my great niece would say. I did just that last summer and created my first quilt. Now my mom will tell you, I had to re-cut some blocks because I cut them wrong, I ripped more seams then I sewed in some sessions but it got done. The blocks don't all line up, but who cares? I don't, it looks beautiful on our bed. I have since gone on too make another one for my son ( I can find the mistakes, but he has no clue) and I have finished that BOM and it is just waiting to be quilted. MY seam ripper is my friend, sometimes I have a better relationship with it than I do with my sewing machine. I know that on every sewing project I have done so far there has been at least one seam that has had to be ripped out. Those few flaws are what makes them unique. When I do paper crafting, Undo is my favorite product. There are going to be mistakes, what you learn from those mistakes is what makes you grow as a person, creatively that is good.

As Kins and I have started this journey we knew we would have to face challenges and things we have never done before. For me that is intimidating. We have learned alot, how to set bindings, how to bead, what works and what doesn't. We have challenged each other and supported each other in taking that step outside of our comfort zone. I have found a great cheerleader in Kins and I am gratefully for her. I only hope she feels that same way. She has challenged me (don't know if she knows that) to step outside my comfort zone and try new things. Things that I have always thought would be hard, I am find out are really not. Things she has never done (setting grommets) she is trying. (had such fun pounding those things in) I hope that we keep finding things to challenge us. What are you wanting to try? Step up and try!! Chances are you will learn something and have fun doing it too!!! I think I may just try that art quilt yet, maybe ;)

So what new and challenging thing is on your table this week? See you later, Lala

Busy table and week....

Ok, so by now you know that We are not going to be an everyday poster. We are just getting started and having to balance working, with mommy things, wife things, house things, and life things in general, so blogging is not going to happen every day. I'm hoping for maybe three times a week.

Last week was good, busy good! Kins and I had some time to work on some things we got in the plans for the Etsy shop. We worked with some beads to come up with some test pieces. We planning on bookmarks, came up with some good layouts for the beads, figured out some issues with length, how to finish them off. All in all it was a good crafting day spent with a good friend.

I finished my dear MIL's bag! WHOOO HOOOO, it is done and in time for her birthday at that, which is amazing if you know me at all!! (I am almost always late with birthday cards and gifts) I have to admit, I had an idea in my head of the fabric I wanted to use and could not find exactly what I wanted. She really didn't care, other than she wanted blue to match some existing stuff, it had to have a closure to keep the weather out and be big enough to be used as a briefcase type bag. I found some fabrics, I liked them, but didn't love them. I knew that MIL would love them, but I just wasn't feeling it. So it took awhile to work up the layout, then I had to work up the courage to cut the fabric! OH My, that is one of the hardest things for me, because I'm never really sure of myself, Yikes what if I screw up. I know measure twice, cut once!! But still I knew if I messed up the fat quarters I had that I would have to stop and redesign the bag layout. So I cut, quilted, started feeling the groove, started liking the fabric. The pattern is great, makes putting in zippers really easy. The bag went together really quick once I got going. After I got it all done,

I love the bag! I don't know MIL D you may have to get another one, I like this one too much now. I'm not posting the whole bag because after all it is a birthday gift, just a sneak peak.

After that I was on a roll, I put together this little (NOT) clutch/handbag from a Amy Butler pattern (http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/main.php?fl=0), it went together in a day!!! I was amazed how easy it was once I got started, I kept thinking while I was pre-reading the directions, this is going to take forever!!! But it didn't, it was really quick. I started cutting it out at 10 am, stop for a phone call (30 min), stop for lunch (30 min), then stop to get ready for work at 3 pm and all I had left to do was put the strap on!!! Go Figure, I must be getting better at something, or it was so simply anyone can do it. I love the fabric, so springy/summery!! I would change a few things, like adding pockets to the inside, making it a little stiffer or something (it slumps in the middle now that it is filled) BUT it is so darn cute!!!I got the fabric at Joann's. I am in no way a fabric snob, I use anything and I happen to thing that Jo-Ann's fabric is nice (not Moda nice but nice) plus it is affordable. Price some Amy Butler fabric and you will know what I mean. Well it is done and it is HOT (as my friend C says).

Well what else got done this week besides the boring stuff in the house and home like mowing the yard, which you should not have to do the first week of APRIL!!! W hung my window, I so love it there!!! Got a blank canvas to start work on another wall hanging, this time going to try mixed media see how that goes. Ripped apart my kids old jeans, thinking that they would make a lovely tote bag. Even kept some of the holes intact thinking that I'll put fabric behind them. Have to wait and see about that one till next week, it is on the table for tomorrow!!!

My DD K wanted to make some button earrings (my MIL (notice I left off the wonderful this time ;) gave her a bunch of buttons and a book for Christmas this year, do you know how many buttons I have picked up off the floor, well the good side is she has stopped raiding my stash in my craft area) So we sat tonight and did those, took about 1/2 hour and she got some cute earrings to boot. Showed her how to crimp beads on and how to string them. Now she has grand plans to make them for her cousins for their birthday present (wonder where she gets making grand plans from, surely not me!!)

So that is what wound up being on my creative table this last week. I did miss writing about my week as it happen so hopefully I'll get another post out this week after I work on that wall canvas and the jean tote. Until then, happy crafting, gardening or whatever floats your creative spirit!!

Lala