A WIP finished!

With the end of bag month looming, and beautiful bags like this, I thought I'd finally finish my patchwork tote from InStitches. I have had a love/hate relationship with this bag since I started it. It was the first project in the book that really caught my eye and I think I was a little ambitious in starting it. While Amy Butler has great detail in her patterns, it is pretty much lost on me. Completely too wordy for my craft ADD. Seriously. I start reading, then the middle starts getting boring, skip to the end of the pattern, start sewing, then realize, shit, I should have read that more thoroughly. Which wouldn't be that much of an inconvenience if my seam ripper hadn't broken like 3 months ago and I never replaced it.





Oh, anyway, where am I going with this. Last night I finally got it together to finish the bag. I even stayed downstairs after dark when John was at work. I only got a little freaked out. So I happily sewed along until I realized, hmm, these handles are a little far apart. Riiiiiight, reading the directions problem again. Followed by the seam ripper issue, again. Those puppies are staying right where they are for now.




All in all, I'm not entirely happy with how the bag came out. Not enough disappointment to deter me from trying again though. After I finished sewing, I realized that the pattern isn't as difficult as I thought it was. I was just getting too confused by all the words. I used fusible fleece and I think it's perhaps a little too bulky for this project. Next time I'll try some flannel and maybe some of my 5" squares. Hopefully next time will be more successful.


And in other news, I have placed some water catching containers by our gutters in anticipation for some rain. (I'll try to send it up your way Lera). Kelli has declared this Green Week, and I'm really loving reading everyone's tips to better our habits for the environment. Now if only I could get Isaiah out of diapers. Although, now that I think about it, that may bring up some more poop problems.