A Big Week for Us and the Cardinals

Tuesday morning at 12:08, our beautiful little girl was born. She was 7 pounds and 12 ounces. We got to the hospital at 10 Monday evening, and so thankfully things moved along quickly. She's adorable and content (and the cloth diaps are working just fine!). Her brother is as intrigued as a 2 year old can be, and we all are adjusting nicely.

Evidently while we were in the hospital, the cardinals who live in the bushes between our drive and our neighbors' hatched some babies too. They're such cool birds. I've been watching them for a couple of years, and I'm really glad they live in the bush and not the tree that we'll probably need to have removed before too long.

Anyhow, what a week!

Cloth Diaper Shout-Out

If I would have known that cloth diapers were so easy and absorbent, I would have used them with our son as well as our any-minute-now daughter. We ordered 48 diapers and 15 covers from monkeytoediapers.com and have been trying out the bigger size on our son at night. At night! He wakes up in the morning with dry clothes. I am totally amazed, and sad that we used disposables for his babyhood.

So, you ask, what makes cloth diapers so easy? They are just as hard to figure out as disposables are, for one. (I had never changed a diaper of any kind before he was born!) And the little covers (we have Thirsties) are so stinking cute--they just go on right over the diaper. And when they're wet, you just toss the whole thing right into your wet bag (I made 2 out of a vinyl shower curtain--one curtain is enough to make like 10!), which you can then toss right into the washer when it's time.

That's all well and good, you say, but what about poopy diapers? Oh, let me tell you! I was so grossed out about the prospect of soaking poopy diapers in our (solitary) toilet that I did not think very hard about cloth diapering before. But they sell these little liners that are flushable and biodegradable--you just lift out the mess and flush it away. Even if you have to toss it, it's better than tossing a disposable diaper into a landfill where it will stay for hundreds of years. I am SO pleased with cloth diapering so far... now if this baby would just come on out and meet us...

But what about the cost, you wonder. I think of it like this: we would be spending between $40 and $60 a month on disposables anyhow. We purchased 24 of each size of diaper, plus covers and these little non-pin diaper hooks called Snappis, and our bill was around $330. (I figure if you have many more than that, the urgency to get them to the washing machine dissipates and then you've got a really big, smelly mess to deal with.) Diapers and cute covers to last a baby's entire diaperhood pay for themselves in 6 months. That is amazing. This should be part of childbirth class!

The Burp Cloth

I guess I have baby stuff on the mind. (Perhaps because our due date is this week!) A couple of weeks ago, I had the joy of making my first set of embellished burp cloths. I am really, really happy with how they turned out, and also with how I wrapped them up. I used flannel and terry cloth, and then I just zig-zagged hearts onto all of them. I love how these 3 fabrics go together.

These were a gift for friends of ours expecting a baby in October.

Some Fun Custom Orders

Recently, my Seat Of My Pants time has been occupied with the many custom requests I received over the summer. Here are a few of them!

* a super-funky mini-messenger bag made with some excellent Alexander Henry Pucci Circles. I love the contrast between the circles on the main fabric and the stripes on the inside and the accents.

* an adorable monster wallet, inspired by the custom request of a customer from the Summer Market. I love the monster on the outside, and I think the binding on the edges is a great improvement. She asked for a wrist strap, which was a great idea!

* another lovely mini-messenger made to match a zippy pouch. This bag turned out so fantastic, plus it's really photogenic, don't you think?

* a pair of medium-sized totes

Baby Shoes

This morning I made a pair of baby booties. They will be a gift for a friend of ours who is having a baby... probably right now! I am really excited to know how to make these little shoes. I do not think I will add them to my Etsy shop, but they will make great gifts.

I found a really simple pattern for them online the other day, and I tried it a couple different ways. I have never used a pattern for anything before, so I think the more shoes I make, the
more I'll be able to make it my own.

Anyhow, here are the shoes! (They match a diaper bag that was ordered as a gift for the new mommy! I'll post that when it's done!)

Handbook to Handmade Volume 7

My hat is off to the talented Tim Adam of TimothyAdamDesigns, the driving force behind The Handbook to Handmade. I am so excited to see this book--I imagine it will be out soon! And guess what. Go ahead, guess. My purse Wild Wild is on the front cover! Yippee!

This book is great! Think of it. All of the artists' work will be seen wherever this book goes--to shows, to parties--everywhere! And what a lovely way to find out more about other artists, too. So I can't wait to see it!

Here's the link to Volume 7, and here you can find Tim's blog.

It Has Been a FULL Summer!

I can hardly believe that it is already back to school time! Our family has had a wonderfully full summer (and some of us are only growing more full by the moment--Baby #2 will be here within the next few weeks!).

Since the Open House, Seat Of My Pants has taken a little bit of a break... sort of. From the middle of July until the end of it, the Summer Residency at Ashland University was in full swing (en bon plein is the French cliche I remember learning for that phrase! Correct me if my memory is wrong!). The residency was completely wonderful. It really is like writer summer camp. In what other setting can you hang out with wildly successful poets and non-fiction writers and just soak it all in for 2 weeks, no other responsibilities? Nowhere!

On July 26th, I participated in a wonderful, amazing craft show in Avon Lake, Ohio at the Folger Home. It was just so lovely, well-coordinated, and so nice to be back to the lake--I forgot how much I enjoy it! My sweet husband even came with me for the day, and the two of us just hanging around does not happen much anymore. I ended up moving right around 20 items or so, which was phenomenal for me. I am still catching up on the custom requests I got that day, but that is not necessarily a bad thing--people were pretty understanding about my current (enormous) circumstances
.
Things that went well at the Folger Home Summer Market:
I was pretty pleased with the set-up of my booth.
I got to meet a couple of fellow Etsians (Hooray Virtuallori and VintageBroochCo!)
The zipper pulls (see the photo with the blue dish below) were a big hit--a thanks-for-shopping gift for customers, and something to keep me busy throughout the day!
I brought along an inventory list that was hugely helpful (as opposed to trying to write down every item that sells, simply checking it off is so much easier).
I ran out of business cards!
It was a beautiful day.

Open House

Yesterday, I held my very first Seat Of My Pants Open House.  I'd say about 20 people came, which is about what I was expecting (you know, because of that old saying: 1/3 of the people you invite will show up).  It was blazing hot of course, about 90 out, but it seemed like my guests had a nice time.

I made zipper pulls as a thanks for coming gift, and gave away pocket mirrors as a thanks for purchasing gift.  (ChristineRenee's Etsy shop is full of great stuff like that.)  And for fall hostesses, I have a really sweet thank you gift that includes a zippy pouch, a mirror, lotion, and lip balm--all Etsy artists--as well as a coupon for 10% of their party total off their purchase.  (Ivaart makes the lip balm, and StinkyDs makes the lotion--both are phenomenal!)

One thing I was extremely pleased about was the number of already-made items I was able to sell.  I love custom work--I always learn something new when I do it--but I am really kind of running out of time to make stuff this summer!  Not complaining--just stating the facts!  It was also really reassuring to see some of my creations find homes.  It made me think that maybe my taste in fabrics is not as strange as I was starting to think it must be!  Yippee!

Speaking of running low on time: today is the first day of my MFA Summer Residency at Ashland University.  8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for 2 weeks.  It's sort of like a vacation... sort of!  It'll be challenging because I am not in the school mindset yet!  But it will also be really good to get into that mindset once again.

What's New at Seat Of My Pants

Lots has been happening here at Seat Of My Pants since the last time I loved my blog.   Here's the short and sweet of it:

* Home bag parties--so far they're a hit!  I'm pleased to have had five successful bag parties so far.  It's a lot of fun, and I am slowly figuring out the rhythm of how they should go.  Packing is the hardest part, because my workshop is in the attic and the car of course is in the driveway.   I can get everything down in 5 trips, and none of it is heavy at all (although the relative weight will seem much less after I am walking around for one again!)  And in a couple of weeks, I'm having my first Seat Of My Pants Open House.  Slightly less moving involved with this one.  I'm really looking forward to all the froofy, girly food I'm gonna have at that event.

* Updated Diaper Bag design--It's a great big messenger bag with a very sexy front-flap zipper, binding, and super duper pleated pockets.  It has a few Katie Straps (which I call that because my friend Katie suggested that I add them), which are straps with snaps on them for hanging pacifiers or other things with hooks, a magnetic snap closure and a top snap flap to keep things under control at the top of the bag.  

* The Folger Home Summer Market in Avon Lake, Ohio--Oh, I can't tell you how excited I am about this event.  It's an invitation-only event--invitation only, can you believe it??  Erin the coordinator ran across my shop on Etsy.  It's July 26, right at Rt 83 and Lake Rd. in Avon.  There should be a lot of great stuff to see and do.  I will be about 8 months pregnant then, so that'll be interesting.  But I am so excited!  Click here to see their website.

* Friday With The Artist at Tower City in Cleveland--This is such an awesome venue because it is really busy with people walking.  Lisa the coordinator says there's a week of advertising for

 the shops all included.  And no jeans--very fancy!  I'm really looking forward to this one--it is on Aug. 1.  Click here for information about Friday With The Artist and other events at Tower City.

* The Handbook to Handmade--an awesome collection of Etsy artisans put together by Tim Adam.  The next book is volume 7.  It's a beautiful book--Tim does a really terrific job.  Each artist has about 4 pictures and the address of their Etsy shop included.  The back of the book features little advertising spots for other artists.  I think this is such a wonderful idea.  Every time we take the books around to various events, each of the artists is supporting everyone who is in the book.  How cool is that?  For more on the Handbook, check out the blog or the the forum thread.

Just Beachy

So excited about a new, inexpensive, easy design I came up with last night!  It's a beach bag.  Nothing's more beachy than a bag made of towel!  They are turning out super-cute and they are not terribly time-consuming to make.  I think they will be my bag party special.

Another bag party special--I tried my hand at earrings.  I only got enough stuff to make a couple pairs of them, but I think they're cute.  "Bones and Stones" is what I'll call them, because I used these awesome, light-weight bone beads and some pretty stones.  My mom thinks they are cute. 

Seat Of My Pants Land: Preparing For a Bag Party!

I haven't posted anything new to Etsy in several days, but I have been busy, busy, busy making new bags for the bag party coming up this week.  The hostess told me that the guests were "big bag ladies," so I have made a couple larger totes that I'm pretty happy with (one of which I want to keep of course!).  I also revisited a design I thought I'd retire, but it turned out pretty well too, so I think I'll keep it around.

New... and Let's Party!

Today I posted that Joel Dewberry diaper bag. Of course I still love it. I just don't need to keep one of everything I make. This is an important realization for someone who makes bags, I think.

Another new endeavor in the last few days: I made my first pair of earrings on Saturday. I like them a lot because of the combination of materials: African amber, ostrich egg, and synthetic blue quartz. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I got all the supplies from a really nifty bead shop in town, The Bead Cafe.

I am having a heck of a time deciding what to stock up on for my upcoming bag parties. I already have a bunch of medium and large tote bags, so I'm torn: do I make a few more diaper bags, or some wallets, or a handful of journal keepers, or something else all together? My husband thinks that people will want to snatch up the wallets. I kind of think I'll have a lot of custom orders inspired by items I've already made.

My first party is May 8. I am SO excited about it. I have these sweet little mirrors and lip balms for people who place orders, and I am almost as pumped about them as I am about the event itself! Christine at http://christinerenee.etsy.com made the mirrors for me--I cut the papers and decorated them, and she did the hard part. And Iva at http://ivaart.etsy.com made the world's best lip balm with a cute little Seat Of My Pants label on them. (I'm serious--I've never tried one better!) For the mirrors, I have made little tiny pouches to keep them from being scratched or finger-printed up. They turned out so nicely. Plus I made them from material I had that I didn't have other plans for. That makes me very happy.

Question of the day: What do you think I should do about my inventory? If you were hosting a bag party, would you like to see more totes, more diaper bags, more wallets, another size of bag, little pouch wallets, or something else??

The Tulips Are Showing Off Today

... and I just can't say that I blame them.  

Diaper Bag #2 makes 

its debut appearance today.  I like it so much that I haven't decided if I can bear to post it on Etsy.  I really just want to keep it.  I love the fabric (Joel Dewberry Chestnut Branches in Eggplant), and I am so thrilled with the design!

I've decided that this will be the "standard size" diaper bag that I post in my shop.  I can't wait to make another one!  It takes about a yard of each fabric (plus a ton of interfacing), and I would like to wait until I sell some totes to buy much more fabric.  Though I do have 2 yards of Michael Miller's Chocolate Animal Crackers headed my way... yippee!

Diaper Bag fit for Quadruplets

Well, maybe not quadruplets, not that I'd know.  It is massive though!  A friend of mine asked if I made them, and I said that I could, but definitely wanted to take a stab at it before I ordered and cut her fabric to smithereens.  Yesterday, with the only piece of fabric that I had that was big enough, I made my very first official diaper bag.  

The thing I'm most pleased with about the bag is its flap.  It's messenger bag style, and in the flap I put a lovely lined, zippered pocket.  My first successful zipper (outside of tiny felt change purses)!  

The design is right, but even for a diaper bag I think it's too wide.  At the bottom, it's 18 x 5--and the 5 is not the problem, but the 18 gets gradually wider until the top of the bag, where it's nearly 2 feet across.  I suppose it is a good design to keep on hand as an option, but I would personally prefer a slightly smaller bag.

The Silver Lining to the Sewing Blunder

You know, when you mess up round one that thoroughly, the good news is that it really does only get better from there.  (I have to mention this because it's hilarious: shortly after I posted last night, I went ahead and ironed the iron-on interfacing to the ironing board.  But it really did get better from there.)

The 2nd journal cover turned out beautifully.  It is not quite done--I need to pick up some snaps today--but it is really nice!  I am so pumped to show it off at the bag parties.  I made another one today with that same fabric as the church event wallet, and it also turned out nicely.  It's such a simple, lovely thing--it doesn't take that long to make at all.  

My original thought was to offer custom journal covers for any size of notebook, but after yesterday's fiasco, I think that may be more difficult than I first thought it would be!  I'd love to get some Etsy book makers' books to put in there.  

Up From Here!

So I am working on a new design that will be handy when I am doing bag parties: it's a journal / receipt book holder, and this way I will be able to keep notes on orders and all the receipts together.  There's a pen holder, too.  The designing process can only improve from where it is now.

Taking measurements for this thing was an approximation, as I was not sure how big it would actually need to be.  Yesterday I cut the last bits of an Amy Butler remnant (the gold morning glory one--my fave at the moment, I think, aside from the pink morning glory!) I had--cut them into the complete wrong sizes.  Sigh.

This evening, I tweaked the measurements a bit and tried again.  Everything was going swimmingly until I was 2 steps away from being done and noticed that the pocket I'd left for the back cover of a notebook was about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch too small.  A pain, but fixable: I flipped it inside out again and stitched up a new seam.  

Then I burned myself on the iron, ironed the opening and stitched it up too--twice, actually, before I got it so the dang thing would actually cover the whole notebook inside--yes, before I attached the part of the snap that should be attached before the sewing of that seam.  

And THEN I noticed that in the fixing of the 1/8 to 1/4 problem, THAT seam had come undone.  This is a prototype, I thought, This does not have to be perfect.  This is a first try.  So I gave a "decorative stitch" to (somewhat) repair that little error.  (Not very decorative.  Not very repaired.)

And at last, I went to affix the snap that I was supposed to affix before the stitching of the top seam.  I would pay somebody to invent a snap affixing pliers that left more room between the thing that holds the snap and the hinge in the pliers.  Because then I would not have to try and bunch up half a planner in that tiny little spot only to--after I'd affixed the snap of course--realize that such bunching would misalign the outer and inner fabrics permanently.  

Thus ends the first round of my attempt at making a planner cover.

By some grace of God, I have not broken anything in my workshop this evening, and I also have enough of the same fabric to try again.  

I am, however, out of snaps.

I'm Going To Bed Early Tonight...

... because I was up till midnight writing a paper last night.  

That's what the plan was anyway.  Then I looked at my clock and noticed that it was already after 11.  (At one point in my life, this time of evening would have been early.  It is not anymore!)

I made a bag tonight, and learned that one should not think to oneself, "My, this has been the fastest bag I've ever made.  How nice," until one is actually done with the bag.  I learned that those pearly snaps are actually very difficult to make work on home-dec fabric with corduroy (all reinforced with interfacing).  I got it to work, but it was no short or easy task!  We'll see if I'm awake before the sun comes up tomorrow morning.

Here is the bag.  It is a donation for the booster club.  I think I will be more pleased with it in the morning.  Ha!

The Blair Witch Photography: A Tutorial

A short tutorial for those who wonder what the effect of photographing your items outdoors using the "close up" function on your camera will have:

The top photo is taken with the "close up" function on.  Notice the creepiness.

The bottom photo is taken without the "close up" function.  Notice the lovely new leaf buds popping out of the branch.

In conclusion, if you'd like creeped out photos or if you are trying to get the background noise of your shot to quiet down a little, use the "close up" function.  If you want some background noise, don't use it.

This has been a public service announcement from Seat Of My Pants.  Thank you for reading it.

PS: I have never seen more of Blair Witch than they showed on network TV commercials. I'll keep it that way, thanks. :)

To Walk or Not To Walk?

I discovered the answer to that question yesterday when I attempted to sew a bag without my walking foot.  The sewing went fine with the wallet, but doing the top of the bag was extremely frustrating (close to impossible!) and the whole thing turned out all slanty.

So to add to the post about the Shark people--yes, turning the screw helped a lot, but getting a walking foot that was not missing a piece and worn out helped even more. 

I should get a picture of that little thing on here... 

Bag Parties, New Feet, and Baby Kicks, Oh my!

I am majorly pumped about a bag party in the making.  A friend of mine saw the bag I was carrying (a bird tote), and said, "You really should be doing that!  I'll have a bag party!"  So I have been working on fancying-up my designs a little bit with the various tote bags.

Along those lines, I have some completely awesome thank-you gifts coming soon for the bag party guests.  There will be lip balm with a customized Seat Of My Pants label on it (complete with an all-white background photo, a new one for me--see photo), courtesy ivaart (http://ivaart.etsy.com) and some funky little pocket mirrors made with scrapbook paper, courtesy ChristineRenee (http://christinerenee.etsy.com).  I just can't wait to see 'em all!

Yesterday I called the sewing machine guy and asked him if he could take a look at my defunct walking foot.  He did--all the parts poured out like a cartoon!  No wonder that thing didn't work.  He gave me a stellar deal on a new walking foot, and my sewing hour this morning went very smoothly.

Our little baby waby has been turning cartwheels this morning.  I think it's almost that time when I'll be able to SEE the movements!

Exercized.

So I called the Shark people this morning and explained why I had a walking foot on the Husky in the first place (the fabrics shifted around a lot without it--it worked great until The Incident). I wanted to get a walking foot for the Shark too, but he said that the problem sounded like the pressure tension was off (or something like that), and that I could fix that very easily by turning this little screw on the machine.  So I took the now defunct walking foot off the Husky and tightened the little screw, and voila, it sews like a dream now.  I could NOT believe it!  In a good way, mostly.  So things are moving more smoothly through the sewing machine today. 

In other news--the ultrasound went well.  I bought the right color onesie today. :)

I Hearted This Wallet

...with cream-colored corduroy!

This one is a donation for an event at our church tonight.  I really, really love how it turned out, but man oh man do I wish the sewing machine would love me back!  I am starting to think that the other day when I saw something whiz by my face, maybe it actually was part of the quilting foot.  The darn thing keeps slipping off and scooting around in the midst of things.  The guy who fixes machines around here has a 3-week waiting period, and I think that may be bad for my business!  My husband is going to see if he can find a shop that's not so backed up in the town where he works.

In other news, I have discovered that if it's over 65 degrees, it is too hot to sew vinyl, so it's back to fabric pockets in the wallets till the fall, I suppose.  That's OK though.

It is ultrasound day--I can't believe it's already 20 weeks.  Husb felt the kick for the first time last night.

Initially Speaking

Just finished up a super-sweet initial tote / wallet combo for a lovely customer who found my ad on craigslist.  It's made from AH light bright green, with a brown cord on the inside.  I am really pleased with how the letters turned out. I have found that my Shark sewing machine (has anybody had any experience with Shark?) does awesome zigzag.  I love my little Husky, but he is feeling a little under the weather zigzag-wise.  I think there's a combination of things going on with his tension, his quilting foot, and the fact that I need to take him in for his check-up.

Anyway, here are a couple photos of the set.  It's going in the mail today! 

Being a Student Today

Have you read any of Yusef Komunyakaa's poetry? Tonight I wrote a paper on "Songs for My Father." I really, really like that poem. The paper is only about 7 pages long, which is not that long considering the poem itself is 5 pages! But I'm pretty happy with my paper. And so I am getting more caught up with school work than I was, and more behind in making new things for my shop than I was, too! Such is life, I suppose, when you are a wife, a mommy, a student, and a bag maker.

I do have a couple of bags to make this weekend: I have a black and white with yellow all over in the plans, as well as my first craigslist order to work on. I can't wait to get to work with those awesome new fabrics!

Today, Relist.

Today I relisted some items in my shop.  The morning has been coming a little too early for me to actually get up the last couple of days, so nothing new today.  I did relist a sweet big tote and matching wallet though.  I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

I am also trying to be caught up with my distance learning grad school course.  It is way WAY harder to keep on top of things than I imagined it would be, that's for sure.

New fabric came in the mail yesterday from catylouquilts.etsy.com.  Beautiful stuff--Michael Miller, Alexander Henry, Joel Dewberry.  It just made my day!  catylou even made a special listing for me.  How nice.

Yay Etsy!

I knew you could do it!  Back up and running, horray!

New Photos Today!

It's finally sunny today, so I took some of my latest bags out to get some brighter pictures of them.  It's just amazing how poorly the colors photograph inside!  I like how they turned out--the colors are much more true to how they actually look.

The wonders of possessed technology continue... just as I was about to finish uploading the last new photo, Etsy's server stops working.  I'm sure they'll get it figured out soon.  They are really good about this type of thing.

(Better photos, huh?) 

Possessed Sewing Machine? Maybe.

Is it possible that my trusty little Husky has suddenly become demon-possessed?  How ELSE do you explain the fact that, after sewing about 20 bags and wallets, it suddenly has come unaligned?  Doesn't unalignment take time??  

The problem, I finally discovered, is that the needle is hitting the foot instead of the fabric.  (I assume this has something to do with alignment somewhere.)  It doesn't hit the foot if there's no fabric under it.  That's handy, isn't it?  And if I take the Husky in for service, I'll be without him for 2 weeks!  What to do, what to do?  (Of course, take it in before someone gets hurt!)

On a lighter (non-possessed) note, I DID figure out how to sew a hem in the vinyl I'm using for the wallets these days.  With a nod to William Carlos Williams, so much depends on the lower tension.

Our Outing and The Bag Rack

...was a success, if you ask me.  I picked up a couple funky prints I haven't seen before, and they will become a handful of wallets and a couple bags.  We hit an adorable little yarn / fabric shop, and then a massive craft warehouse--what a great way to spend a morning... and afternoon!

My husband surprised me and hung up the finished bag rack while I was out and about.  It turned out great--I am not surprised by that!

Early Morning Crafting

I had a bunch of creeped-out dreams just before I woke up this morning, so I was not excited to get up and go hang out in the dark attic alone... but I did.  I made a cute little wallet from the same fabric as the Project Night Night tote.  

This morning I'm going fabric hunting with my mother-in-law.  Can't wait!  

Project Night Night Tote Finished!

Woo-hoo!  I just finished the tote for Project Night Night.  I am SO pleased with how it turned out.  I also experimented with photographing it in different areas of our house. My favorite shot is this one, on the doorknob of the closet by the living room stairs.  (I love that this house came with all original door knobs!)  

A New Bag Rack!

I am so excited!  My dear husband has made me an absolutely stunning rack to hang my bags on.  It's made from a maple board he found in the attic, and some dowel rods.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it in the basement!  I knew it would be good, because he's good at making stuff like that, but I had no idea how lovely it would be.  It'll go up tomorrow, we think.  Such a nice addition to my little workshop. 

"My little workshop" is actually in the biggest room of the house--the finished part of the attic.  It is kind of chilly up here now, but it's so nice to confine all of Seat Of My Pants to one room of the house, particularly away from curious little 2-year old hands.  It's working out nicely, except for the photography.  There's the cutting table, the sewing machine desk, a tree-type rack for bags (way too big for this space, but great for craft shows), and the guest bed, which is currently doubling as a shelf for fabric.

Hi There!

Hello!  This is my new blog.  It's actually my only blog, new today.  It's part of my grand plan to be a successful bag maker.  

Other points in my plan so far: To make something just about every day, and to take awesome pictures for my Etsy shop.  So far I'm doing pretty well with the making something just about every day, and medium well (also how I like my steaks, not that I eat a whole ton of 'em) on the photos.  

In addition to being a bag maker, I also am a wife, mommy, grad student, poet, and former English teacher.

I think that'll do it for now.  Let's see how this turns out.

Project Night Night

This evening I got started on a bag I'm making for Project Night Night.  I found out about this wonderful project through the Alchemy feature of Etsy.com, and when I read more about it here http://www.projectnightnight.org/, I was so pumped to make a bag for their silent auction in October.  I'm using a fabulous Amy Butler print with a cream colored corduroy.  I'll probably finish it tomorrow!