Crafting ADD Part 2 aka 3 more reasons

Yeah, so here are some more excuses as to why I am a lazy blogger, but prolific crafter:

1.  The Miss Lettie bag

Miss Lettie is my work mom and I just love her!  You know when you meet somebody, and you just click...that's me and my Miss Lettie!  She's the person who makes work fun for me!  ...Ok, well not the work part...the being at work part...the fun from being at work caused by Miss Lettie makes the actual work much better though!  I have been at my current job for a little over a year now...Miss Lettie has been there for 35 years...longer than I have been alive!  I just can not fathom that!  She is just the best person eva!

Anyway, about the bag...it is my trusty Simplicity Its So Easy 2830 pattern.  I have my own bag out of this and I sewed one for my friend Maria and a few others for people I work with.  Miss Lettie asked me if I would make her one if she got the fabric.  I felt HONORED!!!  Its one thing when you make something and give it away to an innocent bystander while they least expect it and they are so surprised...or too polite...to tell you they they really don't want the thing.  But holy cannoli, its a totally different and wonderful thing when somebody appreciates something so much that they request one!  It was a pee my pants with delight moment for me!  She picked such good fabric too!  I love the color combo on this and the mixing of patterns...I am a no solids kind of gal, so it worked out well!  I did a little pattern tweaking with this one.  I added the liner, as is my custom.  I do not know why a person would want a liner-less bag at all...messy looking and not so sturdy...you can read the rant on that in a previous post.  I have also adjusted the handles situation before too, because the way the pattern tells you to do it is ...kinda dumb...  Plus, they ended up being super thin, and if you are like me and carry hippos in your purse, thin straps cut into the shoulders a little...So I used a 1" bias tape maker for mine...much better.  The latest change that I made also involves the straps.  In the original pattern, you sew one line up the center of the strap.  I sewed a line on each edge of the straps.  I really think this one little detail makes a huge difference in the end result.  It looks so much more finished...or polished...or professionally done...or...just better than before. 

2. So, to go with the purse, I made another fabulous Wee Wonderful creation:

Bjorn Bjornson!!!

He turned out so-o-o-o-o good.  No credit for me; Hillary Lang is the master of great instructions...I love the Wee Wonderfuls book so much...as you can tell from my previous posts.  If she ever writes another book, I will be the first in line to buy it...I will pay full retail, and not wait for amazon.com.  I will be camping out at the book store on the night before its released so that I can be numero uno book purchaser. 

Bjorn was surprisingly easy to make.  The two difficult things for me were using the faux fur and button joint accomplishing.  Faux fur is a little tricky to use, maybe because this was my first time using it, I don't know.  Two things that are useful information in this regard are 1. make sure your fur is facing the same direction and 2. when you are done sewing, pull the fur that got caught in your stitches out with a needle (or some such thing).  Again, it just makes your work look so much better.  Although, I bet you could do something cool with making your fur go different directions...more experimentation is required...  Another thing that should be noted:  faux fur will fill your lungs.  I think I was coughing up bear hair for two weeks after working with the stuff!

Button joints were difficult because I only have two hands.  I need some sort of vice or something next time... I had a tricky time getting the appendages even because of my lack of third arm...  Also, I think I got excited and made the stitches a little tight...as proven by the following photo:

What's that Bjorn Bjornson?  A broken button?  Oh yes it is...  It was almost a tragedy, because I thought I only had four of the buttons I used, but thankfully, I found the fifth, and tragedy was averted!  Although again, I think mismatched buttons would be kinda nifty...  I don't know if you can tell in the pictures, but his nose is a little crookedy...I was very sad about this at first, but now I think it gives him a good expression...

I have a few more good excuses left (as to why I am a bad blogger but a good crafter), but that will have to wait for another day...soon, I swear! 

3. In the meantime, let me leave you with what I will call mustache appreciation:

The top one is me.  The bottom one is my sisters, Teddy on the left and M Jr on the right.  Aren't they both beautiful and manly...I love them so!  We had a great outing while M Jr was here for a visit!  On a funny side note, when I pulled the eyebrow mustaches off, a good portion of my actual eyebrows came off with them...let's just say I won't need to pluck for a while...  I will be posting more about our girls day out on my other blog, the red clover, which you can find the link to in the side bar to the right, if you are so inclined...  Mostly its gonna be a lot more mustache pictures...  So join me for mustache appreciation in Gatlinburg.

Comments

[Kristen Combs]

I love those mustache pics! And sorry to hear about the eyebrows, sounds painful! Thanks for stopping at my blog, such a lovely comment you left. Glad to meet a fellow blogger. Are you on twitter or pinterest? I'm on both ^_^ @Pearl Gateway. Oh and I'm on FB too if you "like" Pearl Gateway lol! :-) I like the bag you made; I don't sew (but I should). Maybe we can get together and craft sometime!

xoxo
Kristina

[Amy]

You will be relieved to hear that my eyebrows are starting to grow back in...although possibly not as relieved asI am! I am on twitter and pinterest, as CraftyMcS.I am new to both of them, and most of my tweets consist of things I have pinned...how I got along without pinterest, I will never know!I will have to head over to facebook and give you the thumbs up for sure! Thanks for checking out my blog...you will have to check back sometime; I have evil plans for doing some simple tutorials. I wish you would do one for your blog! I am newer to paper crafting, and I would love to seewhat your process is!

To: [email protected]

[Mandy]

I am in the process of trying to make one of those bags like u have on top. The simplicity pattern 2830,I purchased it years ago and opened the package and now I have lost the instructions. My mom was going to help and I took the stuff over there and she lost her house in the tornado last year. I found where I had the patterns but no directions. Anywyas is there anyway possible u may still have the directions. If u do I would greatly appreciate if u could email them to me at [email protected]. I already have everything cut from when i started years ago but dont know how to piece it together. Thank u very much and if u don't have it then I appreciate the fact u took time to read my message. U have a good nite.

[Amy]

Hi! I sent you some pictures of the instructions, so check your junk mail just in case! Please let me know if anything isn't clear and I will try to help you out. Also, you may want to re-read the posts about the straps...they are kinda frustrating! Have fun sewing your bag!