A new different bag

Yes, I know!  It seems that all I've done recently are bags of one kind or another.  But they're so much fun and a different kind of feeling than working on my quilts.  I'll get back to my quilts soon enough.  But for now, I'm trying out bag patterns.  My daughter graduates in June and I have several gifts to make in my near future, so am finding the right ones to make.  The one I'm in the middle of right now is from "Noodlehead" aka Anna Graham, and it is her 241 tote bag pattern.  Here's a photo and it comes with 2 different pocket options:

The pink version is the one sitting on my sewing table....the outside pockets seemed a little easier than the set-in zipper type pockets, so that's what I decided to try.

Hubby's bag!

So when my hubby saw the little cosmetic bag from the past weekend, he wanted one too!  I wanted to try making the bag a little bigger anyway, so I made a "man bag" for my hubby last night. It's now more the size of a man's shaving kit.  Turned out pretty nice, although now that I see it, I prefer the smaller size.  Ha!  Live and learn.

Here's a peek at the lining:

Bag # 5

I'm so proud of my sewing prodigy Shari.  Just 6 weeks ago, she saw the quilted bag I had made out of a charm pack, and decided she needed to learn how to do that.  She has lots of relatives and what a great gift for everyone.  So she started from a total beginner (sewing-wise) and has just taken off!  She has now made 5 bags out of the same pattern, with all different color fabric choices.  Here is her 5th bag, which she calls "Fiesta".

Yay for Shari!

More bags!

Yesterday afternoon I tried out a new bag pattern that I'd seen from one of my blogger friends, Nicole, who was following an online tutorial she'd found.  I kept my fingers crossed that it wouldn't tax my brain cells too much, and it wasn't too difficult.  I only had  to "unsew" one seam!  I thought the bag was going to be bigger, more like the size of a men's shaving kit, but is such a cute little small size, about 7" X 4" X 3".  Just right for a little cosmetic bag.

All in all, my friend Shari and I are turning in to quite the "Bag Ladies".  Ha!  Shari has made several different colors of the checkerboard big bag shown below, while I'm going off on these little tangents of experiments.

Bag Lady

Finally got a chance to photograph the bag I made this past weekend..... here it is.  Pretty satisfied with it for a first-time-project.

"Beware the Ides of March"

This line was made famous by William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar.  According to Wikipedia, "In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus."   One of my friends has a birthday today, and I always remember it by that quote!

Also happening today -- my baby boy is coming home from college for spring break!  Here he is, not too long ago.....in all his wonderful baby chubbiness.....

A crafty purse/bag day

My friend Shari and I worked on bags this weekend.  She was making a large tote bag, and I was trying out a new handbag pattern.  We had a great time together, with just a little bit of drama.  I was actually quite anxious about the new pattern, but just "sucked it up" and carefully plodded through.  It came out great!  As soon as I get a sunny day I will photograph it properly and include here.

Nuts or no nuts?

True to the name of my blog, I love chocolate chip anything, especially cookies.  My only dilemma is that my daughter doesn't like nuts, but the rest of us do.  So I have to make 2 batches of cookie dough, one that is saved out for her before the nuts are mixed in, and then the rest.  Why can't she just like nuts and make life simple for me??  Oh well.  I make the recipe that's on the back of the Nestle Tollhouse package, with a few additions.  I use all brown sugar, add a sprinkle of cinnamon, and add in oat flour that is made by buzzing up some oats in the blender.  The next important thing is to refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours before baking.  That way the cookies don't spread very much and they stay nice and soft-chewy instead of thin-crisp.  Here's how my finished product looks like:

Leap Year Day

At the brilliant suggestion of another quilter/blogger,  Thelma, I took the day off work yesterday and did only fun things.  That is, after the uncomfortable 2 hour dental appointment to prep a tooth for a crown.  Ugh.

My LQS owner celebrated her 4th anniversary of opening her store yesterday, and had a fabulous sale on some of her fabric.  Since it was her 4th anniversary, and it was leap year that rolls around only once every 4 years, she sold her fabric for $4 per yard!  Woo-hoo!  I carted home a nice big bag of goodies.  After returning home I sewed for about 4 hours on my current quilt-in-progress until the rest of the family came home.  So my "extra day of the year" turned out to be a fun day well spent.