Friday, October 22, 2010

A finished Amy Butler Bag and a new sewing machine

Long time no blog, but things have been heating up here a bit. Hans left this morning for Annapolis where our Knotty Cat has been anxiously awaiting our return in order to sail her to Florida. I was supposed to go with him but Baby Girl neglected to inform me that her college soccer team is celebrating Senior Day tomorrow, and since she's a senior....

Anyway, I'll fly down on Monday and at that point Hans and I will sail south. But this is a delivery trip only. We'll return home so we can be here for the holidays and then in early January the Knotty Cat is going to sail us to the Bahamas.

At least that's the plan.


I downloaded Amy Butler's Blossom Bag from Freebies for Crafters. Here's my bag made from Sunbrella fabric. Am I happy with it?

It's okay.

I looked everywhere to see if I was supposed to add seam allowances to the pattern. It didn't appear that I was supposed to so I didn't. However, her finished dimensions say that the purse is supposed to be 16" wide. I don't know how that's possible since the pattern is only 14" wide. Not a big deal but I have to wonder where I (or they) went wrong.



I know everyone loves Amy Butler but when it comes to purse drafting I still feel that Nicole Mallalieu is#1!!




Here are the inside pouches. I'm trying to get rid of some of my stash and this fabric appeared to be a close enough match.

I found the instructions for the pouches to be a bit convoluted and not to be mean, but I know that Nicole has directions for some of her coin purses that I could have used. I just realized it a bit too late.






I tried to match the flap print as closely as I could to the main bag.


















The magnetic snaps.

And you can see the Bahamas over there on the far right side.






My twenty year old Janome New Home (one of the first embroidery machines made and very expensive) died on me all of a sudden, and all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put her back together again.

I still remember buying her just in time to make all my kids' Halloween costumes. That year they were Power Rangers and while Butterick has the best costume patterns, each one had like a thousand pieces!

So I now have a Janome Magnolia. Fewer bells and whistles but I don't need all that anymore!


Our poor Wilbur had a rough time last night. But I guess I did too since at some very odd hours I had to clean up some pretty smelly messes!

I am now forever swearing off cheap doggy biscuits!


Anyway, this is what a pitty with a tummy ache looks like.


Wilbur will be boarded during our two week sail and it just kills me! But if he sailed down with us, he'd have to fly back on an airplane and I won't do that. However, he will be in Doggy Day Care during the day and I'm hoping he's worn out enough at night to not wonder where his mommy is!

I found some nice fluffy fabric to make a couple of pillow covers and a blanket for his doggy bed while we're away.
You can see he felt the need to supervise.



Enjoying his new pillows and blanket.
I just love this dog to pieces!


5 comments:

Two Pitties in the City said...

He just looks wiped out. I think with that amount of doggie daycare, he won't be awake long enough to think about missing you.

Cyndi said...

Hey Laura! Glad to "see" you my friend! And believe me, I so agree with you on the Amy Butler patterns. I have purchased a few of them and found them, uh, less than easy to follow plus the way some of the pieces were put together made absolutely no sense to me. And I also found that the dimensions of the bag were entirely different when I was finished. I just thought it was me! I have never really understood why everyone was so GAGA over her stuff, anyway. I mean, her designs are fine, but there are a lot out there that are just as good - if not better i.e., Nicole Mallieu - and I've never really been a fan of her fabric designs. Oh well...guess I'm just too "old"! LOL!!!

Your bag did turn out nice, though. I love the fabrics you used.

Poor Wilbur...we had the same thing happen to Noah with cheap doggie biscuits, so we've sworn off of them, too. Hope that sweet baby does okay without you for a few weeks, but I'm sure he'll miss you like hell!

Okay, I've written a book here...have a safe trip sailing down to Florida, and hope you'll post after you get back! :o)

XOXO,

Cyndi

BeeBee said...

I remember the Power Rangers costumes. I made the green one for my son. And yes, about a billion pieces! And I had to buy gold lame for my son. That was something I never thought I'd do.

laura said...

Two Pitties, I'm also hoping that since he's in different surroundings and not our apartment, that might help.

Cyndi, I carried my bag today and did get some compliments on it so at least that's a good thing!
And I got rid of Wilbur's bad biscuits, bought some good ones, fed him pumpkin, chicken and rice, and things now seem back to normal. But I can't imagine that he won't miss us and it's really bothering me!

BeeBee, I made three of those damn things and then along came the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Even more pieces but I don't think I used lame!

Ken n Cheryl said...

Have a great trip to Florida! It may be a "relocation" trip, but still sounds fun! Love the purse!