WIP Wednesday #33: What I am and what I am not

What I am: a quilter. I love cutting fabric into little pieces and then sewing it all back together again.

(My second Supernova block--could have used a better pressing--sorry, Lee. I LOVE these blocks!)

What I am not: a bag lady.

That being said, the Amy Butler Weekender Bag is finally done. Finished. Complete. Never to be done again. At least not by me.

It looks like it is ready for a tropical vacation.

 I know I sure am ready for a vacation after making this bag.
Alternatively, I'll just take one of these.

(NOTE: I cut the tulip fabric straight. The crookedness at the bottom happened during the construction. At this point, I don't know how it happened, nor do I care. And it's not because I had ordered one of those special cafe mochas.)

What I love: The fabric. Jessica Jones' Outside Oslo is gorgeous. You can see the Weekender that her mother sewed here. She was my one-person texting support group throughout the whole process. Hers turned out perfectly. And here is why. She is not a quilter. She is a bag lady. In fact, she just finished this bag. See what I mean? She also knows who she is. Plus she has the perfect little model for her bag.

But I digress. I had one-yard cuts of the entire line (you can order from Marmalade Fabrics) so I ended up using four different fabrics--three for the outside and a different one for the lining.

What I wish I had done differently: other than not starting it in the first place (oops, did I really just say that?), I wish I had made the straps longer so I could use it as a shoulder bag.

I also wish I had done the piping differently. Rather than going to my dad's house and using his industrial sewing machine (he used to do upholstery), I would have used fusible interfacing to fuse the raw edges together, as someone suggested. Ultimately you end up with three lines of stitching, each one getting closer and closer to the cording. Because his machine sewed so closely to the cording itself the first time, it was really hard to cover up that stitching when I assembled the bag.

I previously posted pictures of binder clips needed to hold all the many layers together. Also be prepared for a pile of these totally misshapen pins.

The fun little "surprises" I added: In the picture on the front of the pattern, the bag has an Amy Butler tag. So I decided to do a little "branding" of my own. That's what selvages are for, right?

So, once again, just to be clear:

What I am: a quilter.
What I am not: a bag lady.

I think it's important to know these things about yourself.

Now go see what everyone else has accomplished this week!

Orange+ Marmalade

Orange marmalade available here

If you are one of the fans of How About Orange, then you know that Jessica Jones has a new line of fabric called Outside Oslo. And if you have not yet read her blog, you definitely should check it out, if for no other reason than the funny "comment" conversations between Jessica and her mother, Grandma G! But besides that, Jess posts some really great links and free downloads (like this one) that I wouldn't find otherwise.

ETA: Check out Jessica's post from today. I'm not even joking. Talk about some DIY orangey-goodness! Click over there right now. But do NOT forget to come back here!

She has designed a lot of really fabulous fabric in the past  (check them all out here). Jacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studio recently used it to spruce up her sewing room, and check out my mouse pad and scrap bucket.

I use this bag all the time. 

Jessica's designs are classic and modern at the same time, clean lines with kind of a retro feel, and the fabric is home dec weight, so it's perfect for bags, pillows, all kinds of projects where you need a little extra body to your fabric.

So I have been anxiously waiting for Outside Oslo. Because I'm fortunate enough to be good friends with Grandma G, these arrived in my mailbox last week.

It briefly crossed my mind to frame this one. I know some of you are thinking, "Seriously??" Um, yes.

It was the wrong time of day to photograph and I couldn't get the color correct.The fabric is more like this (I know. The color is really off on my picture.)



So instead of framing my precious selvage, I'll probably incorporate it into a cool bag, maybe like this one, because the weight of this fabric would be perfect.

And Tammy is now carrying it at Marmalade Fabrics! In both colorways, Dawn and Dusk.

But I couldn't decide which I liked the best. I love the tulip and frond designs in the Dawn colorway:

But I'm also currently having a crush on grey and yellow together, from the Dusk colorway:

So I'm just getting some of everything!

And now you get the connection between Orange and Marmalade, right?

Introducing: Marmalade Fabrics

Let's just start out this post with a lot of color, shall we? By now you won't be surprised to find out that all those dots in all those happy colors make my heart start beating a lot faster!

Did you see that number? 105 Kona cotton solids at Marmalade Fabrics. 105!!!

I am so pleased to introduce Tammy Vasser of Marmalade Fabrics. I'm proud to have her as the first sponsor here at Live a Colorful Life. Have you been to Marmalade Fabrics yet? Tammy has an outstanding selection of fabrics. She has steadily been increasing her selection of the new fabric love of my life--solids. I'm still trying to slow my heart rate from the thought of 105 colors!

You can choose from some of these yummy stacks that Tammy has put together, or put your own selection together.

I love Tammy's shop. I have never failed to receive superb, personalized customer service from her. From fat quarters to yardage, free shipping on orders over $50, super speedy service.

I'm a huge fan of Saffron Craig's fabrics from Australia, but sometimes it takes a while to find it here in the States. Tammy was one of the first to carry Saffron's new line, Magical Lands. She notified me practically the minute she had it listed in the store, and it arrived in my mailbox a couple of days later.

She also carries another favorite of mine, the new line by Ty Pennington:

And if you are a Joel Dewberry fan, Marmalade is the place to shop:

Did I mention that she carries nine colors of Essex linen/cotton? And that it comes in orange?? I have mentioned how much I love orange, right? Um, probably once or twice...

Speaking of orange, can it be a fluke that my first sponsor's logo is orange? I think not!

I hope you will take the time to head over to Marmalade Fabrics today or this weekend and do a little shopping. 

And you will NOT want to miss this: at a content life, Tammy's blog, she is giving away a full dozen (eek! 12!) Kona solid fat quarters of the winner's choice! 

What are you waiting for? Go over there right now!