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!

WIP Wednesday

Two things:
1. How could it possibly be Wednesday again already?
2. How could it possibly be June 1st?

Okay. Now that we have that out of the way.

I have spent most of my sewing time in the past week working on the Amy Butler Weekender bag. Progress thus far: all pieces cut, some pieces fused to interfacing, 5 yards of piping made, exterior pocket and handled sewn to the front and back of the bag:

I may have mentioned my abnormal fear of fusible interfacing--which really just stems from vague references in pattern instructions (example: heavyweight fusible interfacing) and then going to Joann's and seeing rows of interfacing behind the counter so I can't touch anything and do some comparisons.

Thank you to all pattern designers who give me more detailed information as to the actual product you are using. Fortunately Amy Butler's pattern listed the specifics. But then you come home with a few yards, along with yards and yards of information. I decided to get it all organized for future reference. First I wrote the brand/number on a small corner of the actual interfacing. Then I got some page protectors, cut out one set of the fusing instructions, taped it to a piece of paper, along with a sample of the front and back of the actual product. Voila.All these pages will go in my super-cute three-ring Orla Kiely binder that I picked up from Target a few months ago.

My next project involves a craft organizer bag from one of my new favorite books, 1-2-3 Sew by Ellen Luckett Baker. When the pattern called for "ultra heavyweight fusible interfacing," I could feel the prickles of uncertainty start again. Weird, I know, especially to those of you who fuse on a daily basis. So I emailed her for more specific information, and within a couple of hours I had my answer. Big sigh of relief...

By then I needed a break from the Weekender and thoughts of interfacing, so I started working on my blocks for the 3x6 Mini Block Exchange. I had already decided to do the Flowering Snowball block, a block with gentle curves that I first saw at Molly Flanders here.

Monday night I was about to turn the light off in my sewing room when I looked at the block again and thought, hmmmm, I wonder if you could sew jelly rolls strips together and cut the corner pieces out of that. Out came the Sherbet Pips.

Does this ever happen to you? You have a lot of projects you are already working on and then something pops into your head, you start working on it right away, and all those other projects get shoved down the list?

Oh, wait. What am I saying? Of course this happens to you. This is WIP Wednesday after all! So go here to see what everyone else is working on this week.

OOPS: Part 1

This will be the first installment of OOPS, aka Outside Oslo Project Status.

Thanks to the fabulous Marmalade Fabrics,  I have one yard each of Jessica Jones' (aka How About Orange) equally fabulous new line of fabric, Outside Oslo.

I love everything about this line: the clean graphics, the colors, the nice weight of home dec fabric. The first sewing project will be Amy Butler's Weekender Travel Bag.

One of my best friends has been working on this project all week so I've gotten lots of valuable advice from her. Have any of you made it? I'll take any hints I can get. I'm so excited that my father has a heavy-duty sewing machine from his former days as a reupholsterer, so I'll be taking advantage of his piping foot and might actually sew the whole thing on his machine.

And here's a sneak peek at another OOPS project I'll be working on. I'll tantalize you with the "before" version for now.

The winner of the Name Game giveaway is Elisa Black, who said:

"I love your little name game/selvage pincushion and I am very excited for the upcoming series on bloggers names-- great idea!"

Thanks for playing along, Elisa.It will be on its way to you shortly.

Do you have a lot of projects lined up for the weekend? Do tell...