Christine's Bag

At the beginning of June, our niece graduated from high school.  Last year, I had made our two graduating nieces each a travel bag.  Since this niece, Christine, is also my husband's goddaughter, I wanted to switch it up a bit and give her a choice of fabrics, etc.  (We also gave her a gift of money.)

Well, Christine had just been given a travel bag as a Christmas gift, so she didn't really need another travel bag (although I'm sure mine would have been way better).  So, we went surfing around looking at patterns and settled on this one.  It's a nice roomy bag and it has lots of pockets (8, I think) inside, for containing whatever might need to be contained. 

Christine also picked out the main fabric.  It is the Modern Meadow line designed by Joel Dewberry.  I really like this fabric, too.  If I weren't on a fabric diet, I would be ordering some of it for myself right now.

Regarding the pattern...  It really wasn't a difficult bag to sew.  That being said, I think that anyone sewing this pattern might need a basic knowledge of what I would consider more "big-box" commercially based patterns to do this.  I say this because the pattern does not list out all of the little details like marking the fabric from the pattern on the matching dots, etc. Would you still be able to sew this pattern?  Sure, it just isn't as completely detailed as some of the other newer "designer" patterns out there. 

I didn't think the pattern was all that difficult and it didn't take all that much time either.  I think it took just as much time to cut all of the pieces out (I really do not enjoy the cutting out of the pieces!).  Plus, I think I'll be able to use this pattern again... one of my cousins is having a baby and has requested a John Deere diaper bag.  Now, this might not be the style she's wanting, but since it is technically a diaper bag pattern, this is what she'll be getting.

I really like this bag and I'm going to have a hard time shipping it out this week!

Cheddar-Sriracha Swirl Bread

A little while ago, I had seen a recipe for this Cheddar-Sriracha Swirl Bread.  I saved the link because I knew that I wanted to try making it.

Yesterday was the day:

My bread didn't turn out as picture perfect as the bread in the recipe photo, but it still tastes pretty good!

Let me start by saying that I have never mixed any bread by hand before, so this was a new experience for me.  In all, I felt like it went well.  It seemed like it didn't take nearly as long as the recipe indicated that it would take for the bread to rise.  Maybe because it was a pretty warm day to begin with? 

It ended up being relatively easy, in my opinion, to make this bread.  Although, it was not a quick process.  The taste is great, but pretty spicy from the Sriracha.  I think this would bread would be great to use in making a turkey sandwich, or a roast beef sandwich if you are so inclined.  

I'm just proud that I was able to mix it all up by hand.

A Bit of Randomness....

I have a little bit of this and than to write about this week.

This whole container of snapdragons is completely "volunteer".  The flowers are such beautiful colors and shades, too.  I love looking at them every time I walk about the back door.

This is a photo of a Strawberry Buttermilk Cake that I made to have for our 4th of July celebration.  It was very delicious.  For the sugar that is sprinkled on top of the strawberries/cake prior to baking, I used my Vanilla Bean Sugar.  This cake turned out to be delicious!  The bonus was that it was super easy to make.  I will definitely be making this one again.

Please excuse the quality of this photo, it was taken with my cell phone.  For my birthday (in June), my husband had given me tickets for the U2 360º Tour concert in Chicago.  I had wanted to go last summer, but it ended up that we never got tickets.  Plus, maybe 10 years ago, I had gone to another U2 concert and took my older brother with me.  It was about a year before he passed away and the only concert we ever we to together.  Anyway, U2 was this past week.  The concert was good, after we recovered from the heart attack caused by the $46 parking fee!  The only draw back was that I had to work the next morning, so I was awfully tired! 

Since I had such a busy week, I've spend the last few days trying to catch up on my sleep and haven't gotten any sewing done.  I aim to correct that situation tomorrow.   

This week, I did do something I wouldn't normally do.  I ordered something for myself that I could have also made.  Stephanie at Sand and Starfish has been having a sale in her etsy shop and I ordered myself one of her Vintage Dresden Zippered Clutches.   I had seen them during the Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day, I think and just thought that they were so pretty.  So I bought one.  Mine is with an orange zipper and orange accents in the fabrics.  I think that if you go and look at her shops sales, you will be able to see a photo of mine since I haven't bothered to take one.  They are a great size, too...not too tiny.  I could probably fit a book in mine (I carry books around with me a lot).  ***This is not in any way a sponsored shout-out...I just really like my clutch.

Ava Bag

I just finished sewing this bag last night.  The pattern is the Ava Bag by Two Peas In a Pod Designs.  I was participating in a sew along that Sara was hosting over at Sew Sweetness. 

I decided to use fabric that I already had in my stash.  I'm trying to limit my fabric purchases (unless I find a good sale -- like two weeks ago, I found this fabric in a local quilt shop for $5.25 a yard...I've been wanting this fabric since I first saw it [the turquoise/yellow/teal/grays]....)

Anyway, I decided to use some of the DS Quilts Collection fabric that I had purchased at JoAnn Fabrics.



About the pattern:  Overall, I thought that it was very well written.  The instructions were easy to understand.  There were a couple spots along the way where I thought to myself..."hmm...I think it would have been better to have "x" information included here" or where I would do things just a bit differently the next time.  I was grateful for my walking foot, since I think it definitely helped me to sew this bag (with the layers of fusible fleece) and not get any puckers or real shifting of my fabrics.  One thing I really liked about this pattern/instructions was the sewing with a 1/2" seam.  I have seen lots of patterns recently that only have a 1/4" seam and I'm not sure why.  I don't know if the pattern writers are quilters, or if they are trying to save the consumer on a bit of fabric.  I just find it a bit difficult at times to sew bags and such with only a 1/4" seam.

The bag sewed up very quickly and I will definitely make this one again.  I'm thinking that I should make a cute gathered clutch to match this bag.