What I’ve Been Up To

Do you remember when I shared my New Year’s Resolution with you? If not, let me remind you. One of my resolutions was to make myself something every month. I spend a lot of time making things for others, but I very rarely in the history of me making things have made anything to keep for myself. After my January and February projects, I understand why that is.

I have talked a lot here about my struggles with perfectionism. When you are as “type A” as I am, it is incredibly difficult to be reminded of your failings every time you pick up the item that you have made. It’s funny, because I don’t do that with things people have made for me.

I think it’s a good exercise in pushing my own boundaries though, to have to live with the imperfect things. It’s an added bonus to actually having things I have made because I need them.

Speaking of which, my February project was a new carry on bag for me. My January project was a skirt, which I need to get a picture of at some point. Back to my bag though, it’s a big ‘un.

I have made a few bags from the Style Stitches book, which I have shared here. This bag is called the Cosmo bag and was featured on the cover of the book:

It’s the first project in the book, and it’s categorized as easy. It has a million bajillion pieces to cut out and to iron interfacing to, so it is not a quick project. I didn’t want to have to invest in more interfacing when I am flat broke, so I used an interfacing I have on hand, which was a heavier weight than the pattern called for. Probably helpful in that it is my carry on, and I tend to pack those things FULL of books, yarn, and anything that is too heavy to go in my suitcase.

I used this amazing fabric called Too Muchery, designed by Helen Dardik. I wanted to have a lot of interior pockets, as being at the airport is stressful enough, without having to reach in a gigantic bag to find your liquids or gum, or what not. Here is a pic of the interior:

Just one side of those big brown pockets is large enough to hold my iPad, to try to give you some scale of this gigantic bag. This fabric had me craving salami the entire two days it took to put this bad boy together. It takes up an entire chair!

In the end, I was not totally pleased with my stitching, but I absolutely love the bag. The big button broke in the airport on the way out of town, but otherwise the bag held up to a lot of rough handling. The two exterior pockets which you can’t see here, each fit a water bottle. I loved having a place for every little or large thing in my bag. I am thinking I may have to make one out of a lighter interfacing for my everyday purse.

As for the trip, if you follow me on Instagram or Flickr, you will know we had a crazy time. Three days in Disneyland, one in Lego Land, and two at the beach. My parents were so kind to take us and spend all that time with us. My dad and I both suffer sensitive stomachs, so my mom and Brett took the girls on all of the wild rides. Well, most of the wild rides. As you can see below, I made my way onto one or two of the exciting rides as well.