The perfect bag

  I can't ever find a handbag I like, you know they are too small, too big, too soft, too hard, too....well just too wrong!  The same applies for a school bag and since I am going back to school in August I needed something to carry my laptop and any over priced books that they are going to make me buy just so I can carry them to and from class but never use.

So, I decided it would be a good idea to make one.  *sigh*  I should have a little alarm in my head that says "no..buy one, it will be cheaper in the long run.  Make do with the imperfect  (insert any item here) in the store.  Don't waste your time!"  Alas, I have no such alarm BUT; and this is a great 'but' this time,  I took a long time planning this project.  First I got out my handy dandy graph paper, a ruler and a pencil.  I measured my laptop, a file folder and estimated how thick text books would be.  I made my calculations and I drew rectangles and erased and planned and added seam allowances, then realized that I had it wrong and calculated again.

OK, so I had that part down, now I used my wonderful laptop, that I can draw straight onto the screen to plan out the construction.  As I wrote the steps it became clear I had forgotten things and I was able to go back and rearrange my steps.  Writing the directions step by step really helped me to see each piece and where it would go.  I never do this step, I just go blindly into a project and usually end up ripping out seams and cutting again.

Next I bought fabric, heavy duck.  I was excited to find a piece of patterned that kind of matched in the remnant bin. And there they sat for a week.  I was afraid to cut, I was afraid I would mess up and ruin the bag.  Now this is not something new to me, but in the last few years I have gotten over it a lot.  I figure there is no point in keeping that beautiful fabric, yarn, glass stored in neat bins never to see the light of day.  Use it!  Take a chance!  So here I was dithering about some cotton duck.

Finally I cut into it, made my pieces, pinned the lables to each so I knew what went where.  Then again I let it sit, scared to mess up sewing into it.  Finally I pressed the parts that needed it and bit the bullet.

Things are never as bad as you think they will be.  It all went together really well.  I even added an inner pocket for the power cord, since I had some left over material.

I didn't have to unpick one seam.  So, is it finished?  No.  I need to add a strap and I didn't quite have enough for that.  So I will go back to the store and get an eighth of a yard or some strapping stuff.

So here it is...







Of course there is no way to know if this is going to be the perfect bag.  Actually I already know one problem I am going to have with it.  But I hope it works for me to go bad and forth to classes.  I can always plan another one.  "NO!  Go to the store, buy one!"

The summer night is like a perfection of thought. Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955)

Sunday, a summer day. I can hear a lawn mower in the distance. No kids playing yet, but I am sure they will be out later, screeching and calling to each other. The robins have found another home to lay their second brood and sometime tonight the town will shoot of the fireworks that were canceled by rain last night.
I have been busy the last few weeks. I painted Meghan's room while she was away in Florida. She had a great time with friends and came home to an orange room that had been planned for 2 years. I only had a gallon of paint, my mum and dad had bought it when they came to visit in 2007 to thank her for letting them stay in her room. It was only enough for 3 walls so instead of trying to match the color I did one wall in a blue/purple color. It was difficult to move around the room with her furniture in the middle of the room, the mattress and box spring leaning against a wall that I wasn't painting. I managed though and she was surprised when she got home, I think that the Jonas brothers poster was the thing she enjoyed most though. I had put it in a poster frame and it is up on her wall, so she can change the poster when she gets tired of them (hopefully soon). One of the things I am most excited about is taking off her closet door, which gives her a lot more room. Now just to find a beaded curtain to cover up the mess inside. I saw a wonderful glow in the dark one that I want to get.

Unfortunately I have been plagued by back and neck pain for a few weeks now and it is hard for me to do much of anything. Sitting in the computer chair is only comfortable if I lean back, which doesn't help with my typing and sitting in the recliner is OK, except for getting in and out. Turning over in bed is almost impossible and sitting on the hard kitchen chairs is not too comfy either. I have managed to get a few things done, but mostly I have been reading and feeling lazy, not wanting to bend over for anything I don't have to.

I sorted my photos. I know I have more somewhere but the ones I had in plastic containers here in the living room I went through and sorted into categories. I tried to go by the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid) and it seemed to work, just picking a few titles to start, family, friends, places, and of course the three kids. Troy and I had one category together as there are a lot of photos with both of us in. It actually went pretty fast. Then I started sub-categories. Troy's family, Laura's family, Parents etc. I am not done with that part yet, but I am really glad to have the photos in some sort of order, now to find the rest that are hiding in the house in a dark corner somewhere. I think the hardest thing is going to be purging the pictures, letting go of something that I once thought important enough to take a picture of.


What started me off sorting the pictures was a list of things I want to scrap into albums. I found a starter on Plinky. "What values do you want to instill in your kids?". That got me to thinking and then I thought about others that I want to do. I would like to make a green book. Green in my favorite color and it would be easy to pull the things I have that are green together into an album. Also, suggested in an online magazine, Scrapbook & Cards today,I saw an article that suggested using facebook as a journal, expecialy those 25 random fact notes that I have participated in. Another great blog is Creativity Prompt that has lots of ideas for blogging and scrapbooking and jornaling, I don't think I will ever get through them all. There are so many resources on line that it is easy to get distracted from actually doing to just browsing. I really want to set a goal of 'doing' so I can get some real things done.

I will say that contrary to my quote for the title of my post I am not a fan of summer. Hot, sticky and buggy: my least favorite things. Spring and fall are much more my style. The mornings with the frost on the grass. The rustle of leaves sounding like the sea or the seemingly dead trees showing new buds ready to burst with bright green. I do enjoy the longer days and the summer fruits and vegetables though.



So off I go to do. Well maybe after a nap.

Poetry again!

I was sewing the other day, just some mending, and I happened across another notebook that I had been doodling in and saw that I had also used it for Poetry. I wanted to share a couple of those with you.

Old Friends

The comfort of old habits beckon me,
I know all the pitfalls of falling into them,
They will welcome me like old friends
Back to the dark places I have been before.
Driving me to distraction
With their silent calls.
I am helpless to resist the nagging needs.
I want to turn my back
But they are still there calling
I fall into line with the familiarity of the companionship
The pairing leaves me empty and angry
The disappointment no less
even if it is my own.
Ostracized, betrayed, as they seduce my being.
They stop calling and leave.
Silent to face the consequences alone.


A Choice

Sometimes I see it coming
Like bright headlights on a semi
in the other lane.
Sometimes it creeps along behind me,
my shadow that at midday becomes one with me
I am at the crossroads choosing a new path
Choosing either way will lead to paths
I am unwilling to take
But still must I decide between them.
The way back is blocked
Choked with others I have left on the road
Their feelings are too much for me to handle
Their promises too hard to trust
So forward I must go
not able to sit stagnant and alone
Direction is foreign to me
I am used to going as I might.
To choose and plan is to close off possibility
The chance that a new adventure will come along
to be swept away by chance is to always
have your breath catch.
regardless now the choice must be made.