Listen Up Kids, This is Why You Should Stay in School

I come from a business family. I think if you have a head for business, you probably have a head for numbers. I wasn't cut from the same cloth. My father was an accountant, my sisters and brother all involved in business careers. None of my dad's math skills was passed on to me. Math and phonics were my worst subjects in school. I would sit and daydream while the teachers were droning on and on. Well, didn't that come back to bite me in the rear. You see, as a teenager I sat there in class and thought, when will I ever need to know this outside of the classroom. Well, here is an example of maybe a geometry problem.

I saw a simple fabric bucket on the internet. I immediately thought this would be a quick, fun gift for so many people. Well, the pattern was not an online pattern, I couldn't download it. The pattern was only available through mail order and the pattern was out of stock. Rats, I really wanted to make a few over the weekend. How hard can one little bucket be? I mean, after all, it is a rectangle and a circle. Sweet. I can do it. Well, 4 days later and countless redo's I finally had a bucket to give to my boss. My goal was to complete 4 bucket over the weekend. I completed one bucket in 4 days. I decided to use a 7 inch basket from Ikea that I got from quilt retreat as my inspiration. I wanted my bucket to be 7 inches high. Useful as a little sewing trash can. I started out with my measurements plus additional inches to account for trimming. I somehow forgot to trim extra fabric under the embroidery so the basket ended up to be 9 inches tall. I don't think it's very useful. I think I re-cut the bottom of the bucket four to five times to make it fit. The lining was recut and re-sewn at least three times to make it fit.

My husband would die if he knew that I gave this bucket to my boss. He wouldn't think the embroidery design is an appropriate thing to put on there. Well, my boss had a good laugh. She told me that at the last board meeting she was at, she was called "Barbie" since she is always so put together.

So kiddos, pay attention in math class. I'm a fine example of needing math skills to complete simple projects. As you can see, engineering was not in my future.

A Bag Lady Lives Here

I love tote bags. Bags of all sizes. Canvas, nylon, it doesn't matter. I would switch my bags up that I hauled stuff in depending on my mood and what I needed to haul. Free bags are especially special. Last year on one of my Yahoo groups, I kept seeing pictures of bags made out of pet mesh. I had already made a couple of zippered pouches out of the pet mesh so I wasn't too fearful of the tote bag. Did a little bit of investigating and found out the pattern was from Nancy Ota. She actually has several patterns for pet mesh. You can purchase the pet mesh in the window screen dept at Home Depot. That is the cool thing about sewing, you can find supplies and gadgets in places other than the fabric store. So with my charge card in hand, I plugged my information in and a few short days later I received my patterns. This bag is very roomy and extremely strong. One of the great things is that it only takes about 3 hours to stitch up.

A few months ago, I decided to make a bag for my friend. I was hoping to finish this around the time we went to Italy. Not for her to bring but just to have to remember our trip by. I wanted to use fabric that I thought represented Italy, the sunsets, the ceramics, the colors of the stucco. Well, this fabric was really the best I could find. I finished this bag last week. It wouldn't be an Ellen project unless it took months to finish! When I went shopping for the fabric, I decided that I also wanted a matching bag. Mine has yet to be made, maybe in another few months. I do have the pet mesh cut out though.

The key fobs were made this afternoon. I decided to stitch out the embroidery after the fabric was stitched down onto the cotton webbing. I thought it would be better. I don't think I'll do that again. The stitch out is a little wonky due to the webbing. The lettering would have been much smoother had I just embroidered on the fabric then stitched it onto the webbing. Live and learn I guess. BTW, I found a tutorial on a sewing blog for the key fob.

Kim has been patiently awaiting a copy of all my pictures from Italy. I was waiting until I finished her bag. Now with her key fob and bag finished, it can go off in the mail.