margaret bag

with a snow day yesterday, i was happy to sit down with the sewing machine.  there is something so great about loosing yourself to a project.  it's like reading a book... i'm lost to all that's going on around me, focused on the project... the process.  i love that.

 

i'm a little late with teacher (christmas) gifts, but i still love giving something that is handmade to those who mean a lot to me and who i know will appreciate it. elizabeth hartman's margaret bag is a perfect bag.  large on the inside with two pockets.  i  made them both with the longer strap option for a cross-body bag.  i used some duck/twill type fabric for the exterior and some fun prints on the inside.  a pretty quick project and very satisfying. 

and now i need to clean up the havoc i've wreaked around here!

a new year....

just last year i began writing occasionally here in this space.  i wanted a place to write about the quilts i made, and the things i sewed.  sometimes i wrote about places we went.

i started a 365 project last year (flickr collection here) and then during the summer and fall joined two self portrait photography courses, called NOW YOU.  suddenly more time was spent taking pictures than sewing.

i have learned so much this year about taking pictures, and have been doing lots of thinking about myself and my place in this world.  but i long to sew, to put strips of color together, to make something out of scraps...  to have the concentration sewing requires.

this is my word for this year. thanks to sarah of urbanprairieforest, i can't get this word out of my head. here's a link to the 'earworm'. rhythmofthehomeblog.com/10/being-persistence/.  i want to have persistence in choosing gratitude, in choosing patience, in being gentle with my family, in carving out time for myself. it's just the right word.

and for those of you that quilt....  there may just be a scrappy trip around the world coming...  i don't know how much longer i can resist.  it's like a siren.

~b