FREEBIRD IS HERE

Little crafty things going on here.

:: Figuring how many crazy quilt and wonky house blocks I need to fill out an entire quilt
:: Finishing the dishcloth I started oh so long ago
:: I picked up a large cardboard box from a screen door during 'junk day' on the east side of town. This will be for my magazine rack.
:: Buying thread to match the new Second Class Scout patch and sewing it on the left front pocket of "G" of GAIN's scout uniform.

And........FREEBIRD ARRIVED!!! 40 pieces of 10" x 10" color coordinated fabric by Moda. The colors are energetically lovely shades of brightness.  Here are my picks for two purses -- a red one and a green one. I am super-excited to add some color to my very conservative wardrobe.

The challenge here was to figure out a way to use the squares for a decent-sized purse. The lining might have to be non-Freebird because I think a solid color would be good. I am choosing the two fabrics that came in doubles. The pattern I use will probably be this one that I found at Sew, Mama, Sew a while back. I'll need to buy purse handles and interfacing, and I conveniently have a coupon for both. Gotta shop with coupons.

This layer cake I won from Adventures in Dressmaking has got to be the most expensive giveaway I have ever won. I will need to be extremely thoughtful in using all of it in order to have very little waste (have you looked at Adventures in Dressmaking? She's participating in Stashbuster April -- that's no waste) and to maximize the look of the beautiful prints. In fact, I LOVE the Outdoors squares from my layer cake so much that I wanted it for a purse, but I think it would be best shown off as an entire square instead of cut into rectangles.

Quick strap cover

Quick to make is totally me! This project was fast and fun -- a strap cover.

I was gifted a POSH laptop carrying case last week. The main issue....it is really plain.

As I sit in my substitute authorization class, I see spiffy, but oversized, laptop bags. Like bigger than a carry-on. But the color scheme of one is right up my alley. I like the sleek size and look of the one I have. And I know that I'm keeping this one. The padding and pockets and everything are just right.

I'm in the middle of reading Grown Up Digital, by Don Tapscott, and he talks about the Net Generation needing customization of everything. Well, I'm not in the demo of the Net Gen, but I have almost always felt the need to customize my stuff.
Choosing things that are different also help me identify my stuff in the sea of conformity.

Looking at tutorials like the lovely Skip to My Lou blog (for camera straps) led me to use my Freebird fabric (shout out to Adventures in Dressmaking!) to cover the strap of the laptop bag. I used two prints (to conserve the remaining samples I have). Up close:

I guess I was so excited to shoot my new strap cover that I neglected to even up the ends. Rest assured, that has been fixed. The cushy shoulder pad and buckle (it adjusts the length) were not addressed in any of the tutorials that I read, but they were pretty easy to work through. 

Cutest. purse. ever.

Remember when I received a giveaway of a Layer Cake from the Fat Quarter Shop via Adventures in Dressmaking (she has the most clever ideas)? I've turned two of my Freebird fabrics into the cutest purse ever. As soon as I finished the crazy wonky house quilt, I took a quick break, glued some other craftiness together, then started work on this purse. I made the boxy version, with a 1.5" square cutout. Observe the quickest purse pattern in the U.S.

Laptops are great when you can have them right by the sewing machine.

I love my Tim Holtz ruler. Friend Donna made a group purchase for my scrapbooking group. It's a regular 12" ruler on one side. The other side is a 12" ruler that's got a 0 at the center. Symmetry, quilting, scrapbooking, they all meld in my life.

I finished before dark! Just in time to get a shot of this on the yews at sunset. I had all of the supplies at hand -- magnetic snap, handles, thread, fabric, and interfacing. I substituted Dur-O spray adhesive for fusible interfacing because that is what I had in my stash.

The lining is yellow. I had this fabric left from Christmas ornaments (links here and here). If I'd had enough, I would have made a pocket for my cell phone.

I am so very pleased with myself and this purse.