Lots to do, but so little time…

Wahhh, it’s almost August. August is when I start school again. Well, it’s only July, but I have a 2 week vacation coming up, and then a week and a half before school starts! At least during school, my “weekends” are longer. Weekends last from Wed/Thurs through Sunday during those times. Whew!

So after I got home from work today, I spent most of my time drafting up a project for Dickson. It’s a secret though! I’m not telling him what it is because then he’ll say “I don’t need one” or “I don’t know when I’d use it” or “it’ll be too pretty to use”. The only people who will know what it is are probably my mom and cousin because I’ll undoubtedly need help with some aspect of the process, and my sister because she’s got nothing else to do this summer but sit around and read Harry Potter. Fortunately that’s useful because typically she and Dickson have COMPLETELY different tastes. So I just ask her what she likes and then do the exact opposite and Dickson will like it.

So here’s a list of projects/trips/activities I haven’t done but wanted to do this summer. Maybe I’ll get around to them some time…

1. Sew a dress. Or 2. I even had pattern and fabric picked out.
2. Sew my own Frenchy Bag
3. Something from Amy Butler’s In Stitches (I’m eyeing the robe as of right now)
4. Decorate my room walls (no point now, I’m beyond the half way point most likely moving out)
5. Go to an amusement park (too hot!!!)
6. Restuff my old quilt that I had to unstuff because my cat Josh peed on it.
7. File away my Fall and Spring semester school stuff
8. Figure out Dickson’s birthday present…..(this is fortunately in progress)
9. Redeem my Costco rebate check

So what have I done…

1. Bought a car.
2. Went camping.
3. Took a mini vacation with Dickson
4. Sewed 3 skirts, some bags and a baby gift!
5. Bought a couple CDs.
6. Complained about the heat.
7. Went to 2 graduations.
8. Went biking…complete with my turtle horn.

Anyway, no post is complete without some photos, so since I’m sad about August coming up (I’m missing Dickson’s birthday again! WAH!), here’s a couple old photos of us celebrating his past birthdays.

19th Bday:

20th Bday:

Don’t know where 21, 22, and 23 went…oh well!

Two Frenchy Bags for Two Awesome Ladies

May I say that I LOVE Amy Butler patterns? I’ve always been afraid to sew bags, but tonight I was able to finish not one, but TWO Frenchy bags!

There was some minor struggle with edges lining up once I assembled the pieces together, but overall, I’m happy with the way they turned out. The straps look really professional. I never thought of putting interfacing in all my previous bag strap attempts, but wow…it makes a HUGE difference!

Bag #1 was for my younger sister. She just graduated from high school and is about to start at UC Berkeley in the fall. I guess it’s good she chose Berkeley instead of UCLA cause…I mean, I do go to USC afterall

The original intent of this bag was the fabric itself. Kel has always wanted a VW bus, so I got her some of the Lightening Bugs fabric. I just had no clue what to make. So it was her job to decide. I think she got some ideas from our cousin, and the idea ended up being a bag. So it was off to the fabric store to find matching fabric. We spent a couple hours there (yikes!) and we walked away with some pretty crazy fabric. But I think the chickens work, don’t you? Here’s the inside:

I think the big dots for the lining add to the retro feel. I think all she probably needs to carry in this bag is her 20 some Beatles CDs……..okay, maybe just her iPod nano. Hey it’s red, too! They match!

Bag #2 was for my mom. When I showed her what I was making my sister, she wanted one too! So, I thought, sure, why not? When Kel and I went to the fabric store (yes, the 2 hour trip), Mom’s fabric was the EASIEST to find. I think I picked out all three fabrics faster than Kel could pick out her chickens and dots.

The inside of Mom’s bag is supposed to be like water. When I found the cranes (Alexander Henry fabric if you’re curious), I immediately wanted the lining to be like water. It worked out pretty nicely.

So here are the two bags, with their rightful owners. Kel’s will probably lead a hippie life at Berkeley (okay, it will probably carry her iPod and all her books for her English classes), and Mom’s will probably see the office a lot. But as long as they love it, I’m happy. I already have 2 of 3 fabrics picked out for mine

Central Coast Vacation

Dear Dickson,

Can you believe it’s almost been a week since we left for our vacation? There wasn’t all THAT much to see in central California, but we still had fun I posted our photos on my flickr, too, so you can share it with everyone!

I’d have to say the highlight of our trip was Jockos. What an epic meal!! Even the leftovers were good!

The next best stop was probably the Guadalupe-Nipomo sand dunes

Too bad we couldn’t do the dunebuggies in Oceano. I was super excited for that. We’ll have to buy a truck some time so we can go….

Ostrichland was up there too. Funny looking birds, stupid eating style and lotsa dust flying around sure makes for a lot of fun!

Thanks for letting me go to the Hans Christian Anderson museum. At least now you know he wrote The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling.

And ooooooh, pea soup was great, wasn’t it? Miranda says there IS one on the 5, but I still maintain that the one in Buellton (where we went) was the original. I vaguely recall that somehow. Maybe my mind is making it up…

Lets see…what was not-so-exciting? Montana de Oro State Park was kinda a bust. But I guess Dad had good intentions when he told me about it. Apparently it was MUCH better before the huge sinkhole appeared…

And I don’t think I want to live in San Luis Obispo. Maybe we were in the wrong side of the town or something, but it seemed rather quiet for a Saturday late morning, didn’t it? The most exciting thing for you there was probably taking pictures of me walking in and out of the bathroom!

It’s okay though…I love taking vacations. Maybe during Labor Day we can go to the Grand Canyon…that should be more exciting…at least it’s a famous place! It can be another adventure for you, me, and Cheeks:

Until then…all I have to say is…I need another vacation!!!

Central Coast Widestrap Shoulder Bag

Warning: this post is photo intensive…

In honor of Bag Month!

Introducing, the Central Coast Widestrap Shoulder Bag. I finished it just in time for my trip with Dickson to Central California this past weekend (will post on that later, once I sort out my photos!). So here it is:

What I love love love about this bag is that it’s REVERSIBLE! I found the brown fabric fabric at Joann’s awhile back. I originally was going to make a shirt out of it, but never got around to it. I wanted to make this bag for a LONG time, so with bag month going on right now, I thought the fabric would make a great bag. And it did When I decided to make this bag, I headed down to Joann’s again to find a matching blue fabric. I LOVE this fabric I found. And the two go really well together.

So, now that you’ve been introduced to CCWSB, here are the little details:

The bag is about 16×16 inches. Its length with the strap is about 34 inches. The strap is 4.5 inches wide.

My main inspriation for this bag was from this bag by Keen. I saw it at REI before we left for Yosemite, but I decided I didn’t want to pay $40 for it! I guess it’s the curse of sewing…you always judge if you could make yourself one that’s cooler, ideally cheaper, and much more unique! When Dickson and I went to REI to buy some camping stuff for him, I checked out the bag to figure out how I wanted to draft my pattern.

But, turns out, I couldn’t really get my head around how I wanted to do…but then I found this tutorial from Tinyhappy. Using the basic idea, I made the pattern longer, wider, added two pockets (that’s right, when you reverse it, the pockets function identically!) and bought tons of interfacing.

Each pocket is lined with the contrasting fabric. When you flip the bag to the other side, the original outside pocket functions as the inner pocket (I like to put things I hardly access…iPod, headset, keys, etc), and the original inner pocket becomes the outer pocket (I put things like my cell phone, my chapstick in there). You can see how the zippers work together to make this bag ooooberly awesome.

Actually, the pockets were the most difficult part when making the bag. Most tutorials online had zippered pockets for linings, and the pocket extended downwards from the zipper. I wanted the zipper to be in the middle of the bag and go vertically instead of horizontally. Took some thinkin, but it worked out
My next inspiration for this bag was my mom. She’s taught me a lot of sewing and arts and crafts in general over the years, and so when I was trying to figure out how to do a closure but keep the bag elegantly (ruled out ribbon) reversible (that ruled out magnetic snaps), we thought of some Chinese knots. Actually they’re balls. Each one has a tiny marble inside to help keep its shape:

You slip one through the loop of the other, and voila! Simple, but cute closure.

I LOVE this bag. I loved it even more after taking it on my trip. It’s a GREAT vacation bag. The widestrap made it very comfortable, and the size made it very useful! I was able to fit a light jacket/long sleeve, my wallet, phone, keys, my GPS device (we totally would’ve gotten lost without it), iPod, AAA tour book, compact digital camera, and some brochures without any difficulty. On Saturday, I used the brown side, and on Sunday, I used the blue side. Even Dickson approves of the colors (I think haha….he hasn’t complained).

So last but definitely not least (the most important actually!) here are two in-action shots These pictures will also give you another sneak peak at our weekend trip, which I’ll post photos of in the next couple days.

Mini Vacation!

Yay! Today, Dickson and I are leaving for a weekend trip up to Central CA. We’re going to hit everything we can between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. Hurrah! I’ll be sure to take lots and lots of photos

Another SUPER exciting thing is that I finally finished my first bag for Bag Month. But, I haven’t had a chance to take photos, so more to come on that later. I’m taking it with me on our trip. I guess I’ll have to name it my Central Coast Wide Strap Shoulder Bag (sounds exciting doesn’t it?). So stay tuned!