Mamma's got a brand new bag!

So I've been frustrated with sewing clothing - The Weight - she comes and goes and changes ALL my measurements along the way.  I have some serious body frustration issues going on right now, but I won't go into all that, at least not today. So not much fashion sewing going here. But, on the other hand, bags, totes, purses, carryalls, and as they are called here in my neck of the woods, pocketbooks, do not have to fit body parts that can't decide what size they want to be.*

Several weeks (months maybe) ago sewmamasew.com had an online sewing bee.  I loved watching the competition and the projects that stemmed from that.  One of them was this pocketbook - It's a Cinch Tote - you can find it here.  Loved the look of this pattern, nice and roomy, kinda slouchy, had instructions for pockets, it's perfect for embellishing AND there was a coupon code. HA! and HA!

The pattern was a PDF download - can anyone say woohoo for instant gratification! There are no pattern pieces, per se, just instructions about what size pieces to cut out. I was OK with that, the pieces were all square and rectangular and anyone who has followed a quilt pattern should find it pretty easy.  The instructions were great, very clear and easy to follow, the one gripe I did have is that the pictures do not line up with the corresponding picture.  So if you, like me, tend to breeze along looking at the pictures/illustrations and only read the instructions when there is a question, this may cause a slight issue.

I made the bag as published the first time and over-all am very happy with it.  I have been carrying it everyday since I finished it.  One note - on the corners, when she says to be careful it is "layertastic" she's not kidding.  I didn't quite get the layers on the corners lined up and had to open the lining and redo two of the corners, because of slippage.  So without further ado -

My lovely daughter thought that I purchased this when she first saw it.  Now she could be prejudiced, but she doesn't usually mind telling me (tactfully as possible) when I have missed the mark. I do really recommend this pattern and I plan on making it again soon, with a few changes of course.

Just because I thought it was pretty this morning, the view from my front porch -

Of course in the picture, you can't really see the lake just the mist rising off of it, but it is still pretty.


* that sounds like I'm hating my weight/size right now, and I'm not, not really. Overall I'm healthy, I just wish it would stabilize to make my sewing/fitting easier instead of changing for no apparent reason.  Of course if I would be more active and improve my eating habits yada, yada, yada.......