Where does time go???

Despite my plans to indulge in a sewing binge in September I still haven’t spent much time at the sewing machine.  The fall runner and placemats are still not quilted, and pieces of the blue quilt on my design wall are starting to fall off the wall.  And no, I haven’t been sucked in to the quilt design software to the exclusion of everything else.  I’ve just been busy with lots of little non-quilty chores that add up and eat up the days. Quilting has been the carrot to get me to cross things off the “to do” list. I tell myself I can quilt when I’ve finished the chores (and some really can’t be put off anymore) then enjoy guilt-free “me time” with pretty fabric.  Hmph!  I think I need to rethink that strategy because the list never seems to get shorter and if I wait to get to the end to sit down and sew it will never happen!

On Friday I took a break from chores and that gave me an extra boost of energy to cross off lots of office chores, laundry, and even one or two cleaning chores today.  I think that’s a much better strategy!  Here’s what I made on Friday:

I have never been much of a purse person.  I carry the smallest one I can fit a wallet, phone and keys in. The kind I can sling across my body and forget about is best because I do forget about my purse and if it isn’t slung across my body it gets forgotten wherever it gets set down.  The bag pattern in the latest issue of Fons and Porter’s Easy Quilts caught my eye and reminded me that the essentials fit just a little too snugly in my current purse, making access difficult.  I chose a couple of fat quarters and checked out the pattern.

The finished product is not in fact the bag from the magazine pattern.  It turns out it needed more fabrics, was quite a bit larger than I wanted and lacked a flap closure.  ( I wanted the flap to make it just a little harder for things to spill out when I toss the purse on the seat of the car as I rush out to get to school pick-up on time!)   I used the magazine instructions to make the button loop and to figure out how to put in the lining, but I sorted out my own measurements and figured out how to add the flap all by myself.  I think I’m starting to get the hang of this!