Trying something old that's new again, sorta . . .

Needlepoint, haven't done it in years, but I'm visiting my mum and she pulled out this piece from Liberty of London, vintage! How could I resist? Always good to try or revert to something different or new or old or all of those things! Fuel the mojo!

Trying my hand at making a bag . . .

I've been playing around with writing a pattern for making a bag.

My friend Anne brought back a very cute bag from her trip to Turkey,

and she let me take some pictures of it. 

 I measured it and tried to reproduce it.

 Anne's bag had beautiful fabric 

that seem to have a metallic feel to it.  

What we both love about the bag is it's not too deep and it opens

wide so you can really see inside it.  

Anne's bag had the boxed pleat bottom on the outside of the bag,

see the triangle fold?

I decided to put the box pleat on the inside of the bag this time.

I used some upholstery sample fabrics that a friend gave me.

Some batiks for the straps,

and some Kona solids for the lining.

I'm still tweaking this construction and the design.

When I have a good working pattern,

I'll post the process and dimensions.

For the first "draft" I am pretty pleased with the out come.

Now how can I jazz this up with ribbons and trim and color?

Hehe.  You know I will.

on another note . . . .

My buddies from high school showed up this weekend.

We had so much fun and lots of giggles!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wonderful Wednesday

I picked up the kid and her beau last night from JFK . . .

They had been in London . . . England!

Look what my little darling brought me!

Liberty of London fabric!

How lovely she is!  I trained her well.  Hehe.

I can't wait to dive in and make something!

Thank you darling daughter. OX

Finally Finished . . .

Has anyone seen my Mojo hanging around?

I seem to have misplaced it.

This scrappy trip around the world top should have been finished weeks ago . . .

There is always a distraction.

Three seasons of Dowton Abbey on DVD . . . 

Going back to the gym to try to regain a body . . . 

Cleaning out closets . . .

Now that right there tells me my Mojo has gone missing!

Cleaning closets?  Gross.

So somehow this past weekend,

I made myself get back to sewing.

Sometimes you have to push yourself to get that toe back in the water,

or you will never get back to it.

Slow and steady.

I decided to try a few different layouts.

Popular.

 Zig Zag.

I liked this one, but not crazy for it.

All diagonal in one direction.

Blah.

Traditional.

And back to the popular layout you see all over the web.

I went with this popular layout.

I wanted to try something different, but this is the one that grabbed me.

And now my top is all pieced together.

Will need to prepare a back and send it off to be quilted.

Have I found my Mojo you ask?

Not really.  I think I need some sunny days, warm sunny days.

But I'll keep plugging along,

because when my Mojo returns, it will be a beautiful thing.

Isn't this a cute little pendant?

My friend Anne gave it to me.

She doesn't have the love of the fabric like I do,

but she certainly can appreciate it!

So how is your Mojo doing these days?