Overall,this was a good weekend.  I didn’t get all the fabric cuts done that I wanted to, but I did have time to play around with this design today and am really happy with the way it turned out.  The main panel is a great natural cotton fern print I picked up on a trip to San Francisco.  The bottom panel is a natural heavy weight cotton with a 100% lambswool reclaimed tie.  The other part of the tie was used in an earlier tote for it’s strap.  The interior panel and exterior pocket is a bright orange cotton canvas I like to call Dahlia Orange, it reminds me of the vibrant fiery flower. The handle is a reclaimed fashion belt using hardware from a different belt to match the magnetic snap closures and keychain.  I love how this all came together.   It’s a bit larger than the Stephanie Tote and there are three interior pockets made out of one larger pocket panel.

Fern in brown and orange dahlia

I know I’ve been absent lately.  It’s quite difficult to find the time to get creative when you are working extremely long hours.  The “real” job is going really well though, so all-in-all I can’t complain.  Now I just need to find the discipline to try to complete at least one bag a week (notice how I added “try” in there?, hey, I need at least one exit strategy in case it doesn’t work out the way I hope! :).

Keeping Up

How I’ll get there: I started lining up fabrics for some new cuts today.  I think it will be easier to dive into sewing with a bunch of projects all lined up and ready to go.  I’ve had these fabrics all thought out in my head for weeks, but I think having the actual cuts made will allow me to avoid making those last-minute design changes which take up so much time (even though they’re oh-so fun).  Maybe I’ll sacrifice having new designs for a little while, but I figure that Zhouk is young enough and I’ll have plenty of time to experiment with new designs later.  I also signed up for my etsy name to make sure I had it secured and ready to go once I get a few more bags done.  Now I just need to figure out how many is the right amount to launch the store? 5? 10? 30?  I think I’ll shoot for 10 to 15 for now, to have a decent selection for people to choose from and to give me some time in between sales to sew more.  I’m curious, what do you think?

The Secret Project

Since getting hooked on sewing I feel like I should be making gifts instead of buying them.  This is good and bad.  I love being able to give personalized gifts, I just think it makes the person feel that the extra effort you took is an example of how much you care.  I know it’s not going to be possible to do this for everyone I would like to, and that doesn’t mean I don’t care as much about them, it just means my day doesn’t have that many hours in it!  But I was able to accomplish at least one of the super secret gift projects I have been dying to make this weekend.  I can only share a snapshot though, you’ll have to wait until I actually give the gift to see the finished piece ;0.

a sneak peak at the secret project

lots of color in the secret project

New Fabrics

A few weeks ago, my friend Jen, over at Junk Into Funk-tion graciously gave me some of this lovely fabric, which I already have lined up for this week’s cuts.  Jen has an amazing knack for finding beautiful reclaimed materials!   I have the perfect fabric to use with these and am so thankful to Jen for sharing some of her excess with me!  These are quality fabrics and will work perfectly for bags.  Thanks Jen!

washed and ready to sew!

Other news

Link had surgery to remove a mast cell tumor. Luckily it turned out to be benign, basically the tissue got aggravated by something and the cells reacted.  He’s been bandaged up for 11 days, sometimes with the light-bulb cone, sometimes without.  The sutures get removed on Tues, thank goodness, we can’t take any more of antsy, bored, hyper puppy, the poor guy needs some serious exercise already! We cheated a little and took him with us on a short run today and he did absolutely fine.  A couple days ago though, he wasn’t so happy.  His buddies came out to play for a few minutes but his paw was too sore to romp around in the back yard yet, so we had to keep them separated.  Mac and Dolly were very concerned, as you can see.

That’s it for now, leave some comments, share this with others and check back next weekend for more :)

It’s hard to take good daylight photos when I’ve been leaving the house when it’s dark and coming back when it’s dark, so please excuse these photos for the time being.  I’ll try to post some better ones next weekend.

Did I mention that I loved Chinese New Year celebrations with Michelle, Daniel and Erik yesterday?  We had Dim Sum in the International District and the Lions danced right past our table!  Fireworks were going off outside, the drummers were drumming nearby and the festivities really made it feel like we had finally entered a Fresh and Happy New Year.  Not to mention, I am now officially addicted to Dim Sum.

Entry to China Town - Seattle

Tiger dancing past Michelle

Tiger going after some Dim Sum!

Wood Block instrument in the square.

1) While I didn’t meet my (somewhat unrealistic) goal of sewing 2 bags per day for two weeks. I did master my hidden zipper, try another altered design and finish 5 new bags.  I’m working on another 3 that I hope to have done by the end of this next week.

hidden zipper

2) I tweaked my original logo design and came up with the one you see in the header now.  I like having the design element off to the side so I can use it on it’s own.
3) I made my labels, which I blogged about last time.
4) I bought a bunch of supplies, of course including fabric, to keep me busy for some time.
5) I made a pot holder, two pillows and a new ironing board cover.
6) Went snowboarding once.
7) Enjoyed some time with friends and celebrated my brother’s 30th.
8) Re-arranged the apartment and changed what was supposed to be my music studio into a sewing studio so I could get the sewing machine out of the dining room/living room.

The one big thing I didn’t  complete yet, was setting up my Etsy shop.  This will come in due time and I’ll just have to send out an announcement for everyone.  And today, I’ve decided to take one final break and enjoy the sunshine in Seattle.  I hope you are all having a great day (whatever day it is for you)!

Here’s a glance at some of the new bags that will eventually be on Etsy.

Link wanted this one for himself :)

Zhouk Labels

Speaking of sewing, I’ll be taking a short break from posting (I know, I just got started!), but I have a a good reason… I need to do some actual sewing so I have something to show you guys!  So check back at the end of next week if you want to see what I’ve been up to :)

For the past week I have had a little design block.  I may have just been burnt out on figuring out this whole blog set up (not as easy for me as I had hoped, although, using this atahualpa theme helped tremendously), or I may have just been trying to focus on too many things at once.  Now that I am finally getting this going, I have SO MANY THINGS I want to do!  I can only hope this next year will allow me to get half of them done.

Please leave me comments (good and bad please!) about this blog, about my bags, about anything!  I can’t wait to start hearing from you and seeing where this goes.

I’d like to share a few things I have finished recently, to get things up to date.

My latest project: A lovely bag, pattern designed by machenmachen. I made this bag for myself with this Sketchbook fabric I have been dying to use for some time.  I must admit the darts were a little challenging at first, but I think it turned out great!

Ikea Tote

This is the 2nd version of the original Ikea Tote that I made with some Patricia fabric designed by Linda Svensson.  I only bought enough fabric for two bags and I SO wish I would have bought a bolt!  I haven’t seen it at my local store since.  I just love this combination and this will remain one of my favorites for a long time.  This bag will eventually be for sale on Etsy.com as soon as I have my shop set up with some inventory.  Keep checking back in the next couple of weeks for more information on my etsy shop.

The bag’s handles are made using reclaimed wool.

Large Bud Tote

This tote uses a reclaimed hammock for the base, handles and interior pocket.  This bag is perfect for summer or fall and will also be available for sale on etsy soon.

The Stephanie Tote

Inspired by my friend Stephanie’s request for a bright and colorful bag (she particularly loves red and orange).  This bag includes a hidden exterior pocket, interior pocket, snap closure and square metal rings to accentuate the handles.  The base and handles use an interesting quilted and shiny black fabric, making this a great day to evening bag.  This was a one of a kind, but I expect to use this self-designed pattern on future bags.

Mod Flowers Tote

A super bright and colorful bag, this bag has been used by my friend Michelle throughout summer, fall and winter so far!  This was a one-of-a-kind.  I especially love the last minute handle details on this one.  Also includes an interior pocket and pen/lipstick pouch.