Mission.....Complete

The duffel bag is completed.  It's pretty awesome, if I say so myself.  And my husband thought it was awesome - and when was I making him one?

 I have it hanging here on my dining room chairs - wish the middle hanger could have been used - it sags a little in the middle when it's not supported.  You can maybe make out the handle at the top, the zipper - once again, the largest zipper I have ever worked with - but not bad to work with at all.

Here you can see the shape of the bag - it's a little shorter in the back.

You can't see it in these photos, but there is a row of the webbing on the bottom of the back, and about the middle of the curved bottom front.  That's just to give it additional support.

The fabric is a nylon canvas - waterproof - I tested it in the sink.  It really is.

This was a fun project and I'm glad my friends on twitter thought of me when it came up.


Happy Sewing!
Susan

Hands?

My friend Jane posted a blog yesterday challenging everyone to share their hands.  I talk with Jane on Twitter, she has an etsy shop, and a facebook page that you can check out too.

Jane also created a facebook page just for this topic:  Hands Exposed!

So first of all, it's kind of hard to take a photo of both of your hands together without assistance.  Well, unless you have a tripod, timer on your camera (that you know how to use), or magic.  I have none of those.

I have small fat hands.  I can buy the smallest size gloves they make for women and the fingers are always twice as long as mine are. 

I'm a bit of a fanatic about my (fake) nails.  I've been having them done for so long I'm sure I must not have real nail left.  It's actually time to get them done again, so they are looking a little ratty.

I'm not sure what else Jane wants to know about our hands - but here they are!

Happy Sewing!

Susan

You Can Win!

So I taunted you the other day with my Sis Boom fabrics, and said that I was going to do a give-away.

And I am - here it is! 

You can be the winner of this set of two box pouches made using the Sis Boom fabrics.  Each box pouch is pieced and quilted with a metallic thread.  Approximate size of each pouch is 8" wide by 3.75" tall x 3" deep, has a zippered closer, tabs on each end, one with a metal d-ring.

Here's how to enter the contest:

1. Make a general comment on this blog post.

2. Follow me on Twitter.  Post your twitter id in a comment on this blog post.

3. Like my facebook page.  Post your facebook id in a comment on this blog post.

4. Favorite my Etsy shop.  Post your etsy id in a comment on this blog post.

5. Join my Circle on Etsy.  Post your etsy id in a comment on this blog post.

6. Buy something from my Etsy shop. Post the transaction information in a comment on this blog post.

The winner will be selected on Saturday, January 28, after 5pm EST.

Good luck and happy sewing!

Susan

Look what came in the mail!

I was pleasantly surprised when the mail carrier brought me a package I wasn't expecting!

Jennifer Paganelli, the wonderful lady behind Sis Boom sent me a package of Girls World Vibe fabric!

I'm so excited, I can hardly contain myself!  What fun I'm going to have with making some great things from this lovely selection.

I'll be sure and tell you what I make!  And I'm going to have a contest that you can win something made from it - more on that tomorrow.

Happy Sewing,

Susan

Happy New Year! 2012

Happy New Year, everyone!  Here we are at the beginning of a new year and I'm one of those obsessed people who likes to (pretend to) make goals and objectives for the upcoming year. 

I'm going to admit that I didn't stay up last night to ring in the new year - I was sound asleep before then - although I did stir briefly for the neighborhood fireworks that went off at midnight.

As you may now, I'm cutting back my day job work hours to 20/week, so I have some big plans for Sew Darn Simple this year. 

To start out, I'm going to get back to organizing this room.  I started this project last year - and I did get some new storage and am using it, although not as effectively as I'd like to!  If you follw me on twitter, then you know I started doing some of the organization this weekend - on Friday, I finally got my box of zippers put away.  And yesterday, I cleaned off my cutting table.  Today I'm going to work on my filing - my new shelving has a filing drawer, and I'm going to finally use it!

I'm going to write down sales and financial goals for this year - since I will be working less hours, I plan to use those to increase my advertising and therefore (hopefully) my sales. 

I'm working on identifying potentially new art/craft shows that I want to apply to this year.  I've already applied to one new show, and I have at least two more new ones that I plan to apply to, and hope to get in!

I plan to work on some new products and expand my inventory on some of my best sellers, and I'm in the process of working on patterns that will soon be available in my etsy shop.

Also, I want to expand my blogging - and I'd love some suggestions on what you might like to hear about this year.  I may do some tutorials, always write about my latest projects, maybe some guests??!?!!

Here's to a successful 2012!

Susan

Weather....

Yesterday, we headed to the quaint town of Yellow Springs, Ohio for Art on the Lawn, sponsored by the Village Artisans. I had done this show several years ago, but then it conflicted with another show the next few years, so I hadn't been back.





It's a nice setting for a show, on the lawn of a school, especially in mid-August when the temperature and humidity can be, well, let's say 'unbearable'. We had a spot under the edge of a tree's umbrella, so started off with a little shade.


I had tweeted on Friday where I would be, and for those of you who have experienced this, it's always fun to meet someone that you know from twitter. Linda (Croneandbearit) stopped by to say hello and it was fun to meet her and her husband.


Unfortunately, about 3:30 or so, the weather took a turn for the worse, with some serious rain, thunder and lightenting, so some hurried packing occurred, and no worse for the wear (ok, I may have rusted a little from the drenching) we headed home a little early.