Longer than Life

When last looked upon, Larger than Life bag was complete - sort of. The outer, crocheted portion of the bag was complete; the lining was complete. All that remained since June 12, 2007 was to join the two pieces together. Yeah - I'm that lame. The problem was that the lining was just a smidge too small for the bag, or so I thought.

I finally decided that defying the laws of physics was not in my nature, gave up and after two years of having it sit in the studio, turned it over to a goddess. In the hands of my good friend and trusty seamstress Pam, who can make anything work, the two pieces came together (something about "easing"?) Silly me, I was prepared to give up the two darling fabrics I had found and everything.

I love how the flower side of the double-sided lining peeks through the holes in the crochet! She even found a cute, third coordinating fabric for two pockets I hadn't considered!

So no more hanging around - it's time to get this out in the real world to show off!

Can You Push Me?

I need the kind of push to get me going again. Like when the swing slows down and you need to get up really, really high so you jump really, really far. This is all that remains on the little green sweater, sewing down half of one side of the collar. But it just sits - two days away from having to be in its intended recipient's hands.

These two - well. Wouldn't they look nice together? All it would take is a bit of stitching around the top and, zip, zap, zing - DONE!

A double-lined lining even! Now this, this took time. And math, planning, cutting, sewing, re-sewing, ironing. I'm just sayin'....
So what is it that keeps me from getting these two "so close, but so far" to-do items completed. Some may say it's the fact that I spent a wonderful day yesterday at the club pool with a girlfriend and her girls, and Kathryn and her friend (yep, I'm spoiled).

I'm thinking the answer lies here.

Please note that there is no Oprah sticker on the book which means I have had this book since BEFORE she deemed it cool.

So - push me! Sorry about the weird color here today - weird sky!!

I'm a Genius AND and Idiot!

Monday has become errand day. Not because I'm that organized or anal that I have a day set aside for errands but because I'm forced out of the house on Mondays. The neighbors on three sides of us have a lawn service crew that shows up at 10 AM and don't finish until somewhere around 4:00 PM. It's the loudest, most annoying, group of mowers, blowers, hedgers, and trimmers on the planet. It's easier to just leave than try to move from room to room and avoid the noise. When I rule the world, lawn mowing will be done on Saturday mornings between 9 and 12 by dads or sons on their John Deere tractors. But, I digress.

One of the errands yesterday was a trip to the fabric store to pick out the lining for the Larger Than Life Bag. Of course, this was made infinitely more difficult because I didn't bring the granny squares or the yarn or anything to help with the fabric selection. I guess I thought it would just come to me?? I paced through the aisles for what seemed like an hour. I had nothing to go by and no idea what was going to work but also knew I just wanted to be done with this because fabric stores make my eyes burn. Finally in complete frustration, I just picked three things that didn't suck as bad as most of the other things and that didn't have Strawberry Shortcake on them.

OK - well that worked out pretty well. Wait, I think the bag requires a zipper or some kind of closure. But again, no magazine to look up materials. Hancock Fabrics doesn't carry Interweave Crochet - just in case you were wondering!! I really do not want to come back here....Oh, I know. My phone, Palm Treo 650, has a web browser! Log on to Interweave, check the materials listing for the bag, I need an 18 inch zipper. Yes! I am a genius. Are you with me on the idiot part yet?