Oops!

So, in my search for my home decor fabric for the next bag in the Amy Butler "Style Stitches" challenge, I have realized that my lack of knowledge about fabric types has caused me to make a great error.  I thought I was purchasing fabric of "home decor weight," as is often described on many sites.  Instead, I bought several yards of lightweight voile.  It's gorgeous fabric, but definitely not going to work in the totebag. 

So, my search is on again.  I need to figure out what to do with this fabric now!  I'll need to read more carefully next time.  This is the difficulty with buying fabric online.

Cold outside, sewing inside

So, January has never been my favorite month of the year.  The holidays are over and it seems like there's nothing to look forward to except snow, snow, and more snow.  Fortunately, here in central PA, we haven't had the kind of snow they're getting in the northeast.  In fact, according to our local weather station, out of the past 116 years in which weather records have been kept, this winter is only the 82nd snowiest. 

But it's still been cold.  And the cold weather is perfect for staying inside and doing crafts.  One of the things that I've been working on is the Mystery Block of the Month Club using Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas fabric, which is available at Fat Quarter Shop.  I started a couple months late, but have kept up with the months so far.  I always get excited to get the newest block of the month, to see what clever design it will be!  Up to now, I have 8 months done.  Here are the pictures.

Only four more blocks to go!  In the meantime, I'm working on some other projects, including my next bag in JemJem's challenge.  More on that in another post...

Until then, enjoy the snow!

January Bag - Done!

So, I decided to take the challenge of a fellow blogger and attempt to make one bag per month from Amy Butler's new book, Style Stitches.  Jemalia from JemJem, challenged her readers to make the Cosmo Bag for January.  I am quite proud of my bag, although I must admit that it was quite challenging for the very first, so-called "Easy" bag.  I'm not sure how I'll even be able to make it to the intermediate bags!

Anyway, here are my pictures of the bag.  I bought the exterior fabric from a Crate and Barrel outlet.  Believe it or not, it was only $5 a yard.  I should have bought more fabric from there.  The blue fabric was from my stash and the lining was from Joann's.  I am quite proud of myself, although I'm a bit tired out now!

We'll see about February...