It's finished!!

Well, except for the stitching on the Northern Lights and trimming it up! But still!!

Opinions please!

What do you think? For being fabric, does this make a decent Northern Lights? There will be mountains underneath the swirl and I will be doing some free motion on top with metallic thread.

Wolves and moose and bears... Oh my!

There's deer prints on my ironing board!

1 animal footprint set down, 2 more and the Northern Lights to go!

Sorry for being MIA! Update!!

Hello all,
Sorry for being quiet recently!  I ended up getting a new job!  Full time!  So, after not working full time for the last 5 years, bed has been my very good friend in the evenings :-)  Despite, I have still managed to get a bit of sewing done!  Here's the progress on my bag so far:

The colors of the fabrics still didn't come out quite right- the pocket looks a little better than it does in the pic.  I'm working on a good way to finish it off on the side where the stem ends, but I have everything else you see fused down and ready to quilt.  Hubby is going on a hiking trip all weekend, so I'm thinking that sleeping in and sewing up a storm will be in order!  Speaking of sleep, night all!

It all starts with a plan...

And, if you're lucky enough, a glass of wine!  Now, you must understand that I, at least for the most part, have an aversion to pre-made patterns when it comes to making a lot of things.  I LOOK at quite a few, then take all the ideas I see and incorporate them into something I would use, usually with my own twist.  With that said, remember this?

Well, it's working on becoming this:

I've never been known for my artistic drawing abilities, so please forgive the crudeness of these.  Say hello to my new messenger bag!  I've been carrying around a USPS one that my parents gave me for years now.  It has served me well, but is starting to fall apart, so I think it's time to start thinking about retiring it.  Therefore, I have been working hard on the design under the direction of my fore-kitten...

She knows how to keep a girl in line!  Start to wander, and she's on your lap in a heartbeat, giving you the choice of continuing to be sidetracked and used as a heating chair for a cat, or to kick her back off of your lap and continue back to work.  No really, this is my baby.  I love having her around, even when I hate it :-) 

I grabbed my glass of wine tonight and went to work cutting out the exterior and lining for this bag...

Kind of ballerina colors, except for the darker purple.  I just needed a little pop of color somewhere, and it goes a little better than how it shows in the picture :-)  I have cut out the exterior panels, interior panels, laptop divider panel, flap, and flap back.  I will be using Soft N' Stable, which, if you haven't used yet, is amazing stuff!  I made my purse out of it and love it so much.  I'll be cutting out some pockets and Soft N' Stable and such tomorrow hopefully, then we can start sewing away and hope the little pattern in my head works out :-)

So, that's my peek for now.  I'm finally tired enough to go curl up in bed, so I'm going to go clean up and head in.  Later all!

First Finish of May!

Well, I guess I'm not going to keep you in suspense on my first sneak peek for too long!  I found the idea yesterday, bought the materials today, and finished it tonight!!  I found the tutorial that I based this on from Twinkle & Twine.  I ended up buying a premade pendant, just because I liked it better than anything I could've made, and it had matching beads to boot!  This is also my first attempt at jewelry (unless you count those embroidery thread bracelets as a kid, or wine charms).  Let me know what you think!!