Oh Amy, Amy, Amy......

So I'm making the Weekender, Amy Butler's pattern.  This is the 3rd one I've made.  The 1st one was years ago - before Hip Stitch, to give you a frame of reference.  I use it when we (rarely) travel....it doesn't have much in the way of interfacing - just craft fuse - and so it's floppy, but I love it.

The 2nd, I made for my best-est friend Lisa.....the blog post is HERE (I'm not that great about linking things sometimes, so if nothing comes up, I'm sorry!)

After each bag, I swear that I'm not going to make another one.  And then that passes, and after some time, I get the itch again.  Like this weekend.  Here's where I am:

Layers of home dec., craft fuse, timtex & cording......2 spools of thread, 2 broken needles.....having to step away from my machine to take some deep breaths, having a glass of wine to calm my nerves.......are you just dying to try this project yet?!  No really, it's truly the most beautiful bag I've made, and I love to pack clothes in to go on a trip (did I mention that was rare?), because I feel so.....cosmopolitan.....with it.  But I think if I do another of these, I need to borrow someone's industrial machine to take this baby on.

In the meantime, I'm done with the hardest part - the exterior.  Lining shouldn't take long....and then it'll be in the shop with a price tag of $3,000 on it!  haha.....haha.....

This afternoon, my almost-11 yr. old and I went to the library.  When we got home, I waltzed into the house with my stack of books and told her, "this is one of the happiest feelings ever!" referring to having a stack of new library books.  Here they are:

Why Sewing for Dummies, you wonder?  Oh, I just always grab a sewing book or 2 to see if there are any tips I can learn.  And the funny part is, I ran into Trish, who's going to be teaching the kids' doll class, in the sewing book aisle - we were both browsing that section.  Sigh, we sewing geeks think alike!

Goodnight - I'm going to bed to READ!