A Fun Endeavour

About a month ago, I got a really fun opportunity to help out Betz White on one of her newest patterns: The Hex Messenger Bag.

You might remember these pictures from earlier posts:

I was really making this!

Betz was really great to work with and let me tinker around with the pattern and offer up suggestions and improvements regarding the flow of the instructions and the ease of understanding them.  It was also a real treat to sew up something brand new that not many others had seen yet ^_^

This bag is really fun to make if you have lots of strips of fabric you need to use up.  I used a jellyroll in Moda's Domestic Bliss line.  The overall look of my first bag is different from Betz's in that I didn't flip my triangles around, but the look is still fun and funky.  I also added two fabric covered buttons to mine.

This bag is very open to many different hexagon layouts and I wouldn't be surprised if she came out with some more hexie-inspired bags soon.  If you aren't sure about sewing lots of seams for hexes just yet she has a second version call the "The Prism" bag which is also included when you purchase the The Hex Messenger Bag. Yay!  So you can make two looks with one pattern!

A big thanks to Betz for taking my suggestions and my humor and for offering up the Prism design alongside the Hex Messenger Bag!

Hush Time

I may be a bit quiet for the next 2 weeks.  Between the basement remodel (we're getting ready to hang drywall now) and the baby classes, this month's priorities are starting to shift towards parenthood.

It's exciting and intimidating all at once.  So trust me I'm not ignoring the blog just "hiding" temporarily till I have more time to post and pictures of projects to share.

I do have 2 bits of news though: my baby rhubarb plant developed crown rot and died.  I've brushed up on my rhubarb knowledge since then and hope to try again next Spring.  And I've found and purchased the rest of the fabric for my sister-in-law's Stars and Banners quilt which is what I'll be wrestling thru the machine today.

Be well and do good work this week!

It's May?!

I whispered that to myself getting up this morning.  It's not something I want to think about because we have so many things to do this month.  Namely getting the first two rooms in the basement done.

Project Basement is well underway.  We've actually got both of our new rooms framed in and wired at this point (more pictures will follow) and insulation is standing by (itchy itchy).

After a few delays waiting for contractors to "do their thing" we have all of our new glass block windows in and all the foundation cracks situated.  And because I'm a planner and tight-fisted with money I made a Basement Project Budget.

(The Future Man Cave Hobby Room)

And trust me I've been a Budget Scrooge when we go out to buy supplies.  I even went so far as to break down the cost of each individual thing prior to even setting foot in any home store (as much as we could think of we would need).  It's so broken down that I priced something as small as the price of drywall screws.  It's usually not the BIG stuff that will make you go over it's all the nickel and dime spending you do on supplies you forget you need.  But I'll admit I forgot to factor in the electric inspection cost and having to buy a GFI breaker.  Doh!

(New Sewing Room)

Those costs are in there now though.  You can blame my Dad for the budget breakdown.  He's been a Project Superintendent for various construction companies for well over 30 years.  While I know we may go overbudget just a tad I'm confident we'll be right on track once the drywall goes up and flooring goes down.

And what's even better anything that we have leftover doing these two rooms, like 2 x 4's, screws/nails, laminate flooring, etc, will be used up once we start roughing in the downstairs bathroom and family room.  So less stuff to buy for future projects!  Waste not, want not.

The main drive behind all this work is we HAVE to move my sewing room downstairs to make room for a nursery upstairs.  So we kind of have to get this done in a very timely manner and bless Chris for working so hard on getting everything done proper and to code.  It's not easy, but I'm proud he can do this stuff.