Happy Friday & Bag Project Updated

   Hi Everyone, 

 Wow we are nearing the end of June already. It's been so hot here every day that it seems like it is going slow but here we are at the end of the month next week.

  We had our 6 month doctor visits this week, the family doctor we had been using since the move to the lake, we both were not crazy about and had been thinking of switching to the other doctor in the office-and then I got a call that ours was retiring so I could easily switch. He is the only doctor in the clinic now, young from Russia and we both really liked him allot, and very professional and on top of things unlike the other doctor. So we have eliminated a stress situation-a good thing.

  Since I needed to get off the allergy pills a couple months ago, my head just feels like it is in clouds haha.  I took myself off of them, because I have been on and off of those since I was a child and I just needed a break and my extreme leg cramps are mostly gone now too.  So with that and this continuous high heat with humidity has me feeling tired most of the day-ugh

  My garden plans have been halted do to this weather, we will see what fall brings us.

  Today I wanted to make the little purse pattern so I could start cutting out the fabric. The little bag is reversible too, so I can showcase hand dyes on both sides.  I shared this in another post that comes from the Sashiko and Boro book I picked up.

  I was happy that making the pattern was easy for me, something I just don't grasp sometimes. The instructions in the sashiko book were very clear. I am working on the wood flooring so I can spread out.

  At first I was wanting to use the packing paper that I have lots of but it was not quite wide enough and piecing it together was not accurate. So then I grabbed parchment paper which is working out well. I copied the page from the book for the instructions on how to measure this out.

I had a couple pieces of this one that I never cared for. Forgot what happened but I never liked these purple blotches-too tie dye for me haha  They will work out for these little bags though. This is a good quality kona cotton so it can be used finally

This following piece is more to my liking, and I have three green pieces too  I need to cut two of these pattern pieces. I will switch up the different fabrics so each bag will have two different hand dyed fabrics.

I will be adding patches to one front side and then practice with the sashiko stitches. I think this will be the perfect small project for slow stitiching.

   I did want to mention that since my T post  I have learned there is also a difference in the teas labeled for iced tea and for cold brew tea. 

    I tried the iced tea that I have on hand so I can get it used up-and it was not very flavorful. I contacted the Luzianne tea co about this and she said No the labeled iced tea will not work for the cold brew method. She told me the cold brew teas have added natural flavorings that will cold brew into a good tea.  This is true because the iced tea bags I made with the cold brew tea method had no flavor very blah haha.

Happy Friday and weekend!!

Update:  I thought I would add this here since it goes with this post.  After cutting out around 10 pieces I went back and re read the instructions again-and I missed something.  I had it my mind of what I wanted to do, but after re reading a better construction method to go with the instructions that I missed. 

   I had it in my mind to add just a few patches here and there and slow stitch on those. but then there is the issue do I want the patch to be raggy on the edges or turned under?  

  The instructions which I hadn't caught at first, is using a piece of cotton as the base and then totally covering with patches-instructions how to do that so no raggy edges. This will give a cleaner look too, so I would not want to use my hand dyed fabric for this as it would be totally covered.

  Ok so I went into my quilting stash of fabrics and found a big bag of allot of yardage of good weight muslin-one I would have dyed first and then used for a back of a quilt.  So I probably should have put this through the rinse cycle and dry to get more of the wrinkles out-but I steamed pressed it a couple of times tonight. It will be ok to cut out the pieces-tomorrow

 So instead of having pieces cut for 5 bags I will have pieces cut for 10 bags-using this muslin for one of the 2 pieces for a bag.  I had planned on making 8-10 bags so all is good.

  Ok I think I have this all sorted now--my mind works slow til I get it all figured out-always been this way haha