We Have a Winner!

We have a winner! Chosen by a random number generator from a numbered list of commenters, the winner of the Happy Hula Hut Giveaway is "Ladydi." Congratulations, "ladydi"! Please email me at lisa@lisaboyer.com and let me know who you are and where you would like me to send your prize.

To everyone else, better luck next time and stay tuned. I liked doing this giveaway and I'm sure there will be more in the future. I wish I could send every single one of you something. Your comments are funny and sweet and wonderful and I love them all. Mahalo Nui Loa.

Radical change of topic: I'm a sucker for bag patterns. I don't know why I think I need so many bags, but I like making them. I'll have to admit that when my local health food store decided to start charging for bags, I was a little...no, make that a lot...happy that I'd have an excuse to make more bags! Whoo hoo! I've made three pillowcase grocery bags so far, but I have a tall stack of pillowcases waiting to be transformed. I'm into it.

I liked the "Pleated Beauty Handbag" in Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules Sewing" book, so yesterday I decided to make a library book bag--because everyone knows you can't use your grocery pillowcase bags to take books to the library! It just isn't done! Here's how mine came out:

Meh. It's okay, but not great. The picture in the book is great, but mine doesn't look like the picture. It's okay when my cooking doesn't look like the picture--I'm used to that--but why is my bag shaped so differently? Why is it all big and floppy and wide when the one in the book is taller and more svelte-looking?

I follow directions very well, believe it or not. I'm a manual-reader from waaaay back. I had to be good at manuals--I used to work in a hospital lab as a Medical Technologist. (Gee, did that say O negative? I gave him A positive. Oh well....) Directions are sacred and I see and obey every command. I did check and find an errata online for the pocket portion of this purse, but nothing about the purse dimensions being off, which they definitely are. Mathematically, the bottom piece of interfacing she specified was three inches less than the actual completed purse dimensions, which makes me believe that this purse is at least three inches wider than her original bag pictured in the book.

I found multiple errors in the instructions for this purse, and frankly, I thought the instructions were vague and difficult to understand and follow, so I can't recommend this pattern at all. If you want to make this bag, think of the instructions as "suggestions" and devise your own measurements. It's a lovely book with lots of stylish items, but...meh. I don't like errata. Frustrating.

I also feel pretty "meh" about my embroidery on this bag. I just free-handed some, but as I'm fond of reminding you...(everybody together now!)...I'm not an artist.

It's alright though. I made it and that makes it loveable. I had fun doing it and it's just a book bag anyway. I love the fabric inserts and the contrast underside of the straps. So I give it a five out of ten. It'll do.

While I was out looking for sturdy bushes in our yard to support my floopy bag, I came across these: I wish I had something inserted for scale so that you could see that these lemons are huge! They're as big as grapefruits. These are Meyer lemons, which are very mild and low acid. They make EXCELLENT lemon meringue pie, which I just learned how to make a couple of years ago.

Here I am last year, making a Valentine's Day lemon meringue pie for my DH. As you can see from the state of my kitchen, it's quite a process!

Ah, but it's always worth it. Lemon meringue pie. It came out much better than my "Pleated Beauty Handbag," which turned out to be...(everybody together now!)...a lemon.