Beaucoup de Bags

Over the past month and a bit I sold four of the makeup bags I sell in my Etsy shop. So I decided to finish up the two shells sitting in the drawer, and make two more to replenish the stock.

These are a fun and satisfying make.

I had the shells done for the turquoise one and the ‘Nod to Postcard from Sweden’. I decided to make a forest green one because three sold over the past six or so months, and a purple one just because.

Forest green

Purple

Turquoise

These are new to me zippers from Zipper Valley. I've had them for over a year and have used the metal ones so far in three bags. It’s tricky cutting the tab end off (carefully guiding the rotary blade between the metal teeth) in order to make the matching cloth tab, and I (now) use my ‘paper only’ rotary cutter for doing it. They require me to hand turn my wheel when I am sewing those cloth tabs on where the teeth meet. I bought ten and I when the last four have been used I won’t buy any more, though I love the zipper pull they come with and the quality is excellent. Zipper Valley, for those of you for whom it’s ringing a bell, is a new sponsor of my QAL this year.😁

The zipper on the purple bag is so cool! It's got plastic teeth, so it’s a piece of cake to slice and sew through. What's not a piece of cake is trying to get the zipper pull onto the tape. I’ve watched their video and others used a fork and when it does eventually go on, it’s like how come it didn’t go on that easily the other 20 times? Despite its similar thickness to the metal ones, it’s very lightweight.

The bags don't have to be used for makeup; I've had customers buy them as a pencil case, something I hadn't thought of. These and a few other colours and styles are available in my Etsy shop SandraJaneQuilts. I’ve actually got a light green shell done as a leader/ender project between assembling these four. The sale of that one and my bright blue one depleted almost entirely the stock of colour-themed bags, a nice problem to have!

Rufus in action 

Looking south roads Pelee Island and Cleveland. This is the east side of the point, not the beachy west side which is shallower with a huge beach. As you can see, it is left completely au naturel, so it’s a bit of work to go very far but the water is so clear and it’s so quiet, humans-wise.

Yesterday, MacGyver's first day home, we took off in the morning to Point Pelee National Park for a little forest bathing and a little lake dipping for Rufus, though I ended up going in and getting the bottom of my shorts soaked even though I'd hiked them up like a bathing suit bottom, when he refused - ha Rufus refuses; do you see what I see? - to swim to get his ball. He slapped the water twice with his front paws, rearing up to do so. "Get back here right now, you ball you!" I could just hear him. Then he looked at me...

I actually caught most of it (a whole seven seconds) on video, and posted several short videos and photos of a glorious start to a day. It was a tad bittersweet, as that was a place Xena loved, and on one of our future trips we'll scatter her ashes there. Our own will be scattered in Lake Erie as well one day. Here is that video if you didn't catch it on Instagram @mmmquilts. 

That place is good for my soul and I’ve felt the profound goodness and peace since the first time MacGyver took me there in 1980, on our honeymoon!