Wizard of Oz Patchwork Bag

I guess I didn't upload the pictures of all the materials I used for this bag.  I ordered 32 Wizard of Oz fabrics to make this bag for my mom's Christmas gift.  I started piecing random size pieces of the fabrics I was cutting.  It was easy to put the first few pieces together, but then I had to rip it apart to get another piece attached here or there:

The first panel took me about 5 hours to do.  My back, shoulders and neck hurt when I was done, but it turned out great.  I was pretty impressed with myself!:

I layered more pieces to see how I wanted the other panel to look:

The bag took numerous nights and many hours to create and learn how to make.  It was very worth it in the end!  I told my mom that I might not go into my crap room for a while! :)

It was pretty foggy a few mornings.  I like the way the light reflected through the fog super early in the morning:

These leggings are amazing!  Who knew I wanted these so badly until I saw them!  YIKES!!!  Kohl's never seems to let me down when I'm roaming around looking for stuff.  I can't believe these ever made it beyond just a funny comment in a meeting one day - they actually manufactured these ridiculous things:

This silly fella was outside on the sidewalk to greet me one day while I was walking to get the mail:

We had a super sweet couple stop by and bring us peppermint cupcakes.  They were so yummy!  It was nice to chat with them too!  One of their daughter's loved the dogs, but the other was so scared that she stayed near their car and then on her mom's back.  Yummy cupcakes!!!:

I was back to putting this bag together.  I only had a few days until Christmas and a lot of work to put in still:

Both panels completed!!

I wanted to put quilt type stitching through it, but I knew I was going to screw up making a straight line.  I cut painter's tape in half and traced the tape in order to make the lines straight and then just peeled the tape off when I was done:

All done stitching lines through everything:

I spent the rest of the evening shaping the sides of the bag using ramekins and oval plates that someone online recommended when they were making a bag similar to this:

On to making the lining and pockets.  I cut out the lining and then cut out pieces of fabric to make three pockets:

All stitched together - I should have taken a picture of the inside of the pockets because it's a different fabric than the outside:

I made a magnetic snap closure.  I went around the edges and flipped it right side out, but then I realized I couldn't get the material to lay in a curve at the end of the snap.  I ripped it apart and did it again, but left the opening across the top where it was straight.  The snap ended up being off centered, but oh well.  Here is the bottom:

Here is the top:

We had a big breakfast at work on Christmas Eve.  It was fun to cook a bunch of food for everyone and pig out.  I think we were all ready for a nap when we were done:

The next evening I worked on my mom's bag I made the edge pieces.  I was going to skip it all together, but figured I was this far into it and couldn't skip it.  I'm SO glad I did it:

Every time I reached a pivotal moment in the bag process I would run it to Doug and smack his arm and say, "LOOK, LOOK!!! It's a bag!!!!!"

The snap was finally attached:

I added the side piece to the lining of the bag.  I love the yellow brick road along the inside!!:

Then I made and attached the handle/shoulder strap:

After I finished that, I had to figure out how to attach the lining and flip it inside with the handle and snap attached.  I messed it up and stared at it for quite a while.  I took the instructions I had from online and tried to see if Doug could help me make sense of it.  It was 11pm on Christmas Eve - I was OUT OF TIME!!!  Doug was so exhausted that he didn't even want to try to look at it.  I went back to my crap room and decided I was smarter than the bag!! HAHA.  I ended up figuring out how to do it by somewhat of a trial and error.

ALL DONE!!!!!

My mom loves her new bag!!!  The whole time she thought I was struggling to make an apron and couldn't figure out why I was having such a hard time.  This was a total surprise to her! YAY!!

Harley Stocking

Becky and I took a trip to the Harley store to get a patch for a gift I was making for Glenn.  Not to shabby to see these while shopping:

I've spent so much time in the crap room lately that Ruger runs to the doorway now.  He looks at me like, "uhh, come on! Take the gate down! Let's play in there!"

My mom brought me a pair of Glenn's Dungaree's and a chain so I could make the Christmas stocking I planned.  After I cut the back of the pants off, I tossed them on the back of Ruger since I wouldn't stop sniffing and licking the pants:

He's pretty cute in jeans!!

Shhhh, don't tell Glenn that I cut up his pants!!!

Measuring to figure out how to make this stocking:

Whoops, the toe looks really stupid - glad it's too big rather than too small:

I flipped the stocking back inside out reshaped and re-sewed the tow and it looks much better!  I added the belt and chain:

My mom spent most of her day at the nursing home when they had their Christmas party.  I love this picture of my grandma:

Our one and only Christmas decoration this year was a wreath on our front door.  I kept telling myself I was going to decorate since the holidays can really suck for Doug.  Then I would talk myself out of it - I'm going to have to put everything away in 2 weeks, the dogs are going to be crazy over the new stuff in the house, etc.  So this was all I did:

I find the littlest things entertaining sometimes.  This is one of those times.  I backed into our driveway through a wet gutter and make this "person" in the street with my tires:

Here is the final Harley Christmas stocking after I hand sewed the patch on.  I filled it with taco fixin's and wrapped it in a box for Glenn:

Lemons & Lockout

We were watching a movie and decided to invite the dogs on the couch.  They'll be still and calm while we're being lazy rather than Ruger chiming at the back door for us to let him out:

The blue blanket keeps their hair off the furniture.

While driving home a couple weeks ago, the man behind me was rearended and as we both pulled over the driver that hit him sped off, so I followed him as he turned onto the next street.  You wouldn't believe how fast I can say this to a 911 operator: "I'm chasing someone that just did a hit and run, can I give you the license plate number right now before I lose it???!!!"

It was pretty funny because the good ol' reliable GPS had a street name for EVERY street around me except the one he turned on.

The 911 operator asked where the victim was and I said, "I think he's chasing me chasing this guy!" LOL (it turned out he was chasing me)

When the driver took off my immediate thought was, "oh, heck NO!! let's do this dude! I've got a half tank of gas and no where to be!"

I'm sorry the man behind me was rearended, but I'm SOOOO thankful he wasn't pushed into me!

Recap:  I called 911, kept rattling info to the operator, she kept asking questions too, but it was dark, raining and I don't know the street names in that city (shoot, I barely know the street names in my neighborhood! lol). The guy drives for a bit then takes another turn and then after the next street he pulls into a driveway. I'm certainly not going to approach him or park behind the vehicle., so I pulled up the street a little bit and gave the 911 operator the address. Then the victim passed me and parked on the street too; luckily he knew the name of the street because it still wasn't on my GPS. The guy ended up walking to the street holding an arm up, waving at us. The 911 operator started 20 questions, what does he look like, does it look like he had a weapon, address, etc... The 911 operator kept saying the cops were nearby, but the flashing vehicle we saw coming was a mailman.  The cops showed up moments later, 911 let me go and the cops searched and questioned the hit and run guy. The guy apologized before the cops got there and knew he was in a heap of crap. Basically he had no insurance and panicked. Here's a kicker... He pulled into his babysitter's house so he could pick up his kid. The vehicle is his uncle's and the registration is overdue. The officer asked the victim if he wanted the driver charged with a misdemeanor and the victim said no way.  The cop explained the various avenues, like charging the guy with the hit and run, small claims court, insurance stuff, etc.  He's basically stuck with the bill because I highly doubt there's any way he'll get money out of that guy. The victim is an older man and I'm sure he was pretty sore the next day.  I asked the officer if he needed anything else from me since I had to get home to let the pups out to potty.  This is the picture while I was getting ready to leave:

I wasn't feeling very well for a few days and it turned into a crazy cough and stuffed sinuses.  I was eating Halls cough drops and got a kick out of the pep talks on the wrappers:

I went home an hour early from work and ended up calling in sick the next day.  I was up all night coughing and felt even worse the next morning.  My day consisted of taking a nap and watching television and more Christmas movies.  The only activities I did was picking lemons and doing the dishes, so I could soak the lemons in water and vinegar.  I must have picked about 30 pounds of lemons.  Our tree is amazing!!

These were great for lemon, honey tea!

I took this picture to show my mom what my crap room looks like since I've been organizing:

Just before 7pm, while home sick, I went out to get the mail.  It was really cold, so I walked quickly back and forth to the mailbox up the street.  I got to the door and couldn't get it open.  Ruger barks and jumps if we go out the front door and he apparently hit the deadbolt because I was locked out of the house.  I already knew I was stuck because when it's dark I keep the backdoor locked and it's too cold to keep windows open.  I was outside with no keys, phone or anything.  I walked around the house a number of times although I knew I wouldn't be able to get in.  A neighbor across the street came home, so I asked if I could use his phone to call Doug.  Doug couldn't believe Ruger locked me out - no one could.  I wandered around the house again and when I was standing in the driveway our next door neighbor came home and asked if I was okay.  I told him the dog locked me out, so he let me use his phone to call Doug again.  Doug said his sister was going to come over, another friend offered to come and he was on his way home.  I was cold and sick, so I went to hang out at the neighbor's house while I waited.  Debbie got to our house and our neighbor, Debbie and I tried to lift the garage door, but it was not moving at all.  Debbie needed to put her girls to bed still, so I stayed at the neighbor's house until Doug got home.  I was outside for 30 minutes and then Doug got home after I spent 30 minutes at the neighbor's house.  I'm glad Doug was able to leave work, but I sure felt like crap when I finally got back into the house.  All I can do is laugh.  Only that could happen because of our maniac Ruger.  Now I take house keys and my cell phone to the mailbox each time.  I took a picture of the lock when I got inside.  He really did lock the deadbolt: