 technically still morning for five more minutes. It's Sunday morning, March 25th. I only didn't know that because I've already been up doing my daily writing and checking the calendar. I've got the laundry going and you know all the normal chores. And I've started sorting and cleaning some stuff in my office. I want to... I don't keep a lot of sewing patterns anymore because generally most of the time I don't do a lot of sewing anymore. Although lately that's definitely not been true. Obviously if you've been watching my social media posts and if you haven't go to the description below. There is a link to a website called Linktree. If you click on it there'll be a list of every single place on the internet you can find me and Instagram, Twitter, like all that stuff. Anyway I've been doing a lot of sewing lately and I do have a few sewing patterns that are favorites that I want to keep. But I need to organize them better. Traditionally they've just been stuffed in a pile or in a drawer. And one of the reasons I don't do any sewing hardly any more at all except for lately is because I can't find stuff and so that really annoys the crap out of me. So my husband's out getting his car washed and waxed. He drives a little sports car. And I am going to go head over to Staples and go find a large binder or something along those sorts that I can put the patterns and I want to keep and just kind of flip through them. I also want to get some pockets for the binder that I can put the pattern pieces in. You know, sort of keep the directions and flip through the directions but then also have the pattern pieces in a pocket. So yeah, so we're going to do that. And it's going to be kind of a quiet Sunday. I don't think we have a ton to do. We have a bunch of vegetables left over from Friday from the corned beef and cabbage family dinner but of course no meat because you know, everybody eats the meat first and nobody eats the vegetables except for me. And there's a big bowl of vegetables. I think instead of cooking more corned beef to go with them, we have some other meat in the freezer. So I'm going to cook that and make sort of the, you know, a German style sort of boiled vegetables which are pretty bland. They're just boiled vegetables and salt which is basically what I have in the fridge already and then we'll just cook up the meat to go with them for dinner. Got on the treadmill already today. So I got my steps in. That's six days this week from Monday to today that I've gotten steps in on the treadmill. So yay for me. So I'm going to try to keep that going. Christmas happened and I got derailed a bit and was down to two to three days a week which just doesn't work for me in my body. I need to be on there more to be healthier. So we're going to work on that. Normally I wouldn't do this but yeah. So this is the state of my office. As you can see there is literally not an inch of space on any desktop. Okay maybe like two inches right there. This has been the way my office has been for more than a week and while I still have at least one more sewing project to do and I should say that I have two more to do and one to cut out. I am going to clean up what I can. I'm going to organize my sewing patterns. This is a pile of sewing patterns I found in the closet when I was in there doing something else and this is a pile of sewing patterns I'm going to organize. So I'm going to work on trying to clean what I can of my office today. I think that's going to be the chore today because this is really bad you guys and I have videos to film for April commitments like I'm running out of time art journaling videos. So yeah I have no room to art journal so anyway that's what I'm going to work on today. Good morning it is Monday morning March 26th I think. I guess we should check hang on. Yeah the 26th calendar is behind my computer. Anyway I am expecting some company in a few minutes and I've got some filming for April commitments for here on YouTube to do today but I wanted to share with you all the next bag that I make which was this maid make that I made which is this one this is called the sew together bag and I'm going to flip the camera around so I can share it with you. It's been a whole five minutes talking to the camera and it wasn't on. This is called the sew together bag the pattern is by sew demented. There are a bunch of videos here on YouTube for tutorials how to put it together I have one in particular by a particular YouTuber that I really like she did it in parts and steps so I will link the videos and the pattern in the description below. It has two handles on it formed by the zipper now this isn't the best bag I've ever made it's not horrible I like it. I should have probably sewn the binding by hand instead of trying to do it on the machine and she actually says that in her video and a couple other people do too and I can see why it's you know it's okay but it's a little bit messy for me. You open the bag by pulling the zipper open this way and I was you know I'm trying to use up my my horde so I was using the zippers that I had I don't wanted to put an extra long one in here so it opens all the way and with a deck in the front which I'll show you in a minute but you could probably put a purse zipper in here with two pulls so that you can pull it open that way I didn't have one of those it was long enough so when you open it on the inside it's got these three zipper pockets in here that are really great that you can put you know all kinds of things in now this was developed as a sewing kit for people who go on sewing retreats and to sewing bees and things like that and if you put a long enough zipper in here it makes this sort of deck right here that you can put a pin cushion or something else will pretend my essential oil diffuser thing is a pin cushion you can in between the pockets there's a nice sort of deck in between you can put different tools in and it works great for a sewing bag it would be really great for an embroidery bag too if you like to take embroidery with you especially small projects but I immediately of course saw an art journaling bag and a pencil bag out of it I think it would make a fabulous one I added these little loops right here too that if you wanted to like attach scissors or something to they're really supposed to be decorative but I did leave it as a loop anyway I am going to make another one they have a hack for making a bigger one and I think I'm going to try that next I'm having a lot of fun rediscovering my love of sewing a lot of you have asked if I'm going to sell these bags I have no intention of doing that at the moment I have done that before where I have sewn for a living and I didn't enjoy it to be perfectly frank some of these bags that I make that you know I just make to see if I like the pattern but I'm you know not crazy about it or I find that the process was fun but the bag is not useful for me I may sell and I may not I don't know yet um yeah so we'll find I don't know yet what I'm gonna do so anyway but if you um know how to sew I'll put the patterns and the videos in the description if you don't know how to sew and you'd like to learn go to your local fabric shop because a lot of them have sewing classes and you probably know somebody who has a sewing machine sitting in a closet that they're not using that you could borrow so that would be my two tips for you and if you're going to take a sewing class especially if you can you know talk to the teacher and say I want to make this pattern can you show me how to do that that's the kind of class you want all right that's it for the moment I have a bunch of filming to do and I have company coming over in a few minutes so I'm going to go take care of all that and I'll be back hey guys how are you it is Tuesday March oh crud 27th um I just wrote it down like you would think I would know I don't know all right I'm still in my gym clothes I haven't showered yet it's 2 10 pm you heard me correctly pm I have been on the treadmill already I was chatting with my art friends of the zoomers while I was doing some video editing work and making something for Cindy udder that she asked me to do which Cindy it's in the mail today you probably will get it before you even see this vlog if you watch the vlog anyway it's so late in the day I just figured I would go get groceries and a lot of workmen on my street go get groceries and the mail before I even take a shower just like there was just no point who cares I'm in my gym clothes and I have a bra and I probably smelly don't tell anybody guys it is Wednesday morning March 28th and I am as you can see puppy sitting Lily she's doing her favorite thing messing up the couch while she stares out the front window so I am I'm not going to get a lot done because I'm puppy sitting but that's okay so I'm gonna chat with my friends the zoomers maybe do some laundry I have some daily drawing and sketching I think that that's probably what I'll do today so I'll share when I can and that's it for the moment hey guys so Lily is still here with me we are in the car it is really hot outside hotter than I thought it would be my house is freezing anyway we are getting ready to go over and get the mail I should probably walk her but I think I'm gonna drive instead she's having fun I think because she's loose in the back seat and I don't think her parents ever take her in the car that way all right so it is 5 31 p.m it's still Wednesday uh yeah Wednesday holy cow I got nothing done today because I was babysitting Lily or I'm sorry puppy sitting Lily and it's you know like having a toddler in the house you can't leave her alone for a second so yeah there's that I did throw one load of laundry in and I have YouTube videos loading 16 of them for you all and uh so we're scheduled scheduled out through almost all of April and um yeah so that's not nothing I should say but yeah anyway maybe I can get more done tomorrow maybe hey guys it is Thursday March 29th I just knew this two seconds ago I'm pretty sure it's Thursday March 29th and it is just before three o'clock in the afternoon I spent the morning uh getting my workout in and cutting out another bag to sew making myself a new pin cushion would you like to see my new pin cushion um if you follow me on social media you've already seen it this is my hallway um because I I'm gonna share tonight on social media but I had this jar of pins I kept poking myself trying to get pins out so I made myself this cute pin cushion and uh isn't it cute if you'd like it's an easy project and I don't know I didn't film it but if you guys would like a tutorial on how to do this let me know again it's not a hard project but I definitely I can show you it doesn't require a sewing machine FYI um let me know anyway I have had a jar full of pins I pulled out the ones that I prefer to sew with and yes there is a difference in pins anyway I'm going to put the rest out in the back of my car I've got a pile of donation stuff for Goodwill so it's going to go there because there's a lot of sewing pins I don't know why I had so many I don't really need more than that um anyway I'm going to go pick up a couple things at the pharmacy that we need that we're out of and I'm going to go get the mail and I have to do laundry yeah I remember to pull out some chicken for dinner so I think I'm gonna do an easy sort of stove top grilled chicken kind of thing for dinner I've got some potatoes too in the fridge so I think that's uh what I'm gonna cook for dinner for the husband and I think I'm for me I'm gonna have the chicken on in a salad but yeah I think that's what's happening today nothing super exciting I'm not puppy sitting today I think my daughter is home from her business trip today so anyway that's it for the moment oh I have to get a birthday card it's Polly's birthday everybody say happy birthday Polly is my daughter's boyfriend fyi if you don't know they haven't put anything out in a long time on their youtube channel blue glass jar um but I will link their um channel in the description below and um yeah he's having a birthday so I need to get him a card and a gift card so I'm gonna go do that too all right guys it is uh Friday March 30th and it's the end of the day it's six o'clock in the evening I've spent the whole day um I've spent the whole day doing what I don't know no I do know I got on the treadmill and all that stuff I didn't go get the mail today I spent the rest of the afternoon working on another one of these um sew together bags this one is a really big sized one with pen loops in the front something that could be used for a sketch bag three it has three pockets it's gonna be really big the original one by comparison would fit inside so I spent the whole day working on this so I'm still working on it and yeah we're gonna go out to dinner now it's Polly is his birthday so we're gonna go out and meet his family for dinner and celebrate his birthday and I'm gonna get away from the sewing machine for a little while and we'll finish it tomorrow all right that's it I'll be back hey everybody it's Saturday morning technically it's still morning it's uh before noon it's 11 13 11 yeah we're headed over to Costco to go get Easter food it hasn't been an exciting week because we haven't done much but we're okay with that I don't know if you guys are going to be but we are so we're gonna go see what we can do at Costco maybe eat some snacks at Costco and you know the usual we'll be back having lunch at Costco trying all the snacks and garlic what one is it? sure just one piece though well because he's over there doing something else I can't eat too oh I can't I shouldn't eat too oh hot please the bread booth holy cow we're in the Costco book aisle and I am so tempted to buy this book do you guys see what that says on there on the title and then if you open it up it's a sarcastic coloring book sarcastic coloring book I wish that I was full of tacos instead of emotions we'll work for cupcakes donut talk to me that is cute color your own tarot hand lettering colored color agami I don't know what that is interesting when you come to Costco you buy stuff you don't really need what is it $100 an hour so you're in Costco about 200 everybody's buying those cookies so we had some good snacks a lot of the bread from the bread guy he was hilarious he was hilarious I caught him on film but I didn't catch him on film cracking any jokes but he was standing there just joking with everybody which is why his table was so busy and he was selling so much product yes it was anyway yeah um he told me an off-color Italian joke which was hilarious which I probably ought not to repeat here on YouTube but it's funny why don't Italians like Jehovah's Witnesses they don't like any witnesses and I said you know you're not wrong um anyway he was pretty funny so now we're gonna go drop off some stuff at Goodwill and then go home and have lunch right because you know we didn't eat enough snacks at Costco so all right we'll be back okay charity donation done now we can go home and have lunch right that's cool hey guys it is still Saturday it's 3 30 ish in the afternoon I just picked up the mail I got sick of my hair so you know what does my friend Vicki Brown call it oh I've got the hamsters on my head I just run over here to staples really quick we need a box to organize some paperwork for the household and then I can go home and finish my um jumbo size sew-together bag which I will share with you all before we close this week's vlog turned out super cute again the sew-together bag is not my pattern but I'll put the link where you can get it in the description below the hack for the large size is also not my idea it's part of a Facebook group which I will give you the link to you're gonna have to request to join and the hack is in the files over there um and I will when I share the bag I'll go over with you the changes that I've made so I'm gonna go get my stuff and I'll see you end up like I think I'm finally ready to put some of this sewing stuff away at least temporarily I have other things I need to do I better get to it here's the bag share I promised you this one with the green trim is the original size of the sew-together bag um the pattern for which which again you have to download it is um linked in the description below and it's a really cute bag let's see if I can open it one handed hang on I'm gonna just get a very picture okay so when you open the sew-together bag um it is an accordion bag with three center pockets and then two sort of landing areas I put a longer zipper so that it actually can open if you're using this for needlework especially you can put your pin cushions and scissors and things right here and then have some of your notions not only in the pockets but sticking up in between so it's a really cute bag and I was really intrigued by it and intrigued by how it goes together so this is the original size there is a hack for making a larger size bag in the sew-together bag facebook group which you have to request to join it's a it's a closed group and they don't do comments or anything in there it's strictly an information only group but they do have a hack for the bigger size here's the regular size in front of the bigger one so it's quite a bit bigger wider and taller now the hack is intended to have the inside instead of three pockets to have four I didn't do that um I put a holy cow it's all the way at the end so the first thing I'm going to tell you is there's some great tutorials out there and I'm going to link my favorite channel birdcage and thread for their tutorials especially their one for the sew-together bag and a lot of the tutorials including hers tell you that you can machine stitch or hand stitch the trim and my first tip to you all if you're going to try to make one of these bags hand stitch the trim you can do it on the machine but it's easier if you do it by hand it's also cleaner looking um on this one I put a double zip I sort of a single see if I you know unzipping things one-handed is just challenging so this has a 30 inch zipper let's see if I can get the other side I'll show you what I did here we have to get it unzipped all the way so with the hack for the larger bag this is what I did I made my side pieces taller I did do the adjustments they recommended but I made them a lot taller these are the I made the pattern piece seven inches tall and then I took the fourth piece of the pocket and again some of these instructions won't make any sense if you haven't made the bag but I took the extra fourth piece to extend the bottom of the bag here on the inside so I added a piece of here in the front and a piece also here in the back I only put three pockets on the inside this one is um five inches tall this one is five and a half inches tall and this one is six inches tall I also added elastic loops to the front of each pocket and that would be so that you can use this as an art journaling case and all your pens and markers and brushes will fit in here you can put ephemera in the zipper pockets because these do zip zippers again with my one-handedness is not this is not going to work too well so and all of the pockets open and then so that I could have it be sort of a drawing case or or art case whether by the sofa or traveling I put these elastic loops and I grab some buttons I had this is not easy one-handed I've said that a few times now let's see so my idea was that it was a portable art or writing desk so you can put a bunch of your pens and markers in the pen loops on each pocket you can put other tools inside the pockets or bits of ephemera and paper between the pockets you can put um some of your small sketchbooks or journals in the back you've got this because I've added these buttons and the elastic loops you have this sort of bucket space in which you could put more tools or a big journal this is big enough to hold a small watercolor palette plenty plenty plenty big enough and some brushes and you have this landing pad here also while you're working till it put things on so my idea was to take the sew together bag which was intended to be a needlework bag and a sewing bag and make it into an art journaling bag so I love it so if you want specific measurements or instructions I will make some notes and write some things down and have a download link to draw a draw box file in the description below but I think you guys should give it a try if you know how to sew or you know somebody who does that's it for today or at least for the moment I'll be back okay guys so I didn't want to show you the bag after I got it all full with my daily drawing stuff I really love my Delphonics bag but that being said this one is prettier um and in some ways I don't know I think I might like it better I'm going to try it for a while but I put my charms that are always on my zipper pulls on the zipper pulls on the bag if you open it up all the way it opens up like this I've got all the markers and pens my gel bible gel high gliders and things I like to draw with in the pen loops in the bag in this small pocket I have a rag my pencil sharpener one of the shannon green mini custom keeper little notebooks um a sticky notepad a mini watercolor set that kind of thing a one lettering stencil in this middle bag I have a pouch with some glue washi tape and actually there's a pen in here so let's take the pen out and put it there's an extra pen loop back here put it there okay in this pouch about in this zipper pocket back here I've got some of my daily sketchbooks the smaller ones and in the back I have my bigger one and when I have it open I can have a bunch of my sketchbooks back here that I'm working on I love it and then when I am done the whole thing zips up tight closes up nicely and is nicely contained a new use for the sew together bag really cool I love it that's it for today and that's it for this week don't forget among other things to go out have an adventure do something fun have a happy Easter tomorrow everyone who celebrates Easter and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it I'll see you later bye guys