I'm having a bit of a crisis at the moment.  I had a crappy week at work, being told things are going to change in a way that I really don't want it to, so I decided to try and improve my lot by making stuff.  I have a chance to sell some bags at a pop up shop in my local town in July, and also a friend on a forum has offered to sell a few in her teashop.  The trouble is, I don't have anything to sell.  So I decided to make some, and not wanting to be a copywrite sneak, I bought a brilliant pattern from Sara at Sew Sweetness, a great blogger I've been following recently on twitter.  

It's the first time I've ever bought a pattern and followed through with making it - I have a couple of other patterns but so far not made those ones yet!

I got a bit frustrated though, because Sara is American, and mentioned a few different types of wadding  materials that I hadn't heard of.  I decided to use what I had, which was a heavy cotton bed covering that I had left over from a baby floor quilt.  It probably wasn't the best idea.  I ended up cutting it smaller than the pieces that were in the pattern, so that when the fabrics were sewn together the wadding didn't make it ridiculously thick.  That meant I had to quilt it onto the fabric so it stayed put, which I did with black thread on black fabric.  I can't help thinking I should have done that in a lilac or something that would have stood out.  

I also had a bit of trouble with the curve sewing, but that's my problem, not the pattern's - I hate curves!!!!!

Anyway, here is the finished item.  It took me a grand total of 12 hours to make, what with all the faffing around deciding on fabric, then unpicking etc.  

I like the pattern though, and I'm going to try and make a few more during half term - see how much quicker I get with practice, and also to try out a different type of wadding that I've thought of.  I'll let you know how it goes!

And just for fun, here's a picture of my lovely dog Zac, haring through the bluebells in the local wood with a small piece of wood.  I say small - he prefers them bigger than that....