Another Orange Purse

I finished this purse on Sunday night but work and a family crisis reared their time-sucking heads and I only managed to get photos today.

This is the Two-Zip Hipster purse by Erin Erickson of The Dog Under My Desk blog.



There is a zippered pocket on the outside and a top zipper closing the main compartment.

A slide in pocket on the outside (kindle or Ipad size) AND a double pocket (smarty pants phone) on the inside.

I love all the pockets.

The adjustable strap allows you to wear it from your shoulder or cross-body style.
This pattern with incredible detailed instructions was a breeze to sew - even the almost complicated sewing in of the top zipper. Very good instructions. I had zero quibbles about Erin's excellent instructions.

I'm looking at this photo thinking I could embroider something random across the black band. What do you think?

Put a bird on it . . .

My other orange purse utilizing this lovely Ikea bird fabric is here.

Spoonflower Fabric

I was lounging around the internet over the labor day weekend looking for cool fabric doodahs when I stumbled across a cool sale at Spoonflower; a free fat quarter of fabric for $1.00 shipping. It arrived today.
I've been on Spoonflower before so this showed up in my favorites and promptly was ordered.

Spoonflower is an online site where you can design your own fabric. Tres cool. Except they don't tell you how easy it is to get sucked into the website and before you know it you have spent bucko dollars on a really cool print - designed by you.

I didn't design this jetliner print but I love the soft blue and the alternating 2" squares. You can choose to have your design printed on cotton, knits, canvas - I believe  there are about ten different fabric weights you can have Spoonflower print your design onto. Really cool service and a quality product.

There is a two-week  rural carrier count starting on Monday, September 17th (through Sept. 29).
I have written about this before. How your rural mail carrier gets paid? 
 and this post: and Letter Writing.

I am asking you to write a letter during those two weeks, maybe even two! The USPS is not doing a city carrier count, it is only the rural carriers. Even if you don't know whether your carrier is a city or rural mail delivery person, write anyway. It's a good habit. Not only that, it totally makes my day to get a letter or small care package in my mailbox.

• Write to your nieces or nephews ( I have little candygrams ready for carrier pick-up for next week on my kitchen counter). I  gave out some good ideas on my post here.
•  Go look at the USPS website and see how many FREE priority products there are ( I just ordered 12 different supplies. Flat-rate boxes, the Padded Flat-rate envelope, the shoe box, the bigger priority box and the newer Regional rate boxes.) I recently used the regional rate B box to send $40 of groceries to my son for $5.40. Way to go mom!
  The Priority shipping supplies are free to order and free to get.
  Each package counts for a better paycheck for your carrier.
• You can print Priority postage at the PO website, saving yourself some money as well as getting tracking for free.  Free carrier pickup at your front-door.
• When's the last time you wrote a thank you letter?
• This would be a good time to order yourself some treats as received packages help your carrier counts too. I need to re-order my vitamins (amazon.com).
• Sign up online for a free catalog or magazine. Many magazines give you the first issue free.
• Write to me.
  Last Spring I sent off about a half-dozen letters with a favorite tea bag enclosed. The quick note inside said, " Have a cup of tea with me". My friends liked these. Some smiles were heard.

Why is the PO doing a count so soon after last years? Well, the rural carriers have been working without a contract for close to two years now. Some contract language has changed. The PO Mgmt.'s depressing media blitz that mail volume is down and they have run out of money is not true. Mail volume continues to rise with the exception of first class which is holding steady.
The PO is mandated by a 2006 law to pre-fund retirement benefits for people who haven't even gotten hired yet. These payments are going into the General fund where they are used for ???
The PO has over-payed these benefits but congressional peoples aren't close to fixing this little problem.  Meanwhile, rural carriers are perceived by mgmt. to have it too easy and they are looking for ways to make rural carriers do more in less hours. Where have I heard that before?

Still Sewing

 Yes, you heard me, I am still sewing.

 I'm knee deep in a purse project and it is coming together, rather well.
I'm missing the hardware for the strap but DD picked up something at Bolt today while she was out and about.
I have a graveyard stash of old leather purses and the assorted cast-off hardware but no rectangular slider piece for the strap.
Which just goes to show you - your stash will never ever be big enough . . .
{Currently my stash is threatening to take over parts of three rooms}. 

This is the front. It's got a slip-in pocket big enough for an Ipad or a Kindle as well as a zippered pocket. Originally, as directed on the pattern, the black band on the pocket would have been orange Ikea fabric also, but I decided black would break up all the blatant orange. The lining is a striped ticking that is peeking over the pocket - only because when I was pressing, I liked the look of it.

After picking my meandering stitching out of my strap and then re-stitching it, I decided to go with some black strapping I had in my purse hardware stash instead.

I'm working on the inside lining now and made some changes there as well. I don't think I have ever sewed a pattern where I followed directions to a tee.

I like the ticking in use for the lining. Light enough in color to be able to find stuff in the pockets but sturdy enough to hold up to the rigors of being stuffed full.

 A medium-small purse. Just right for me.
Today I will finish the lining and then await the slider thingy to finish attaching the strap and then it will be mostly finished.
The pattern I am using is a PDF pattern. These type patterns are all the rage because you can download them right to your printer and get started right away. This purse is 32 pages. Some people do this with clothes patterns and I seriously cannot fathom how. It's easy to print on the wrong scale and tape the wrong page to the wrong page creating a pattern mutant.
 
This one was okay. I wanted to try out this pdf pattern 'process'.
Mixed bag as far as I am concerned.

The pattern, Two Zip Hipster, comes from the Dog Under My Desk blog.
The pattern goes together very well and is well-instructed. I've had zero problems with it other than printing out 32 pages.

Improv Sewing

I recently checked this book out from the library.
Improv Sewing by Nicole Blunt & Debra Immergut.

"a freeform approach to creative techniques", this book was published this year.

Most of the projects deal with jersey knit - think your favorite t-shirt.

The authors had an ingenious way of using a favored woven material by inserting side panels of stretch knit. You get a very comfortable skirt to wear with all the vibrant patterns that woven material offers.

At first, the projects come off as something you might make as a 20-something, but then you move past the unfinished edges that will never be able to be just thrown in the washer, and you start seeing some incredible design ideas.



Not a true ruffle. The authors finished some long narrow strips with a narrow zigzag along the edges to create a ribbon and then sewed it onto the bag  - flat --. Giving the tote bag some textural interest without making it fussy.

I like this ribbon technique across this hoodie. Free-motion stitching ending past the ribbons - like fringe.
320 pages of interesting ideas. A serious buttload of ideas. I saw several I wanted to incorporate into my head. It was pretty reasonable at Amazon.com when I wrote this.

101 fast, fun, and fearless projects

Free-motion stitching and then constructing the tee. I've seen another technique where you sew narrow elastic in a random pattern on the wrong side creating textural 'bubbles'. I think that photo is on my other computer - have to find it, then post it.

 I liked this journal cover. Straight stitching interspersed with a wide zigzag segueing into a straight stitch again.
Drawing on fabric with your sewing machine or adding some hand-sewing to make things pop.

 I leave you with this Wild Thing

The authors blog is here. Enjoy.

Straight Lines

I might need some practice. As the thread line hits a nice angle. . .



Just the strap for the purse I am working on.
I love the orange IKEA fabric, but I'm thinking a black strap might work better. Pretty much what I was thinking as the sewing line meandered.



I did my 20 minutes though.

Lifted

Canby: The bend in the Willamette River

Flying the River (Willamette).
The wind and the sun are begging me to try and capture their beauty.

We are only 600 feet up.
The camera on its "beach" scene setting tries to capture the water-skier.
Just north of the Canby Ferry.

Off our left wing is the Aurora airport. Hangar buildings.

I couldn't quite get the big farm tower that distinguishes Donald.
The Donald Cafe is nearby. Very good breakfasts.

Closer -- just out of focus . . . .

Flying south - we have the Woodburn Dragstrip
No draggin' today.

It was very nice to go flying this afternoon. Richard Bach is on my mind a bit this weekend. He is the author of Jonathon Livingston Seagull and lives up in the San Juan's nowadays. He is a pilot who can write coherently and majestically about what it is like up here - high in the sky.

All of his books involve flying with an huge spiritual momentum. He was probably the first author I read that was able to put into words what touching the hand of God means.

I always feel closer to God when I am up in the sky. My burdens are lifted.
My praying is much clearer without being tethered to the earth.
When we land, I feel rejuvenated, energized, and at peace with my inherent 'crankiness'.

Richard Bach has written several books which I am feeling the need to re-read.
He was flying Friday when he clipped some power lines.

Here's to his recovery.



***postscript. I did pull out fabrics to make a new bag (purse). Everything was cut out yesterday and I made a promise to myself to try and sew for 20  minutes each night this week. To get back in the sewing groove.

Crankiness

I had  too much crankiness in August.
Is it the heat?

I've been working with the new boss whose only flaw is no respect for my work schedule which she posted. She is constantly asking me to stay a couple more hours. Can I work this afternoon? Can I work tomorrow? Can I work all day today? Unplanned by me, in my job category, I can't really say "no".  It makes it difficult for me to take care of me.

Between my auto-immune and my other jobs, it makes life not fun. The last straw was her signing me up to work in another office even after I said no.

She technically can't make me work elsewhere if there is work in my home office but that did not stop her. I put a ka-bosh on that by filling out request after request for appointments at 2pm for the next two weeks. Hopefully she will get the message. There is only so many times you can tell the boss about the other job and your auto-immune.

She can budget at the end of every month because she knows when she is working and what her paycheck will be. Mine varies on the workload and is running about 20 hrs a week over 6 days. I run a pretty frugal budget on both time and money.

Does this make me frazzled?

Along with other 'stuff' in August, I'd just as soon forget that the month even exists.

1. Airplane down. Turned out to be a cheap condensor so that was good but it's been weeks since I flew and hubby knows I am way less cranky if I get some altitude from grave problems.
2. Hubby bought two more planes this summer. After we took an expensive European vacation.
3. My health was good right after vacation but slipped downhill fast after that. Still trying to find an even functionality.
4. Tiny bit of sewing a headband on a hat has left me craving the time to sew and create but between my tiredness and work schedule and the need ( in my head) to make more money - you can see the crankiness building here.
5. It was only hot in the middle of this month but I crave the 50' morning temps. Can't recover.
6. My blog, the place where I stay positive and healthy has been 'abandoned'.
7. I realize the extra crankiness is one of my auto-immune symptoms. If I keep working on 'healthy choices', this too will go away.
8. My yard suffered from 2.5 weeks away and  when the heat rose and my health dumped it got a tad out of control. The pressure to get to the weeds and the general end-of-summer clean-up is a lot of pressure. I have reached my usual place of being tired of watering and let it all do what it will.
9.My parents are getting old. My sister, who lives out-of-state put together what my other siblings were saying and we all need to put more effort into watching after them. My mom had a cat scan as a result and it appears she has suffered some small strokes which explain her short-term memory loss.
10. Trying to get photos off the Smarty pants phone has been resolved but another techno-challenge that led to crankiness.
11. I recently had a customer service problem with an order I placed for fabric and I was, frankly appalled, at what was offered to me in restitution and then was further made crazy by the end offer.


No thought had been put into their "what if the customer experiences a problem with their order?" policy.

W -- Fabrics is quitting the fabric business. They had a 30% off sale which I was happy to participate in. I ordered my fabric, two Stitch Magazines (30% off!!!) and a pattern. It was a good deal for which they charged  quite a bit for shipping. This is off the Etsy site where I acknowledge, there is a problem is predicting shipping based on customer's multiple purchases.

What I do with my Etsy site is quickly refund any excess shipping if it is more than $2 excess.
I didn't ask - bad point for me. I didn't know if they would ship in same package or multiple because of the different products.

My package came on Monday and inside were only the Stitch Magazines. No fabric or pattern. Just a note from the USPS that they found the contents floating around loose.
My shipment arrived in a $5.00 flat-rate envelope for which I was charged $18. {!}

So I e-mailed. Even if they had answered my e-mail on Tuesday, I could still re-order most of the fabric and the pattern.
I emailed every day.
Their Etsy site contact.
Their web site contact.
I called Thursday after finally finding a phone number but they were closed.

Friday afternoon is when they called back.

This is what W -- Fabrics wanted me to do. ME.
To call the USPS myself to track down the contents.
Then they blamed the USPS for manhandling their packages.
(they were shipping in the flimsy recycled-content flat-rate envelopes).

It appeared the package came open during processing (through the flap) and most of my order slithered out.

I work for the dang company and even I don't know how to track something that has fallen out of a package.

W -- Fabrics wanted me to find the rest of my order so they wouldn't have to give me a refund.

I educated W -- Fabrics on the padded flat-rate envelope (sturdier) which can be ordered free from the USPS website and then told them I shouldn't have to 'find' my order.

The call started going downhill and I admit to cumulative crankiness.

I reminded them that I started notifying them Monday and if they had responded quickly, most of my order could have been replaced. Now on Friday, I was out of luck as they were (whip out the excuse here) super busy filling orders right and left and my products were sold out.

They asked for and received two smarty pants phone photos of  what I received and after a ten-minute call decided they would refund me the entire amount.

Which I never asked them for. I just wanted a refund on my missing product and a break on the shipping.

But they never asked me -- THE CUSTOMER -- what I wanted.

I'm left unsatisfied by the whole interaction. The problem is un-resolved in my eyes. I'm still cranky about it today.

I recently had a pattern order go astray. Something I sent out. We waited about 10 days and then I automatically refunded the entire amount. But I will bet you she was vaguely dis-satisfied because I didn't ask her what she wanted either. I can't replace the item as it was one of a kind. {If it ever shows up, we will both be happy}.

I wanted to  put the question out there since so many of my friends sell online.
.
*Do you have a plan for customer problems?
*Are you asking what they want for resolution?
*Have you posted your 'problem' policy clearly?


Well - actually -- my customer wanted to wait a little longer in case it showed up. I just wanted to resolve the issue.

Maybe we all need to ponder this subject more.
I did not like the lack of response.
I did not like the cavalier way in which they placed the blame.
I did not like their poor packaging choice when there are other free products that work better.

I did not like being asked to find my order.

Chocolate is in order.    In large quantities.    Tea too.