Don't Call It A Come Back

Ok, so at this point you all have probably given up on me and I may be updating this blog for no one but myself (if so, that's cool) but I am back. Officially. So many things have happened over this year that in my crazy busy insanely scheduled life, I have not gotten around to filling you in on. But that's ok, because there's some great things going on currently. For one, I've gotten really into craft making lately. It started sometime last year with my friend Erin getting me into jewelry making. But then recently I was reading some Yelp blog that talked about classes in the Twin Cities that you can take for extracurricular learning :-). It highlighted a "sew your own tote bag" class at Crafty Planet, here in Minneapolis. Of course once I read that, I had the brilliant idea that I wanted to learn how to make a tote bag since I have such atypical taste when it comes to style and can rarely find a bag in a print that I love. I was envisioning funky, graffiti printed bags, or maybe some pretty fashionista printed bags. So I called Crafty Planet to sign up for the class. The lovely people at CP kindly told me that the class (which was 2 weeks away) was already full and that I would be #5 on the wait list. Really? Are there that many people in Minneapolis interested in sewing a tote bag too? So I put myself on the wait list (I never got a call back by the way), and in the meantime started looking for other places where I could learn to make my own tote bag. I just did a google search and that is how I found Sewtropolis (http://www.sewtropolis.com/). Sewtropolis was opened just a couple of years ago and it's run by a single lady who loves to sew. She looks to be in her late 40s and said she has been sewing since she was a little girl (thanks Mom!). She had a tote bag class which was a month away but recommended that I take a basic sewing class since I knew nothing about sewing. I took the basic essentials class which was great. Sewtropolis limits each class to 4 students so the attention is very personal. We learned the ins and outs of a sewing machine, we took it apart and put it back together (nothing too deep), then made our class project which was a pillow case. Mine turned out very pretty, except it fits a standard size pillow and does nothing for the king pillows on my bed. I will have to take a picture of it before I donate it. I was glad I took the sewing essentials class because the instructor told me exactly what I would need for the tote bag class and I took myself to Hancock Fabrics and bought some fabrics that I really liked. The bag turned out really cute - it's a brown multidot print, and is lined on the inside, with a twin print strap (I used some fabric square that I had gotten on clearance from JoAnn Fabrics ages ago before I knew what I would even do with it...see all my shopping pays off). I did take a picture of the tote bag in addition to some other crafts I've made since - you can see them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/keeshaun/Crafts?feat=directlink. The tote bag sparked my interest in making other pretty crafts so I've been scouring websites on DIY crafts. I took a stab at another tote bag although it was not lined because I forgot some of the instructions (don't worry I've remembered them since so the next one should be good). I also made some flower rosettes which I'm going to use to make headbands and maybe for decorating my apartment for the holidays. Well I'll be updating with more news as its fit to print. I hope all is well!