It's 2008 already!!!

Ah, time for new hopes, dreams, and ... (gasp) ... projects!!!

Lauren and I both spent a good bit of time this New Year's weekend figuring out what I could use for fasteners for my copy-cat version of this beautiful back-bag.

It seems that you can purchase lovely supplies like this, and the webbing that makes up the bottom part of the strap of this bag, only if you're purchasing wholesale - and in huge quantities. Sure makes it hard on the home crafter - but if things don't readily sell in the retail market, I guess it's a good business decision not to go to the expense of marketing and distribution.

We searched and thought and searched for alternatives, and somehow we both thought of the bolted link that holds our chains together when we tow the Tracker behind the Bounder. A smaller version might do the trick. I found some on the Internet at Home Depot - and they were open yesterday so we spent a few hours there just browsing. There was hardly anyone in the store, and it was a fun way to spend a morning. We found the links, and they look small enough to do the job. The little bolt that secures the link will be covered with fabric, and I don't think it will be too bulky.

Another thing that seems to be impossible to buy retail is nice strong canvas weight cotton webbing. The webbing that's available from Joann and other fabric places is thin poly stuff. It doesn't hold up. Lauren found some old army-grade white cotton webbing that I'm going to use for part of the strap. I can dye it if the white bothers me. The remaining missing ingredient (so far) is good fasteners for the webbing. I have one good clamp-style fastener which I'll use on the first bag, but I may need to resort to some other idea for the remainder. This would be a good find in an old army-navy surplus store, but I haven't seen one of those for years and years!

I won't be able to do as nice a job on this $138 bag as the commercial version (it's a really well-made bag), but I think I can come up with a pretty good second best. It would be nice to have rivets and a heavy duty rivet crimping tool so I could use rivets instead of my sewing machine to secure things, but at least these bolts mean that if I should have to adjust or replace straps, I won't have to undo the whole bag to make that happen. If I end up liking how this turns out, I can get these metal links in stainless instead of zinc, and that would make them a little nicer.

On other fronts:

Martha Circle Quilts

When Carol was over at church a few days ago, she put together a mock display like the one she creates for the Martha Circle on Sundays before the monthly gathering. I always like her display, with the next meeting date and the number of quilts completed written on the board. These quilts are all mine, so they look alike. When she puts out the "real" display, it's even more colorful. This picture is a small one. When the next display is out on the church patio, I'll take a big picture and replace this one. (Replaced 1/13/08)


Ping Pong

I just learned this morning that we've been playing ping pong in temperatures that are 10 degrees cooler than I thought. I knew it was cold out in the garage, but that 50 degrees sure looked like 60 degrees to me.

I should look at the thermometer before I take off my glasses, I think! I thought 50 was really 60, and 60 was really 80, and I never looked to see that 70 comes next. Duh! Breakdown in powers of observations!!! Brrrrr!!!