Is It Spring Yet?

I dunno about your neck of the woods, but around here, Winter never really showed up.

It's like when you have a party and send out invitations and ask everyone to RSVP, but only a third of the guests actually DO respond (which could be another post completely).  It's like we invited Winter to come on over and stay awhile, only Winter didn't RSVP (but that wasn't surprising since 66% of the population thinks RSVP'ing went out of style with corded telephones, apparently), so with no other option we were left to ASSUME Winter would show up as scheduled.

Only she didn't.

And tomorrow's forecast is 70 degrees.  On  March 6th.  In Iowa.

This is Not Normal.  And quite a bit concerning, actually.  Although the weatherman assures me this has happened before (and is, therefore, not a sign of the apocalypse), I remain un-assured, because last time this happened it was the season before the the big drought of the mid-1980's, which was quite a dramatic event of my childhood since I grew up on a farm and rain was Important.

Alas, there isn't much I can do about it, so I'm going to focus on things I can control.  Like fashion.

Since Spring is pretty much here already (at least it will be on March 6th in Iowa) I decided to dig an old pattern out that I've had in the stash for months, but never got around to making.

The Blossom Bag, designed by Amy Butler.  Perfect for spring.

And I got to use one of my new labels on it!   Squeee!

I won't lie.  This was a complex bag.  Not hard to do; just a lot of steps.  The pattern was well thought out, except for the top flap.  The pattern says to make it separately and then sew it on, but I really didn't like that.  It just felt like an afterthought, with extra exposed edges and top stitching that is really tough to get just perfect.  So I modified the assembly instructions a bit and tucked that top flap in between the outside and the inner lining, so there is no visible stitch line at all from the outside.  Much better. :-)  If you've ever made a bag before and had to leave an opening that gets tucked into the bottom of the lining, you know what I'm talking about.  Do it that way instead of as written.

I'm so excited to move in to this new Spring bag!

Edited to add: The Blossom Bag used to be a free download from Amy Butler's website, but it's not there any more.  Maybe it's still available elsewhere; try Google.  Otherwise, the pattern is in her Style Stitches book.