Anyway, I got a tiny bit of sewing done, and one of the things I made was the Trenta Bucket Bag from RLR Creations. 

This was a fun pattern! I had some self inflicted hiccups along the way, and it’s a really good thing I checked the length of my lining compared to the exterior before stitching it all together. The lining would’ve been like 1.5″ too long! I put loads of pockets in the lining like I always do.

For the interfacing I used Pellon Fusible Fleece from Sew Hot. The reason I forked out for the pricey stuff was because it was the only thing helping it to ‘stand up’. I also used Heavy Wt Woven Fusible Interfacing from Ray Stitch for the same reason. Dude, I LOVE that stuff now. It’s amazing – the glue is great, it stiffens without being impossible to sew through. I also used Decovil in the flap – if you make bags (well, in the UK) you need this in your arsenal. And I used light non woven fusible (Vilene H200) in the lining because I’m cheap and it works really well for linings.

This bag also provided the opportunity to use my new eyelet die set for my hand press. Unfortunately I did not find my arthritic hands very cooperative in faffing around with the flip lock (as awesome as it is) on the finished bag, and I felt like I was always peering inside trying to find items in the dark, so I gave it to my daughter Savi who absolutely adores it. She is my best advertisement. I’d definitely make it again for a special order or whatever – the pattern was well written and easy to follow and it wasn’t hard at all. Plus it has eyelets! EYELETS!!!

In more personal adventures, we went to the Isle of Wight in early Feb with a bunch of friends to occupy an Airbnb (with a hot tub – I really need a hot tub of my own). We took the ferry – here’s a view from the ferry of Southampton as we left:

And because we were travelling 6 weeks after my op and I was pretty darn slow and stiff, we paid extra to do the Priority boarding and posh lounge, so now I know what the posh people travel in:

It was stupidly expensive (in comparison to the actual ferry ticket) but I’m really glad we did it. The chairs were great and the toilet was, like, right outside. These things REALLY matter to me. I hope to be in a position where I can be cheaper and more flexible to move around (it’s like I’m friggin’ china!) next time we travel!

The constant swelling is finally sort of settling down, although it doesn’t take much to get it all riled up again. But I don’t mind so much because despite my hip flexor muscles being, idk, painful jerks, and the swelling feeling really weird, I’m in much less pain.

So wish me luck this week as I venture into the office, set up my desk in its new place and try to do data stuff. Lol that last bit.