Last One Standing

I am a carpenter's daughter.  It's a simple statement, but if you think about it, it runs much deeper.  As a carpenter's daughter I have always admired everything my father created.  I love wood working.  I love architecture.  I love looking at old designs, but the one thing I didn't love was always being the last one to get something done.  We were always busy doing things for others that we put off doing things for ourselves until last, if at all.  It's really not a bad thing.  I believe we should be busy doing things for others instead of thinking of ourselves.  I guess what I am getting at is that sometimes we get busy making things for others we often put off doing things that we would like to do.

This last week we had 3 snow days where no one went anywhere.  One would think with an extra set of hands at home that I "might" have time to make something for myself.  You see I purchased material a couple weeks ago when it was 50% off.  I was saving it to make myself a purse and set it aside for a time such as this.  Well, it didn't really happen the way I planned.  With a teething baby, not much else gets done besides comforting my little one.  That's ok.  I took it in steps and did a little here and a little there.  What started as a simple thing ended up being a project....  Then..... I made a mistake.  Whoops!  Do I dare admit it?  Well, it is my purse so I guess it is ok.

You see I was setting my snap on my purse and I got carried away pounding with my hammer.  I am a carpenter's daughter, yes?  I wanted to make sure it was in. {laughs} Well, I hammered too hard and the back prongs went all the way through the front metal piece.  Guess I pounded too hard.  Was it therapy?  Maybe! But I won't tell.

So what to do.  I knew it was not possible to take the snap out without destroying the fabric.  I decided to just cover it up with Velcro.  I thought it would be an easy fix.  Well that was a big NO!  As I was sewing my needle broke and the sewing on the Velcro did not look good.  Good times.  So what did I do next?  I took a break.  I highly suggest it if things are not going well.  Just walk away!

A day or two later I came back to it.  I decided to just make a new liner and put a new snap on.  But do I dare salvage the pocket that was on the ruined liner?  You bet!  I was afraid the canvas would be destroyed as I picked the threads on the pocket, but I was able to save it.  {sighs}  I am so thankful.  I truly do hate making mistakes, but I am learning to deal with my character flaw.  I think it has been good for me to struggle on the purse this time around. 

So I finally finished a purse for myself.  Amidst all the struggles in getting it done, I realized that sometimes you just have to start over.  It's not a bad thing.  Frustrating, yes, but not a bad thing.  When I finished sewing my purse, I let out a sigh of relief.  I am done.  The only thing left to do is buy some dainty trim and hand sew it on.  I can handle that!

My "almost" finished purse. 

Just need to add a lace trim on top of the two fabric pieces.

So is it bad to be the Last One Standing.  No I don't think so.  It just means you made it to the end.
I did finally get around in doing what I said I was going to do. Make myself a purse. I'll post another picture when I actually get the trim on.

SEWWWW...... do you have any stories of your own you would like to share?  Challenges along the way of making something.  Stories on how you corrected an error?  Drop me a comment.  I think we can all learn from each other about persevering to the end.  It's a good character trait to have.