I've Landed! (and I made a spring bag!)

Okay! here i am. i have joined the bajillions of you who keep track of your life on the internet. Who knows how long this will last, but i have totally enjoyed reading an looking at every other blog that i have access to and thought i might as well join the throng.

The blog is called "See Mer Sew" b/c, well, that's what I'm going to be focusing on. So many of you ask about what I'm sewing or crafting lately, and this gives me a great place to network with other crafty-people, show off my successes (and sometimes failures- which usually end up hilariously), and basically talk about whatever the heck I want to.

So, for my first post I thought I'd talk about my latest sewing project: the Miss Maven Ruffled Handbag. You can find this pattern in the book Style Stitches by Amy Butler. You can also check out my review on patternreview.com here.

I've been looking for a fresh spring/summer bag to tote around now that the weather is getting so nice. Instead of buying one, I decided to make one!

This is the hardest project I've made in my year and a half of sewing and it was totally worth it. I ended up with a super-cute handbag I love!

I used a new line of quilting cotton by oliver+s called "City Weekend" and I love the way the orange pops with the Turquoise. I also made a couple modifications to the pattern for the inside lining. I added a zipper pocket on the inside (using this fabulous tutorial I found on sewmamasew.com) and omitted the closure tabs and put the magnetic clasps directly in the lining so the bag will shut tighter.

Overall, I love this bag and will definitely make it again- just probably not anytime soon. I have a couple upcoming projects I want to get to first. One in particular: my first sew along!

More on that later. In the meantime, let me know what you think! Do you have a favorite spring purse that comes out around this time each year? What does it look like and why do you love it?