Pin It! . . . and a backpack

Thanks for the nice comments on my appliqued cardi.  I wish I could respond to you all by email.  About half of my comment notifications have your email for reply, but most don't.  Boo.

Anyway, I made a backpack!  Realizing that Ellie is growing like a weed, I wanted to get started on this project before she was too old for a toddler backpack.  Surprisingly, this was a really quick (probably about 3-4 hours) project to throw together.
Pattern: Toddler Backpack, from Made By Rae
Materials: Alexander Henry Kleo fabric, from my stash; I selected a burgundy zipper and piping, but had trouble finding the right colored strap and strap adjuster (thanks, Joann's for continuing to have a crappy, limited selection). Thanks to Strapworks, I found exactly what I needed for only $4, which included shipping. Score!
The only modification I made was to line it.  Having the wrong side of the fabric and seams showing inside seemed unfinished to me.  The lining fabric is leftover from my Birdie Sling and was relatively easy to do.  Ellie has never let me put hats or headbands on her, but seemed to like her new backpack. Now she can carry her "essentials" to my mom's house on my work days.

Can we go outside??

Pleeeeease??

Have you heard of Pinterest? I read about it a month or so ago and IMMEDIATELY requested an invite.
 

Basically, Pinterest allows you to create an organized place for images you see on the interwebs, with links included. Before Pinterest, when I saw a great tutorial or a fun idea or inspiration project, I would drag the link to my bookmarks folder called "Crafty Stuff". This was a pretty bad way of keeping ideas organized because what I saw was the link's name, not the photo of what I thought was cool, so I would forget about things I saw a while ago . Pinterest has allowed me to delete my bookmarks and now keeps things organized in one place. You can find my boards here.  The only rub is that you need to have a Facebook or Twitter account to join, but I suspect as it grows, it will open up to anyone, much like how Ravelry was in the beginning.