A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. -John Barrymore

I have all of these grand plans about what I want to make before I leave for Sewing Summit... it's so not going to happen! Sheila and I leave in five days for Utah, it's Thanksgiving this weekend, and my birthday today (just throwin' that out there); I have basically run out of time unless I can squeeze something in on either Sunday or Monday and I still have to do laundry and pack and take care of all of those little, last minute things that travelling entails.

However, I did get one big thing (and I mean literally "big", this thing is huge) done that I wanted to - I made Anna Maria Horner's Art Student Tote pattern! Seriously guys, my pictures are not even going to do it justice (and neither does the cover photo from the pattern); this is one hella-large bag!

Just to put this in perspective, the bag looks big here, right? Well this is it with the sides folded in and strapped closed with the D-ring ties! Just to illustrate: I took this bag to guild with me last weekend and fit into it what normally would have needed three separate bags - everything that is normally in my purse, my laptop (wide screen, not mini), two magazines, a craft book, three separate completed sewing projects, a queen-size flat sheet, two notebooks, a couple of yards of fabric all combined, and a few other bits and bobs - crazy, right? I'm seriously going to have to get a better picture to really show how big this beast is. It definitely turned out larger than I thought, but I must admit that I'm kind of in love!

For the exterior I used Visions in Pangaea from Anna Maria's Loulouthi Needlework collection and Maybe in Blossom from Innocent Crush (also Anna Maria). Did you notice the pockets in the centre panel there? It was my first time ever putting in zippers and I must say that I'm pretty proud of myself!!!

For the interior I used Triangle Toss in Coral from Lizzy House's Outfoxed and Key Tree in Pink from Tula Pink's Plume collection. There are so many pockets in this bad boy - basically Anna Maria tells you to go ahead and divide up the pockets on each side however you'd like to best accommodate you and your stuff. One thing that I will mention about the pattern (in case you end up making it) is that you do not need to cut out or trace the pattern pieces right off the bat - all of the pieces for this bag are squares or rectangles that are easily measured! Just take out your ruler, measure each part, and cut your fabric with your ruler and rotary cutter - so much easier than actually using the pattern pieces as guides.

My September blocks for the Joy Circle of do. Good Stitches; these are Hugs & Kisses blocks based on Little Miss Shabby's tutorial. We used more "boy friendly" colours and fabrics for this one and I can't wait to see it completed!

I've also done a bunch of canning over the last little bit...

Dill Spears with lots of garlic!

Corn Salsa - not gonna lie I'm pretty excited to try this one!

A pretty basic marinara sauce - basically just tomatoes, onions, and garlic! I'll be using this as a base for lots of fun stuff this winter, I just know it!

Alex is making me dinner tonight and we've got a few friends coming over afterwards to celebrate, then tomorrow it's off north to visit my mum and have Thanksgiving with her and my grandparents - my birthday weekend is the best! I'm pretty excited for the Turkey, not gonna lie!

Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigour.  With such people the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life. -Charles Dickens

Once you accept the fact that you're not perfect, then you develop some confidence. -Rosalynn Carter

Hey y'all! I have been having quite a bit of fun the last two weeks or so making all kinds of fun stuff and I've got some more to share today!

I made this fun casserole carrier last Saturday on a whim. We were heading to our friends' for dinner and were bring Caprese Bites as an appetizer (which are baked in a pie plate) and I realized that we didn't really have anything to carry them in.

I used the Potluck Take-Along pattern that appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of Stitch magazine. For the top and handles I used some fabric from Anna Maria Horner's Drawing Room collection (which I had left over from this bag that I made just about three years ago); the bottom is a home dec weight fabric from Ikea and there's also a layer of Insulbrite in both the top and bottom. I love the way that it turned out, but I must say that the binding was a terrible pain - if I make this again, I'll definitely come up with a better way if doing it!

I used this tutorial to make these super-fun washi tape magnets! Rather than recycling magnets (since I didn't have any to use) I bought a magnet sheet from my local dollar store. I put them on our back door (which is one of those metal security ones) along with the Yiddish word magnets I got Alex. The tape came from two Toronto-area sources - Omiyage and a brick and mortar store called Hanji.

I also tried canning for the first time and it was awesome! Last Sunday, before celebrating Rosh Hashanah with Alex's family, we stopped at the apple orchard and picked up some produce from the farm stand; I canned some whole tomatoes (after coring and blanching) and have some big plans to can my own marinara after we go to St. Jacob's (the semi-local Mennonite market) next weekend.

Tomorrow I am finally going to cut out the muslin for my Tova, can some dill spears, and bake some pumpkin mini muffins - woot!