12 Challenges - January (Something for ME!)

Carolyn over at My Favourite is hosting a meme this year. The meme is 2010 - 12 months, 12 challenges.

There is a different challenge every month and for the month of January, we were challenged to make something for ourselves. This is rather appropriate, since we have been rather busy making things for others in the lead up to Christmas.

I made this "two hour dress" (NewLook 6889) for myself. I am fairly long in the torso, but an average-ish height, so I made the shorter of the two lengths and added 7cm to the top half  of the dress but made no modifications to the bottom half. It finished up a nice knee length dress, perfect for wearing around the house on hot days. 

Now, I bet you are wondering, did I do it in two hours? After tracing and adjusting and cutting (which isn't included in the two hours) it took me somewhere from 2.5 - 3 hours. I would imagine it would be quicker doing it again.

Next month the challenge is to sew something from a knit fabric. I have a plan, hopefully I get it under way nice and early in the month.

Sushi

The night before New Year's Eve we had a friend over for dinner. I pan-fried some salmon and Maxx made sushi. I prepared the rice for him though, so he could do the rest when he got home from work. The next day, Maxx showed me how to make the sushi roll using the left over rice.

Last night for dinner, I made sushi all by myself.

My Versatile Little Barrel Purse

I finally finished the straps for this purse this morning. It's a real cutie, the pictures honestly don't do it justice. The designer is so clever!

The fabric is from a very small, free piece of Saffron Craig, that was given to me by Amy of Badskirt - never under estimate small scraps, they can still be put to use, and this was definitely a quality scrap!

I decided to turn the cuteness up a notch and add a detachable strap. Both ends can be attached together as a wristlet, or at either end of the purse (which given the size of the purse, is still, surprisingly like a wristlet) or the strap can be entirely removed and the purse can be strap free!

I tried to make the strap using scraps from the purse fabric, but my original piece of fabric wasn't very big, and it is next to impossible to turn a rouleaux strap when you have a join in the fabric. Unsatisfied with the "matchiness" of anything in my fabric stash I turned to my box of bias binding.