Hello, everyone! I’m coming to you today from San Antonio, where Chris and I have been enjoying a few days of R&R.

To be honest, the weather could have been better – it’s been cold, wet, cold and wet, and at times rainy, but it hasn’t exactly been cold, wet and rainy. But I’m not complaining, because we really need the rain. But our first day here was gorgeous, if a little cool for Texas in April. Last year at this time, we were sitting on a beach in Corpus under a blazing sun. This year, we spent the first couple of days in San Antonio in hoodies.

Still, thanks to this less than stellar weather – which is actually somewhat uncommon at this time of year – I’m glad we didn’t decide to go to the beach this year. We’ve spent the last few days hanging out on the River Walk, eating, drinking and generally just enjoying ourselves. But today, the weather was pretty meh, and we knew it would be. So instead of sitting around wondering what to do all day, we decided to take off and do some Bluebonnet Shop Hopping. And it was a blast, I have to say. Some of the shops I’ve visited before, and one of them has a satellite shop 15 minutes from my home, but I loved each of them for different reasons.

I will also say that seeing all of the beautiful quilts, fabrics and quilting paraphernalia really got me inspired to finish up my Dr Who quilt, and to start something new. And yes, it also inspired me to finish up those quilts that I’ve made the tops then put them on the shelf. If there’s one thing I’ve realized in the past few months, it’s that you can never have too many quilts.

Something I’ve been considering the last couple of months is doing some bag construction. I haven’t really carried a purse since all of this COVID-19 stuff started last year, because at the time, it was thought that the virus could get on and live on surfaces for an indeterminate amount of time. We have since found that to be very unlikely, but I didn’t go back to carrying a purse. I will be returning to the office, if only for a couple of days a week, soon, though, and I always carry a purse to work. I have made bags before now – a purse or two, a couple of make up bags, and some totes – but I’d like to get in to something a little more advanced. I’ve been considering the Scarlett bag by Sallie Tomato.

I am a huge fan of hobo bags, and this one is perfect. It’s a good size, though I may want to increase the strap length, and I love the overall aesthetic. I don’t have a particular fabric in mind for it yet, but I think I can come up with something that could work. I realized today that I really want to make this bag, because I spent most of the day looking for supplies to make it, and I haven’t even bought the pattern yet.

So yeah, here I go adding more stuff to a list that just keeps getting longer while nothing ever comes off of it. Still, while I made zero progress on the Dr Who quilt before we left on vacation (seriously, did you really expect it to be done before we left?), I still want to spend the next week or so finishing it up so we have another quilt to use. We are woefully under quilted right now, I swear.

Have you ever made any bags? If so, what are your favorites?