Weekender Bag Sew Along 2016

I'm a sucker for a nice bag.  I LOVE bags to carry all of my crafty projects along, and all the other stuff I like to take with me.  And in my recent internet travels, I stumbled upon the infamous Amy Butler "Weekender Bag".  I did a little more searching on Pinterest, saw all the gorgeousness, and the rest is history.

Click to buy the pattern from Sew Lux Fabric, who is also co-hosting the Sew-Along

So Chrissy from "Sew Lux Fabric" has made 2 of these bags, and will co-host the Sew-Along.  And it it was these pics of her bags which got me hopelessly hooked on the idea that I MUST have one (or two) like hers:

Photo Credit: Sew Lux Fabric

I mean, she put Swoon blocks on her bags!  So freaking genius, right?  And how gorgeous are they?  Seriously!  How?!?  

So Debbie at Happy Little Cottage is the other host of the Sew Along, and you can get all the deets for it HERE, or click on the cool button:

I'm going to stick this in my sidebar once we get going.  Instagram is really a very new thing for me, but I'm figuring it out (I think), so I'll try to keep up there as well.  

So I've got quite a bit of the supplies rounded up, but still need cording; JoAnn didn't have the 1/4" the pattern calls for when I stopped in last week, so I'll try again this weekend.

My stuff :-)

I've spent many hours scouring other crafty peeps' blogs for tips, tricks, ideas, and horror stories, because I over-analyze the bejeezus out of EVERYTHING.  From what I've seen, this bag is intimidating, but the general consensus is that it's not difficult, per se, it's just very involved.  I'm going to apply the "eat the elephant" theory and take it one bite at a time.

Also, up until this point I've only ever made 2 simple tote bags, and a few zipper pouches, so this experience will be chock-full of all kinds of learning opportunities! ;-)

So I compiled a Weekender Bag board on Pinterest, and came up with my cryptic list of things to think about:

As ready as I'll ever be!!