Jenni, that bag is adorable and so colorful, I love it! You have access to the best fabrics, I swear. What a great idea, too. I love all the pockets, both outside and inside. The way the handles attach is wonderful and fun. I think you should it list it somewhere! It's very beachy and tropical and would be great for a vacationer to take to the beach. Ah, the dickie. Was that the most annoying piece of clothing ever invented or what? No glue? How is that even possible? lol

Jenni...she thought "you" had a "fringe" on your bag you made..I was just trying to explain to her what it was. I love these "rag" quilts and bags. My daughter who does not sew....is attempting to make one...She is doing okay on it. I found her a real nice older (metal) singer maching with several different stitches...at a yard sale for $10.00 in a cabnet. She's having fun with it. She was wanting a maching to do stitches on her scrapbooking things. patti

What a pretty puppy. Good luck with her and please be patient. Training a puppy is not easy, but it is rewarding. An 18 week puppy is still a tiny baby, and one who was separated from her mom at 7 weeks if I read your post correctly. That is a bit earlier than most would recommend. 18 week old pups are still babies so potty 101 is ongoing. She may not be fully reliable for several more weeks if not months. Physically she really may not be able to hold it as long as you would like. She is still a baby with a tiny bladder. Potty 101 requires taking the pup out every 2 hours minimally, and certainly immediately after every meal and whenever she wakes after a nap. It is best to have her on leash for potty training. Walk her until she performs. Give her a verbal cue to potty and give her huge praise when she does so. You will soon have her going on command. I agree with the potty before play recommendation above. Never scold for accidents indoors, just clean them up thoroughly with an enzyme cleaner. Why? Because the accident was not her mistake. It is yours. You have not anticipated her needs. Scolding her will likely have her not wanting to potty in front of you anywhere and hiding out of your sight to go potty indoors. You don't want that. Really. The smaller the crate environment the less likely the pup will soil it, but she should still be going out every couple of hours during the day. Tethering to you also works. Rush her outdoors if she even seems about to squat. Always praise for pottying outside.

One way that you can obtain "yarn" for your rugs is to buy old wool sweaters and wash them in really hot water with a good amount of detergent and strong agiatation. In other words, ruin them! This will felt the wool and it can then be cut into strips that will not unravel. The wool gets really thick when it felts. For the best felting, it should be 100% wool. The best sweaters to use for this are the finer guage ones. Avoid the ones with a lot of yarn changes, the ones that have designs embroidered into them or knit into the rows. I use these old sweaters to crochet rugs. I have one rug that is all cashmere wool! I crochet them in continuous rounds and place a stitch only through the upper yarn on the previous stitch. Usually, when you crochet, you put the hook under the two threads. I only use the top one. The result is a stitch that has the appearance of a braided stitch. I call them a "East Texas Spiral" rug because I learned to crochet rugs from my old family members. I also make them from any and all old clothes and sewing scraps. I have made a few of them from denim, but it is very heavy and is a workout to wrestle with. Cutting woven fabric stips on the bias will help them not to fray. Usually, though, I just render the old garment into strips in any direction that will yield a strip. Instead of sewing the strips together, I use a cutting method where I cut the strip just to about one inch of the end. I, then, turn the piece around and cut down the other direction for the next strip, thus, leaving a small square of fabric that holds them into one long strip. I used to sew the strips together and it took forever! The little square hinge is just incorporated into the crochet and there is no bulk of seam allowances or double thickness. The felted sweaters are cut up using the same method as the woven fabrics. I find that cutting along the directions that the rows of knitting are running is best, as opposed to cutting across the rows of knitting. But, really, once it is felted, it is pretty sturdy. You can also use wool worsted woven to make rugs. Wool is really durable! I have several made from cut up wool pants and discared wool garments. The only thing is that sometimes the felted wool is so pretty that it is a shame to cut it up! When I cut up the old felted sweaters, I save the seam allowances that I cut off. They look a little like noodles. It takes a lot of cutting up old sweaters to get a basketfull of them, but they are just too good to throw away! They are all wool! The rugs made by RAdd would be a good use for these "noodles". I have a basket of wool noodles by now. Maybe I will try Radd's method of rugmaking with the noodles.