Project 365, Week 7 & 8

I'm catching up with two weeks worth of Project 365. I'll try to keep the words to a minimum since there are so many photos, but don't be surprised if I forget and get all wordy on you :)

We are sad because one of our rose bushes died. No idea what happened to it. It's one of two on either side of the front gate and the other one is just fine.

Ivan loves fresh figs. I'd never had fresh ones before moving to Argentina. And let me tell you, fresh figs taste NOTHING like Fig Newtons :)

We've been having issues with a foul smell any time water is used in any fashion in our house (washing machine, toilet, shower...). Yuck! Ivan knew it was our stink pipe which used to run just beside the house, up against the wall on the edge of the property. But now with a big two story house next door, there's nowhere for the stink to go except back in our windows :(  So last weekend Ivan extended the stink pipe up and over our roof in the hopes that would help.

It didn't :(  Apparently just putting it above our roof line is not sufficient to combat the height of the big two story house next door. So Ivan has another project very high on his "to do" list when he gets home.

He left last Sunday night with three of our teens for summer camp in the province of Buenos Aires, and they're coming back tonight. A couple times this week Ivan made the two-hour trek from the camp into the city in an attempt to expedite his permanent residency. He's finally found someone helpful in the immigration office (what a blessing!) but has now hit a snag with the Policia Federal (similar to our FBI). They did eventually do the paperwork he needs but then they wouldn't give it to him as promised on Saturday. They said he could come back Tuesday for a certified copy. Of course he'll be here by then but one of our co-workers who lives in Bs. As. is going in... whether or not they'll let him have it is a whole 'nother ballgame.

Anyway, while he's been gone, I've had a sewing holiday! But before I show photos of my different projects, I have a few more shots around town to share.

Remember that big wave of water that came rushing down the street by our new lot after a storm several weeks ago? We're pretty sure that washed out part of the work they'd done on the new costanera, which is why they went ahead and paved a portion of our street. It extends just beyond our lot. But as you can see only half the street; hopefully they'll get the other half done soon!

Pretty sure this is a custom job where somebody combined two (or more?) vehicles to create this stylin' ride :)  Gotta love the color combination!

This isn't a very good shot since it was a "drive-by shooting" (photo snapped from my car). But I wanted to show one of the street vendors who line the costanera, selling pastries that have been deep fried and coated with sugar. They station themselves every couple hundred feet along the lake, doing a brisk business with the many tourists who are in town.

Okay, now for all the projects I worked on this week. Here's a shot of them all together:

And the individual shots...

A small backpack, which I'll be giving to a young lady for her birthday in a couple months (free pattern found here).

A ginormous shopping bag that helped me use up some leftover 5"x5" squares. It's 19"Hx14"Wx4.5"D -- you can fit quite a bit in this! It's going to be the prize for a game at our ladies tea during missionary conference in a couple weeks.

This is my first attempt at a ruffled bag. It gave me fits! After some seam ripping and modifications to shorten the bag and re-do the bottom ruffle, all was well. I'll definitely do things differently next time!

Two years ago I made a bunch of colored pencil rolls, using a pattern that was labor intensive and time consuming. So when I came across a much easier pattern, I wanted to give it a whirl. LOVE! 

Not only is it easier to put together, this pattern does a better job keeping the pencils tucked neatly into their "pockets". I'll be making a slew of these to have on hand for gifts 'cause kids love 'em.

This is actually part of a bigger project: my personal hanging toiletry bag! I'll probably use this smaller bag for face care and make-up items, and it will tuck into the bigger bag when traveling but can be separated once we arrive. The reason I made it separate is because I realized I couldn't make a bag big enough for EVERYTHING that would still fit on the back of a door. I made a list of all the personal care items we take when we travel -- and then I measured everything :)  I wanted to make sure things fit. Unlike the U.S. where you can get travel sizes, here you can only buy products in their regular size.

This was the first bag I've made with a zipper! I modified the bag pattern I really like -- it's basically the same as the ginormous shopping bag above but with a zipper and, of course, much smaller.

I started on the actual hanging bag but it's not finished. I'll "unveil" it in next week's Project 365. Meanwhile here's a peek...

One last photo before we go. Our neighbors moved into their new house next door!

They live in the left portion of this duplex and will rent out the other side. As per U.S. custom, I took them a baked treat to welcome them to the neighborhood. I made Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls for the first time. Oh My Goodness! Sooooo good and sooooo easy! I prefer maple flavoring to be real syrup I pour over my pancakes or waffles, so after doing half the batch with her maple icing, I did the other half with a cream cheese frosting. Either way: DELICIOUS!