So, due to single parenting while doing grad school during the pandemic, I hadn't gotten to go on a proper vacation in about five years. (Belize, 2018, mooching off a friend's corporate retreat hotel rates. Great trip except that I got strep throat on the way down and spent the entire time feverish and drinking strawberry smoothies instead of sampling the local cuisine. Napping in a hammock while watching a storm roll in over the ocean is a lovely way to be sick, though, if you've gotta.)
The same friends rented a beach house in Delaware (random, but okay) and eight of us piled into it for a long weekend at the end of August. We had a beach day, watched some sailboats go by, and wandered through the shops in this very lovely little downtown area.
When we left the beach, I took the train down to Rockville to visit another dear friend who moved out there about a decade ago. I hadn't been able to visit her since 2017, although she's been here a few times. One of our mutual craft goals had been learning to make bags. She has long since eclipsed my progress on that, having been stuck at home during the pandemic without the distractions of children or grad school. So when I got there, I found that she had chosen a bag pattern for us to make together, and had assembled all the hardware. She whisked me off to a huge fabric store and we bought a cute floral for the lining to go with this nifty dark blue cork material she had lying around.
We made the fabric strap because we couldn’t find a rivet large enough for the thick cork, but I found one at the last minute and we whipped up a second strap.
A+ vacation project, would recommend doing with a friend who has an extra fancy sewing machine and is willing to do all the stitching for you because you're scared to drive that damn thing.