With the number of months that have passed since I began this project, it seems fitting that I got the lining I had been so assiduously avoiding completed on the same date that a blue moon was due to appear in the sky.

I was on a tight schedule today, made even tighter by the fact that my mind was no longer able to override my body’s exhaustion, and I slept until well past eight.

The day did not seem to care that I needed my sleep and had begun without me. I got started on my chores and errands, and shortly after two o’clock, I was ready to whipstitch the lining into place.

Situated at the table that has become the centerpiece of my outdoor office, I had straight pins, embroidery needles, a purple thread that was a good match for the purple of the bag, and sharp scissors.

Ignoring the rules I was taught about the appropriate length of thread for hand sewing, I cut an overly long piece of thread and hoped it would not tangle. When I first began, the thread frequently caught on the straight pins I had holding the fabric in place, but after the first fifteen minutes, my movements became a little less awkward, and the thread got caught on the pin heads less often. I ended up using three separate lengths of thread to finish stitching the lining into place, but I got it done before the sun set and I had to leave the house to got to the next thing:

I am really looking forward to finishing this project; my goal is to get it in the mail before the crush at the post office which will, no doubt, begin Friday.