A Week of Fail

I know I should be positive, but after the week I had creatively, I was completely disappointed in myself and my endeavors.  How did I go from spitting things out left and right the week before to ruining everything I touched?

So let's just sort some things out, shall we?

I decided to work on the Purl Soho Braided Handle Canvas Tote for me and my cousin.  This is what theirs looks like:

Beautiful, right?  Modern, clean, simple.  Even Nick liked it.

And these were mine:

Um...yeah.  Not so much.  The handles bunched, the corners came out messy, and the bias tape did not want to be sewn to that duck canvas no matter what I did.  It was a mess.  I gave up Wednesday night and left it alone until Saturday evening, when I decided just to get through both of them and move on with my life.  They will be sent to Goodwill.  Such a shame, but such is life.

Also I've apparently inherited the family curse for bread baking.  My mom can bake anything in the world--her pie crust is to die for, and her meringues are always perfect, despite living in Florida.  Yet, she cannot make anything bread-based.  Her rolls always burn, her breads don't rise.  It's sad.  But I thought I'd be safe when I attempted the Smitten Kitchen Braided Lemon Bread.  First of all, everything on that website is beautiful and wonderful and perfect.  Second, I thought, okay, doesn't look too hard.  I can do this.



Hers, in all its golden glory

Well, the dough never rose.  It just sat there in its greased bowl, looking more like cookie dough than anything.  I went back through the ingredients--nothing was missed.  I read the directions--I followed every step.  What happened?

I have no idea, but I threw it out Saturday morning, after over 24 hours of "rising."  It was so disappointing.  So I went to Giant, grabbed some Pillsbury bread dough from a can, and attempted to replicate it:

It certainly isn't the same, but I didn't want the filling to go to waste, so I had to do something with it.  Nicholas liked it, so that's all that matters.

Finally, I don't have a picture of this failure, but I'm working on the Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress for my parents' neighbor, and cut out her dress yesterday with the pattern going upside down.  Unfortunately there wasn't enough for me to finagle it and make it work, so I had to order another half a yard.

Can I get a collective ARGH! for last week?