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WordPress Swag

wp tshirt backpack

Sometimes I open my mouth and by the time I realize what I’ve said, it is too late to take the words back. I went down this road again recently at a WordPress Meetup event. I am always motivated after these monthly meetings and apparently the adrenaline kicked in a little early on this particular evening. Someone had shown up with WordPress swag as gifts for a contest. I don’t know what it is about swag that gets me excited, I just know that it does. I’m not sure, but I think winning both a coffee cup and sunglasses added to my already altered state of mind.  Anyway, I opened my mouth and said, “I can turn that t-shirt into a backpack and bring it back next month.”  In a nano second, the t-shirt appeared in my hands.

I was still feeling the excitement on the drive home.  I had won a contest, met some new folks, and was filled with ideas.  Life was GRAND!

A few days later, reality set in. I had never made a back-pack out of a t-shirt, but I had a pattern. Unfortunately, my habit of test sewing a project took over my sanity. More often than not, my finished projects are scrutinized by fellow sewers; this time it was going into the hands of those who were going to judge it on an entirely different level.  I knew I had to improve the stability of the final bag. so a woven cotton lining and corded straps were added.

The bag was finished with a few days to spare. My serger became a casualty and needs to be taken to the tech, but all in all everything worked out.

On the evening of the unveiling, I wandered into the meeting nervous as hell. What would this audience think? My fears quickly vanished as familiar faces came into sight. I handed over the backpack to Lance, the WP guru guy who helps run these meetings. He asked me later if I wanted it back, to which I replied that I had made it for him and he could do whatever he wanted. He then said he was going to send it to San Francisco to the WordPress Museum.

SAY WHAT!

There’s a WordPress Museum?

Flattered and amazed in the same sentence. It just doesn’t get any better than that.