Clothespin bag project

Well not much of a project at all really, it only took a few runs through my overlock and a couple runs on the sewing machine, about 10 min total.

I have been hanging more items up outside lately because it has been in the 90's + and running our dryer is just not something I want to do in this heat.

I haven't had the most convenient container to transport my pins from laundry room to outside. So I whipped one up out of scraps I had in my overflowing scrap basket.

This is a plastic coated wire hanger that I snagged from Mr. B's closet (I don't have any wire hangers in my closet, watching Mommy Dearest as a kid scared me from using them) The scrap canvas fabric is from our curtains that I hemmed during our office remodel, and the red and white French ticking cotton was from these custom seat cushions I made for my mom a couple weeks ago.

I thought I was going to use that piece of clear plastic packaging, but I ended up skipping it, the wire hanger did just fine.



So much more convenient now to have it hanging right here and a breeze to transport outside.

Twenty twelve

The New Year is here, today is the first day of 2012. Lets hope this warm breezy weather we are having is a sign that this year will hold many pleasant & unexpected events like today.


The first project I would like to share with you is my handmade knitting needle case. I technically made it last year (yesterday) but didn't have the daylight or the energy to take pictures of it till this morning.
It was a total labor of love, and also craziness. It took me FOREVER! Well like 8 hours, that's a really long time and my whole Saturday. But I totally love it and it's extremely practical, plus the cost was minimal....if you don't count the labor :)

I saw this pretty item on Etsy, and quickly pinned it on Pinterest, along with similar cases. I have been in need of a much larger and safer knitting needle case since I started knitting last spring. My old one worked pretty well, but occasionally I had needles slip out and with the price for knitting needles that is just plain unacceptable.

The price tag of $104 with shipping for the large case on Etsy was pretty crazy too (or so I thought). Also I wanted something a bit more custom! Or course. So I headed to the craft store and picked up $20 in fabric & supplies and a button for $6, going into the books as "the most expensive button I've ever bought".

I made my case out of some cedar green linen that I had left over from my pillow project a couple years ago. I used the crinkly texture idea from the etsy seller above, and sewed some organic looking creases in the linen first.




The outside of the case has a very natural feel. The randomly creased leafy green linen, and my favorite part of the whole case, the manzanita branch button handmade by a local artisan. The button is fabulous, super smooth feel to it, but really rustic at the same time.



The inside has a vibrant patterned cotton fabric that I picked up at our local quilting store. Its a fun, unexpected interior that I just fell in love with. The cottons at this store feel amazing, and the iron on fleece that I sandwiched between each layer of fabric holds on to my needles nice and snug.


I made my case extra large. It's interior dimensions, not counting the flaps is, 15" x 24". Total of 19" x 28". I added a velcro pocket to the right to hold my measuring tape and other larger items.
There are 30 pockets for all different needles and a circular needle hanger over to the right.



The case has safety flaps to hold the needles in safe and sound. I numbered the pockets on the white fabric row for organization. The whole case rolls up to about 6" x 15" when closed.



I may be seriously considering making a clutch out of this fabric. I love it! It's my new favorite thing in my knitting bag, and totally practical. Can't wait to show it off in the yarn shops to my fellow yarn snobs!

It's business time

Last night my new business cards that I designed were delivered. I was super excited to start toting them around in my purse to give out, when I realized I didn't have a good way to store them.

So I started a search on the "interwebs" for one I could make. I came across this really cute and easy DIY business card holder on a blog called JenniferLaddHandmade.
She makes some pretty cute purses and card holders, I tell you what!

Her tutorial uses wool felt as the material which is really easy to work with, but I have a lot of linen on hand from various projects, plus it matches my purse. The ribbon was probably from a gift I received, I save everything worth saving, & grosgrain ribbon is always useful.


I left the edges raw, so they will unravel slightly for a "laid back" look. I mean they are business cards but lets not be too formal!

Slipcover in minutes

This little stool has been through a lot. After our home renovations especially our master bath & the need to stand on it while tiling has left some thin-set and grout stains that just won't come out. We do have a real step stool but in a pinch when both of us were tiling this little guy sure helped.


Well I walked by our guest bathroom today and saw it sitting there so sad and stained. I decided to make a little slipcover for it.
I had this fabric, which is just white linen that I painted with fabric paint. I painted it originally to make a decorative pillow, but the pattern clashed with our rug so its been sitting on my fabric pile for months.


I pinned it and stitched it up on my machine with a simple corner.




I think it adds some fun color and pattern to our fairly plain guest bath.
Which by the way this is the first time I have posted a picture of this room in our house. Its the only room that we really haven't done anything to since we moved in and painted. Its all original, so that's why I'm not showing it off. But the cute little stool helps, I think?

My first purse

I don't think it will be my last either. I really enjoyed sewing this bag from the beginning to the end. Which is rare for me with my sewing projects as I usually get frustrated and hit a lot of speed bumps.
I tend to make everything without a pattern, just using a basic idea in my head that I usually end up changing as I progress.
This purse was in my head for a couple days and I had to get it out! Its a bit off the wall for some but I'm really happy the way it came out. I wanted a casual sack that I can fit all of my usual junk in and my camera. I also wanted a long strap that I could sling it around to my back and across my chest and go hands free for shopping.
The "Day of the Dead" embroidery was something I really wanted on an accessory for a while now. I went with embroidery because it looks so custom and the colors are vibrant and lavish, it sure is time consuming so the look makes it worth it.


The purse is pretty basic, its really more of a casual sack, with a zipper closure, long strap and I sewed in a cell phone pocket for convenience. Its made out of natural brown linen I had extra laying around from other projects and the liner is blue cotton that I reused from a curtain I made and didn't like.



I had a lot of fun making this giant linen tag for the inside. I wanted it to look really fun and youthful.


I'm super exited to be experimenting with my sewing machine lately. This stitch on the tag is so cool, like a perfect scalloped edge.


Here is old skully pinned on before being stuffed and made 3-D.



I think it will be my "go to" bag for a while...until I make a new one!

Bye bye shutters

I took a plunge and decided to remove the custom shutters that covered our large window in our living room and also seen here in between our living room and sitting room. These shutters were here when we bought the home, and by the state of them they had most likely been installed over a decade ago.
The main reason I wanted to remove them was their lack of ease when trying to operated them. We spend a lot of time in this room in the evening so we preferred them shut for privacy, but during the day I would have loved to be able to open them and let the light in. Doing that was a lengthy process that usually involved me struggling with the somewhat dilapidated shutters, until frustration set in and I would just shut them.
Here they are in their lovely putty color goodness, the other option besides removal was to repair the broken parts and somehow paint them a more complimentary color of white. I started to think about how difficult it would be to paint moving shutters, and I quickly decided to take them out, it started to hurt just thinking about the free time that painting them would involve.
(the flash really makes the yellow look bright, its not really this color in real life)


So here we are today. I took out the shutters and whipped up some linen curtains last night. Now we have privacy at the flick of a wrist! Its so easy to "swish" them open and closed just like that. I even think they look better.
I still have some repairs around the window where the shutters were attached and bit of sanding & painting, but I love the difference so far.


I mean look at that view that we get to see now that the window is open, and the light poring in is great. The shutters darkened the room so much that during the day we would need the light on. So it just proves that decoration really should be based around practicality more than anything.
I love seeing our giant oak tree out front, I can't wait till there are leaves on it again.


The brown linen curtains are just more fitting in the room than the gray putty colored shutters ever were, and best of all they fit our life style.


The only thing I wish I could have done was make the drapes wider. The window is 98" wide and my linen source only has 59" width fabric. So after sewing & hemming the 2 drape panels I made just barely cover the window.
Ideally I would have just bought 2 of these 100" wide x 96" long Belgian linen drapes from RH, but at a whopping $767 + tax I thought making them myself even if they would be half the width it was good enough!

Little Finishes Outside

We spent most of this beautiful September Saturday outdoors. After a great walk this morning with Baxter to go feed the ducks, we headed into town to pick up supplies for the day.
Rory had ordered lots of parts at the auto supply for the Bronco that will hopefully help get it running again soon. We then took a trip or two, or three to the hardware store for the rest of things we needed for the day.
I picked up a roll of burlap and some velcro to improve the look of this cool old metal work desk that I've been using as a planting table and storage for our garden tools.
Here it is with all of my junk under it.


This ruffly (but manly) burlap skirt hides all that mess. I sewed it with a large heavy hem to add weight to the skirt to keep it down. I attached it with a peel and stick velcro to the bottom of the drawer. Having the seam in the center was a must for grabbing supplies with ease.
I picked up this great big orange begonia while at the hardware store and potted it into a bright pot, from Mexico. The blue piggy was a gift from Rory last Christmas.


Rory rewired and hooked up these two flood lights under our Oak tree in the front yard. We have been wanting to light up the tree since we bought the house, but its been on the bottom of the list. We are really excited to see it, but its not quite dark enough yet, I'll update this post once we can get a good shot!



Here we have one giant Oak lit up in the night. I couldn't really get a great shot with my tiny point and shoot camera and I could have really used a tripod. You can see the moon peeking through the branches.

Thank you Pottery Barn

I have been scouring Pottery Barn's website lately to see what's new and hopefully find something soon to spend my gift cards on. I didn't find anything to buy just yet, but I had some inspiration for a custom hand towel to put in our new half bath.

Pottery Barn


Mine!


I found a lot of new french ticking material at a garage sale the other weekend and I had the brown linen, which I also used to make the curtain for this bathroom. I made a ruffle and used my fabric pens to draw the "B" on the oval.

Quick craft

Lavender is one of the best fragrances Mother nature has given us. It's a calming scent, that relaxes you when tense, it can help with insomnia and it even has antiseptic properties.
I use the essential oil of this little purple flower often in body oil & bubble bath, I spray a homemade room spray of lavender on our bedding and I love the way sachets fit perfectly in a drawer and make everything in it smell sublime.

With extra linen from a few projects I plan to make a few sachets for my drawers and even string some up with ribbon to hang in my closet.


I embroidered a couple simple lavender flowers on one side of the sachet.


Filled with dried French lavender.


The fragrance is so strong and wonderful, I will enjoy these little pillows for long time.

Fast table runner

After staring at inspirational photos I have had saved for months of burlap table runners, last night I had the time to make ours! I made it out of linen of course, because I had a lot left over from the coffee sack pillows, and I love working with linen more than any other material.
I love the way it creases, it hardly needs pins when sewing.






Tonight we enjoyed our dinner of Coq au Vin and crusty bread with our new runner. It is plain and casual but fancies the very rustic dining table up just enough.