Patchwork purse

I was so excited to work on a handbag again that I was able to knock this patchwork purse out in one evening. I'm moderatly happy with the results. Not all of the corners were joined evenly (so that became the back of the purse), and I wish I had used a more random pattern instead of the alternating rows. I may try a quick one again today with about four or five different types of fabric.

The Party's Over!

Thank God! Really, I could have made things a lot easier on myself if I hadn't gone crazy making a bunch of custom things for the party. But, I had fun making them, and Quinn had a good time at her party. Even though I don't think she really understood it all. She's only two. But in any case, the kids had fun and now it's over and I can turn my attention back to handbags!


Here's photos of the monkey shirts I made for the kids to wear to the party. Then, in the bottom row is my two little monkeys wearing their shirts. Quinn, the birthday girl, is on the left.


And in this photo you can see the invitation I designed (front and back), custom wrapping paper (printed on my large format printer), decorative monkeys that hung from the ceiling, Quinn's inside birthday sign, a bunch of party favors (from Oriental Trading Company -- I can't do it all!) and Quinn's outside birthday sign,

Now I can relax until October, when I'll need to start working on Xander's Pirate Party.

Cooler Nights

Last night we went to bed with all of the windows open and when we woke up this morning it was actually a little cold in our house! After so many 90 degree days, it's a bit odd to wake up to a cold house. While getting breakfast ready for the kids I was cold enough to get out long sleeved shirt and put it on. It made me remember the abandoned kimono scarf projects from last spring that I didn't get around to finishing. It's probably time to get going on those again -- after I finish up all of the work for Quinny's birthday party. These two pieces of fabric are some of my favorite acquired last year, and I'll probably whip these two up first. I plan to back the dark one with red velvet, and simply bind the edges of the one filled with fall colors.

Pattern Book

I just rediscovered this book while straightening my office this weekend. It's a small pattern book from Japan that I picked up on my last trip to NYC. On the downside, there's no English in the book, so I'm left to draw my own conclusions about what their focus was. On the upside, the photos are great, and the book cost only $1.27.

Thinking Halloween

I have about a dozen projects I want to finish up between now and September 5th when I start my new job. And I keep adding to that list. For instance yesterday, when I went to the fabric store to get button eyes for Quinn's monkey doll, I ended up spotting this wonderfule cream, orange and black fabric. It was practically screaming 'Halloween project' at me, so I just had to buy a yard. And now, I just can't stop thinking about what to do with it. I could make just the loveliest treats bag with it. Must.... stay.... focused. Actually, I made pretty good progress on the monkey doll last night and might even be able to post it later today.

WIP Friday

I’m feeling pretty not-so-last-minute about this monkey doll project. Quinn’s birthday party isn’t until the 27th, and already I have the monkey doll parts cut out and even got the limbs stitched together last night.

Earlier in the day I put together a monkey doll parts illustration and printed it out on the Epson 9600 to make the pattern. So, things are going along nicely. With any luck, I’ll have the monkey’s body complete tonight and can start on monkey clothes tomorrow. That will leave me about five days to actually work on the party portion of the party.

Jolie Clutch - Patchwork Version

Phew! Just in time to meet the deadline, I finished a commissioned bag this morning for my friend Jolie. She's giving it to a good friend of hers for her birthday. I made the original Jolie Clutch for Jolie's birthday, and I keep forgetting to borrow it back so I can photograph it!

Anyhow I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I love the fabric and the whole feel and weight of the bag is perfect. Here are some more shots of it since I'm just so darn happy. Look at how great that tag looks!









I really need to get about a dozen or so pieces completed so I can open a little happy turtle online shop. I'd like to get started now (I have a couple of new handbag ideas running around in my head) but I need to plan a birthday party for Quinn, and that is going to take up my spare time this week. I can't believe my little monkey is going to be two years old!

Kimono fabric from Japan

What a great mail day! I got a much anticipated package from Japan with unused kimono fabric that I purchased on eBay. The one in the photo above is a light weight wool and the entire roll is over 200 inches long. Time to try out some new handbag designs.

I also got this roll of wool fabric with a cute floral print. This wool is also unused kimono fabric, but is much stiffer than the other wool roll, and will probably be used to make a bunch of cute tote bags. I'll even use the end piece with the writing on the side. I think there's a reference to "100% wool" there.

Isn't it cute! I love how the dark background of the fabric bleeds through the white flowers. It's so rare to see white printing on a dark colored background. I got into a pretty good bidding war over this one and am happy I ended up ahead when the last second ticked off the eBay clock!

Finally, I got this roll of unused silk as well. It's over 200 inches long too, so I'm hoping to get three scarves out of this one. I'd like to get some nice velvet in autumn colors to back the scarves with. Autumn colors?! I don't know how I could be thinking about Autumn already. I think it's because I noticed today that our burning bush is already turning red.

I love the detailing on this fabric. It almost looks like a watercolor painting. I definitely have enough new fabric here to keep me busy for a while. I just need to find the time in my day to get that sewing machine out. If only the kids would take longer naps....

And if that wasn't exciting enough.... I also got my package of Holland 100% wool felt from A Child's Dream Come True. I got two sheets of coffee, and one each of cocoa and flesh. I'm going to try to pull together a felt monkey doll for my daughter, Quinn, who turns two years old at the end of this month. I wanted to order a monkey doll from the Hop Skip Jump Shop but there were none available at the time. So, sometime later this week I'll try putting together my first doll. Luckily, I purchased Hillary's latest Put Together Book (which I haven't made anything from yet) so I'll at least have some reference material available while I try to pull together a pattern. I'll post my (probably disastrous) results here later.

The Printer is Finally Ready!

After spending weeks lurking over eBay trying to score an ink set for my Epson 9600 I finally won an auction for a set for less than half of what I would have paid in the Epson store. Then I plugged my printer in, only to find that the electric in the office of my old house couldn't run the printer. Grrr. $525 dollars later, I have a grounded wire running right into my office and am able to safely run both my G5 and the printer. Phew!

So finally, more than a month after bringing the printer home, I made my first test print today. Cheap paper, draft setting, and I couldn't be happier! My kids watched in amazement as the paper roll winded down and the printed image dropped out of the bottom. Then they encouraged me to hang the image on the fridge. So here it is. I can feel a printing frenzy coming on. Now where did I leave that roll of silk fabric?....

Quilt Monday

On a recent trip to visit my mom, I discovered this old log cabin quilt in the linen cabinet. I remember my parents having this on their bed when I was a kid. I took it down to take a look at it and instantly remembered how much I loved it. I asked my mom about it and it turns out that it was made my great grandmother. Even more interesting, is that my great grandmother used old trousers from the men in the family for the entire top of the quilt! Those guys wore some pretty crazy trousers back in the day.


Anyhow, the quilt is in pretty desperate need of serious repair. A couple of the pairs of trousers have totally disintegrated. The backing is loose, and some of the squares seem to be coming apart from each other. I have no idea how to tackle a project like this. I have a friend whose mother-in-law is a quilter, so I’m going to send her some photos of the damage and see if she can help. I’d love to have some fabric from pants used by my dad and husband included in the repairs.

My mom said that if I get the quilt restored I can keep it. Yea! I want to get it into good enough shape that I can put it out on my bed and enjoy it, just like I enjoyed it as a child.

Hedgehog Tote

You know how sometimes you just have to start and finish a project in one day? That's how I felt today, so I went ahead and knocked out a quick tote using the hedgehog fabric from Japan.



I'm pretty happy with the results. This tote has one big outside pocket (the yellow part of the front is a pocket). And two large velcro pockets inside.



Here's the back. Now that it's finished, I'm heading off to bed!

WIP Friday

Here's a project that I've been (slowly) working on. It's a handbag in my Jolie Clutch pattern. For this one, I'm using a bit of old kimono fabric from the 70s in a nice patchwork pattern. The finished bag will be posted on Sunday. In the meantime, I might also try to crank out a simple tote using that great hedgehog fabric I got last week....

Lynne's New Friend

My knitting pal, Lynne, just showed me her new friend. I got a huge smile on my face as soon as Lynne took her out of her knitting bag. She's just too cute. Lynne made her from a pattern that she promised to show me next week. But the extra girlie bits are of her own doing. She promises to knit her new friend a shirt soon. As for me, I had to renew my vow to not try to learn any craft involving two needles this summer. But come this fall, all bets are off.