New in the mail

I have to say, it's been a frustrating week. I have been swamped at work and have had no time whatsoever for crafting. In lieu of doing something myself, I bought a couple of prints on Etsy.

I'm so glad that these two little girlies have come to live at my house. They are from the author of my current favorite blog Inside the Black Apple. Her writing, her paintings, her dolls - amazing. Every last one.


Then there's this lovely little boy I picked up from Kitty Genius. My little boy thinks he's a superhero most-times. So this one is for his room.

I'll have to try to get some sewing done next week. This weekend, Kevin and I will be heading out of town for an adult-only vacation weekend in the windy city. Very much looking forward to that. If I'm lucky, I'll have time for a little vintage fabric shopping.

Handbag Ideas

Okay, so I’m back on the handbag bandwagon and I’m thinking about what to try next. My friend, Beth sent me these two designs
She had found online.


I’m pretty interested in doing something like this that would utilize grommets, but I think these particular handles are a bit too chunky to be useful. Something a bit slimmer might be nice.


Something like this second one from the Keeta-Collection could make use of my growing pile of kimono square scraps. But those patchwork bags to take a lot of time to put together. I might try something a little simpler to keep things moving along.

Speaking of Beth, she has a new blog that focuses on her passion for furniture refinishing and upholstery. She just made a trip to Cleveland to pick up some items she won on eBay – this from a woman who has a brand new baby at home! Talk about dedication!

Shoulder bag made from vintage child's kimono fabric

On Friday, Kevin and I went to a surprise birthday party for our friend, Jake. I ended up being surprised when my good friend Jolie gave me a birthday present too. I actually made my first handbag out of vintage kimono fabric for Jolie’s birthday back in April. Jolie knew that I was looking for some nice vintage girls kimono fabric for handbags, and that I was having trouble finding anything at a reasonable price. Girl’s kimonos are hard to find in good condition because kids are more likely to stain and rip their clothes.

Anyhow, Jolie was able to track down this wonderful fabric and I was just thrilled to get such a thoughtful gift from her. I knew right away what I wanted to do with it. I actually started on it late Saturday evening, after arriving home after an evening out with Kevin and the kids, and ended up finishing it this afternoon while the kids napped.




I’m really happy with the way it turned out. I’m going to bring it to work with me tomorrow. It will be the first time I’ve brought one of my hand-made items to work since starting with this new company two weeks ago. It has two inside pockets and a plastic insert in the bottom to help the bag keep its shape.

Oh, and the button is vintage from a great eBayer named Gwen in Canada. Her buttons are great, and she will sometimes even include an extra button gift with your purchase.

Kids Photos

I had a TON of photos of the kids hanging up at my old office. I mean, seriously, an obnoxious number of photos. I didn’t bring them in to my new office because I figured I should get some new photos of the kids instead of hanging up the old ones. Here are four photo designs that I put together last night.




They came out pretty good for doing four in one night. I have a few more photo design ideas that I’d like to get to this week, but I’m already incredibly booked for it being only Monday. So they might have to wait for the weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, my photographer friend Ray is coming over to photograph the family. He’s going to do a family portrait and then take some more organic photos of the kids. I have an idea of how to use a series of shots of the kids playing in my Christmas card this year and I’m just too excited waiting for Sunday to arrive!

Textile Design Book

Starting my new job this past week has really cut into my evening crafting time. I’m sure it will be another week or so until I feel like I don’t need to do a couple of hours of ‘homework’ each night in order to prepare for my next day’s meetings.

So, I don’t have much interesting to report now. My sewing machine is gathering dust, and I’m not even sure what I’ll work on next.

But, I did get this great book, Textile Designs, in the mail to kind of sustain me. As the cover suggests, it’s just packed with pages and pages (464 in total) of fabric patterns that are divided into floral, geometric, conversational, and ethnic and also by movements and period styles.

It’s a great resource, and is making me think again about getting started on a bit of custom fabric design for some of my handbags.

Upper Arlington Labor Day Arts Festival

I took the kids to the Labor Day Arts Festival today and even though the kids were suffering from a miserable end-of-Summer cold, everyone had a pretty good time. Xander even asked to go into a couple of the tents to see specific things – two of the tents featured handbags, so the kid is definitely one of mine!

Anyhow, after having a disastrous experience with a handbag that I tried making this week, and not having time to make another one, I actually bought one at the festival today (What? Do I really need a new one every week?! I guess so.)

The bags I’ve been making are getting more and more complicated, and there’s something to be said for the simple and pleasing design of this handbag. I think I’ll try making a few like it.