New placemats and napkins

I had President's Day off so I spent it watching it rain and making new placemats and napkins. I chose the two fabrics you see above, which makes the placemats reversible. For the placemats, I sewed both sides together right side in, leaving a gap. When I flipped it right side out, I ironed it flat and inserted a piece of Timtex through the gap. I then sewed all the way around the edge at 1/4" to secure the Timtex inside. I did the exact same thing for the napkins, except without the Timtex. The placemats are nice and think and very sturdy. I hope they look just as nice after going through the wash! That's my only concern. I'm currently using one of the napkins as a mini runner that holds a candle (we like to eat by candlelight every evening) and our new salt and pepper cellar. What do you think??

Singer

Just thought I'd show you my awesome old Singer sewing machine. We found it at an antique store. It has a wooden cover to it, but we couldn't get the cover off at the store to see the machine. The owners had apparently lost the key.
We struggled with the lid, but had no luck. We told the shop owners that it was okay, that we just wanted to see it. They took down our contact information just in case the managed to get it open one day.
Well, a couple days went by and they had gotten it open! They said we could come pick it up anytime -- for free! What a great score!!

It has gorgeous details and Singer still sells parts for all their machines, even the oldest ones. So I'm planning to refurbish it and use it. Can't wait!

Craft room chairs

The chairs in my craft room I believe I got at Ikea. They are very simple chairs that can be folded up and stored. They don't make for very pretty chairs just sitting out though, so I decided to make slip covers for them. I started with the back of the chair and chose two matching blue and two matching pink fabrics.These particular fabrics are from an old stash of Amy Butler fabrics I had from a while back. They will add lots of color to the room. I made the slip covers reversible and the flap gives you a little taste of what's on the other side. :) The floral patterns are actually the same, one blue and one pink, which brings the chairs together.

The pink chair sits in front of my sewing machine, while the blue chair sits at the table, where I have my next projects lined up.Here you can see one of two books I will be rebinding. The covers are pretty beat up, so I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Amy Butler pillow

I was off last Monday for the holiday and had a fantastic day. I spent the entire day crafting. Is there anything better? I really don't think so. I ate fruit and green tea midmorning in the peace and quiet of my home on a Monday. Deep breath.....AAAAAHHHH. It was heaven.

I've been meaning to make some nice pillow covers for the pillows in the living room, so I started sifting through all my fabric to make one. I found this gorgeous Amy Butler fabric I bought a while back and decided to recover an old Ikea pillow with it. Here's the end result:
I gave the pillow these cute pearly buttons as well, which go perfectly with the fabric.
I was very happy with the result. Sewing is not easy for me, so this was a true accomplishment! :)

Ribbon bag

My mother in law made me a ribbon bag for Christmas last year. It's so awesome I have yet to use it. You know how it goes. It's so beautiful, you're like, "uh...better leave it at home, just in case..." Just in case what? Who knows! But one day soon I am going to take it out of its tissue paper, fill it with my usual stuff (3 lip glosses and my wallet) and leave the house before I have time to panic.

You can see the beautiful stitching that attaches the ribbons. The zipper is one of those cool "hidden" zippers and the lining matches the overall color, orange.

The handle is a delicate pearly, satiny cord that tucks ever so stealthily in the sides of the bag. Very nice work, Janet! Can't wait to use it! :)

Woodgrain indigo

Here are the final results of the smocking process. This type of stitching yields a "woodgrain" effect, which I'm particularly drawn to for some reason. This is the light cotton piece. It turned out really nice because the fabric was thin enough that I could get it to fold and overlap in certain places, creating a more interesting pattern.

The linen piece is much more even because the fabric was much too thick to overlap or fold. Apparently, it also took the dye a bit better than the lighter cotton since the color is significantly darker. You can see the sections where the needles were broken and the fabric remained unbound. Both pieces have a really great texture that I'm tempted to leave and not iron out. It would add a nice feel to the bag I want to make. I think I'd like the bottom of the bag (and a third of the way up the sides of the bag) to be oilskin and the top of the bag one of these shibori pieces. I really like the combination of indigo dyed shibori with oilskin. I've made projects using this combination before and have really liked how they turned out. Plus I think the oilskin will look nice with the bamboo handles and protect the bottom of the bag when I set it down. I'm picturing a bag that has an oval bottom and structured sides, like a bucket bag, but I've never made one like that before so it's all an experiment at this point! I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a good Valentine's Day. Kurt and I are celebrating it on Saturday, actually. It's madness here in DC on Valentine's Day. Let's just say that some friends and I were going to make reservations for a VD lunch and the set prices were $175 A PERSON! This place is not that good either. I'm sure it'll be back down to $12 tomorrow! They just take advantage, don't they?

We have tickets to a Jean-Yves Thibaudet concert on Saturday so we're going to make it a total VD date with dinner and all! This artist is the pianist who played the music in the movie Pride and Prejudice, my all time favorite movie! I can't wait, I'm so excited. :)

Kinda flaked on these heart pin cushions, didn't I? Just ended up making this one. It's super cute, though. I hand dyed the fabric a vivid pink, sewed some black felt on the back and then embroidered the black border. I was going to make a few to put on my Etsy shop, but never got around to it. I'm definitely still interested in making pin cushions for the site, but the goal to get them done by today was obviously not attained! Oh well. I just get distracted with so many other projects!

How are you spending Valentine's Day?

Kurt's Christmas Present Part II

Kurt's second Christmas present was a brush roll for his painting brushes. I used the same materials as for the pencil case but instead of a leather button, I used a leather ring (with I actually found at a bead store) and leather cord to tie it closed with. Unfortunately, the picture here is a bit dark and you can't see the ring that clearly, but you can sort of see it in the next picture. Here's what it looks like on the inside:

I really liked the way it turned out and it fits 20 brushes in total. This is the same pattern I used for the knitting needle case I made the other day. Very handy pattern, come to think of it!

Kurt's Christmas Present Part I

Sometime last year, my husband sketched out a pencil case he wanted for when he went out and sketched outside or traveled. Months later, when I was trying desperately to figure out what to make him for Christmas, I remembered the sketch. I looked through every scrap of paper in his work area (and believe me there are a LOT!) and finally found it! I made a pattern according to his drawings and started looking for fabric. I wanted to make it out of some durable material so he didn't have to be careful with it (that's no fun). I decided on canvas for the outside, which I hand dyed indigo using Shibori techniques.

The inside is oilskin that I purchased by the yard online. It's waterproof and if it gets dirty, you just have to wait until the dirt dries and then brush it right off. It's great stuff and really easy to work with. My friend, Alex, who rides horses and worked on a horse ranch one summer, told me that cowboys swear by oilskin. That just made it extra cool! :)

The pencil case has a flap that comes down to cover the tops of the pencils and a little removable pocket that holds his favorite eraser.

The eraser pocket attaches to the case with a magnetic button and the whole case is secured with a plain leather button that matches perfect with the oilskin. Kurt loved it!

Flaco-tastic

This is Flaco. He's my friend, Alex's dog. He's an English Pointer and she rescued him from the pound in Spain. He was so emaciated when she found him that she had to carry him home and hand feed him until he was strong enough to do it on his own. That's where he gets his name "Flaco." It means skinny in Spanish. He's had a tough life, there's no doubt, but now, he's very spoiled! My husband and I gave him that squirrel you see in the picture for Christmas. He loves it! He has such a soft mouth that he just nibbles on the paws! It's soooo cute!! :)

We dog-sat Flaco this last weekend so that Alex could attend her dad's graduation in Maine. While I was taking some pictures of new scarves that I'll be posting on my shop soon, I decided to make use of the camera and tripod and zoom in on the beautiful face that was watching me work! Good thing he sat still long enough for me to take it. He's known to flail when the camera is on him.

This weekend I also made myself a roll for my long knitting needles. I have yet to make one for my short ones, but here's a look at the one I made yesterday. All the fabrics are Amy Butler designs.