Following up: Completed kitty corners!

IIt's been a while, but here are a couple photos of the upholstery repair... The heavy-weight fabric came from a sample that was given to me by a friend, Patty of Patty Benson Textiles (pattybenson.com). Kitty still uses the corners as a scratch post, but the material is much more durable now!

silkscreened linen pillow

Home-sewn clothes for visit to Europe

A glance at some garments I sewed for my trip to Vienna, Slovenia and Italy this summer.

Clockwise from top left: Black-white-striped stretch-cotton mini dress; Reversible gray-blue-striped cotton tunic; Blue-skirted stretch-cotton tank dress; Earth dot-striped cotton tank; Floral cotton pillowcase tank; Eggplant strech-dress. All patterns were drafted from existing clothes or originally designed on the fly, with the exception of the Blue-skirted dress (for which I sewed an original top to an existing skirt).

New little wallet

 A few weeks ago I decided to ditch my old wallet – a fraying, dirty, red coin purse with a zipper closure that barely accepts my ID and bank cards – and make a new one for myself. I like to avoid collecting too many tidbits in my wallet, so I wanted to end up with a simple, single compartment, envelope style wallet that properly fit my cards and things without stressing all its edges (as with the old one). I fiddled around to create a template using paper and flexible board, and ended up with a sturdy, fabric lined, partially hand stitched wallet with a pretty little elastic strap-wrap closure. I started using it as soon as it was complete, and so far it's been great!

Wedding Bow Ties for Bowie

Last winter I made bow ties for my friends' dogs, just for kicks. This spring one of their coworkers saw the "doggie bow ties" and ordered two for her dog, coincidentally named Bowie, to wear to two summer weddings.

taking care of my little broken camera

I recently sent my tiny digital camera to the manufacturer for repair under its warranty and got a message that said it would cost $130 (that's what I paid for this refurbished camera when I bought it) for them to send me a "new" refurbished camera to replace this one because they couldn't repair it. The reason I think it's sort of a scam is that this camera works fine on the inside, it's just a gently broken lens cover! I figured they would have sold me another one for $130, then repaired mine and sold it, too. Wouldn't that be classic? Well, I had them return it to me instead, so I'm just gonna keep using it. I made this case to protect the lens, which stays open even when the camera's off. Yay. 

Made from bright fabric scraps – great for not losing it – and cushioned using scraps from a wool sweater that I wore long after it died... it's all hand-stitched together.

jean wallet

 just sat down the other night and played with some jean scraps and silk lining to make this little wallet... heart velcro and all!

Serna Cat Stuffie

I sewed this for Julian's Christmas gift... little did I know he was sewing me a stuffed creature too! (check it out soon at Stripes&Sketches.)