Sorry for the Delay

Hiya from a.,

Sorry for the week off, we had a life last weekend. I know that is weird, but trust me it is not a common event. I have a couple things to show you today and I would imagine r. will post his stuff on the weekend (his project is very cool). So first off we have some changes to the organization of the sewing nook. I had started with a box for all my sewing notions, but end up never being able to find anything. I changed it to a few smaller containers:



This system works so much better, as I can see what I'm looking for and easily grab it. What I did was glue fabric to pickle jars and add some black ribbon at the top. Easy, pretty, and a much handier system.

What we have next is a skirt. This is just a simple straight skirt, with a little bit of a slit on the side. My zipper abilities are coming along nicely I think:


This fabric was a major indulgence as it is Japanese cotton/linen from Crafty Planet that is not exactly cheap. I was able to get it thanks to it having been my birthday recently, and oh was it an exciting treat to play with.

Finally we have a summer sun hat. The weather has been disgusting here so we were going to have a beach day and I knew I wanted something for my head when we were out of the water, so I broke out some good old lily cotton and made a hat, which I will show you at another time as the camera battery has died and I can't upload photos.

To make up for the delay and lack of a hat photo please enjoy this older picture of b.b, getting in the middle of things, as he is want to do:


Take care.

Hey folks, r. here. Since a. showed off her dress to you yesterday (not too shabby for a first time, eh?) and she had suggested I finally catch up on posting stuff I've done (the platter has been done for at least 6 months at this point honestly), here's stuff. The comic book looking things are coasters made of plywood (thanks Bill), actual comic books--a wide variety of late silver/early bronze age Marvel and DC with Akira thrown in for good measure--a good 6 layers of modge podge and krylon high gloss sealer. These are a cheap effective way to get coasters and the hardest part is cutting up the comics which my collector's instinct says is wrong. However, when I got these books out of the bargain box I was also able to snag the first DC issue of Tarzan with John Carter of Mars as the secondary story which is worth somewhere between 50and 80ish Greenbacks so I came out ahead. My favourite is the Superman/Muhammad Ali because it's just so 70s. Next is my silver plaque. Not much to tell you about it, a. and I are in love with silver spray paint. It's based on the famous page from the fanzine Sniffin' Glue, but I changed the chords (A, D, and E allows you to play Louie, Louie; Wild Thing; Roadrunner; Blue Suede Shoes; Rumble; etc.). Finally, my dio de los muertos (I believe I have already apologized for lack of Spanish once on this blog, but mea culpa again) platter. A little paint and decoupage is all it is. Well, a lot of craft paint over a platter my sister gave us in order to get that old, vaguely enameled look. It's going to be hanging over my bar just as soon as we hang it. Well there you are folks. Hope you enjoyed the stuff, I've got another batch of the coasters on the go and if they turn out I might just be ready to take commissions (and experiment with baseball card, magic cards [I am in fact that geeky, but I can play decent surf guitar so shut up], loteria cards and whatever else I can get my hands on). Until the next time, as the good Reverend points out, it's Martini Time!

Been Sewing

Hiya from a.,

I'm going to keep this nice and short. I made myself a dress today. First dress, first time using a pattern, first time sewing with knit/stretchy fabric. What did you do with your day?



Take care

My Suitcase Rehab

Hiya from a.,

So online you can see a bunch of alterations to old suitcases, and I thought I'd give it a try. Now being me, I didn't really read a lot of descriptions or instructions, just looked at a few pictures, and thought I could figure something out (thanks to my dad, I have a highly developed sense of why not just figure it out while you're in the middle of playing with the new idea). So I lucked out at one of the local thrift shops and found an old hard side samsonite for under 10 dollars. Here are the before pictures:




In the first photo it is laid out like that because it was about to be spray painted silver. Now you don't have smell-o-vision, so I will tell you that the inside smelled like grandma. It was that lovely mix of Clinique and roses, so that lining was all torn out and replaced, so that the inside looked like this:



There were multiple varieties of glue used, fedex box pieces covered in fabric, some quilt batting to add softness. Here is a photo that shows the ultimate purpose of the suitcase:


It is my mobile roving and spindle storage unit. I hung ribbon on top to catch the hooks of the spindles, and added an elastic band to hold them in place when opening and closing the suitcase. Here is a close up of the top section:


The bottom is then for storing the yet to be used roving and the singles that have already been spun. This project took a fair bit of work, but I am pleased with the overall results.

Take care.