Camouflage

I did sew today.

A customer order for  a CD Organizer that fits on a car sun visor.
She wanted Pink Camouflage. I received the fabrics Thursday and sewed two CD organizers and one Zippy pouch.

Aren't these cute?

I'm not much of a pink girl but hey - if it's in camo, it's awesome.

They are now  in my new etsy store. Part of my future business plan involves more sewing. My RunningWithNeedles etsy shop is filled with vintage sewing treasures. I felt like I was dumping my handmade items in there. This year,   I opened RunningWithHandmade, my second (*third) shop back in January, getting all my finance/organizational ducks in a row.

It's been slow going as I got seriously overwhelmed by not only my business plan, but the usual culprits of work, parents/family, and health issues all deciding to flare up as well.

So, I stalled.

 I'm pretty good with outlining the steps necessary to move forward.
Breaking down the big picture and organizing the flow.

This big picture is big.

I had to take a step back and wonder if it is too much. It has to do with retiring from work and how will I earn a paycheck big. Dealing with family issues that I will be more responsible for when I quit my current job.

I got depressed about, well, everything.
Which led me to getting sick with the worst spring flu ever this last week.
Which also led me to talk to someone, actually several someones.

It helped. having the downtime, getting feedback. I have a family history of depression and I think we all experience it at times. My older sister is hip-deep in it right now. She acknowledges she is depressed but can't seem to find her way out.

I'm working overtime the next couple of weeks so it preys on my mind. I can't help her right now.
I have to help myself first. Which is something my voodoo-hippie doc tries to imprint into my brain cells. If I over-extend myself, I get really sick.

So- what to do?

Ask for help. Put on hold things that don't need to be done today. Minimize your outside commitments. Ask for help.


I feel better in my head about my own situation. I know my on-going business plan is to my benefit. I know that we, as a family, will figure out how to help my sister.

Because of my auto-immune issues, I try to live my life as if I won't be able to do everything I want to do before my disease gets the better of me. Do the best I can. Every day. Try something new. Keep engaged.

 

***second etsy shop is RunningWithAirplanes which I never stocked as I've never had enough time in the day to do it all.

Teresa's Car PopUp

Teresa ordered a pop up in red polka dots. Here it is.

 I did the same modification from my first one with two loops of FOE (fold over elastic) at the top. One to hold the plastic bag in place and the second to secure it (to my gear shift).

I added back in the white elastic at the bottom  to secure it 'flatter' but now I can't think of a reason to keep it flatter so I will leave this off next time. And there will be a next time. I also added the label this time because Teresa would get a kick out of it.

Both sets of elastic have an adjacent buttonhole to slink the elastic into to neaten up the appearance.

Red polka dots came from Japan (Nippori).

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 I buy eggs that come from free-range hens who typically eat a soy-free/gluten-free/non GMO diet.

Last months' eggs included these green beauties - just in time for St. Patrick's Day.

I will eat Green Eggs and Ham, ahem, Bacon from Vogets.

 

 I finally got a pic of my car trash popup  inside my car.   It's dark in my garage, so I snapped this after I got off work. Cute. And it looks awesome.

Boxy Bags

This weeks mission on Elm Street Quilts'  BAG IT series was to make some boxy bags.
I still have a QAYG (Quilt As You Go) bag to make to get caught up.

The first one made was the Medium Formula One car racing bag. The suggested tutorial was this.
And as soon as I got to the corners, I recalled this tutorial with dislike. I'd been down this rabbit hole before.

Yes, it results in no seams inside. Yes, it results in a bag that works. But it takes hours to do and the lining is floating around in there - too big - with no way to adjust it. I want to tack the corners of the lining to the outer fabric but I am resisting. Because I have spent enough time on this bag.

My cute checkerboard lining.

 The small Formula One and the Elephant Bag are made with this video tutorial.
Which is how it's done in RTW.

The lining is attached to the outer fabric via the serged seams, providing a nice neat interior.

Actually, I studied my son's Dopp Bag last year and the inside seams are finished with grosgrain ribbon folded over those exposed seams. And the lining is fused to the outer fabric.

 I don't mind my serged seams either. (Yes, I powered over those nylon zipper teeth at the side seam.). I put a drop of Fray-check on the corners where I trimmed the serger thread. The insides of these two bags are really clean.

And - it took 20 minutes to cut, fuse, and sew this bag compared to the hours spent on the first Boxy Bag. Who has that much time? No one will ever notice the inside - except for how loose it is in the first bag.

Lining all bunched up and loose. No way to cut it smaller or adjust . I am not tacking it down at the corners.

With cute tassel - made by me too.

Boxy Bags made in three sizes.

Baby: started at 8" x 6".
Mama: started at 13" x 8"
Daddy: started at 15" x 10"



I was thinking of making a Daddy Formula One bag but I ran out of my checkerboard lining fabric and grabbed some home decor fabric instead.

Sewing Gift

 I recently won a prize on Red Letter Quilts that was amazing.

A fun pencil pouch loaded with fun fabrics.
I turned some of those fabrics into this CD Holder for Heidi.

I had fun sewing with someone elses fabric selections. She likes to sew quilt, so I found several sewing themed fabrics in my stash that coordinated with hers. I hope she likes to listen to CD's when driving....well, even if she doesn't, she can throw it up on her car visor and smile every time she looks at it.

 I was going to put a Stearman Biplane patch here but Miss T.G.I.F. jumped up and said, "SEW ME". And this is on the back side - aka the side that faces the car visor. No one will ever see this patch except the recipient.

Formula 1 Sewing

I have a long time friend who lives in Gothenberg, Sweden, who is mad about Formula 1 racing.
As someone who also loves her hobby (airplanesairplanesairplanes), I can totally get on board about her obsession.

Even though she had to explain, patiently, the extreme difference between Formula 1 and Nascar.


It's been two years since I discovered Tuike's obsession.
 It's taken two years to find Formula 1 fabric.

I thought I'd have to print my own.
Which is problematic, since all of her favorite Formula 1 race drivers have their photos super copyrighted.


I discovered this Formula 1 fabric in Ireland (of all places!) on Etsy and the shop owner was happy to post some my way. 

Ironic? Fabric travels West 6000 miles to be cut up and reassembled and then posted East 6000 miles. And it might have come from the USA originally.   Well traveled fabric.

I made her the key fob straight away. Very easy project if you have the hardware. I bought mine on Etsy and then the key fob hardware sat in my hardware drawer for the better part of a year.

Then I sewed her this little wallet/purse with my Formula 1 fabric. I made one a week or so ago off a long-ago-posted tutorial.
A little small for Smarty pants phones of 2014, I slightly enlarged the dimensions by 1/2" longer and 1/4" wider. This allowed me to put my phone in the back pocket.

My fabric is home dec weight and worked just as well as quilting cottons in this wee little ID purse.
I made several changes to the original pattern. Number one was losing the double fold bias binding to cover the raw edges inside. I changed it to single fold  for less 'density' at the corners. In fact, I might even just serge the raw edges and leave off the binding next time.

I actually have, somewhere, in my sewing room another fabric I  bought to make pillow cases for Tuike. It wasn't totally Formula 1 but I had plans. It's now lost in the invisible special place. However, the good news is, while tossing the sewing room this time, I found my pink chalk pencil marker I had misplaced a good while ago. As in, I bought another one because it is one of my favorite notions.