March Randoms

Lots of rain here in Oregon. We get a cold, snowy, icy winter about once every ten years. Our spring, which can be as long as five months, is getting off to a slow start. The occasional dry day yields awesome photos.

Today, we have a dry day, yet the rivers are all very close to flooding. Another two days of rain and there is a rumor that we will have two dry days in a row. Woot!

Spotted at my creative friend's shop, Retro Revival, here in Canbyland.
The best blue hat ever.

I can't help but wonder who wore this hat and who encouraged her to wear it.

Creative girl won't let me have this plane.

But I did find some airplane wrapping paper at the dollar store when I was scrounging for green gifts for St. Patrick's Day.

Busy with trying to get  my spring pruning done on the (so far) one dry day off I've had from work. Hopefully the long-range forecast for a dry Sunday will happen and I can get the grapes pruned. Maybe the sweet peas planted......

Up in Alaska, they are having a good snow year. Unfortunately the moose find foraging difficult when a snow year happens and they are quite cranky this year. Taken near where my daughter lives. I don't actually know who to acknowledge the video to.

I haven't made time to sew lately, too much on my plate, getting a little cranky myself.

Happy Easter Eggs

 Happy Easter everyone.
We're having Baby Back ribs and Teresa's Carrot cake tomorrow.

 Ukrainian egg decorating. My library repeated a class they held two years ago. You start with a blown-out egg. Apparently, there is a tool to do this instead of blowing them out the hard way!
Funny girl bought a kit, so I blew out three green eggs for her - I almost get a headache doing it the hard way.

This time, we worked with white eggs. Two years ago, brown eggs.

Basically, this is a wax resist method aka batik. Using wax to trace designs, then coloring them, then more wax to enhance the design, then more dye and maybe another run through with wax and dye.

The tool in the right hand is called a kistka. A little tube to hold beeswax that is then melted over the candle flame.

Funny friend's sunny egg

Creative Girl's egg masterpiece.

 Late last week, an old friend emailed me to ask a question. As I still had a few plastic eggs left, I whipped up these drawstring pouches and mailed a wee present to the cutest little girl and her brother. This little girl used to bring me flowers at work - the kind with no stems. I had a little plastic dish to float her bouquets in.
*smile*

These were fun to make too.
These are yarn wrapped around a water balloon which you squeeze a chocolate egg or two into first. Soak the yarn in watered glue adn wrap, then let dry. Pop the balloon and you have candy trapped inside the stiff 'egg'.



My first attempt at Ukrainian eggs.

This year's eggs

My Friend Totally Gets Me

 Creative Girl totally gets me. For my birthday, she found me airplanes.
This Blue Corsair will be hung on the patio.

 I love puzzles. Even though she probably found this at a sale, all the pieces were there.
F-14 Tomcat. Jolly Rogers insignia.

Then she followed it up with fabric -- with airplanes on it!

Nice lightweight denim with stripes.

Pretty blues.

Love the metallic blue powder coat.

We're Garage Sale buddies. Which means the best gifts are totally thrifted with bonus points for dickering/haggling.
When I say my friend is worth spending two bucks on, that's high praise indeed where most items go for two bits.

Pendleton 2ZH

I started this bag - the Two Zip Hipster last weekend.  This is designed by Erin of Dog Under My Desk (DUMD) and features a cross-body strap and a recessed zipper.
I made one before out of Orange Ikea fabric:



On my first one, I followed the directions with only one minor change. This time, I changed a lot.
First off, I wanted to use Pendleton wool fabric and the purse needed to be a tad wider. Having only 1/2 yard of this turquoise and brown Pendleton print meant I had to be creative in the cutting layout.
I found a great thin suede to use as an accent piece (faux piping) and as trim on the front pocket.
Like the first time, I ironed the pocket lining to peek above the edge
 
Other people have enlarged the pattern 110% but not me. I only wanted the width to be larger. The depth of the bag was just about perfect. That meant I had to study all the pattern pieces to make sure I was adding the same amount to each abutting piece. I added just less than an inch to the width.

I want this tassel on my zipper but I'm not sure how to attach it. I need me some jewelry findings. I'll go ask creative girl tomorrow. I'm sure it involves a bead header cap, a jump ring, some glue . . .

I had a thrifted cross body strap that matched well enough - so I had to change the connecting hardware.      {...but this meant I did not have to sew a 60" strap}.

Purse hardware is very spendy. I  find purses that don't look great at garage sales and cut off the metal hardware - usually a buck in my neck of the woods. The hardware on this purse could easily be $15-20 at the fabric store.

 My limited fabric meant I had to piece the front piece. Because it's hidden by then front zip pocket, no big deal - just measure against the pattern piece to make sure the end result is the correct size

I think I will hand stitch that label on more securely, or not.

Love how the recessed zip looks!

 I wanted a two-way zip, based on my last 2ZH, but I think that was because that purse was a tad narrow in width. It's nice, but it meant I had to mentally do my zipper installation a teeny  bit different.

I just received these metal zipper ends from Emmaline Bags. Best bling ever!
Looks so much less home-sewn.

Turned inside out. I added the long strappy thing to hold a double sided coin purse (not made).
I read some advice on traveling in Japan about their coinage. Some coins are best to get rid of right away, and to separate your change as you receive it so you can move it on.

***Side note: I heard the best joke at work today!
When does it rain money?
Whenever there's a change in the weather.

 I, of course, had to add an inside zip pocket for secure storage. And lined it with some airplanes  ;-)      The white background is easier to see things inside a purse.

 The opposite side holds a standard (with pattern) slip pocket. I decorated it with my trimmings.

I have two weeks to go before my trip. Tomorrow I'm shopping for a lightweight, but warm rain jacket as well as other assorted travel doodads.

I had wanted to sew a pendleton carry-on but that's too ambitious for my limited time. I can board with a carry-on and one personal item. In the ways of air travel, this purse will be in my giant black airplane purse.

I am very happy with how this turned out,  even if my seam ripper had to rip out some stupidity occasionally.


I first used this pendleton fabric on this big shopping tote bag:




***April 2015 update:
This worked terrific on Japan trip. I received many compliments.
The two-way zip actually worked very well. Just the right height for my water bottle, sometimes the bottle placement meant using one zipper pull-tab or the other. I think I'm on a mission to put two-way zips in all my bags from now on.
It was easy to manage multiple showings of passport wallet, change purse (Lots of japanese coinage!) and regular wallet. Japan is very cash-based, unlike USA & Europe.
This bag had the right amount of pockets for traveling.

Needle Books

When my children were little, we had a little game we played when out shopping with all the pretties vying for their attention. I would give a quarter to the first one who spotted an airplane.

I got the quarter last Thursday.
After work, aka the shift that started at 4am, Creative Girl and I hopped in her truck to go find a garage sale.

 The black paper (at the top) is in there to keep the needles shiny (no rust). The black paper is cut with the center notch too.

These were all inside a vintage plastic sewing box. With threads, scissors, thimbles, lovely sewing notions.
The seller wanted $20 which could be considered high for a garage sale,  but it had a Pièce de résistance.

A needle book 'made in Czechoslovakia.   In 1914.
I didn't quite swoon, but I may have *sighed*.

And, of course, when I got home to look at things properly, there was the airplane needle book from the Army and Navy.

 I love these older books. Look at the design behind the needles.
A lovely random floral design.
Nowadays, we are so spare with our art.

Back side

Finally, taking photos with the waning September sun, here's some hydrangea blooms on my kitchen table. . . and their 'friends'. . .