A Week Off

I sewed every day.

We are hiding inside because of near 100' heat all week and smoke from the wild fires trapped in the Willamette valley.

I knew it would be hot when I started  my vacation time. Perfect for doing my liver cleanse and sewing. My biggest plan was to sew in the cooler mornings and list items for sale in my etsy shops in the hotter (damp & sticky) afternoons.

  We still don't have the (orange) Piper J-5 airplane flying. Hubby is still dorking around on this and that. But look, They both fit inside the hangar. Our other airplane is a Stearman biplane.

 I had a little time before my hair appointment to take photos of the dahlia fields.
1:30pm and my iphone still takes awesome photos.

Yes, I managed to get my hair cut (not since october!) and I got in on someone else's cancellation to the dentist as well.

I usually set up my dental appt about 9 months out and hope for the best. My work schedule changes so frequently, I finally make it on the fourth cancellation. My dentist's crew know where I work and they will try and fit me in until an appointment 'sticks'.

Somehow, I don't think you should try this with your hairdresser. I needed a haircut back in April and here it is - September. Six inches gone.

I tried out some online selling places and was successful with my old Riccar. So nice to see it go to a good home. And clean out my garage a little. This machine does an awesome straight stitch but I have two others that do the same. I might still sell my Singer Stylist as I have my grandma's old Singer 301.
Not right now. The stylist sits in a nice cabinet with I put in the bedroom for a place to set down stuff.

So - what did I sew? A new pair of work shorts with all the topstitching and pockets. A lot of lipsense bags and a custom order of a doTERRA essential oil bag. I also finished two UFO's and working on a third.

I also listed a crazy amount of stuff for etsy but there is still a mountain in my garage that needs to be listed as well.

How did my liver cleanse go? Well - I'm finishing it up now. Basically, it was an elimination diet of anything with allergens and five days of being a vegetarian. No chocolate (sugar) and no coffee.

I failed.
On the chocolate.

I made it to Saturday -- about 10 days in and caved.

I disliked being vegetarian. Mostly because I can't eat beans (legumes - big allergen) and I can only tolerate rice once or twice a month. A lot of my allergens, I can tolerate in small doses but the effects accumulate and I can get really non-functonal fast. I can eat some nuts but they don't really get digested with my small intestine not behaving well.

There's a surprising amount of protein in dark leafy greens - which I juice. Each glass of green juice probably contains at least 8 grams of protein and I drank green juice 2 -3 times a day.

I was also taking  a product based on pea protein and I was reacting to that as well.

However, all the extra B-vitamins? Tremendous mental acuity and focus.
I didn't peter out around 2 or 3pm. I was good at the beginning about eating more to keep (chocolate) cravings at bay but slacked off if I got the wee bit busy.

If I do this again, and I will, I will skip the product and go straight to a liver cleanse without pea protein.

I had high hopes this cleanse would clear up some skin issues (yet another symptom of not getting enough nutrients because of my small intestine). Some cleared but the rest are still there. Less stress (no daily smack-down) helped.

My eyes seem to be clearer. Rested.

  My niece recently moved back to the area from living in Singapore, so I went and visited on Saturday. So much fun to see my practice grand-kids! The girls still remembered me and had to show me e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.

I stopped at Ikea on my way and this button rug continues to taunt me. If I had a place for a white rug. I get so tempted to just buy it and stash it but I don't need more clutter.

I also took care of some clutter piles around the house. Bundles dropped with good intentions.

I cleaned the inside of my car after living out of it the past year, or so.

And I got my laser printer back printing after a year. It stopped working when we had a power outage and it took a year in the time-out closet for me to get up the time to sit down and uninstall and reinstall, fingers crossed, and it worked. Big smile.

Pillowcases

Very quick sew - maybe half an hour for two pillow cases? Although I wasn't keeping track - maybe 45 minutes. I used the burrito method (google it) to make these super fast.
All edges are enclosed within french seams so no loose threads start fraying. And those dachshunds were seriously fraying.


I jetted over to Fabric Depot on Saturday because 40% off all fabrics was just too much for me to resist. I had wanted to sew some new pillowcases for my niece and thought these aqua and green dachshunds would work for her.

 It was dark already when I finished ironing these so I used my OTT light (more natural light) by my machine to take these crap photos.

They are in her care package and another gift is sewn and checked off my list.

I picked out a fabric to go with my sky diving bunnies to turn them into pillowcases,  so I am ready to not work eleven hours per day right now. Just sayin'.

Phone Charger Travel Case Organizer

 When my sis has come west for her annual Oregon Vacation, charger cords are everywhere. They may still be everywhere, but I made her an organizer to corral items while packing.

 The case opens to reveal four sections. I did a divided double slip pocket for organizing her family of four.

As phones get bigger and bigger, this case may be all about the cords. I plan on getting her a four in one USB charger as well to carry in here. All electrical receptacles were in use - thus making forgetting a cord or two a reality as they were all over the house. This way, all the cords are visually seen, she can plug everyone into the four-in-one charger - utilizing just one plug-in.

That's the working theory.

Roomy enough for smart phones (but not ipads) with a clear pocket in front for the cords and plugs.


Notice those red dots at the top? Those are snaps for when it is folded up in luggage so items can't slip out.

Look at the backside - frontside? Big telephones bought at Eurokangas in Helsinki on our trip there a few years ago.

It seemed perfect.

I quilted around the phones to add some dimension.

The Case folds in half (2 X 2)with a flap to velcro over.
Snaps at the top also help secure the contents.

I still have my rotary telephone. Do you? It works when the power goes out and the cell lines are all busy. And it's ORANGE. Very vintage.

This is a story about my niece when she was nine years old. She came over to do some sewing with me and we were playing with felt and reverse applique. She saw me doing the Lazy Daisy stitch for decoration and after watching me do it once, she did it perfectly. The lazy daisy stitch is one of the more difficult embroidery stitches too. Just amazing for a nine year old.

Then we moved to my walk-in closet where I  was sewing at the time - where my fabric was stored. She was going to go treasure hunting for some fabric to take home. My old Rotary Telephone resides here too.

So Livy asks what the orange thing was. I told her is was a phone. She gives me the most confused look and asks, " What does it do?". I told her she could call Grandma on it.
She is very baffled. I instructed her to put her finger in the five hole, run it to the stop and let go, then proceed to the zero, then the three (5-0-3- area code).

This is the girl that just finessed a Lazy Daisy stitch after one look-see. She is completly baffled by this orange thing. Amazing bafflement. So I showed her. How to dial. Of course, you used to only have to dial seven numbers, now it's ten. So it takes a while.

Then she dialed.

And Grandma answered.

I loved the look on  my niece's face.

Niece Graduating

 My youngest niece is graduating high school this year.
I mean really! Where does the time go?

 She's off to Westmont College in California next fall so I looked up her school colors and discovered I have next to nothing in Maroon & White.
I definitely have a problem with turquoise colors.

 I made her a zipper Key Fob with emergency money inside and a Zippered pouch. These YKK zips are from my estate sale find a week ago. Got the big ring pull. These retail for over $4 a pop and I get to use them at less than 10 cents a project.

 I filled the pouch with some Oregon State (OSU) Socks - just in case she changes her mind about schools, the key fob, an alligator critter card with the all-important auntie gift (check).

And most importantly, Creative Girl? I ended up not squirreling that pretty ribbon into one of my corners and I actually wrapped niece's gift and tied a bow with the pretty ribbon. I'm so proud of myself.

And look - the strawberries are turning red.

Sewing Treasure Box

I found this nifty treasure box at a local christmas bazaar . I went one saturday after work and ended up taking photos of things I liked because it was  overwhelming with an inordinate amount of possible handmade gifts.

I kept looking at this monopoly box for my niece who is 17 years old. After work the following Saturday, I went to see if they still had some left.

It could be a sewing kit or a place to put her treasures.

In trying to figure out what I had in stash (from garage saling), I went mostly for what fit inside this box which roughly measures 9.5" x 7.5" x 3" deep.

The ziploc in front has all the pieces to the original Spiderman Monopoly game - good luck ephemera.

Clockwise from the pack of felt and embroidery floss::
treasure box, measuring tape, game pieces, pincushion (making explained), chocolate covered pretzel sticks, a FQ of Olivia the pig fabric (her namesake), snaps, needle book, 6" ruler/seam gauge, 4" quilting square ruler, pad of notepaper from Schmetz needles, red container with threads, pins, small items.

I am undecided about adding a crochet hook/ knitting needles, but need to let go of add one of my pairs of sewing scissors - for the cause.

What else would you add?


 Having a huge clean out sale  in my etsy shop right now.
RunningWithNeedles
Just use the code CLEANOUT2014 to get 40% off everything.

Volkswagon Van Bag

My niece, Livy, has been an avid Slug Bug fan most of her life.
Going anywhere with her in the car meant a sore shoulder. She always managed to see the most VW's. I think the camper vans were worth three slugs...

Trying to connect with a busy teenager has been difficult this summer. I wanted to plan a sewing date and sew a messenger bag with her for the next school year.
Realizing the futility of that idea, I gestated this one to fruition.

I saw some internet sites: Tula Pink's and Handmade Harbour's that stuck in my head.
I  picked out some fabrics and started this a couple of weeks ago.


Can't recall where I saw a back view, but I had to have one.
The window is a cell phone pocket.

I just bought this Riley Blake Fabric in July: Rocket Age.


I paired the Rocket Blast Blue with some textured white from my stash.
I liked the floral bumper on Handmade Harbour's version so I cut into some Liberty fabric for that.





Along with some great buttons - also from stash.

The Niece can reach  'Orbital Velocity'  with this messenger bag.

For my lining, I was going to go with a cotton ticking stripe with Olivia (the pig) bindings.
{{Niece's name is Olivia}}.

This was a Sew As You Go pattern making.

This afternoon, I sewed  for five hours straight to finish up this bag and the lining became 'Rocket Blast Blue' with an inset zipper pocket and a double pocket on the other side.
 
In fact, this whole bag is reversible.

The entire bag was stitched with black thread except for the sides and bottoms which were serged in white - once I figured out what size the finished bag would be.




snicker...the bag could use some ironing



This cross-body webbing strap with hardware was pirated from an old purse of my mom's.
I simply cut a 2" width of fabric width-wise and folded it to 1" and sewed it down on the black strap.
Voila!  custom strap (at zero cost).


I didn't use FMQ but I did stitch those letters on the license plate!

I did most of the stitching with a narrow zigzag on top of fused fabric pieces. I used my small scissors to trim close to stitching. I tried using some Solvy water-soluble stabilizer but I couldn't get the hang of it. When I tore it away from my stitching, it came out from between my stitching too. It was only useful on the front of the van - I drew on the  see-thru Solvy and followed that stitching line on the blue part of the van frontside - especially that deep curve.

The WonderUnder worked fine to adhere my small pieces and also provided some structure to this bag.


I also learned using my pink chalk pencil (sewline) was probably not a great idea on white. Doing so much ironing, the Frixion pen was doing a disappearing act when I wasn't paying attention.

The one thing I forgot in my Sew As You Go was a magnetic snap for closure. I'm not sure if I want to rip out some stitching at the top to insert the magnetic snap or sew on a giant snap (have one in stash) or leave it alone, it's fabulous.

Her birthday isn't for a couple of weeks but I am hoping we can meet up next Tuesday when the Clackamas County Fair starts up. The theme this year is "We're Serving Up Fun".

I entered five of my items this weekend for judging. Hopefully I'll win some ribbons which may pay for a yard or two of fabric - lol.

Getting A Handle On Things

Tote bag finished.
I didn't want to sew a handle for this tote bag.

I could have.
--- in the time it took me to traipse up to Joann's (hopefully) and buy this set.

However, the end of the purchased handle was a round piece as was my re-purposed lobster claw piece.
How to join them???
Nothing in the purse section of Joann's, although they are carrying a line of purse feet and other hardware that is very interesting.

I wandered over to the jewelry findings section and eventually found a large key ring. Too big and they didn't have four of the mediums which, proportionately, was the correct size. No other options (except sewing a connector piece), so I zoomed home where I did find four matching key rings and, tada!, this bag is done.





And here are my practice grandkids with their valentine owl purses.
I had to tease my niece about the pinkness.
She was so adamantly opposed to pink when the oldest was born.

They showed her!




Hello Kitty. {giggle & snort}

Lol - Kristin!