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.

Colleen's Retro Velcro Wallet

My cousin, 18 times removed*, wanted a pink velcro wallet.

She was tired of trying to find her wallet at the bottom of her bag. I told her I would make one for her. About a year ago.

I bought the supplies awhile back at RCT Fabrics.

Her hubby just got a permanent job and they are moving from relatively close by to much further away. This was the kick in the butt I was waiting for.

***Her mom is my mom's niece which makes me and her 'cousins'.

 I made the pattern myself after searching fruitlessly on the internet. I did find some inspiration.
The angled pockets are from this tute.

However, she didn't have a closure. Decisions about velcro or magnetic snaps had to be made. She did have a hint of making everything bigger and trimming later and this worked with my outer and inner fabrics stretching a bit.

Her card pockets all had the same depth. She had three and I thought why make separate pockets if they are in the same stack....

Velcro (trimmed narrow) on right edge before grosgrain ribbon

 A couple of months ago, I made duck tape wallets for my nephews. It's basically the same system.
You make an outer piece.
And an inner piece. You make sections of card pockets, slip pockets, etc. Then you use bias tape/grosgrain ribbon to secure them together.
You have to decide what you want to include before moving onto the next step.

I wanted a gusseted coin pocket but could not find out how to add a gusset to the left hand side under the zipper pull without pulling out my hair and making ugly sewing decisions. I made a simple inset zipper pocket instead.

If anybody has seen instructions for a side gusseted coin pocket, let me know. They are almost always in RTW wallets. I'll need to buy one to disassemble....

 

 Top part is inside. Bottom is outside of outer. I placed an ID pocket on the middle outside section as well as a hidden pocket (because I could). My thinking was not having to open the wallet to show ID and a CC could be placed behind that as well for purchases while out and about but not needing to flash everyone with the wallet contents.


To apply my grosgrain ribbon, I used my new (back-to-school) glue stick and smeared that on the grosgrain. Then I used my wonder clips to help hold as glue set and I sewed.

My second inspiration was this tri-fold wallet post on CraftPassion.
It wasn't quite what I was looking for but it did have a zippered compartment plus the same measurements as above which helped cement mine at 9.75" wide by 4.5" high. The inner part is 4.25" high..

 The outer is a non-fraying thicker then Ripstop fabric. My inner - do you know how difficult it was to find PINK? - is a gridded taffeta that I love but it frays like crazy.

 My third inspiration was this wallet on etsy. I loved the super zigzag stitching.
It looks very manly - balancing out all the pink.

Giant money pocket. Will fit all bills. maybe even an i-phone. lol

I still wanted to break up all that PINK and found this dragonfly. He ended up a little to the right but I was getting kinda silly in the sewing room by then. I'm happy she's flying this wallet.



Last few notes::
I did add some sf-101 interfacing to the taffeta. With a press cloth. Almost melted it in one place.

I had some 1/4" dark pink double fold bias tape I used up for the individual sections of pockets. I didn't have any pink that was wider so used my black grosgrain which is an awesome finish for fraying fabrics. It's also a little tougher on the edges than bias tape which would wear through faster.

 I don't know why I added the elastic cord loop except it was in the sack of materials so I must have had another inspiration somewhere. Not sure what you would hook on there but it does look awesome so maybe it's just 'the look' I was after.

Four hidden slip pockets. One under both card sections. Another under the coin section and a final one under the ID pocket. One can never have enough pockets.


We'll see if Colleen can use this or not. No pressure. It was fun to make.


forgot to mention:::colleen is the only gal in her household.

The Pink Windmill

                May I present to you The Pink Windmill

Almost the entire baby-sized quilt is made from stash. Hooray for me.
I've had these Minky pieces in stash for several years (garage sale find .50 cents) and thought they would go well with the vintage Spring Industries gingham rabbit - reminiscient of Current, Inc stationery imagery.

I found more than four yards of the gingham rabbit this summer at a local garage sale for $2 - yes, two bucks. I promptly sold 3 yds  and kept the long yard for me.

Still, it was pink. I saw a post on Benta's site where she was doing a christmas quilt with prairie point edging and I was inspired to add some prairie point windmills to break up all the too cute gingham rabbits.

 

I feel so quilty - cutting up perfectly good fabric and sewing it back together again.

The gingham checks are 2"square and 3" prairie points looked too small so I went with 4" squares  to fold and I love how it turned out. 


I love how the day turned out too. It's been sunny all morning which was much easier getting a photo to look good and not twisty in the wind.

I still have to quilt it and am thinking of tying it with yarn. That minky is the very devil to sew with as it stretches in weird unexpected ways that you cannot control. I hand-basted the quilt top to the minky backing and then purposely put the minky in the middle of the quilt sandwich with the batting while I sewed the edges.
I thought I was never going to get a squared-off quilt backing out of it.

Any thoughts on quilting this pink beauty?

A.  Hand -tie with yarn
B.  Hand quilt around the squares
C. ???