Around The World Blog Hop

 Welcome to the Around the World Blog Hop making a stop today on Running With Rocket.

I was tagged by Marilyn  of Shades of Bold to participate today in this Around the World blog hop that is traveling through the blogosphere.  Hopefully you will discover more about myself and why I blog and also to find some new blogs that just might make it onto your Bloglovin' list.

Marilyn makes stunning bags and so do I (humble :-)).  I love to sew and craft and I have a dedicated sewing room that I  finished two years ago. I've been blogging since 2008(!)- writing about sewing, my auto-immune, my airplane.  Yes,  I  live on an airpark. When we want to go flying, we roll open the hangar doors and pull the plane out. The runway is at the edge of my backyard. Which I also like to play in. I live on an acre where I garden - both flowers and the edible things. The blog has turned out to be a surprisingly good place to put all those flower photos.

Yes, I have sewn the cockpit cover and the luggage compartment for this all fabric Stearman Biplane.

My name is Kathy. I started blogging because I like writing and I take lots of photos. This  blog has turned into a big rambling journal for flying and flower photos as well as documenting items I've made. I don't know about you but my memory is going and I enjoy backtracking once in a while to view what I've made or to find a recipe that sits well in my tummy with my auto-immune.

I work in a day job that  is usually less than 40 hrs/wk but in the last three years, that job has turned pretty demanding. I need the creative outlet that sewing involves and I've made a couple of really cool bloggy friends over the years.

I've been sewing since I was four. It wasn't until I started blogging that I found out this was unusual. I started off sewing garments and designed my Barbie's clothes - I still have the tiny patterns. When I got married, I sewed a lot of my children's clothing and this is when I learned to copy Ready to Wear (RTW). The children's patterns at that time were about a foot too long with gigantic ease. My family has always been frugal so we learned how to read pattern layouts in order to buy less fabric than the envelope suggested.

 I sewed for years without a serger and I only bought one about four years ago and I love it.
Love It.   How did I sew so much without one - my Bernina serger is probably my favorite part of sewing now.

I will sew just about anything that tickles my fancy. I am also very good at saying "No" without any hesitation. This is my creative outlet.


Anyway, the Around The World Blog Hop asks us to answer the same four questions and at the end, I'll tag two more bloggers that I think you would enjoy and they will post next Monday.




1. What am I working on?
That pincushion above - I finished it yesterday afternoon. My bloggy friend Benta over at SlikStitches posted a little teaser photo of a gift for someone and it turned out the rest of us wanted one to organize our needles too.

How many types of sewing machine needles do you use? I have a variety because I sew through thin rayon all the way through leather. I buy them at garage sales because the price of fifty cents to a dollar does not make me swear as much when I break a needle at ram speed.

 The back side which will always be down had a little patchwork zakka moment. You'll notice a few of my favorite fabrics - some airplanes, some japanese, some mini-stripes.  I wanted to do this Benta-gift justice and post a huge thank you to her for doing the machine needles embroidery.

What - you don't know what this pincushion is for???
It's for when you need to change out your needle for another project but you feel there is still some sharpness left in the needle.   --Instead of putting them willy-nilly on the cutting table next to the sewing machine - ahem.

My other project: I'm waiting for these beauties to ripen. Another 20 days?


 2.)  How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I have a genre? Good lord. I suppose my projects differ because I can't stick to a pattern as written even when I do the writing/measurements. I'm kind of a think-as-I-sew sew-er. Let's just say I need to make it more difficult than it has to be.

Snap Bag. Paper pieced Bee.

 3.)  Why do I create what I do? I am 100% committed to handmade gifts. I make what I like or what intrigues me. My brain loves engineering and I enjoy figuring out how something was made.  I make copies from RTW  a lot. I like the detailing that you cannot find on home sewing patterns.
Taking time to create balances out the stressful parts of my life.
I sew garments as well as dabbling in quilting (tedious).

I give away most of what I make. The few remaining items get placed on Etsy. I am unable to make duplicates - just sayin'. Once I've mastered a skill, I'm ready to move on.

I made this tote bag for my niece. 
I had some internet inspiration but I did a design as you go construction.

4.)  How does my creating process work?
2 am. Seriously - don't you have the best thoughts at 2 am?
For instance, in the bag above, the reverse side is the reverse of the van - the back window flips out to feature a cell phone pocket.

I hope you enjoyed visiting me.

And now the Around the World Blog Hop goes on.  I have picked two great bloggers to be my taggees for next Monday:

 

Kyle from Vacuuming the Lawn is a great garment sew-er as well as bag maker. I noticed Kyle a couple of years ago commenting on the same sewing blogs I was reading.  She just sewed two stretch lace gym tanks and they are awesome. She blogs about her fitting intrigues and posts great flower photos from the Princeton Farmers Market. She recently made this gorgeous dress - go look at what she sewed!

 

Janine  of Crafty Tokyo Mama is someone I met during a SewMamaSew giveaway day. I was intrigued about her haunted house in Amity (oregon) and come to find out - she is from Oregon. She has lived in Japan for the last 25 years - most recently Kyoto. She sells her creations in her Etsy store - she is definitely good at making 1000 bags! and blogs about life in Japan and her sewing adventures at CraftyTokyoMama. She shows stunning photos of the different shrines and festivals that  make up Japanese life. She made this Patriotic Table Runner last month that I love.

one last airplane picture - 'cuz you know how cool it is to own one!
No - I am not the pilot - just the navigator. My hubby has his license. . When times are rough at the day job, flying in an open cockpit biplane is positively guaranteed to blow out the cobwebs. Or as we say, "reach out and touch the hand of God."

More random facts about kathy:
Worked in Southeast Alaska as a cook in a gold mining camp. Got to fly in a Beaver and a Huey.
I almost got my flying license.
I love small towns.
I've been sewing all my life.
My juicing/blendering supports my garden as well as the produce manager at my local Thriftway supermarket.
I like to embroider but I'm so done with cross stitch.
I require my daily Sudoku fix {or else}.
My favorite flowers are Iris's.
My old gardening goal was to be able to pick flowers any day of the year.
I love to travel and I'm headed to Kyoto next Spring.
Yes - you can travel with an auto-immune to a country that breathes in soy (#1 bad guy).
I won three blue ribbons (and one white) at our county fair this year.
I can remember four jokes at one time instead of three - making progress here!

Sewing:::  1. Why should you never iron your four-leaf clover?
You don't want to press your good luck.

Flying:::    2. What do you call an alligator who uses a GPS?
haha - a Navi-gator!

Zakka Style Sewalong #2 Pencil Case

My second project from the Zakka Style Book.
{My first is here.}
This pencil case was a tad  more difficult than the pincushion and if you made it from the book would qualify as an advanced beginner sewing project. Of course, I saw Kerry's horse-themed case and immediately got in gear to make an airplane-themed case.
Here's where the directions in the book bogged me down. The whole case is one long strip, folded up with the other end folded down to become the flap. There were no measurements for where those folds might be. Adding embellishments not knowing where the fold would be is a guessing game the first time around. You will see where one of mine got hidden under the band.
I am usually good with visualizing but I had  some trouble envisioning the end result at being only 2 1/2" wide.

My cute striped embellishment got hidden when the
flap was tucked into the band.

I would have liked the stripe on the flap better up an inch.

There were stars on that tan bit under the airplane line drawing.
Until I forgot when I ironed them onto my iron.
They melted.

I added some star 'rivets' to my twill tape band.

Picking out the fabrics et al takes up most of your time. The sewing - 3" seams! takes up hardly any time at all.
I used linen this time too. Do airplanes get to be called Zakka?


Once the case was made up and the colored pencils found, I found it to be the perfect size.

Zakka Style Sewalong 1

A sewing book called Zakka Style has been going the rounds with a  Sewalong. Written by the talented Rashida Coleman, it contains 24 projects from her favorite Zakka sew-ers. Zakka being a Japanese esthetic word for cute & hand-sewn with details.
I had previously made one of Rashida's Snappy Coin Purses and wanted to play around with linen more.

The first project I did from the book was the pincushion. Pictured in neutral off-white linen with a cotton print next to it. Turn it over to see this gorgeous salmon pink linen for the backing.
Of course I immediately go into fabric panic. The only linens I have are white or off-white. Where do you get pink linen? Did she dye it? Where did she find it? on & on until I thought my head would implode.
Sorting through my fabrics, I eventually came across this damask tablecloth in watered blue (a bleach incident in another life) and got over myself, changed gears and did NOT use linen at all.
Does this disqualify my pincushion from being Zakka?

I also played with stamping Stearman's on twill tape. This project - in the book - specifically called for a stamped twill tape embellishment and I was ready to follow instructions exactly. {don't be rolling in the aisles - that's my job}.

I have had this little ironing board print in my stash for too long but because it was kelly green (and I have the yellow colorway as well) it sat waiting for the right project.

See what I put on the backside - another print in the green colorway:

Bunnies flying airplanes

This turned out darn cute. However, I really couldn't get into the pincushion thing so I filled it with lavender and stuffing. Whoever gets it can decide if they want a sweet smelling lavender sachet or an airplane pincushion.

Instructions were spot on, easy to read, short & fast.
I found the button ONLY AFTER I sewed the pincushion.