So, I purchased a pair of leather pants from a thrift store and made an attempt at sewing my first semi-substantive leather project.


So... here are the original pants (I have lots of leather left  )


Inside the wallet


After the fact I learned that there is such a thing as a teflon foot for working with leather! I ordered one post haste and will be giving the whole project another attempt with the foot.

Many lessons learned but still pleased with the wallet.

I've made a number of patchwork baby blankets but have never actually "pieced" a quilt. But then, I saw this quilt and fell in love (with the colors and the beautiful simplicity of it). So, I made my own pattern pieces and here is my attempt:







I know I have a long way to go but I was just too excited not to share. WOOT!

The pattern for these is just a very simple zippered pouch. I carved the image out of speedy carve and used VersaCraft for the fabric ink.



I'm loving printing my own fabric at present and have high hopes for more Dr. Who related knitting notions and cases.



Thanks for looking! 

[hips]

Ahoy! I thought about posting this in the reconstructed forum but, since it makes use of little old and mostly new I thought I'd post it here. If I've offended, I apologize. Please don't hesitate to let me know if I should move the post...

I wanted a smock for a number of months but didn't want to make something *completely* new, preferring to use an old shirt in some way if possible. Also, I have verrabighips. Many/most of the smock tutorials or patterns I've seen make you look like a box. So... this was my first attempt

I used the top of a maternity shirt and made bias fabric for the bottom/apron section. I added my lame attempt at darts to give it some shaping.



This is my second attempt which I've documented and used to draft a tutorial. As soon as it is error checked I'll post it. For this version I used an old business shirt, cut off the sleeves, and gathered them- leaving the edge raw.

I love my smocks! So much portable storage  

After going to an art workshop this summer I decided I needed craft calling cards. To that end, I started doodling some designs during the evening hours. This is what I finally came up with:



My first attempt looked like this:



But I wasn't happy with it (in addition, I recently changed the name of my blog so...).

I liked the idea of having a background stamp with some sort of interchangeable element so I re-drew the owl, added the tree, and made the heart interchangeable:



I go into greater detail about my thought process on my blog but was excited about how it turned out so I thought I'd share. I hope you enjoy  

[IdlersDesign]

I received from IdlersDesign!! This is the most amazing trifecta of thank you awesomeness!


Look how nicely wrapped everything is 


She carved a stamp based on a silly crayon drawing I did for my blog- it looks amazing!


And she made this cool triangle bag (I have no idea how she did this but I love it)


AND- a fantabulous zippered project bag- I'm in heaven.


Everything all together

Thank you so much! It is obvious you spent a lot of time putting this together, you are wonderful!! 

[mystical]

I received from my partners and I was blown away by their talent and generosity!

mystical sent me this amazing pin cushion (which has been on my wist forever) and adoreable owl







My daughter loves to move the pins from my old cushions to this new and much more fabulous one and she has basically taken the owl for her bed...  Thank you!


dablondeemu sent me some decorated pins and charms as well as a cute cuff from my wist


Thank you!

This was such a fun swap!

So, I've been taking pottery for about 1-year now (but very infrequently as I never seem to be in town on Tuesday nights). I finally made it to bowls! lol!!








The clay is brown speckle and the white glaze is a cone 4 low fire. The flowers were painted with blue and black wash (dots were a chartreuse wash). The black was painted with a horse-hair calligraphy brush







This bowl (which is larger than it looks in the pictures) was also done with a brown speckle, ivory on the outside, chartreuse inside (cone 6 glazes) and the black and blue were again painted washes. The high fire (I am told) makes the wash blurry (in comparison to the cone 4 glaze).

Thanks for looking! Yay bowls!!

I received a beautiful and thoughtful package from jemimah on Thursday and it really brightened my day!!



She sent this soft and lovely yarn (15% possum, 15 alpaca, and 70% merino) and I know just want I'm going to use it for too! http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hawthorne-3



She also sent along this mini-journal with handmade paper- which I love. And, the owl is adorable


Then, my favorite, an embroidered song bird. This is pure indulgence for me as I can't do anything like this. I can hardly express how much I absolutely adore this little bird. At first I thought I would hang it in the living room (so all could wonder at its loveliness) but then I decided to be selfish and hang it next to my sewing desk so I can be constantly inspired by it.

ETA: you can't tell from the pictures but the bird has different textures throughout the body and the wings. No picture can do it justice, it is really amazing and artful.

Thank you so much, jemimah, you are wonderful and generous and very talented!!  

Those tea towels are some of the coolest I've ever seen!!

I received my perfectly sized nerdy kindle case from writer_crafter



It fits the kindle perfectly! and the quote makes me all warm and fuzzy  

Thank you!!