Another Flea Market Bag

I'm just so excited about this bag! It's made from pillow ticking (from an old feather pillow), an old embroidered doily, and some polka dot fabric -- love me some polka dots, especially white on red.

The ticking fabric had limitations -- size: slightly too small for the pattern; condition: a couple of stains. So I made the bag slightly smaller than the first flea market bag I did and used the exterior pocket and a little button heart to cover the stains.

I also had to use some canvas for the interior of the top placket and had to piece the handles just a bit to get the right length. (So pleased about the change of stripe-direction piecing on the handles.) And I lined the handles with the red/white dots.

Love!

Thrifty Thursday, er Friday + Wristlets!

Just popping in to show a couple of fun finds from last week.

A pair of '70s pillowcases and some vintage patterns. Thinking of sewing up some library totes from the pillowcases. . . .

And I'm sewing wristlets -- these from some fabric scraps that I 'won' from sewmamasew blog. I'm trying out the side zipper idea -- I think I like it a lot.

And -- big thrifting news -- the Salvation Army thrift store closer to me seems to be undergoing a transformation. Usually this particular store is a mess, with chipped china and stained linens and total chaos in the book section. Only occasionally do I find anything I want.

I popped in there yesterday, hoping to find maybe some more pillowcases, at least, or tablecloths for sewing projects. And, oh my! Shopping-cart-fuls of goods were being unloaded onto the newly organized shelves. After circling the aisles again and again as the carts were emptied, I emerged (was it an hour or two later?) with many many goodies, most destined for resale on Ebay or at the Inn Shop. I'll show some of my finds next week.

Enjoy the weekend. Spring seems right around the corner here, perhaps as soon as the 8" of snow (remaining from our recent 16") melts. The light is just beautiful.

Flea Market Bag

Oh, hello!

I haven't been here in a long time. But now it's February: almost spring and time to make great bags for all the wonderful markets -- flea, farmer's, antique -- that will soon be here.

This great bag is from Carry Me: 20 Boutique Bags to Sew. It measures a very generous 18" x 17" x 5.5" and has wonderfully deep side slits that allow the bag to open wide.

I decided to sew it up exactly per instructions, using an Amy Butler print for the outside and a thrifted piece of soft-handed woven green/blue fabric inside. I also put in the zippered pocket, using a technique I had not tried before: after attaching one side of the zipper tape to the pocket, the other side of the zipper tape is attached directly to the lining and then the pocket is topstitched down. I'm not convinced that this is the strongest pocket, but I wanted to try the technique. And I do like a zippered pocket in such a deep bag.

The outer fabric has ironed-on interfacing, which gives it just the right amount of body. I did add a second piece of regular interfacing to the top band to give it a bit more body and prevent droopy-droopy. But that's the only change I made.

All in all, a great pattern, easy to follow, and good results, I think. Am thinking of more more more to make -- especially with vintage tablecloths?

Thanks for reading my blog. And I promise not to disappear again.

Christmas Corners of My Home

A little peek . . .

at two of my Christmas trees.

Don't eat the candy canes!

Merry Christmas to all.

A Golden Harvest

The bees have done so much work this summer. And now, in autumn, our neighbor returns to harvest the honey.



Some of the frames were almost empty. I think the additional levels of frames were added a bit too soon. Next year we'll wait a bit longer.

Jimmy took some frames for harvesting with a centrifuge. He left several levels for the bees' winter home and food.

And he gave this frame to me to harvest by hand. You can see the caps on top of the honeycomb. I scraped those off very lightly. The honey just glistens! I'm so grateful to the bees and want to give them more flowers in their garden next year.


These jars are from my harvesting efforts.

The honey is light and delicate. So beautiful.

A sweet golden harvest.

A little 'Inchie' book

This has been my obsession over the past week.


It's a little 'inchie' book -- 2 1/2" tall and 1 1/2" wide. (Although I think an 'inchie' is really an inch-square collage. But anyway.) When I saw this project at the Stampington website, I just had to try it. Right then. At 5: 45 a.m.


I put it together using materials on hand. So some of the pages are rather boldly patterned papers, but I think they work. This is maybe my favorite spread -- with the tiny ferris wheel on one side.

I love this page with Mr. Lincoln, too.

Each page is a little collage, and I found the size to be so right for a project to turn back to again and again in the spare moments of my days. And I can't wait to do another. Maybe one for Christmas? What do you think?

Little bundles

The garden is in its late autumn beauty now: seed heads mark where the full garden glory once stood.

The larch tree has dropped its needles, and a few fallen branches with cones are treasures to me.

The feverfew and lady's mantle are a froth of dried flowers at the edges of the beds. Rosemary and thyme offer still-green beauty; the rose gives its loveliness.

I gather bits of the garden into little bundles to bring inside. I'm not ready to say goodbye.