It really WAS easy peasy...

My new favorite things are frame purses.  Correction! My new favorite things to make are frame purses.  My first attempt was my sunglasses kit.  Loved it.  My second attempt was this rectangular frame purse (the 'Easy Peasy Purse' from u-handbag) with some leftover Love from Amy Butler in the lime colorway.  I had made one of my boardwalk bags in this fabric, and when I glanced at it sitting on my sewing table I thought "Wow, that would look great as a frame clutch."  So I back and forthed over if I should try it, and where I should buy the frames from, and would people be interested and...oh. My point. I forgot.  The purse. Right. Here it is:

It looks more yellow than lime in this picture...I love those viny flowers going up the sides.

The inside is called "Frosted Fondant."  Nice and cheery.  I love the big mouth of this bag.

Here she is with my stuff--this is usually what's rolling around the bottom of my handbag.

These framed bags are deceptive--they look smallish, but they hold TONS of stuff.  Including a tape measure that you may have accidentally pinked the edges off of but is still perfectly useful, especially for spontaneous sewing shop adventures.  This would be way big enough to stash phone-keys-cash for a night out.  Survey says it would be better if it had a handle of some sort, so next time I buy some I'll get ones with loops on them and attach a chain of some sort.  It's amazing how a little bit of shiny metal makes something look professional.

AND...I finished up the bags for my friend's wedding in July. They're all packaged and ready to ship. 

  

That green is looking darker than it actually is.  The colors all go together very nicely.

Each dress is the same but in a different color.  I used the Made By Rae Buttercup Bag pattern reduced by about 10% and added a little carry-strap inside (I don't like carrying clutches and would prefer something to slip over my wrist.  I always feel like I'm suddenly going to need both hands and what will I do if one is full of purse?  Oh, I'm in the wedding, and wearing yellow.  That's why the strap concerned me so much).  The strap tucks neatly inside for those that do like carrying clutches, but my guess is that we might need our hands fairly free that day.

Closeup of the button (as if you couldn't tell that already).

And now, some random thoughts.  Blogger changed how you post photos--hate it!!  And it's amazing to me how I can play with one photo and still not be able to do my goods justice (i.e. the greens above that just won't be green) but then can play with another where a silver button looks red for some odd reason and tweak it until it looks exactly like it's supposed to. How do I do it?  Or not do it, depending on which photo we're talking about. 

Ok. Enough chit-chat.  Off to sew.  She's going to be adorable--can't wait to share the photos!

Review of "The Revolutionary Paul Revere" by Joel J. Miller

“The Revolutionary Paul Revere” chronicles the life and times of the bearer of one of history’s most famous messages. Starting with his father we learn of Paul’s birth; the conditions under which he arrived in America; his early struggles with work, family, and money; and, of course, the activities he participated in to help America gain her independence. We are introduced to a large number of historical figures who had an impact on Paul’s life or the history of the Revolution. We learn of success, failure, heartache and happiness. Finally, we learn of his extraordinary business acumen, especially in the building of the new country.

There are three things I knew about Paul Revere before I read this book: He was a silversmith. He dabbled in dentistry. He warned fellow colonists that the British were on their way. After reading this book, I know a few more fun facts I can toss out randomly, but not much else. I felt that this book was more of an overview of colonial Boston life wherein Paul Revere was present, but not a strict biography of Mr. Revere himself. There were too many people and events chronicled to keep track of at times, and sometimes I didn’t see how it was all tied together. The writing was not always easy to get through, and I found myself rereading sentences a few times and still not getting it (poor writing or poor editing). Overall, I was a bit disappointed in this book. I was very interested in the subject matter, but actually found myself wanting to put it aside unfinished several times, not really caring anymore. The most interesting bits of this book were the ones about Paul Revere—I would have loved more of that and much less of the filler that this book seems mostly comprised of. My recommendation to the casual reader would be to pass on this one; scholars of the American Revolution might find it worthwhile though, as long as they are not looking for a ton of information on Paul Revere.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Your botany lesson for today....

...is brought to you courtesy of some random woman at the nursery that my mother overheard talking to her granddaughter.

Every year we carefully plan what flowers we are going to plant.  And every year we pick either periwinkle/vinca or marigolds because they've proven themselves to be difficult to kill (we have black thumbs in this house instead of green ones).  I always vote for snapdragons, but we get our act together too late to have much to select from once we get to the nursery.  But this year is different--my parents stopped at the nursery yesterday and had a lot to choose from. So 2010 is the year of the snapdragon.

Here's the fun fact.  My mumsy overheard an older lady saying to her granddaughter "See? This is why they're called snapdragons.  Go ahead--pinch it!"  and her ears instantly perked up.  As she had no clue herself why they were called this she edged closer and snuck a peek at what was being pinched. 

Didja see it?  If you missed it here it is again.

It goes from being a mild, unassuming flower to a dangerous scary predator (hehe).

Wanting to learn more on this flower I looked it up on Wikipedia (which I could have easily done during all my previous wonderings if I wasn't lazy in odd ways).  Most of it was blah-bi-de-blah-blah scientific stuff, but the first sentence stated that it gets its name from the "fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed (thus the 'snap')."  This gave my mother and me a fair bit of amusement, which my father didn't share for some odd reason. Boys are so weird--so unfanciful with nary a touch of whimsy.  I enjoy being a girl :)

Beach Blanket Bingo

There's a bit of a theme to the sewing happening here in the hive this past week. As I mentioned before, beach bags and summer seem to be in demand (though I'm mentally not there yet).  First up is a simple beach bag:

Can't you just smell it? The beach, I mean...the fabric is so fresh and relaxing.

The inside is a delicate red and white stripe that doesn't seem like it would match but it's nice and subtle and just works:

 

And of course there's a zipper. Everyone looooves a zipper.

The beach bag took a few hours.  This next bag took most of the week.  It's made out of Waverley fabric (it's a home dec weight type of fabric) that shreds like nobody's business. Because I like my bags to have some structure to them, I stupidly interlined this with fleece. I say stupidly because there were bent pins, broken needles, and lots of naughty words involved with this bag.  It's not the bag itself--I combined a few patterns I've used before to get the elements the customer wanted, and had no trouble.  The problem came in --surprise, surprise--with the zipper, and with the unexpected bulk.  I do really like the way the colors and patterns work together, though:

 

The fabrics are "Flip Flops" and "Beach Umbrella" in the Taffy colorway.

Nifty hidden inside zipper.

Recessed zipper from the outside.

My only beef with this finished product is how I slightly goofed the zipper.  I didn't bring it close enough to the edges so there's a gap that bugs the bejeesus out of me.  It might be an issue, it might not--but I'm mentally prepared for a zipper redo if she decides she wants one.  Otherwise, this bag is bright, fun and sturdy.  I would use the remainder for a beach bag--I wouldn't need any interfacing and it would be perfect for the beach.  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't make this kind of handbag out of it again, though.  It took four nights instead of two and more than once I wanted to trash it out of frustration.

In other exciting news my purse frames arrived!!!!  I would have no trouble spending my weekend cranking out bags for these but I must restrain myself--it's not like I can run to the store and pick up more. I had to order these. From Hong Kong.  Which means foreign stamps, customs labels, and air mail stickers.  You would think that I'm living in 1910 when foreign mail was a big deal instead of in the global age.  Little things, folks.  Little things.

Haberdashery...just because I like that word

As the work piles up I find myself avoiding it like the plague, as though some helpful little elves will sneak in at night and transform my piles of fabric into piles of completed bags.  I'm not sure why I do this as I thoroughly enjoy what I do, and would gladly give up my day job if this sewing thing were lucrative enough.  So instead of crossing things off the list what I find myself doing is acquiring additions to my already sizable stash and creating another list of to-dos for after this list is finished.  But my feeling is that when things are on sale and you're going to get them at some point anyway why not save the money?  So here's my haul:

Some of the fabric, trims and buttons I decided I needed...I love the colors of these.

The fabric is a sage green satin that my camera decided against capturing, and some buttons I got crazy cheap (there's a whole bagful of them on my sewing table right now).

On a high note, I finished one set of bags for a July wedding I am in and just have to attach the buttons (I am going to use the ones in the center of the photo above).  Once I get approval on the satin color above I can knock out another set of bags for another wedding in June in no time (I want to use the heart buttons on the left). My mother and I stopped in a store that had huge containers of buttons for rock-bottom prices.  So we sifted through them for about half an hour to find as many of the above as we could (I'm sure other shoppers were thrilled with the noise we were making). 

And, because I realized that I haven't made anything for myself in a long time, I decided to put me first this weekend and put together my eyeglass wristlet kit.  I. Love. It.

The fabric makes me smile--it's part of the reason I wanted the kit.

I can't even put into words how easy this was (but I guess I just did).  It uses minimal fabric (not even a whole fat quarter) and interfacing, there is minimal sewing, and the frame makes it look like a store-bought item.  I have never glued fabric before (intentionally) so applying the glue to the frame and then the fabric and wiggling them together made me a little nervous, but I took my time and followed the superb directions I had and all went well.  I have a few minor things I might do differently on the next one but overall I'm pleased--I didn't think my first attempt would be acceptable. Of course, I think I am still high from the glue fumes, but if the strength of the odor is directly related to the strength of the bond of the glue, then I think I can put together a house from this stuff with no worries.  I love the new sunglasses I bought, and now they have a home so they don't get crushed and scratched in the bottom of my handbag.  I ordered a few more of the heart-shaped frames as well as the standard rectangular kind.  I'm going to try to put some for sale in my shop, but when I make something new everyone seems to want one and I don't get the chance to post anything (fine by me--I don't have to package and ship them).

And before I go make popcorn and play Jenga with a certain favorite little boy, I leave you with this close-up of my roll of pink fabric fat-eights I bought:

...which makes me want strawberry shortcake. So much for the diet.

Ode to winging it

I don't consider myself a creative person (which is why this isn't really an ode but just a bunch of regular prose). I can craft a bit--and I'm not entirely terrible at it.  But my "creative" process is something like:  follow a pattern/instructions, gather a bunch of different skills along the way, modify aforementioned patterns using aforementioned skills...and this is where I am now.  Hopefully soon I'll have the moxie to design my own bags and then sell the patterns and then they'll be a big hit and then I'll get rich from selling them and then I'll conquer the world and then I can take a class in not writing run-on sentences.

But some people are the crafty opposite.  As my cousin (Hi, Mollie!) told me the other day "I don't plan anything and I just kind of "wing it" through the whole thing...which is why approximately 50% of my projects go horribly, terribly, wrong (but the other 50% go quite swimmingly, and are a pleasant surprise!)."   This is the kind of creativity I envy--to just go for it without worrying if it's going to be perfect or not.

In this category you will also find my sister.  She gets a vision in her head of what she wants to create, and her hands actually make that a reality.  She's the one who makes handmade cards that look better than store-bought.   She decided a few weeks ago that she wanted to make jewelry, but not your typical sparkley-beads-and-wire variety.  She came home with a bag of wooden shapes, different cords, and the necessary clasps.  I went out to buy some fusible fleece, and when I came home she said "Do you like it? This one's for you!"

It's a double-sided wooden necklace that she hand-painted. 

The bright flowers and the colors are totally me.  I feel it should be noted here that when I draw flowers it's essentially a colored circle with a smaller, different colored circle in the center. She needed to figure out how to get the disk to hang straight (hence the pink bead), and how to attach the clasps.  Copycat big sister kept saying "Look on YouTube. Seriously, look on YouTube" and she kept ignoring me saying "I want to figure it out myself" so she went ahead and did just that:

Look at those lovely crimpy smashy things that make it a real necklace!

I love it and can't wait to wear it. Of course the weather turned chilly again and it doesn't seem right to wear this when there's a frost warning (80 inches of snow this winter and a frost warning was newsworthy...how quickly we forget).  I've checked Etsy and Artfire and haven't seen anything quite like this.  Most of the wooden jewelry is beaded, or those Scrabble tile necklaces that have a small image on them decoupage-style.  So she may be onto something here.

She better not get rich first. I'm the big sister! I'm supposed to go first!

I couldn't resist posting this!

And does the song match perfectly or what?

Read the full story here.