From the same book as the blue bunny, here’s a little bear for my nephew. He’s teeny, about 2 inches tall. That’s because I made him with a #1 hook and #5 perle cotton. I’m really happy with the perle cotton. It was easy to work with, comes in all sorts of colors, and I didn’t even use an entire skein of any of them. The Bad Kitten keeps trying to steal him, so he’s living on the bookshelf at the moment.

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Finally got the urge to give the silver saw another try tonight. I can definitely tell that it’s getting easier. Only broke one blade this time, too, and that was when it was getting dull. I think I mainly need to work on a good simple design now. This is supposed to be a tree, after the embroidered trees I did a while back. Once I polish it up a bit, I think I’ll solder a ring on the back and wear it as a necklace. Conveniently, I am teaching soldering in lab this week. I wonder if electronics-grade solder will hold up for jewelry use?

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FYI for Tivo-ers of Crafters Coast to Coast: they’ve changed it’s name to That’s Clever for some unknown reason. It’s the exact same show, though. I’m so annoyed; I’d been missing the new ones until my mom told me about the switch.

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How lucky am I to have a crafty husband? He’s been working on painting his laptop for weeks now. He mainly worked from these instructions, but also a lot of trial and error. First, he took apart his laptop, then sanded off all the existing paint down to the metal, then primed it with several layers of car paint primer, then painted it with yet more layers of green glittery car paint, then waxed it and buffed it. You can see why it took forever. The pictures just don’t convey the sparkly shininess of it.

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Here’s the wallet to match the bag I made the other day. I used this wallet tutorial on craftster. In it’s first test run today, some of the cards fell out, so I think I’ll have to add some sort of closure or something.

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Latest installment of the letterboxing kit (part 1 and part 2). It’s a little book to collect stamps from the boxes she finds. I found these cute little 3 inch x 3 inch books somewhere, but they have awful covers (you can see a peek at the spine). I glued on the fabric cover and also a piece of green fabric inside to hide the flaps. It’s not exactly my best work, but it’ll do.

I also finally lined the bag, with dark blue fabric from the Most Useful Ikea Sheets Ever (included in 4 projects now and counting). Gosh, does that mean I’m done?

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Can you believe I’m already tired of my bird bag? I got the idea for this one from this bag made by twelve22 and the kimono bags at Uplifting Arts. I kind of combined the shape, pleats, and binding trim and straps into one bag. The bird bag had pleats on the bottom, so I had some idea of how to work them.

The fabric is a napkin I got on sale at Anthropologie. It’s hard to see but there are white flowers in addition to the green ones. I have another one that I’m thinking I’ll make into a matching wallet. I couldn’t find bias binding in just the right shade of green, which was a good excuse to get one of those nifty binding-making tools. Stupid Joanns only had a Dritz one in 1 inch (which makes 1/2 inch folded). The Clover ones looked better (and cuter), but only came in the smaller sizes. Maybe I just don’t have the hang of it yet, but it didn’t make as even of a binding as I expected. It did the job, though. The lining is the same green, although I wish I’d chosen something nicer since the bag’s reversible. Oh well. It’s all interfaced, too.

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My grand plan for backtack is a letterbox kit. It includes a speedball lino cutter set and a Mastercarve block. I took them for a test drive and made some coordinating stamps so she can get started letterboxing right away and see kind of the idea.

I got the idea for the stamps from the fabric I made the bag from. The lino cutter is definitely easier than an X-acto knife. Although the ladybug, um, used to have antenna. Oh well.

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Can you tell school is kicking my ass this year? I did get in a little sewing tonight, though. My wallet-of-the-moment doesn’t fit in my pocket very well, and sometimes I just want to carry my ID, credit card, and a bit of cash. This little zip is sized just right. I used this clever half-zip tutorial off craftster. The idea is you cut off the zip stops and pull off half of the zipper, leaving just one row of teeth. Then you thread both ends of the teeth through the zipper pull so it folds back on itself. It makes the zipper part less bulky, and it’s easier to sew. I added a lining, too. It’s made with scraps from a swap and a zipper I ripped out of a stained sweater.

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