Whoops! I Did It Again!

I painted another dog blue.  What, you say?  You can’t see the blue? Let’s get closer:

Man this little guy is fast.  I thought he was outside!  I swear the paint jar was open for no more than a minute, up on the kitchen counter.  I still don’t have any idea how he got himself all punked up.

I do know that he’s feeling pretty proud of himself for defeating all attempts to play the wet towel game.

Ironically, the paint was open because I was testing a screen I made from a picture of him — so I have two blue, wet dogs drying in my kitchen!

A Pillowcase Experiment

This year’s ASG community service project is to make pillowcases for kids at Ronald McDonald Houses.  A few of us thought it might be nice to add a drawstring to the trim to allow the pillowcase to be used as a carrying bag as well.  As I thought about how to sew this, I was worried about adding knots or bows that would be uncomfortable to sleep on. As I was rethreading a drawstring through the waistband of a pair of workout pants(again), I was also thinking about how to keep the drawstring in the pillowcase through washing. So…I came up with this.

I turned the selvedge edges under on a 2-inch strip, cut it in half, and laid it out with a gap at the halfway point on the case:

I made a drawstring out of another 2-inch strip by turning in the edges:

I threaded the drawstring through the trim, pinned everything at the edges, and sewed the drawstring into the sideseam.

The drawstring doesn’t really show:

Until you pull it out:

Ok, so here’s my problem.  I solved the comfort and loss-ability problems, but now I’m sort of worried about choking risks.  What do y’all think?

Testing a Tee

I loved this tee when I saw it in the Nov 2008 Burda WOF…until I saw that it was sleeveless (who wears sleeveless tees in November?).  To test a sleeve morph and to make sure the front gather/drape detail looked good on me, I made this test out of some really awful knit from JoAnn.  It was so awful to sew and icky feeling that I didn’t even bother to hem it — just whacked it off with a rotary cutter.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I love it!  Fit is great, feels fun with the bit of drapey flair at the where-the-hem-should-be.  I’m even getting compliments when I wear it, which I hadn’t planned to.  Gotta make another one in fabric I’m not embarrassed to be seen in!

Speaking of Toys

In one of those synchronicity things that life likes to produce, last month, just as I was sewing my first stuffed animal in years, I also ran across pictures of a teddy bear I made for a friend ages ago and saw said friend for the first time in years.  Stuffed, jointed bears were just about the first thing I did really well with a sewing machine, and I made them for everyone until the tendonitis in my hands forced me to stop (working with such small parts and sewing them shut after stuffing are pretty hard on your hands).

This is Rocky the Heavy Metal Bear:

He even has an axe earring!

I used Judi Maddigan’s Learn Bearmaking book and bought my supplies at a teddy bear shop in Santa Clara.  I wonder if it’s still there?

Dangly Earrings!

I bought a fair number of beads when we were in St. Charles last … er…April?  and hadn’t used any until this week, when I finally finished these earrings.

I like them, except that they’re about 1/2 inch too long for winter wear — they get involved with collars and coats and things.  I suppose a really good beader knows the best lengths and measures, but I’ve never claimed to be a good beader…