Working on a handbag lining and following along with my own tutorial.  Thank goodness I already figured out all the tricky bits.

I've written about my sweet bear, Neville, before.  It's weird to realize he's almost 12 years old.  A couple months ago I pulled him by the arm and heard a seam pop.  I thought it was his arm socket, but it was his arm seam.  Thank goodness, because that's easy to fix.

This is my first test mushroom for the now-closed mushroom swap hosted by the super-wonderful knitsonya.

I get so excited every time the "sock and glove" rep (which is what I call her in my head ... her name is Melissa) emails offering a book to review.  She sends me the best stuff. :)

This time I got a copy of Softies Only a Mother Could Love.  The title implies that these are ugly softies, but, while they aren't your traditional teddy bears, they are an adorable lot.  Maybe I'm just acclimated to our indie and Japanese-inspired style.

This afternoon I curled up on the couch with the sun coming through the blinds and spent a little time weaving in the ends of the pleat stitching.

The part that had me worried in regard to the purse lining were the pleats.  As I showed you in my test pleat post, putting all the slack in one big pleat really constricts the opening.  Using what I learned from the test pleats, I decided to do four sets of sort-of-evenly-spaced pleats.

I've been avoiding the lining because I didn't feel like I was ready to tackle it.  Yesterday I decided to just jump in and I got so much done that I'm going to have to split it up into several posts this week.  I'm getting close to finishing it, but there's still much to do.

I've been playing around with the lining.  The fabric I'm going to be using is patterned, so I'm going to need a cream outer layer and the patterned inner layer.  I don't want the patterns showing through in between the flowers.  For messing around, I've made a test lining from a crappy old sheet that I keep around just for this purpose.

Here's a shot of one of the tablecloths I hemmed for the baby shower.  Doesn't it look great?  And look at that cake!

I got my review copy of Happy Gloves weeks ago.  I decided to make the lion and I was looking EVERYWHERE for yellow gloves to use.  Unbelievably, there are no yellow gloves anywhere.

Well, it's unanimous ... everyone adores this gorgeous fabric!  It was bought to cover the serving tables at a baby shower.  What a cute idea, right?

Lynne emailed and asked about how I made my denim grocery bags.  While I was answering her I realized I forgot to include something important in my post.

I've been meaning to make some heavy duty grocery bags for years.  Every time we go to the bulk store (Costco/BJs) and we would struggle to get all the giant-sized mouth washes and monster boxes of pasta into the house (they don't give you bags), I would say, "I'm going to make us some grocery bags out of that denim I bought years ago."

When we cleaned out the closet recently, we found a boxless deck of cards.  About 10 minutes later, I'd made this snazzy little bag for them.

Recently I sent a package of goodies to Diane of Crafty Pod.  One item was a custom-made wristlet.  I love making things knowing who they are for.  I'm able to put a little extra love into them.

And now for the reason I was thinking about the tape on the presser foot trick ...

I've been carrying this small notebook in my purse with my to do list written in it.  For important, persistent information I was using post-it notes on the inside cover.  But with rough daily use in my over-stuffed bag, the post-its were getting all mangled.  I was afraid I was going to end up losing them.

So, how *did* I come up with the tape over the presser foot trick for sewing vinyl?  Well, here's the story ...

If you've ever tried to sew vinyl or plastic, you've discovered that the metal foot on your sewing machine STICKS to it like nobody's business.  

What can you do?  The solution is simple: just put a piece of tape over the bottom of the foot.  Really, that's it.  I used an xacto knife to cut out the bit where the needle and thread go through.  When you're done sewing the vinyl, just peel off the tape. Ta da!

I love my purple corduroy tote from the Strand ... but the sucker doesn't match a darn thing.  I love using it though, and I thought, if I'm going to clash anyway, why not display the super-awesome patch I got a year and a half ago in Faun's patch swap.

I like using a mattress pad.  And, although the tops are always nice and padded, the sides are either way too tight, or, like my last one, made of some sort of pantyhose type material that started running the first time I washed it.  I've actually broken fingernails while wrestling on a mattress pad.  It has been driving me nuts for years.

First, a note about Man-cessory #1: It was totally Andrew's idea to use the lens cleaning cloth in the camera case.  Originally he wanted it to be the whole case, but there was no way to attach the Velcro closure to it because there wasn't enough flap-age.  That's when I suggested the outer shell with the Velcro and flap.  We're a brilliant team, if I do say so myself. :)

I'm always so excited when I get to make something for Andrew.  He doesn't need much, and certainly doesn't need the kinds of things I normally make.  So, last week, when I said I could make him a small case for his new digital camera and he said, "That would be great,"  I was so happy.

Here is a more evidence of my "little problem" in regard to ornaments.  When Crafty McGee posted that she had a couple left over ornaments to trade, I JUMPED on it.  Breathlessly.

For my part of the trade, I made her the tie-dyed jellyfish above.  I have a stash of tie-dyed felt that I finally cut into for this little guy.

The jellyfish seems to be the most popular of the Supercute Sea Creatures, which is a little bit of a surprise to me.  I would have thought it would be the octopus.

I also made her a purple fish with a sequin eye stripe.  I thought the silver sequins would look good paired with Christmas lights,  But now that I think about it, these little guys might be on her light-less tree ... in which case the sequins will bring a little bling to the mix. :)

I can't wait to get my little tree from Crafty McGee.  I think it's uber brilliant that she put the eyelet for hanging in the middle of the treetop star.

** update: pattern available as free download **

Last January, I got the sweetest email from a woman named Lenore asking for the pattern for Octophrost.  She told me:

"Every year I make a Christmas ornament for my grand and great grand children.  I would love to make this little fellow.  For Christmas 2006 I made 90 ornaments.  Three more babies are expected that I know of so I may need to make near 100.  That means starting early."

The pattern was no where near ready.  I wanted to be a part of her Christmas plans, so I worked hard to get something together.  I sent her the pattern in mid-February, about 2 months before I posted it.

In that time, we corresponded a little and I learned a more about Lenore.  She's 73 (maybe 74 now).  She sent me a picture from a recent family reunion, and I cried when I opened it up and saw all those wonderful people.  In fact, it's making me cry right now just thinking about it.  It's overwhelming to think that, however tangentially, I'm a part of their heart-felt, hand made, family tradition.

I've also kept in touch with Lenore's daughter Lucy, of My Byrd House. She's given me updates over the last year, and it's been so fun to think about Lenore patiently (I imagine) and lovingly sewing 99 Octophrosts for her family.  She's posted lots of pictures on her blog.  The tree in the picture above has 99 Octophrosts on it!

I want Lenore to know how honored and thankful I am that she chose Octophrost for her ornament this year.  I also want her to know that she's a wonderful example to all of us of how to make the moments of our life personal and memorable.  This experience will always be a treasured memory for me.  I hope that in my own life, I'm able to spread such warmth and joy to the people around me.

When I posted the Supercute Sea Creatures pattern, I gave the first five commenters a free copy.  Lucky for me, June, of Planet June was one of those people.

She made these adorable all-white sea creatures using my pattern.  Her post includes a details about how she sewed each creature and a close-up photo of each, so go read it. :)

For all you crochet lovers, June sells awesome amigurumi patterns for a staggering array of cute animals.  Definitely check them out.

When I made the jellyfish for the Supercute Sea Creatures, I used a single line of blanket stitch along the bottom edge.

My blanket stitch tutorial only showed how to do blanket stitch if you were going all the way around.  I added a little section to the tutorial that shows you how to start a blanket stitch if you don't intend on meeting back up with the first stitch so you can keep your first stitch vertical.

That tutorial page is WAY long.  It's such a monster.  I need to rethink that page and get it looking more usable.  Maybe I should split all the little bits up and put them on their own pages.  Hmmm.

I'm so excited about completing another pattern, which you can now get on the free downloads page. I designed the octopus in April, and he languished on my craft table since then.  Just last week, I decided to re-do my starfish pattern and add a jellyfish and fish to the group.

They are all easy-to-make and perfect for customizing.  There's lots of room for experimenting with color combinations and embellishments.  I think an all-white set would be really cool, too.  There are a couple extra photos in the Futuregirl Supercute Sea Creature Flickr group.

Each creature is between 3 and 4 inches tall and wide, which makes them the perfect size for ornaments, package tags, or clip-ons for backpacks.

Amazon.com is already shipping the Anticraft book!!!  I don't have my free copy yet (and no one can tell me if it's even on its way).  I'm freaking out because I can't see the book and the pictures of my projects.  Is it professional looking?  Is it a nice book?  Are the instructions for my projects accurate? Ack!

The rude helper-monkey at Borders informed me that it they don't get copies until the 22nd, so I won't be able to go sneak a visit until then.  I'm "this close" to ordering one on Amazon, but I'm pretending that I have patience.

Deep breath.

Without further ado, here is project one of the three projects I have in the book:

You probably recognize the Three Owls, the first original stuffies I designed.  For Anticraft I made them a little scarier.  Thank goodness for the felt and floss stash.  Look at all those greys!

This project might seem a little anticlimactic, which is why I started with it.  I love my sweet little owls, though, and I think their goth/industrial incarnation is cute in a menacing kind of way.

The red beady eyes on the little one make me think of Amityville Horror, which I read in one night when I was in the third or forth grade.  I wasn't quite old enough to realize "based on a true story" didn't mean it was true.  It scared the hell out of me. In that book, the demon, which appears as a pig sometimes, also appears as a set of red glowing eyes.  I swear, the red dots on my alarm clock still creep me out a little because of that book.

The last couple days I've become a sneezing snot factory, culminating in fever of 99 degrees last night, which is super-high for me since I'm normally 97.6 degrees.  I say "culminating" as wishful thinking because I don't want to get any sicker ... please.

When I first start getting sick, I usually can't sleep.  Friday night, I tossed and turned for hours.  Around 4:30 AM, I got out of bed and went to the office/craft room.  I'd been vaguely thinking of making a crochet hook holder that I could hang on the wall next to my craft table.

I'd done a quick sketch of a horizontal thing, but for some reason, in my sick-haze, I decided to change the design to a vertical panel with diagonal pockets.  With zero planning, I steam rolled my way through and came up with this.

I'm pretty impressed that I was able to do this without my contacts in and (most likely) with a fever.  It was SO HARD.  It looks like it would be easy, but it was, like I said, SO HARD.

First, I cut all the little pockets, sewed the opening seam, then sewed them in a strip so the top of each one was off from the next by one inch.  That part was cake.  The SO HARD part was getting the 1.5" wide strips sewed to the background so they were 1" wide to make a pouch.

I can't find the right words to explain what I did, but it involved sewing individual pieces of 1" wide stabilizer behind each pocket and then sewing the thing the background in between each pocket.  Seriously, there were hours of trying out ways to get those pockets on there so they were pockets *and* straight.

I used all sorts of gifted and leftover fabric (recognize yours?).  The stitched dashed lines were sewn with floss from my box of floss ends.  The pink bias tape is vintage from my Green Kitchen stash.  I printed out the numbers on paper and sewed the little squares on the background.

There was no way in the world that I was going to embroider the numbers.  For one thing, I would have made a mistake.  For another, I don't actually own all these sizes, so it'll make things easy to change if I find other hooks outside of the 'accepted' size system.

I used the millimeter size to label them.  The whole letter/number thing gets on my nerves *and* it's different from manufacturer to manufacturer ... and sometimes different over the years within a manufacturer's line.

I really love how this came out, even with it's strange mistakes.  I plan on putting little notes in the pockets if I've stashed the hook away in one of my ziploc bag projects under the ironing board, so I know where to find it.  I'm also thinking there needs to be some embroidered title across the top, but that might have to wait until my next fever.

This is my teddy bear Neville.  He is named after the poor boy in Edward Gorey's book The Gashlycrumb Tinies who died of ennui.

As I was making him (back in '98), I thought about how he would spend most days at home sitting on my bed. Bored probably. Filled with ennui. Ah-ah! Neville was the perfect name. I sewed him on the machine. It wasn't easy since his fur is so thick. His eyes and nose are mother of pearl buttons I bought especially for him. The eyes are so shiny and reflective that they flash if just a glimmer of light moves across his face at night. My husband says he's menacing.

The most ACK! part of the sewing was after I sewed the head on. The body and head were inside out. When I un-inside-outted them I saw that his head was crooked. I was freaked, but there were a billion layers of thick fur to sew through and I didn't think I could do it any better if I tried again. Now I think his cocked head is totally adorable. When I look at him, he seems to look back at me tenderly thinking evil thoughts like the cute little wicked girls in Yoshitomo Nara's paintings.

Neville lives in the corner of the bed on my side. Mostly he watches over me as I sleep, but sometimes I smother him in a nighttime cuddle.

My other handmade bears

My first handmade teddy bear arrived in the mail from my sister when I was 19. I remember opening the package in my tiny studio apartment and wondering why the hell she sent me a teddy bear. She hadn't told me she was sending it. He was made out of blue cotton fabric with tiny flowers on it. When I called her, she told me she made the bear and thought she'd send it to me. It was surreal.  I was *so* not a girly teddy bear girl kind of girl. I named him Warren. I like naming things.

I sleep on my stomach. Warren started ending up tucked into my armpit/neckpit. Soon, I couldn't sleep without him. I took him on trips, to hotels, to sleep over at my boyfriend's apartment. It was weird even to me.

A year or so later, I was staying at my parents house for the summer. My little brothers were about 6 and 7. That summer Warren disappeared. I never found out what happened to Warren. I suspect that Warren became the victim of two little boys. The same two little boys who played "car wash" with my car by thrashing it with branches that had fallen off the tree in the front yard. The same two little boys who tied beach towels around their necks and walked around the house in their underwear trying to open the second story windows because they were going to jump out and fly like Superman.

Poor Warren.  I loved you.

I tried to be a big girl and live without my teddy bear. But I eventually gave in and decided to make myself a new one. I had a flannel shirt that I made one weekend at Grandma's house when I was a pre-teen. It was the coolest thing. Grandma took me and my two little sisters to the fabric store so we could pick out the fabric for our shirt. Then over the weekend we helped her sew our shirt. They were button up, long sleeved, flannel shirts. The shirt hadn't fit me for years and I thought it would be the perfect fabric for a teddy bear.

Wiley was made out of blue flannel with flowers on it. Very similar to Warren's fabric. I sewed him on the machine from a pattern. I slept with him for about 6 years. I had to fix his neck several times and eventually he became threadbare from all the washings (I slept with him in my armpit ... ). It was a sad day when I threw away sweet Wiley.

That's when the search for my next bear started, and I ended up with Neville.