while they play... » tote

Congrats, Mrs. G!!!

kalurah — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 08:06:00 +0000

I had the kids pull out two names from Zoe’s Hello Kitty basket and the owl tote goes to

Mrs. G at Derfwad Manor.
if you have not already visited her blog, go now! her writing is lovely and she is constantly cracking me up. I am thrilled that she was picked from the basket!

as for the second name drawn,

J. at Please Pick Up Your Socks.
she has her own etsy shop called apple banana cantaloupe.
I absolutely adore the kitschy items that she has, specifically the record bowl! too cool!
go now and check out her shop!

I will be sending J. a surprise consolation prize. (this is basically code for, I haven’t decided what the boobie prize is, yet!) but rest assured, J., it will be lovely!

please email me, ladies, with your mailing addresses and your prizes will be on their merry little way to you via snail mail!

thank you to EVERYBODY who entered! I loved each and every one of your comments and I was truly rooting for all of you!

it’s in the bag…

kalurah — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:46:00 +0000

yay!!! it’s finally done and I love it! I’m so glad I passed on the contrast stitching. don’t you agree? this even holds it’s head high up against my “real” leather coat! can barely tell this is faux leather. well,….I think so, anyway.
I did opt to make new straps though. by the time I would’ve trimmed the thread from the original strap, it just wouldn’t have been wide enough anymore. especially with a proper seam allowance. luckily, I had plenty of pleather and lining fabric left over.
I will definitely be using this bag alot on our vacation. it’s nice and roomy. I think I can even fit my camera in there….or maybe that’s another project all together. hmmmmmm………

change in plans…

kalurah — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:51:00 +0000

okay, so I slept on it and decided I didn’t like the contrast stitching after all. nor did I want the lining sewn in before I assemble the bag. thank goodness for rotary blades and self healing mats! it didn’t take too long to trim all my thread off, and the bag and lining went together quickly. so I lost about an inch off the overall dimensions, but that’s okay.

now, I just have to assemble it. when I sat down to my sewing machine last night, my son had apparently been playing with it, because as soon as I put down the peddle, my Singer sang! and she sang way off key! an hour later, after my husband took a closer look at it, he discovered all it was, is my son pulled out the thread and tried re-directing it. I just didn’t happen to notice that it was threaded wrong. one would think that would be the first thing I should’ve checked, but I am me….a bit scatter brained.
so, Ive yet to put the whole bag together. as soon as I’m done blogging here, I’ll sit down and finish it. I swear!

a third W.I.P…

kalurah — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 09:11:00 +0000

okay, so I haven’t yet finished either one of the afghans I started. (what? I didn’t mention I started a second afghan?) a sewing bug bit me the other day and I just had to act!
I’ve been wanting a messenger bag for a long time and I bought chocolate leatherette about a month ago for just that in mind. I picked up a couple yards of a brown/tan plaid at a local thrift store for 50 cents. I find it masculine but very chic at the same time. I instantly thought, “liner for my bag!”, when I saw it.
I can’t decide if I like this cream contrast thread, though. it’s not doing anything for me. I’ll sleep on it and take another look at it in the morning before I go ahead and stitch it all together.
speaking of sleep, now would probably be a good time to go rest my head on my pillow, since I only have maybe a good 5 hours of it to look forward………………. zzzzzzzzzzzzz…………………..

kalurah — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 19:22:00 +0000

asleep when he should be awake…

my very first attempt of working with leatherette. let’s just say that I now have ALOT of leatherette scrap! I tried machine stitching it first but the fabric lining on the underside of the leatherette reared it’s tempermental head. It proved IMPOSSIBLE! and I don’t normally use “that” word when I’m creating things, but this really was. I finally opted to hand blanket stitch instead in a chocolate colored floss. the embroidery is felt and metallic fabric. my favorite part of the bag is the very handsome fabric that I picked up for 75 cents at St Vincent De Paul’s thriftstore. I used it for the lining.

here’s how the lining turned out…

owl up close…

my sister is very into owls right now and so this was my gift to her. her bible study books fit perfectly in it. that leatherette seems to be pretty sturdy stuff, I’m hoping it will hold up well for her for years to come.