Seamripper

Progress...

Well, I stayed home from work on Monday in a vain attempt to get rid of this lingering cold I have, and decided to use the time to work on my Mom's velvet leaf wreath. I embossed all the velvet, cut out most of the flowers, attached stems to many, and even started on the acorns. I'm basically finished with the first step and made progress on all the other steps. Slowly but surely. I need to start working on it more seriously this weekend if I want to get it to her by her birthday.

In other news, I finally figured out how to play my MiniDisc player through the stereo AND how to record MD tracks onto my computer. Now I just need to figure out how to edit them and burn them to CD, and I'll be golden.

Alameda Swap Meet

Jen, her friend, Linda, and I went to the Alameda Swap Meet on Sunday. It was amazing. I'm always really impressed by the old military bases in San Francisco and environs (my uncle was stationed on Treasure Island in the late '50s or early '60s, I think). The grand officers' homes the gorgeous landscape in the Presidio. The orderly, compact, house-lined roads in Fort Mason. But the Alameda base is pretty amazing. Driving along long airstrips that just end in the Bay. It has probably the best view of San Francisco. One air strip was entirely filled with antique stalls; it just went on forever. It was almost cruelly huge. Linda warned me that "You have to know what you're looking for and just put on the blinders to everything else." At first, I didn't heed her advice, but I soon realized it was just too overwhelming not to. And, I ended up finding a table that works great as a nightstand for Chad. Now he can stop complaining about it. Ha!

Ribbon Belt

So one of my reasons for starting this blog was to document my attempts at recreating things that are already out there (specifically, I realized I was making a lot of stuff from Martha Stewart Living, and I wanted to post how easy/difficult each thing was and how it turned out). Well, this is a take on that idea. I wanted to make one of those J. Crew ribbon belts. I bought two D rings at Fabrix on Clement for $.50 (total), and picked up some pink and brown ribbon at Buttons and Bows today. Total cost: less than $5. And since I used Stitch Witchery tape to fuse the side with the D rings, it was a no-sew project, too! Now what do I wear it with...

Knitting Needle Holder

I just finished the nicest and most frustrating knitting needle holder I've done so far.

When Sharlene and I were at Feria Urbana a couple of weeks ago, we walked by a table of knitting needle holders that were really cool. Sharlene was looking for something for her boyfriend's mom for Mother's Day, but these were a little too vivid for the mom's tastes (and pretty expensive, too). I foolishly said, "Oh I can make those." So Sharlene came over my house and picked out some fabric from the stash I'm trying so hard to whittle down.

I finished all of it last night, except for the seam binding. I had bought some twill tape to use, which worked great for the straps, but my seam ripper tore it apart when I went back to fix an early mistake. Today, Jen and I took a lunchtime jaunt over to Buttons and Bows in San Anselmo, where the woman working there helped me find this beautiful bias-cut silk dupioni. I ironed it into double-fold bias tape when I got home, sewed up the straps, attached them, pinned the tape around the edges--all with no problem.

Then disaster struck. The silk kept sliding out, so I'd get one side sewn onto the body of the piece, but not the underside. The presser foot kept pushing the silk to the side, and the tape kept stretching on the bias, causing some unsightly ripples. I ripped out the worst mistakes, tried basting the tape on the fabric, sewed again. And repeat. For about two and a half hours. In the end, I realized the only thing I was accomplishing was frustrating myself, so I set it aside, called Sharlene, and took a bath. And when I was done, I realized that, as long as you don't look too closely at the border, it looks pretty darn good!