Valerean

The summer issue of GreenCraft magazine had an interesting project for a bespoke quilted bag made from scrap fabrics in a kantha style of piecing, which I've been sorta/kinda doing with slow stitch, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I chose my scrap fabrics from one of the Goodwill online auction lots. I sewed them together using various stitches (my own and from the project instructions). It worked fine, although it felt a bit flimsy without any batting. Also, the raw edges of the fabric patches frayed a lot while I was working on the stitching, which doesn't bode well for durability (or what will happen when I have to wash it. Probably not a good idea to put this in the washing machine.) Still, it was good to step outside my habits and try something different in bag-making. Front of the finished bag. Back of the bag. I pieced the straps from scraps leftover from cutting the outside and the lining, too. This is a good project to use up fabric ...

While it only has six episodes, Finland Papa is a well-written and interesting k-drama that is billed as a healing romance but is more about the healing than the romance. It's also gentle, wry, and often funny when it deals with death and estrangement, which we'll all agree are never a bunch of laughs. After the death of the grandmother who raised her, Lee Yu Ri (played by Kim Bo Ra) is left all alone in the world. She seems to live in her memories as she struggles to adapt to her new solitary life, until she gets a part-time job at a cafe called Finland Papa, where the employees all have sad stories, follow their invisible boss's oddball rules and gradually becomke Yu Ri's new family. Yet so many things about the cafe and its absenteee boss remind Yu Ri of Baek Wu Hyeon (artfully depicted by Kim Woo Seok), her best friend who she became estranged from after a horrible turn of events forced them apart. The entire cast are amazing actors and do a fantastic jo...

This Goodwill bag of fabric was listed as "9lbs Assorted Fabric Lot" and looked to me to be quilting cottons. But how many yards might there be in the bag? If you know what type of fabric it is, you can roughly calculate the yardage by weight. For quilting cottons, one pound usually equals three yards. Using that formula, nine pounds should work out to twenty-seven yards. Since I won this auction we'll find out when it arrives and I can measure everything in the bag. Stay tuned to see if I'm right. :) Image credit: all of the pics in this post came from the auction listing at ShopGoodwill.com.

I don't take many vacations, but when I do have the time one of my favorite cities to visit is St. Augustine, which is where we went this week. Founded back in 1565 by a Spanish admiral who would become Florida's first governor, St. Augustine is pretty ancient (as far as US cities go, anyway.) The architecture of the many churches in the city, like the poured concrete structure of Grace United Methodist church, built by Henry Flagler, is unusual and often stunning. We had dinner at my favorite restaurant, The Colombia, which is basically heaven for anyone who likes Spanish cuisine. It's definitely a touristy town, but still lovely, with countless little alleyways and gorgeous spots. You can see most of the old town in a day on foot, or take a trolley ride around to look at the historic buildings. Not a bad way to spend a day with the family. :)

Bad weather kept kicking me off the computer last month, so I spent some of my work time making my slow-stitch bunny bag, which I kept simple. This is the front. The back of the bag. I lined it with some scrap teal gingham from the first massive goodwill fabric haul. Isn't the bunny cute? Ha.

I decided to bid on another Goodwill auction lot; this one was listed as "Large Mixed Lot of Fabric, Embroidery Thread and Craft Supplies." The ten bucks I bid (my max limit) was really for the embroidery thread. There's also lots of spooled lace and ribbon, and what looks to me to be a good amount of yardage in fabric. I'm also interested in the coils of wire, as I'd like to experiment with some 3D ideas and that would come in handy. I'm also very intrigued by the green embroidered fabric on the left here. No one else bothered to bid, so I won this one for ten bucks. We'll see if my gamble paid off when it arrives. Image Credit: all the images in this post are from the ShopGoodwill.com auction site.

While taking a break from working on the recycled linen quilt last month I decided to make a slow stitch bag for Kat's birthday (it's in December so I've got lots of time.) I got this slow stitch kit from The Wooded Lake on Etsy. I added these fabrics from my slow stitch textile stash for the project. To make the bag I unstitched the sides of the blank canvas tote, and ironed it flat to serve as the canvas. Then I placed the fabrics where I wanted them and pinned each in place. Once I had them stitched to the canvas I began embroidering and embellishing. Stay tuned to see how it turns out.