Gift for me Mudder.

I almost kept this bag for myself because it's so crazy-cool.   But, the bag is with its new owner...my mom.  I made it with her in mind for her 62nd birthday (63rd?  64th?  I forget).

My kamikaze sewing pal lent me her Simplicity tote bag pattern and she embroidered this lovely design, from Urban Threads, onto the bag last weekend.

I chose an airy light gray linen for the outside fabric and lined it with a brilliant marine blue taffeta that has a little spandex in it.

And...she loved it!  Happy Birthday, Mom.

UPDATE: Next Time I'll Just Buy A New Couch: Part II

There's been very little movement on the recover-my-couch odyssey, but yesterday I did a little work on the very exciting cushion covers.  Why so exciting?  Well, because there's piping involved!  Yep, homemade piping.  Exciting, right?

To start I had to make side panels for the cusions that had a zipper in them, so I could slip the covers on (and off--oh, who are we kidding?  these covers are never coming off!). 

And I used this very cool 12 foot roll of upholstery zipper to make the 4 zippered panels.  Too bad it came with 12 zipper heads...what a waste.

I also spent a good deal of time making a lot of this olive green piping from scratch, which isn't difficult; just time consuming.  I think I bought 20 yards of piping and it looks like I'll need about 60 more.  :(  Those blue strips underneath the piping will become the sides of the cushions.

I was only able to finish one cushion cover, but it looks pretty good!  Only 3 more to go...

Organized, finally.

Last year I scored a bunch of vintage soda crates, and I had plans...big plans. 

These cutsie, shallow boxes of vintage wood and paint were going to save me from disorganization in my office/sewing studio (thanks for the idea, Patti!)...if only I ever hung them up so I could use them as shelving.

So this weekend, I finally did it. 

I had to pull out all of my most impressive tools.













And here's the result!  This is the sewing studio portion of my home office.

And this is the "office" side of the office, although sewing stuff somehow is over there, too.

One final bonus shot; I also put up several in my entryway.