What I spend my money on

Oh, Etsy, how I love you so. Especially sellers that sell bright, colorful stuff. This is my latest purchase, buttons from the UK and fabric from the United States. Both took only one week to get to me. I was pleasantly surprised. That was faster than the post sent from one city to another here in Croatia.

 

     

And here is something I made from another Etsy purchase made ages ago. What to do when you have little fabric left? A zippered pouch. 

Zippered pouches are my go to project when I feel like sewing but don't know what to make. Of course, I always have trouble with the lining and the zipper, but that doesn't stop me from making them. They can be quite useful, take my word for it.

Nights in pink flannel ...

... reaching a very abrupt 6 AM end (damn you alarm clock)

Blog post I've written, I'm about to click send...

How's that for a Moody Blues cover? My rhyming is pretty ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as my brand new pink puppy dog print flannel pajama pants! 

Hope your eyes aren't hurting from the flashy print ;)

I stumbled onto this tutorial and my reaction was pretty much this: Must. Make. Pajama. Pants. Now. 

So I went to the store to buy some material and all they had was either monochromatic, ugly floral print or pink with white puppies. What would you have chosen? 

They're really wide lounge pants with a waist that is probably too high, but that's okay, cause all my shirts roll up when I sleep and I prefer to have something covering the small of my back. Gotta protect those kidneys!

All in all, I'm pretty proud of myself. I made pants that actually look like pants and are really comfortable to wear. The flannel is very soft and warm, and the fact that it's ridiculously pink makes it somehow even more comfy. Perfect for sleeping in and just lounging around the house. 

I even made another pair, for a friend whose birthday is coming up. Sure do hope she shares my fondness of ridiculously colorful material.

Tin boxes

Sometimes I buy stuff only for the packaging. Like this box of Griotte chocolates. For some reason, both my mom and aunt kept their sewing kit in an old box of chocolates. So when I saw this one I immediately thought: This would be perfect for my spooled thread. 

Of course, it turned out I have more thread than fits the box. Guess I need to eat more chocolate. 

I didn't decorate this box, because it's pretty enough on its own, but I did decorate this other one. 

Bought it at the dollar store, it came with a set of Yu-Gi-Oh trading cards. Clearly an item I very much need in my life ;) 

I decoupaged it with a paper napkin, but it came out all wrinkly (it's been a while since I last decoupaged anything) - so to hide that I smudged white acrylic paint all over it. Not sure how much that helped, but I like it better now than when it pictured the guy fighting the undead skull daemon or whatnot. 

And then I discovered mare's blog. With great tutorials on decoupage and an information that was brand new to me: You can iron the napkins on the boxes to eliminate the wrinkles!!! 

What a great result! So much better than my technique of using my finger to smooth out the wrinkly parts, then spending half an hour peeling decoupage glue off my fingers. 

This box is a small wooden one, for a friend's birthday. I decorated it with a napkin then applied crackle medium, waited (the waiting is the hardest part) and finally rubbed brown oil paint in the cracks. 

The cracks and the aging probably don't go so well with this particular napkin, since it's a pretty modern design, but what can I tell you? I really, really wanted to try the technique. 

Oh, quilt!

I'm sadly reporting that I can't sew a straight seam even when I'm using a ruler. And by ruler I mean a long ruler, two of those triangles for trigonometry and even a quilting ruler. Still no straight seam. Sad, sad realization for me. 

This is my attempt at making a quilted placemat. It turned out too small to fit a plate because yours truly forgot to calculate in seam allowances. DUH! 

I'm also having issues with sewing on bias tape to bind the finished quilted piece. And my quilting leaves much to be desired. I realize now that I'm miles away from my goal - making a bed-sized quilt with perfectly straight seams and prettily arranged blocks. 

 

But don't worry, I'll get there. 

And as you're sipping your coffee made by your food replicator, surfing on your holographic computer while waiting for the hovercraft to bring you to the international space station for your annual vacation on Mars, you're gonna say: That is the most perfectly straight seamed bed-sleeping pod sized quilt with the prettiest arrangement of blocks I've ever seen!