Working Girl

When Worlds Collide....

...or in my case:

One of the three sofas at work had been used for non-office purposes in the distant past plus was pretty mangy. I just could not sit on it. It being part of my remit to look after the office, I sorted out a new cushion. It's on odd size so online ones with covers were coming out at $800. Outrageous! So I ordered some foam and some fabric and got to work. The result is the zig zag seat.

Things at work proceed fair to middling. The actual work is fun but the hours are troubling. We're looking to get me an assistant (so weird - I am the assistant) but until then I am beavering away. There are plus points - such as conducting phone interviews from a hammock.

I love that hammock. I've always wanted one at home but have never lived in the right kind of property. Plus I also took a few minutes to create one of these.

We have some big ones hanging from the ceiling but I've missed having a plant near me while working so I decided to make my own. I am pretty pleased with it! I got both the orb and the plants from Etsy.

Kittea Again!

I am sold on this place.

I do still love Cat Town Cafe in Oakland but this one is only a third of the distance from my house and while I love cats of all ages, it is funny getting to see all the kitten action. There are actually two in this photo.

Two little brothers wrestling each other all over the place. In fact this is one of them in an unusually still moment.

And this could be either one using me as an actual human shield.

And who knows which this is playing "catch the hand".

There were others too.

Some veeeeery relaxed.

So adorable!

Just when you think it can't get any better...look what I spotted on the way out!

That's my week accessorized.

My New Sewing Case and Other Makes

I saw a few of these being made on Instagram and was thrilled to find the pattern was free. It is the Oh, How Sweet Zipped Case. I started off thinking I'd use my newest paper shape from PaperPieces.com - the squashed hexagon.

But I decided I loathed the look of the shape. Maybe they might work horizontally, but like this they simply look squashed. I had a look through Pinterest for some inspiration and decided on a fabric tray, using some denim with raised silver dots that I found a scrap of when I was still in Tokyo.

This left me without a cover for my sewing case when my eye fell on a strip of selvage. Out came my collection and I found myself sorting them into colour piles.

The pile of ones that were truly multicoloured seemed about the right size. Some stitching later and...

...I had a cover and a pocket. The zip gave me a few tense moments and is also the point at which I screwed up the last thing like this I tried. Welcome to the arena - bulldog clips!

Here is the inside with the zip and bias binding in place. Vinyl pocket on the right and selvage pocket on the left. Two elastic loops to hold thread.

I like the outside too.

If I were to make one again I would use some interfacing on the lining. I just used batting on the cover so it is a tad floppy.

The Sewing Case took quite a while to make - lots of pieces of different sizes and materials - while this one was much quicker. It came out about 12"x14" and is a tiny version of the i-spy quilt I made for my niece.

It is for her toy bunny!

My other make-in-progress is based on a quilt in Paper Pieced Modern which I have on loan from the Library. I'd seen different versions of the quilt on a few blogs and decided to use the idea for a mini quilt. Here is my block.

Another 24 later and I had these:

Which led to this:

It isn't sewn together yet but will be soon!