Blue Cut Velvet Boho Bag

I apologize for yet another bag post. But honestly, its been so long since I've spent any quality time in the sewing room, I got a little carried away. :-)For this bag I used one of my favorite cut velvets. Its a gorgeous blue design on a shimmery beige ground. Although still an upholstery fabric, this one is a little more supple and probably dates a little older than some of the other cut velvets that I've been using. It, too, goes well with the corduroy and I've outfitted it with the same features (interior zip pocket, magnetic snap closure, and long cross-body strap). With the left over pieces, I made a small matching zip pouch. This bag is available on Etsy.

Lime Vintage Cut Velvet Boho Bag

The next bag to come out of the sewing room is this boho gypsy style hip bag. It sports a vibrant lime green vintage cut velvet upholstery fabric paired with corduroy. A long strap can be worn across the body to hit comfortably at the hip or knotted to create a shorted shoulder strap. This design is slightly different that the previous champagne velvet with the addition of corduroy at the bottom of the bag. Although it was out of necessity, because of the size of the green remnant, I think I like it even better! :-)This one also has a magnetic snap closure and interior zipper pocket. I'm lovin the size of this bag and already picking out fabric to make one of my very own. :-)

This bag is available on Etsy.

Champagne Cut Velvet Bags

I've been in the sewing room making some more bags. My focus this week was a lovely shimmery champagne colored vintage cut velvet. I've been wanting to make a larger shoulder bag and this upholstery fabric was perfect for it. I paired the velvet with a tan corduroy and added a long shoulder strap that can be worn across the body. A magnetic snap and interior zippered pocket will keep items secure.

I also had enough fabric left over to create a matching foldover clutch. I love the simple design and think it would be right at home with jeans as well as a fancier evening out. Both of these bags are available for a limited time on the website with free US shipping before being added to the Etsy Shop. I have a couple more of the larger bags almost completed and will share those soon.

Has cooler weather inspired more activity in your sewing room, too? :-)

Labradors and Mud Puddles

This picture will be a very common site around here for the next few days. Lots of rain in Southern Ohio, and although Hunny isn't exactly fond of rainy days, she does love playing in the mud. :-)

She was also very excited to receive a fun gift from her doggy blog pal Abby. This cute Pooch Pouch for her treats and a Key Leash to take with us on our walks.

Abby's mom is the talented Stephanie of Loft Creations. Stephanie has generously posted tutorials for both of these items, plus lots of other fun projects, on her blog here. She also sells PDF patterns for her fabulous bags in her Etsy Shop.

Felt Burger, Berries, and a Fridge

I'll be watching my niece again over her winter break, so I wanted to have a few new things for her to play with while she's here. In addition to a new FurrReal pet, I also made a couple more felt food items for her 'restaurant'.

A small basket of strawberries...

Oh my, don't look too closely at the uneven stitches, hand sewing is not my forte. lol

And I also made a hamburger with pickle slices.

I also turned a cardboard box into a refridgerator. True to my love for vintage, I went 'old school' with the design. :-) I'm on the hunt for another box to use for an oven.

A Fenced Yard for Hunny

One of the main reasons we loved this new house was the large lot that it sat on. Its a little over an acre and would give our Hunny plenty of room to run. The only problem was that it was not fenced, and since our dog listens to very little we say, she would surely take off and terrorize the neighborhood children if let off her leash. So, in order to avoid the daily long walks in knee deep snow again this year, it became our goal to get the yard fenced in before winter rolled around. For the majority of the yard, we went with a wood fence style called Kentucky Board. It runs up the hill and ties into the existing farm fence at the back of the property.



At the sides of the house and across the driveway, we had a dark bronze aluminum fence and gates installed. It looks nice with the brown brick of the house and ties in with the porch railing that Hubby made.

Hunny LOVES it! Although she still won't go outside by herself (huh?), she loves to run through the yard chasing birds, and barking at Ava and Patty (the horse and cow that roam the farm land behind us. (Photo taken last winter, we don't have snow yet, thank goodness).

Iced Pumpkin Raisin Cookies

Iced pumpkin raisin cookies. Yum! I used this recipe from Allrecipes.com as my base. I decreased the sugar by about 1/8-1/4cup and increased the pumpkin by 1/8cup. I also added a few raisins to the batter and pecans to the top. They have a moist cake or muffin texture and are not overly sweet. My new favorite (non-chocolate) cookie. :-)

I'm sharing this over at The Shabby Creek Cottage link party. Be sure to stop by to see all the creative things bloggers have accomplished this week.

A Dog's Life

Our dog Hunny…I know I haven’t written much (or anything at all) about Hunny since we first got her nearly a year and a half ago. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how long we would have her. To say this dog has been a challenge would be an extreme understatement.
We were not unaware of the perils of adopting a Labrador puppy. She’s not our first. We fully expected irritatingly boundless energy, destroyed furniture, chewed shoes, food snatching, behavior problems, and many trips to the vet due to ingesting any number of potentially harmful substances.
But, what I didn’t expect was to be constantly bullied, bruised, attacked, and bitten (sometimes aggressively so) by my year old puppy!
We did basic command training early. She is extremely smart. We tried to establish our dominance from day one by letting her know that we control the food, by not letting her sleep in our bed (re:photo, She knows she's not suppose to be up there.LOL)and by making her wait until we enter or exit the door first. We provided plenty of exercise; lots of play time and 2-3 mile walks every day, rain, heat or snow. But the biting and dominant behavior didn’t stop. So we finally contacted a private trainer. He confirmed that, yes, we had a difficult case on our hands. She was probably the “alpha dog” of her pack and was very reluctant to give up that title to us. He also suspects that she was separated from her mother too early and never learned what “too rough” play was. Surprisingly, she is submissive to other dogs and is fairly good around kids. With some of the techniques that the trainer showed us, things are slowly getting better. The biting incidents are getting fewer and farther between. But she is still too rough for me to trust her unleashed around small children or the elderly. After seeing some of my horrendous bruises, friends have asked why we haven’t gotten rid of her. Don’t think we haven’t thought about it! But, we take our role as pet owners very seriously. We adopted this dog and it was our responsibility to make her a good, stable pet citizen. And we knew that with our personal circumstances,it was possible.
I have high hopes that as she gets older and past the stage of the wild energy bursts that seem to be the cause most of the problems, she will be a wonderful, intelligent, gentle, and loyal dog.
And I have to say, to this dog’s credit, she has not destroyed any furniture or possessions with the exception of a few shoes, has never gotten up to the counter to steal food, and doesn’t beg at the table. She rides in the car like a dream, loves to play with other dogs, is friendly (although rough) with people, and is very good on walks. And let’s face it, she is a beautiful dog!

So, that’s my tumultuous year with Hunny. Here’s hoping the next year will be less painful.

Oh, and in that last photo you can see a bit of the new fence we had installed. More on that in the next post.

Inspired By the Colors of Fall

We have had the most beautiful fall weather the last couple of weeks! Sitting out on the deck, looking up at the trees, I was inspired by the gorgeous colors of the leaves against the vibrant blue sky.

I decided to look through my vintage velvet stash for similar colors. I discovered that many of the cut velvets were in autumn hues.

I also found this lovely printed floral velvet with royal blue flowers with touches of yellow, red, and green. I paired it with a vintage camel colored cordouroy for this wristlet.

Most of the items shown are available on my website or my Etsy shop.

What Fall inspired projects are you working on?

The Guest Room / Office

We have family coming in from out of town, and since my sewing room is temporarily in the second bedroom, we changed a few things around in the office to make a guest room.

I know I've only shown a few "in-progress" photos of this room, so here's a little recap:

The Before photo (dark mauvey pink carpet, yellow walls and ceiling, and oak trim):

And how it looks now with Orla Kiely inspired wall painting, hardwood floors, Moda's Wonderland fabrics, Ikea furniture, and new crown moldings and trim:

We decided that we really didn't need a desk, since we both use laptops, so the desk was moved to the basement. We did need the file cabinet, though, and were able to find one at Ikea that could double nicely as a side table.

Hubby outfitted the closet with shelves and outlets to hold the printer, cables, phone station, and wi-fi thingy.

The room is quite small, and since we rarely have over-night company, we went with a sofa bed. Again from Ikea, this one opens easily into a queen size bed. And with the addition of a pillowtop mattress pad it is really comfortable!

That's about it for this room. Still trying to get the living room into a workable arrangement. I'm not really happy with it, yet, but I did cozy it up a bit for fall. As soon as I can get some decent pictures, I'll share it with you. :-)

I'll be sharing this room make-over at Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday.