May 8, 2012

I don't know if you will be able to see this or not:  I took it through the window.  I bought this bird feeder in the hopes that the squirrels could not get to it.  Indeed I have spotted them eyeing it up and trying to get close, but so far only the birds have been able to get at the seeds.  Until this morning that is, when I spied this bugger in a feat of squirrel gymnastics munching away on my bird seed:

I spent the rest of the morning tackling another project from the Liberty Book of Home Sewing.  Bear with me on this; I am determined to make more of the projects so I can do a proper book review on Amazon for it.  When I say a proper review, I mean one in which the projects were actually made and then reviewed in terms of difficulty/ease.  I find a lot of reviews by people on crafting books are done just as they get the book from the shop.  They say things like, "Everything looks nice - I can't wait to try it!"  I don't find this very helpful myself.

Today I made the Jewelry Roll:

I used some blue cottons from my stash.  I wish I had used something bright and cheerful, because today is very foggy and moody.

The pattern is reasonably straightforward.  I had a bit of trouble keeping the pieces straight in the beginning; it would have been better for me to have labelled them piece A, B, etc, instead of large lining panel, small lining panel, pocket panel.  I also wish there were more photos of the finished piece.

I did not have an 8 inch zipper, but found a 7 inch works perfectly.  I tried to keep all the stripes lined up, but could not do it with the ring holder.  I think it still looks OK though.

There are three pockets at one end; a stuffed tube ring holder that snaps closed on one side; and a zippered pocket. (That rose ring was one of my birthday gifts!)
 I think the three pockets are too deep for smaller pieces, but that could be adjusted at construction.  It won't hold a ton of jewelry; it would be best on a weekend outing.  With some forethought you could make it longer and add more pockets.  The only change I made was to use ribbon for the ties instead of fabric.  Other than that, it was fine to make, and I give it a thumbs up.  I will probably make another one, and that is the indication for me whether a pattern is a good one or not.  It took me four hours altogether (a good 45 minutes of that was picking the fabric), but it always goes faster the second time around.

The next thing I want to make from the book is the Peacock Pincushion.  I was hoping to get started on it today, but I see it's time to get some baking done before school ends.  I am always thinking things will get finished quicker than they actually do.  If I had 26 hours in a day I would want 28!  I did just realize that today is only Tuesday, not Wednesday, so I will have another free day to work on it.  Lucky me!