A few of my favorite things

I ordered zippers and pulls from Jennie's Etsy shop Zipit.  I'm a new fan - unbelievably attentive service, great prices, and really fast shipping.  She threw in a few extra zipper pulls at no charge, which was both unexpected and sweet. I swear on the head of Bob the frog, I will never buy zippers from JoAnn's again.  Watch for a future post about how much I hate that store.

The zipper pulls are now stashed in a little zakka bag I made.

Which brings me to one of my favorite things:

Maybe some day I'll have a fancy computerized sewing machine, but right now, this is my favorite.  Vintage 70's Viking, with embroidery cams (they fit into the back).  That's how I did the little hearts on the bag above.



And here's the goofy cover I made.  This fabric cracks me up: "That's Sew Wrong" by Michael Miller.

And last year's Christmas present from my DH.   Who doesn't love peg board?

See those things on the left near the basket, above the pliers & jewelry tools?  Those are some of the 58 headbands my daughter and I made as a fund raiser for her 5th grade field trip.  They're reversible & $5 each if anyone wants to buy one.  I'll throw in free shipping to the U.S.  The trip is to Boston, but if we don't sell more of these, she won't make it past White River Junction.

My favorite things in the sewing (ahem) studio - not including fabric:

Sort of from left to right: my machine with embroidery cams, Grammy's pin cushion (probably over 60 years old), an inexpensive Sunbeam iron WITH A RETRACTABLE CORD (because life is too short to wind up cords), little zakka bag, Gingher scissors that cut fabric like butter, my Kona color card (it's the affordable version of Le Corbusier's color palette), my trusty 45mm rotary cutter, cute tape measure on a lanyard, and a signed print by Heather Ross (who called me personally about my order for her studio sale! I was awkward in a fan-girl geek kind of way, but she was sooooooo nice.  We had a conversation and everything).

And here's the dark underbelly of my very small space:

Yes, it's the tenement housing of fabric.  The problem is space.  I don't have any more room for shelves.  As it is, I have to take the sewing machine off the table - which is too high for sewing and too low for cutting - to cut fabric, and the ironing board half-blocks the bedroom door.  But I make it work, and I pretty much know where everything is.  And hey, I can reach just about everything without getting out of the chair.