Gifts: Carly's Laptop Sleeve

Yesterday's post was about a picky customer, and today's is yet another gift for a discerning family member.

As one sister (out of 5!) told me, I needed to make it "trendayyy". Carly is a hard-working, FIDM attending, 2-hr commuting fashionista, and luckily, HATED her current laptop cover.

So, enter my Victoria's Secret-inspired laptop sleeve.





I used the same Dixie Mango tutorial as Trevor's iPad cover (her formula is perfect!), and everything but the lace is actually repurposed flat sheets.

We hate flat sheets.

Gifts: Trevor's iPad case

First up, of my many Christmas gifts, was Trevor's iPad case.

Trev LOVES his iPad. It's perfect for his 2hr BART commute to and from SFO, and the case that came with it was just not up to the task.

Trev is however dubious of my crafting skills. While he's proud of everything I've done, he is skeptical until it's completed. While this is great motivation (like telling me reupholstering the couch in a week before the baby's birthday is "a bit ambitious") it's daunting when making a present for him, knowing it will find its way into a hidden drawer somewhere if he's not thrilled with it.



Truth be told, this is the first item I've made him. Luckily, he WAS thrilled at how manly it was! Then, of course, he found a link on NBCBayArea.com about how handcrafted tech accessories are all the rage.



I found Dixie Mango's tutorial, made it a bit more manly and boxy, and bought the Ni-co Camera fabric during a 10% off all Japanese import fabric sale at FabricWorm.com.

The day after....

Christmas has come and gone, and so has ended my late-night sewing sessions. (Mm, well, for now.)

The living room bore the brunt of the chaos, and we didn't even host the holiday! No, I've just been crafting wildly, and have barely had time to sleep, let alone fold up the ironing board. It seems as if every spare piece of fabric exploded from the various secret hiding spaces, and landed willy-nilly in the common areas. Add to this copious amounts of packaging from baby birthday gifts, and a pile of scored Christmas presents, and well...it wasn't a pretty sight.



So, before revisiting any Christmas presents from the day before, or even THINKING about posting pictures of the presents I handed out, it was important the baby and I cleaned up.


She wasn't much help.

However, we finished within a few hours. I purged ugly fabric I'd been holding on to, color coordinated everything, and even lint-rolled the couch (recently recovered in time for the baby's birthday! Pictures soon.)



Now, a week of showing off, and bad iPhone pictures can begin!

Late nights and tree skirts

My man is in Dallas for the next few days, so I've been using those lonely nights to get things off my Christmas list!

So far the past few nights have been very productive, but mostly cleaning and organizing before the baby's birthday party. I've rearranged some artwork, finished my lovely little forest banner from Purl Bee, and worked on a few Christmas surprises that obviously won't be made public until they're seen by the recipient ;)

I do have something to show for myself the past few days, however. We finally pulled out the Christmas tree at work, and I guess the tree-skirt was lost in storage somewhere. So, what's a crafty girl to do? Ask for petty cash to whip up a new one over night :)

It was SUPER easy! I used this tutorial from Design*Sponge. I did all my cutting while the baby was happily pulling DVDs out of the entertainment unit, and finished the whole thing in probably 45min total. What a difference a properly working machine makes!

I fixed my tension!

No, not my shoulders. They still need some help.

My sewing machine has been the bane of my existence recently...and by recently I mean the last, oh, year. The tension was all messed up, with the top thread way tighter than the bottom thread. It made for ugly top stitching, and scrunching fabrics, and flimsy seams. I've loved sewing, but I always had to accommodate for that.

My issue was the bottom right one.

This awesome instructional article on Threads Magazine, however, finally saved me! There IS a Singer shop literally across the street from my house, but the thought of lugging the baby and my machine over there was just not working for me. Turns out my bobbin was loose...and I'd been adjusting the top like I was looking for my favorite song on the radio.

To think of all the projects I've done recently... (including finishing THIS!) How much better would they be if my damn machine actually worked right?

Oh well. Back to work!

Who wants to buy this for me?

I found this beaut on Craiglist (I'm somewhat obsessed with a chancy for my bathroom.) it's colorful, and simple, and kinda looks like grandpa would have made it. And its in my hometown! Merry Christmas to me? (click image for post.)

Felt flower embellishments

Love this girl! Linda over at Craftaholics Anonymous posted a cute tutorial of how to add felt flowers to, well, anything! With the multitude of christmas gifts I need to do....this could be an easy addition to a Goodwill find, perhaps?



Ps. I reeeaallly need to start taking better pictures. Linda's simple shot makes my iphone photos below look that much crappier. :(

Creating a forest!

Oh my goodness. My sweet baby is actually sleeping in her own bed after actually "putting her down" for a nap. (Recognize the QFH she's snuggling with?) So, it's back to trees! Hoping to get the front entirely pieced today... I still have 3 more of these to get done by Christmas!

After today, I have exactly two weeks to get everything else done! Before her birthday party, I need to recover the couch, get the house decorated for holiday/birthday, clean up the front yard, make that centerpiece that Goodwill inspired ...etc etc. The list never ends!

And, once her birthday party is over, it's back to work on Christmas gifts. Ai yi yi, hope people appreciate their homemade goods!

...and so it begins.