Crazy Busy

We have so much going on this month I'm going a little crazy.  We are moving house September 1st, I'm trying to prepare for homeschooling, working on things for my Etsy shop, and two days ago I started a part time job.  I haven't had a job outside the home in over 10 years. Oh, and trying to fit in time for summer fun before it's over.   I see people who handle two jobs, a home and family, hobbies and a social life all with grace....I'm not one of those people, I prefer a much slower pace.  I'm sure I will find my groove and things will get easier once we settle into our new home but at the moment I'm feeling a bit frazzled, excited about all the changes and our new place, but still frazzled.  

Maybe a relaxing day at the beach is in order.

Little Needle Case

I decided to take some time this past weekend to make myself a wee little needle book.  

It's small enough to fit in the palm of my hand

how cute!

I like to keep my needles in my floss case so it had to be small enough to fit flat under the lid. 

 I was keeping them on a scrap of fabric but as I added more it started to look like this  

It was driving me absolutely crazy

To make it I started with two pieces of linen, one black for the outside and natural for the lining

they are around 5 x 2.5 inches 

They are a bit wonky because I didn't pay close enough attention to the grain of the fabric and I didn't  measure

I put a bit of fusible interfacing to the back of the black to keep it nice and flat, then added a bit of embroidery detail.

Sew the two parts, right sides together, turn, press, close the hole, and add some blanket stitching to the edges.

I only used one piece of felt for the inside to keep it small and not too bulky but I did add some ribbon to slip the needles under, that way you can put needles on both sides of the felt without showing on the opposite side. To attach the felt I just hand stitched right down the middle, the only part I used my machine for was sewing the black and natural together.  Add a little tie and that's it, a sweet little needle case. 

No more needle mayhem.