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.

Finished Blouse

I have so many unfinished projects lying around it's not funny. On my grand, plodding quest to finish some of my said projects I finished one....yay, ONE!

I made this tunic blouse around about 2 years ago. Sunday I finally sat down to get it completed. All that was to be done was the collar, I wanted to do some embroidery around the neck before tacking it down so I sat and looked at it, picked some embroidery floss, then changed my mind about the design and chose some different floss. That went on for some time till I finally just went with a white on white design. Truthfully, I don't really like how the shoulders fit but am too lazy to take out the french seams to re-do them so I kept the design fairly simple. I like how it came out, it will be a nice cover in the warmer months (all 2 of them).

Okie Dokie, On to the next project.

What's In A Name

I made a new banner with a phonetic spelling of my blog name (one for my Etsy too) I also made a picture for the link on my side bar that takes you to the definition for the word Sidereal, there is even a neat little speaker to click for the pronunciation. I have been meaning to do this for some time but just kept putting it off until a dear blog friend, Jaime sent me an e-mail telling me she had looked it up in the dictionary, and it reminded me to get it done. She also had a good tip to remember the how it's pronounced, it sounds like ethereal. Thanks Jaime =)
I had a hard time choosing a name, second guessing, finding one I like, having it be taken bla bla bla, anyway I found the word Sidereal in the dictionary and liked it. I realized at the time it might not be the most memorable, and that most people (unless your a astronomy buff) wouldn't know what it meant but I went with it anyway, I've thought about changing it but I'm over a year in so I'm gonna keep it plus dang it I like it. I've always had a thing for stars...the kind in the sky, not the screen.

Also, I made a pillow out of a t-shirt my little one grew out of.

In The Bedroom

That is not my bedroom.

Our bedroom is not quite so elaborate, more on the utilitarian side of things.

Recently I got it in my head to remedy that. New soft sheets and pillows, a fluffy down comforter with a duvet, a feather bed topper, and maybe even a new mattress...mmmmm

Also I'm making a quilt. I'm not a quilter, measuring and being precise makes my brain feel squeezed, so there will be as little measuring as possible. I found an awesome deal on blue cotton velvet at denverfabrics.com, it wasn't exactly the blue I wanted so I dyed it navy blue along with some soft cotton fabric. They came out just beautiful.

(The photo doesn't really do it justice)

I will combine the navy blue with black and charcoal grey and do lots of embroidery, etc. Then piece it all together. I'm not sure how it will come out in the end but I would like it to have a Gothic/fantasy feel to it. somewhere in between the photo at the top and this

Gothic & Fantasy but light and airy as well....hmmmmm

I'll post my progress.

New Stuff

Staying with the embroidery theme, I tried something new. I like how it turned out and plan to make more more MORE!


I put it in my shop

Slap My Hand

I have been neglecting my blog. It was in my head that when school started I was going to be soooo productive. So far not so much. My husband said that I have crappy time management skills. After cooling down and looking at the comment more objectively, maybe he's right. I made a schedule for myself, and will try to stick to it. Anyhoo, hopefully if I manage my time better that will also translate to being better about blogging as well.
On another note, I found this coat on sale at Anthropologie a couple of years ago, waited too long and the coat in my size was gone. A few days ago I found it again on Ebay and dangit the bidding went over what I was willing to pay. I've decided I'm going to try to modify a pattern I already have to make one that is similar. If it works out I will post some pictures.



Somehow I misplaced the photo of the coat on the mannequin where it shows off the lovely waist...oh well.