Happy travels and happy marriage!

This past weekend I threw a shower for A, my true "BFF" since our first day of kindergarten. Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided to host it at my parents' house (that's not the bad part) and prepare all of the food, favors, decorations, etc. etc. myself, with the help of mom and dad, of course. Oh, and make her gift.

The theme for my gift was Happy Honeymoon Travels - she and her beau are off to Bali for 3 weeks after the honeymoon where they will hopefully engage in some much-need R&R.

Gift #1: Quilted Eye Mask from In Stitches:
This one went even more smoothly than the last one, although I did get a little aggressive with my seam allowance trimming which caused some heartburn when finishing. The reverse is the cream and black striped fabric you'll see below.

Gift #2: Passport Wallet from the Summer '07 issue of Adorn Magazine.
(You can click on the picture for notes in Flickr, my new favorite thing, second to Ravelry, of course.) This project had a lot of steps but I love the result! I lined the outside with flannel plus heavyweight interfacing. The rest is done according to the instructions. I also got to use my new snap setter! Now that is good fun. Sadly, my first attempted snaps were torn off straight away by my dear husband when I went to him to solicit praises on my handiwork. I suppose it was a good test run - I learned I have to hammer harder, which I know the downstairs neighbors really appreciated.

Gift #3: Tote bag inspired by Lotta Jansdotter and Amy Karol
The outer design is of course borrowed from the every day tote in Simple Sewing. However, I also lined it with the cream/black fabric and sandwiched flannel in between the inner and outer layers and the handles (suggested by Miss Karol in Bend-the-Rules Sewing). This makes for a squishy, substantial-feeling bag and I love it!

And so did the bride!

Here are a few more shots of my domestic goodness:

Now I've just got to write my toast and I'll be all set...

PS: I'm off to San Francisco and Portland, Oregon next week for wedding festivities. Any suggestions on must-visit crafty places?

Shut eye

Last night while I was supposed to be reviewing a hedge fund agreement (yes, it was Sunday) I thought my time would really be better spent sewing an eye mask for my upcoming vacation. The prospect of vacation is pretty much the only thing getting me through these days, to the point where I'm really looking forward to the red-eye flight to catch up on some sleep sans blackberry. Now that, my friends, is a sad state of affairs.

On red-eyes I am generally super aggressive about getting to sleep, asap. This means Tylenol PM as soon as I sit down, bandana tied around my eyes, earplugs and the death stare to any flight attendant who dares ask if I want a drink or petrified dinner. When I saw this eye mask in In Stitches, it had to be mine. So I dragged out the much-neglected sewing machine and set to work. I guess lack of practice pays off, because there was no seam ripping! I'm very pleased with the finished product. I'm not generally a pink person but when I saw these fat quarters at Purl, I was smitten. My topstitching still needs some work but it's overall acceptable given the 4 layers of quilt batting I had to work with. Yes, the finished product looks a little like quilted aviators, but I will be the chicest chica in coach with these babies. Vacation - bring it on!