little collage scrapbook

I saw this amazing little book idea from Elise Blaha's blog and knew I wanted to try it.

I love her idea of making a little booklet to keep track of her 24 goals for her 24th year. And that she made another booklet to commemorate a trip to Kauai is a wonderful idea as well. I saw a similar project in an issue of Martha Stewart Living, As-You-Go Vacation Keepsake, but hadn't made one yet because I really haven't traveled much in the last year. But at least that helps me with the first of my 31 goals for year 31: Travel Someplace New.

This is the before photo.

I could spend hours perusing Elise's blog and flickr page.

I just love everything about these little booklets. I'm always saving little mementos in the hopes of someday following my Mom's footsteps and making a scrapbook. I have a whole pile of goods (tickets, brochures, photos) from our time here in Puerto Rico already. And it will be another use of my new date stamp. (Another cool way to use a library date stamp is at the top of a daily journal, like Inchmark.)

Here's my booklet so far, I'm hoping to have a good start for my birthday next month:







I wish I still had my old collage notebooks from middle school. My best friend and I used to cover our walls with magazine clippings, and what didn't go toward decorations were carefully glued into a kind of a lengthy journal/note. We were pretty well-behaved and made notebooks instead of passing notes in class too often. I'd guess Jamie still has one or two of those notebooks saved somewhere.

fonts that make me happy

Gessele Free from dafont.com (similiar to the font on Blueprint magazine)
Susie's Hand Free from searchfreefonts.com (found through Elise Blaha)
Zephyr $19.95 from myfonts.com (also known as the Twilight font)

Antique Machines

I found these good flickr groups:
Singer Featherweight Sewing Machines
Vintage Sewing Machines
Sew me your machine!



1. Elna Supermatic, 2. Vintage 1960's Singer Machine, 3. Greenie Sewing, 4. Visetti, 5. Wizard Sewing Machine, 6. "Cherry Darling" my vintage Royal, 7. LOVE, 8. singer featherweight, 9. Singer Featherweight 221, 10. turqoise singer featherweight sewing machine, 11. 50 more to go!, 12. CIMG3181

And realizing I need to start learning my new Singer, I bought a book about my new sewing machine, Featherweight 221: The Perfect Portable by Nancy Johnson-Srebro. I can't wait for it to arrive.

And just for fun, looking at the vintage sewing machines makes me think of these other antique machines.


1. chevy_truck_antique, 2. Antique Red Fire Truck, Queensland, Australia, 3. Breadloaf Mountain View Farm (2009) - antique Dodge truck, 4. Hudson Elks Antique Truck show-07, 5. Hudson Elks Antique Truck show-07, 6. Antique Truck, 7. DESERT CHEVY PANEL TRUCK, 8. Old Black Ford Truck, 9. Green Ford Truck

Skirt Plans

After I finish making a patchwork item for Mina (in Brazil! Isn't that awesome? Worldwide crafters!) in my first swap (Thanks Linda for organizing!),
I plan on making:
The Yardsale Wrap Skirt from the Weekend Sewing cover
The Asymmetrical Skirt from the Stitch cover

I've found a few people online who've made the Stitch skirt, and the consensus seems to be that it is easy to make and a flattering fit. What more could you ask for? But be careful, there is a pattern correction.
Sincerely Yours, Kate made a lovely fully-lined version in velvet
Action Hero's denim version (top left, below) looks great (I'm leaning toward using denim)
karola73 (top center, below) on flickr with a classy black version
Kristin's version is adorable on Craft Leftover's
Henna's Place is also in the planning stages



1. Asymmetrical Fold Skirt, 2. asymmetrical skirt, 3. black linen skirt from my pattern for stitch magazine, 4. tulip skirt, 5. printed skirt made from my pattern for stitch magazine, 6. Tulip Skirt 2

The advantage of being so anal about thoroughly researching each pattern before starting, is that I stumbled upon another skirt to make. There are even more examples online of Stitch's tulip skirt. I hadn't planned on making it because I thought it would emphasize my buddha belly. But now I see it looks great on everyone (including the pattern designer - top right) I am adding this to my skirt plans as well.

Another great Tulip Skirt on Burdastyle: EmilyKate

Fashion Inspiration Board

I finally put up an inspiration board in my sewing room. There weren't many options for decorating because of the grime problem I've already mentioned, but I'm glad to have a place to rest my eyes during sewing. This was the biggest cork board I could find, but I'll be on the lookout for a bigger one once I move back to the states.

PS- don't use painter's tape on corkboards if you decide to paint the frame. I'm now missing several large chunks of cork.