Kindred spirits

My daughters are not particularly crafty. Oh, they dabble in something or other, now and then; but mostly because they want to try what Mommy's doing. They are easily bored and move on to the next thing.

Which all made today that much more of a treat. Was at the girls' school track meet today and ran into an old friend from high school. One of her daughters spied my project du jour and practically whispered in awe, "Do you do embroidery?" So we spent a good part of the midday over dish and tea towels, me demonstrating and then letting her try her hand at it. She was such a sweetheart and was having such a good time, she wanted me to tag along with them after the track meet. :)

Book purses and more

Was in D.C. recently and saw the coolest thing at Eastern Market: purses made from hardcover books. Now, I know bibliophiles may be appalled, and I love books for reading too, but these were quite cool.

I have a couple of boxes of books that have sat around for YEARS waiting to be carted to the used book store ... well, one of them will be a test case. And in this case, the pages will not all go to waste: I cut out some illustrations and plan to decoupage them on the otherwise plain cover.

The toughest part appears to be designing the side gusset, so that the purse will open a bit. Otherwise I'd be limited to a slim billfold and a lipstick.

Also on my agenda: embroidery. I learned how to do this when I was maybe 7 years old, and every so often I pick it up again. It seems to be having a resurgence, what with books like Sublime Stitches or the Chronicle Books kit. I ordered some plain dish towels — talk about retro! And I plan to embroider the felted wool too — I have something in mind for the apple-green purse I plan to make.