I bought you an iPhone !

This is what I made for Miles for his grad day.
And I'm gonna make more ...
Leather case trimmed with vintage Fender guitar braid. Perfect size for...iPhone, and all that i stuff...or go old school...money, cassette tape, coins for candy, bus pass, or joints.
Whatev'.

Yeah, I handmade the Fred Flinstone iPhone from cardboard and drew it by hand...It's analog.

Road trip...

a sunny day for sewing !

Sometimes you feel like a short bag.
Sometimes you feel like a cross-body.
Translation.....
Dilemma solved!

If  you're  hanging out, seeing the sights.....shopping for a few things, you want a bag  you can put up on your shoulder...
If you're in a casual mood, being busy.....wanting to keep your hands free...to carry coffee, to carry stuff, to look thru piles of things.....well, you  want a cross-body bag. Er, uh, tote bag.

The long strap looped thru and buttoned.

then if you choose,  pull the strap farther thru the loop and button it shorter.
I made the straps wide...so they'll feel good resting on the shoulder.

I've never been completely happy with those Yawn! metal slide mechanisms that every bagmaker uses...so, as per usual for me...in addition to using fun and  unique blends of mix and match fabrics and prints.....and of course...there is a lot of recycling going on........

so, not only did I give my anything-but-boring line of tote bags/purses a sense of humor, but I invented a simple changeability feature to go to from a shoulder to a long-strap tote...using buttons...
Vintage buttons of course!

always with the vintage buttons....

This is the road map fabric, lined in a weird novelty fabric. Some in this series have ticking stripes..some have solid moire. They're lined so they have body, yet aren't completely stiff.
They can carry the daily......or even a laptop...or your electronic book....(i  Pad)

Here's a typical view of the inside....pockets....and a loop that flips over the top and buttons closed.

The other side is a recycled pair of pants with big pockets.....the better to keep things in ..my dear!
Each in the series is slightly different....yet they're all roomy and easy to take care of....made of cotton or cotton blends.......They wash and dry by machine. Yes.

*****The next set of tote bags I'm working on are Bike bags...tie ons for the handle bars, or they can be tied on a belt too.*****

There's always a bit of lace and lots of topstitching too. I make sure it's all sturdy, and I really love my signature loopy stitching at the edges.

and....tho there are lots of pockets to keep the keys handy...to stash the transit card, the lipstick, the hanky.....
I made little zipper pouch purses to go with...
these are handy for a billion things!

each is a mix and match of cute, sweet, romantic, sharp and quirky cotton and cotton blend fabrics, laces and ribbon......some have vintage metal zippers....some have vintage nylon zippers.

my label in muslin....

They're about 7" x 7" or so. They're machine wash and dry...
or hang to dry......whatev'

The Bugs Eye view

Poppies......stamens and pistil

pollen....

The bug and I see the mossy stick talking to the oh so slightly bored pinecone....

Cherokee Purple tomato....fluted and so tiny....

tiny bell pepper....

tiny tiny lawn posy......

Johnny Jump up....peach and lilac with delicate hand-painted eyelashes ;-)

a little baby bud...watched over by Mom..

My Wattle...

as time goes by, I'm acquiring a wattle, and a waddle....but here's the kind I really love!

photo and Mother Earth news article

That's a wattle fence....woven sticks....almost any kind will do....I think the most common is willow....wouldn't that be nice!
I haven't the time right now to weave my sticks...and I have a lot of sticks in my yard...because I have..several locust trees..and as lovely as they are and they are...^^^^
they are notorious for their rather brittle wood...so, every wind blowing harder than 30 miles an hour, litters my yard with twigs and branches. Which is fantastic! Here's what I did with some of them....
I made a Lazy-Lady Wattle fence...

I decided to make a bit of a woodland garden here between the locusts. I think the skeleton laying in the bed is kinda funny...with the bike and my salvaged beach find...No Wake.
get it. dead guy, no wake...nevermind...:-(

I gathered the sticks and stacked them...I pull the grass and dandelions as I feel like it. I've planted a foxglove, a pretty poppy, and a few seeds so we'll see what comes up.
There's ivy regrowing in the bed...and when the house was being "remodeled" the gold shag carpet was tossed here, in this bed. I shudder, and get real angry when I think of what this yard used to look like...I guess it was full of deutzia, viburnum, hundreds of daffs and lilies, all the best mid-century old fashioned things to grow...just pulled out when a House Flipper fucked it up. What I think was here...will be another post...with pretty pictures!

Just stacked sticks...pretty effective...the flowers will fill in...and by fall it'll be real purty....

and here's night ...with purple lights....

Here's 2 wattle fence ideas from England...which is where I think this originated..it's been around as long as humans had some time on their hands, and a big pile of sticks...

It was a sunny day....and a thing of beauty....

it's a fairy tale...living here...
and here's the castle...On a bike ride thru the kingdom...and the queendom......
Stadium High...

what a great idea ! a view for when the action on the field gets boring...and if we're talking sports...and I am...it's always boring.
 Wow...look at the blue water...the line of low hills...the ships on the bay....
hey look...the lily of the valley is in bloom.....
and so is the ...version by Queen...

a pretty glade of English bluebells (Endymion non-scriptus ).....
 Endymion was a handsome shepherd boy of Asia Minor, the mortal lover of the moon goddess  Selene. Each night he was kissed to sleep by her.

and a poem by Keats.....

Endymion

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

and on the way home, biking down 6th Ave.... the dude abides...and he's enjoying his coffee.....

my bikes strapped on the car ...which seems odd. Just ride there, OK !

The Lilacs Progress, and a story of perseverance

Finally open and they have a scent that is the breath of the tiniest angels....
Lilacs...Syringa vulgaris.
These are the wild original lilacs we all know. There are many hybrids that bloom in pink, blue and shades of lilac...and even yellow......with blossom floret sprays that are larger and there's more of 'em. They come in doubles and all sizes, and for almost any climate.
But this is one of the 2 old-fashioned bushes in my yard....

Here they are in early March....a bundle of sticks.....with the tiniest bits of leaf and flower. All winter they were ...sticks. I always wonder in December "Will you still love me?" "Will you come back to me?"

Finally ! they begin to open and lengthen...swelling ...with lots of purple delight!
This is mid-April.

Late April...they lengthen even more...in spite of the really cold days....

And the leaves are getting leafier.... Late April.

2 weeks later ...a week past 2011 Mother's Day....they open!
Why did I mention Mother's Day...well....
I always ask for a bouquet of lilacs on my bedside table on the morning of Mother's Day....I can't remember a Mother's Day...when I couldn't have them....they open for me on Mother's Day or shortly before.
Not this year....This year, open on May 12th....

In full leaf and bloom....not as many blooms as the hybrids....but I'll take 'em!
So fleeting...I wait for them...I remember them...I adore them.
One of the garden's rare pleasures...
and worth the wait for 2 weeks of glory....

-------------------------  A tale of Perseverance   --------------------------

We know this as wild hyancinth, virginia blue bells, Scilla ....but they are actually Endymion non-scriptus, and also known as English bluebell...and they do go wild. You see them everywhere....pretty, and dependable, and in a rare blue...with a touch of lilac.....Blue is the rarest color in the flower world.

I mowed over it a few times as you can see by the ragged ends of the leaves. But...due to the rains I wasn't able to mow the grass as often as I wanted......so in the week that I didn't mow...The Flower popped up! So, I carefully dug it up and put it out in my woodland garden between the trio of locust trees....

It bloomed. It lived. I believe it will come back next year...
The woodland garden bed...
It looks like not much here....a collection of stuff...but I'm working on it....I believe. I'll persevere. This yard has great soil. It was once a lovely yard I'm sure...I've found the remnants of what it was...
To be continued......
;-)