Tell me what you think this is.....

Possum (yes, I'm southern, it's possum around these parts- not opossum), badger, or mole?

My oldest son was watching me put together some fleece hats the other day.  I had lots of pieces of paper (don't tell Scott I "borrowed" lots of his computer paper) (with ideas for new fleece animal hats drawn all over them), scattered all over the bed.  He asked me if I could make a possum hat.  I tried, I really did.  I'm just not too sure what it turned out to really be.  You see, this guys isn't even finished yet, he is missing a black, outlined mouth, whiskers, and of course, a liner.  My son wants him to have red eyeballs and blood spotted teeth when it's finished.  Regardless, it has been born, I'm just not sure what it is. At this rate, I'm not even sure when it will be finished with Christmas getting closer and closer....

That's where you come in, tell me what you think it is.You can leave your guess in the comments below.  I'd appreciate it, I really would.

Sewing Daleks, Melvin's makeover, and a yarn obsession....

I'm back! Can you believe it? Live has been too busy or so it has seemed to me. Isn't always busy? I'm beginning to think I have too many pokers in the fire, so to speak!

Everything has been a whirlwind since Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I made quite a bit of handmade goodies over the past couple of months. I tried to make as many Christmas gifts for my side of the family as possible (because they just eat up that sort of thing) and a few things on my hubby's side too. I think, if I remember correctly (and that is a big, "think") the total of handmade items was the following: a quilt for my mother, a quilt for Scott (unfortunately, it still isn't finished- argh), an insulated lunch bag for my sister, and some tapestry purses/totes for my two sister-in-laws and my niece. Everybody else got store bought or gift cards. I did give my other sister a disk of my favorite knitted hat pattern and the circular needles to complete it with (I think that counts as handmade- well, urrrr, sort of).

Speaking of knitting, I have become obsessed. I am still a beginner, (well, maybe an advanced beginner) and I do have a couple of hats under my belt at this point. Add a few scarves to that total too. I started trying to teach myself over a year ago and I guess I've done pretty well up until this point. I'm thankful there are tons of helpful videos out there in cyber world that help when I'm totally lost on a project! I have a few books that have helped too.

I'm constantly finding myself waiting anxiously for those 40% off one item coupons that Hobby Lobby puts out sometimes. Hey, those things can take a bite out of the price of a skein of yarn people. Take a kiddo with you and they can use a coupon too. (That's my little secret to economizing....)

We've had plenty of "knitting" weather too. Our little area of the south recently got 8 inches of fluffy, white stuff. Believe me, it was probably the most exciting event our area will have witnessed for quite sometime. The roads were sheets of ice for almost a week. Four wheelers raced up and down our highway at nighttime (which was a little irritating), schools were canceled, and of all things, I needed to go to the grocery store about 4 days into the icy lock down- geesh. We made it through though.....

During the storm, our tree dude, Melvin, got a makeover courtesy of yours truly.

Our white stuff is gone and we are cautiously awaiting another round of white stuff. After all, it's only January- eeeek!

I had a customer that had asked if I could make a fabric bunny. I tried 4 different times to get the head right and this little guy is the result (the last try too- I'm giving up!!). My son's friend named him Boozle. Boozle is a gender neutral name, I think, so if someone buys him (or her), they will be happy to decide if this particular bunny is a he or a she. Boozle will soon be for sale in the South Carolina Etsy Street Team shop. You can click on over if you want to see if he (or she) has arrived yet.


Remember the title of this post? I mentioned sewing Daleks. I'm not going into a long spill about it, but Daleks are bad guys on the longest running science fiction show, Dr. Who. My husband (and several of the kids) are obsessed with anything Dr. Who. I started Scott a quilt a long time ago and I tried (I really, really, really did try) to get the quilt done before Christmas. I didn't make it but at least a nice looking Dalek was the result.


This is the Tardis panel (what Dr. Who travels in) and the finished Dalek panel. The fabrics shown in the photo are so perfect in matching how the show begins. I bought them a long time ago when our local Walmart closed it's fabric department and had everything 50% off. They have been waiting patiently in my fabric stash up until the day I pulled them out and got to work.


This quilt is the one I finished for my mother. I didn't get to machine quilt it quite like I had wanted (I did the bare minimum) but my mother loved it anyway so it was worth it.




This is my latest little project that takes up all of my extra time. I bought a sock knitting book (Knitting Socks by Ann Budd). I don't know how I've managed to get as far as I have and I wonder if I will ever get a second, matching sock done but I'm going forward with it.


This is my yarn that I chose (Hobby Lobby- 40% off!!) It is a wool, mohair mix and the color changes gradually to a grayish blue to a deep blue so it is interesting. All I can say, is I'm going to have some strange looking knitted socks. (That is if I ever finish the first one and make a second one!)


I found this really neat pattern on how to knit fingerless gloves. It is wonderful because it has step by step with pictures! You can find the pattern on instructables.com. It's the "How to knit close fitting fingerless gloves" pattern.
I knitted mine out of some (very hairy) yarn that my sister brought back from Scotland. I love them and they were a good beginning project for me. I'm planning on making more in the future.

I'm hoping to start back having some tutorials for all sorts of projects soon, so be sure to check back with me.

A Few New Items at Minnie Maes and a Bear in the Works...

Since I made my Bible carrier last week, I stumbled upon the fact that some people like to carry their latest paperback book with them where ever they go. I never thought of this because I guess, I've just never had the time to enjoy a good book at my leisure. I'm the type that hovers, humpbacked over a book, with a maddening look in my eye, and feverishly reading as fast as possible. Why? Because I'm a mom and moms just don't get to read books at leisure. The are interrupted constantly. It's a fact of nature. So, you see, that's why I was quite surprised to the fact that I had lost sight of what was going on around me. Not everyone spends their free time cleaning house, cooking, or figuring out which kiddo went where. Some people sit, relax, and actually consume a book. People actually take books with them to the park, beach, or even the coffee house. Where have I been?!?


I found this fabric on clearance last month and had no idea what it would become until I pictured someone holding it while sitting on a bench underneath a weeping willow tree at the park. It reeked of personality and besides that, it's just plain, cute.


Here is the paperback carrier opened with a Nancy Drew book inside. (Yeah, I have one - make that two- girls that like Nancy Drew). A book carrier comes in handy, not only because you can "carry" your book, but also you can have some privacy. No one will ever suspect that that girl in the park, wearing that pink chiffon dress is reading the latest issue of "Grub worms and Other Fishing Bait"


This is the other paperback carrier that I made from the material left over from my Bible carrier. It's cute, it doesn't call a lot of attention to itself. I think it's practical- more my speed I guess.

This is what it looks like opened and with a book inserted. The inside is a little more colorful than the outside. Hey, kind of like me :)

This is Bessie Pearl the teddy bear. She is, in the making, so to speak. Poor girl, I had just about finished her and ran out of stuffing for her tummy area. So, right now, she's a little on the skinny side. When she is finished, I'm planning on listing her in the South Carolina Etsy Street Team's shop.

I'll be sure to let you all know Bessie Pearl is celebrating her official birthday and when I actually find a copy of Grub Worms and other Fishing Bait to pass on to that girl in the pink chiffon dress......

The week in photos....The Vampire Bunny, UFO's, and some new sewing projects

Vampire Bunny

We had a really great Easter and our Easter dinner and egg hunt were lots of fun ( I ate waaaayyyyy too much) . This cute bunny bread is from a recipe that I had in an old Quick Cooking Magazine from years ago. I misplaced my magazine but I found the link on Taste of Home's site. The link to the recipe for the bunny bread pictured above can be found here. It's super easy but next year I think I'll scale the recipe down to just one batch of bread dough so I'll have more room for the veggies around Mr. Bunny.


I had a few minutes a couple of days before Easter (and some spare cloth scraps) and whipped up this little pocket tissue holder from a pattern that I found on the internet. (Sorry, I'd share the link but I had sewn the holder while the computer was on and later turned the computer off for the day without bookmarking the site- I didn't realize that until later the next day- argh!) Maybe I'll run up on that pattern again.

The only problem is that I don't have a pack of tissues to use inside- so I'll just have to wait until I can remember to buy a pack to see if they actually fit inside! I've got some ideas to make my own pattern with "quilting" and other strange designs that are cooking in my brain. It just might take me awhile to turn those ideas into reality! ....isn't that always the way it goes..... plenty of ideas, just no time to make them come to pass....

I'm keeping this one for myself....

I also found this really cool Bible carrier pattern and knew right away that I had just the right fabric for the job (hence the scraps that went into the tissue holder above). My Bible is a little too small for it but, this was my test model just to see if I could make one. I don't use other people's patterns for anything I sell in my Etsy shop so I'll have to come up with one myself soon as I really enjoyed sewing this one up. I'm planning on changing the tie strings to a buckle type closure with a large button, adding a key ring with a clasp (for holding car keys), and a cell phone pocket. The possibilities are endless as to what they could look like. They could even be made from holiday type fabrics. Hey, I would have used an Easter Bible cover if I had one. Look out, I'd imagine I'll have some interesting choices come Christmas time!

A UFO

I thought I'd share a picture that one of the younger kiddos at our egg hunt took. I have no idea which one did, but they managed to get this photo of a UFO in mid flight in the backyard. (See it? Look near the top center of the photo- it's long and pinky looking) Awe, I know what it is I just thought it was funny that they managed to get a picture of it. I don't know the technical word for the UFO but it is part of a Ladder Ball yard game. Let's just say that these UFO's were flying back and forth a lot that day. No one got beaned in the head by one believe it or not!

Love you Heather... (Now your hurt boo boo is all over the internet...)

We did have one casualty though- well, technically 2-1/2 casualties on Easter Sunday. One kiddo tripped and hurt her toe when she fell and the bandaged toe in the photo above was cut by the teeniest, tiniest, piece of glass. What was the 1/2 casualty you say? I say 1/2 because it wasn't until the next day that the casualty fully blossomed into a full blown case of poison ivy on Go Cart Boy. ( I guess you could say 1/2 since the ivy claimed it's victim on Easter but didn't show up until the next day.)

So how did your week go?

On Going Projects....

Quick! Point to the nearest chili bean! Phew, you made it.

Lately, I've been looking for opportunities to have as many "projects" that the kids can work on in school that they can handle. One such project was one that my 7th grader asked to do. She had found the project in her science book and it kind of went a long with the "wild" garden that is growing on my kitchen counters at this very moment.

The project involved painting 3 seeds with fingernail polish and leaving 3 seeds alone. All were put into jars of water and observed the next morning to see what the fingernail polish had done. Well, the lesson learned was that the seed needed water to penetrate into it, in order to start the germination process. Lesson learned and the girls had lots of fun painting kidney beans with fingernail polish.



A local Walmart store finally bit the bullet and began to close it's fabric department over the past few weeks. They didn't sell enough of the stuff to justify the fabric department's existence. (Could have been the fact that, at anytime of the day, no one was there to actually "cut" the fabric for you and the guy in automotive had no idea how to do it?) Anyway, I picked up 4 yards of homespun (shown in the photo above) for $0.56 a yard! What am I going to do with it? Well, I'm in need of some new cloth napkins for the kitchen. I should be able to make enough to keep us swimming in napkins for a long time. If you are interested in making your own cloth napkins, you can see this old post for a "how to".

As far as other projects, I'm desperately trying to figure out some kind of sewn item that would be good for men. Making things for women are easy- it's men that are the problem for me. Any ideas?

Some Easter Pretties- New At Minnie Maes

Some time ago, we had a flood that, kind of, "affected" a lot of things that we had stored in our basement. To make a long story short, I discovered a box of Easter baskets that had seen better days. I figured that there had to be some way to make a fabric basket that could be washed, folded, and stored for next year. After all, a fabric basket wouldn't take up room in the basement, gather dust, or worse yet, get flooded!

I had no idea how to make one so I started playing around with with my fabric gift bag patterns, and Eureka! I managed to figure out how to make a small basket and made a second one shortly after. Days later, I made a larger version that could hold up to 3 dozen eggs and then I set out to cover the little boy market. After all, little boys hunt eggs too and maybe they don't like girly bunnies and butterflies!

Here are the first three fabric Easter Baskets that I made. They can be found at Minnie Maes if you would like to know more about them.

Here is my "boys" or "tom girls" version.....

Be sure to visit Minnie Maes to see these baskets and lots of other goodies!

It's Done, It's Done, The Quilt Is Done!!!!

On Saturday night, I managed to finished my cousin's quilt. I feel like it was nothing short of a miracle that I was able to finish it but it is over! I know it sounds like I hated sewing the quilt. It wasn't that. It was that Christmas is quickly approaching and I have other things that are distracting me along with my normal activities so it was very hard to stay focused and to squeeze in the time to finish. I had given myself 2 weeks to get it done. I made it in exactly 2 weeks. I only had a slightly cute finger and possibly some carpal tunnel developing from lugging the monster back and forth through my machine but that's ok. I'll live. I am just so very thrilled that it's done!



This is a photo of the "home stretch". I had to move my machine to the kitchen table so I could pull the quilt through and have a large area to work in.


Here it is. I took it to my aunt's house so that my cousin could pick it up the next day. Do you know what? I think they liked it!

It's going to be a long time before I attempt a project of this magnitude again- believe me!

Quilt Update #5 and a sick Moe Moe

Awhile back, I introduced you to our goldfish, Moe Moe. Well, Moe Moe took a turn for the worse Sunday morning which prompted us to rush out to Petsmart and get him "doctored up". The good news is that Moe Moe has made a full recovery from, what I think is called, "dropsy"? Let's just say that the poor guy was lying on his tummy on the bottom of the tank.

We took drastic measures and totally cleaned his tank out (finally threw those pesky, pink rocks out) and now he is happy and swimming again. Apparently, there was a lot of nitrates under those rocks (even though we couldn't see any "nastiness") and they were suffocating our poor, beloved fish. You should have seen the scene Sunday morning, two girlies at our house were hysterical (thus the urgent Petsmart visit).

All is well but the massive tank cleaning (and the Christmas parade) made me put off any quilting until today.

I am happy to announce that the blocks are sewn together, the top and bottom are sandwiching the batting and I have machine quilted a total of 7 blocks. I have (I think), 27 more to go. It's not fun pulling a queen sized quilt through the arm of the sewing machine, over and over, and over again. It might take me a few days but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I simply can not wait to give it to my cousin and her husband by next week. I, basically, bit off more than I could chew in such a short time frame. Let's just say that I'm not making any quilts anytime soon- I'm pretty much burned out.

Hopefully, the next time I report back, I'll have some photos of my progress but since I've been doing most of the sewing at night (and all pictures that I take at night are awful), I promise I'll post some as soon as I can.

Quilt Update #4

In case you are just tuning in, I have been documenting my progress of making my cousin and her new husband a quilt for Christmas, as their wedding gift. I'm, kind of, using my blog to keep myself motivated when I'm having one of those "I want to give up" days.

So here is what is going on now:

All of the blocks are finished! I would have done the happy dance if I hadn't been so tired after it all. Yesterday, I purchased 6 yards of material for the back of the quilt (I sure do hope it's enough). Today, I am taking a break from sewing but I find myself thinking constantly about how to lay out the blocks.

Tomorrow will be the day to start the assembly of the quilt. (That is, once I decide on the pattern layout). I don't have a portable quilting frame so this should get interesting. I do have an idea though. I'm thinking that I'm going to put the rows together with the "quilt as you go" method. That way, I have a smaller area to work with and the backing will not get "bunched" up as easily. My next step will be to get a large embroidery hoop to use to keep the sections tight as I pull the massive monster through the machine. If anyone knows of an easier way, please let me know. I'm the queen of making do so I'm going to make this work regardless.

Well, there you have it, tomorrow is the big day of sewing. It feels like I'm coming to the end of a treacherous journey. The only casualty so far is a slight little "nick" from the rotary cutter. Not bad I guess. I hope I get a lot done on the quilt tomorrow.. Wish me luck.

Quilt update #3

7 more blocks are finished and 4 more are started. I stayed up too late. I'm obsessed with finishing this quilt in the next coming week. Today, I'm going to look for the backing fabric and do some calculating to figure out how much I need.

Can I do it? Who knows. I'm not ready to give up.

The Backyard Flood and Some More Quilting

We got some rain yesterday. See the right and left sides of the walkway? Mulch used to be there. Now it's out in the side yard.


This is the temporary lake that formed in the bottom of the backyard.


I like to call this the meandering creek that formed through the same part of the backyard. We always thought that a creek would look mighty pretty down there.


Here is the river that was gushing down the hill. This water was coming from our neighbor's backyard (which was in a much worse condition than the lake that formed in our yard.)



The other day, I said that I would hold myself accountable to finishing a Christmas quilt for my cousin and her new husband. Well, I have worked on it now for 4 days. Last night (until after midnight-mind you) I finished a total of 9 more blocks. That brings the total up to 24 blocks now. I was curious at how many more I needed so I laid them out on the floor to get an idea. I figure that I'll need two more columns to finish up. I'd love to add a total of 3 more but I'm running out of some of the fabric and with it being this close to Christmas, I doubt I'll find anymore to match what I have. This is what the blocks look like arranged all the same way.


This is what they look like arranged in a different pattern. I can't make up my mind as to which way I like better. Any ideas? I'd love to hear what you think. The way in the above picture kind of struck me as more "patchwork" looking so I'm kind of leaving towards it. On the other hand, I like the tradition way in the former picture too. See? I'm hopeless when it comes to deciding the best pattern.

Looks like I need a total of 18 more blocks to finish. If I can make 9 more tonight and 9 tomorrow, that leaves me Saturday to buy the backing fabric. I can then start on sandwiching the blocks (I'm going to do the quilt as you go method- hey, I'm running out of time here!). I'll still have to quilt the individual block pieces but I may be able to handle that on the machine. (gulp....maybe)

Best case scenario, I'll have it done in one week. Worst case scenario, I panic with the quilting part and give in and "tie" the quilt together with embroidery floss. I'm hoping I don't have to tie it but that is an option if something happens to keep me from staying on schedule.

Well, there you have it. I sure hope I can pull this off. I'm ahead of schedule so far as I had originally planned to finish at least 6 blocks and so far, I've done more than that, all but one night.

We'll just have to see what happens next!

New Critters and Some Accountability

Here is the latest creation to be added to Minnie Maes. This is Ardy Stoorworm. He was born on Black Friday after his brother Rupert found a new home.

I think he has bewitching eyes.....

All the boys in the neighborhood want him for their very own too. I like him so much, I almost hate to add him to the teddy bear tub for safe keeping until he gets that new home.



This adventurous project has been long in waiting. Back in August, my cousin got married. I promised her a quilt. Guess what? I never had time to start it. Well, I have battened down the hatches and I am determined to get her a quilt done BEFORE Christmas! (2 weeks before to be exact). I had no idea as to what she liked as far as "her style" of things so I opted to play it safe and make her a Christmas quilt. She seemed very pleased to hear of that idea so, a Christmas quilt it will be!

I'm going to hold myself accountable for getting this quilt done in two weeks maximum. That's it- no more time than that. I'll be coming back to the blog here from time to time and report my progress.

This might work out pretty well for me because I get obsessive when it comes to making a quilt. I kind of, can't stop until it's done. You know, besides, eating, sleeping, teaching school, and possibly picking up here and there.


It's going to be a log cabin pattern and obviously is made up of various Christmas patterned fabrics.

Here is where it stands now: Day one- fabric was washed, dried, and ironed. Strips were cut of each fabric.
Day Two- 6 of the blocks shown in the photo above were assembled and sewn.
Day Three- 9 blocks were assembled and sewn. More strips of fabric were cut and readied for tomorrow..... (If I can assemble and sew a minimum of 6 blocks per day, I just might make my 2 week deadline to have the quilt finished!)

That brings me to a total of 15- 14" blocks. My cousin has a queen sized bed so I really have no idea how many I'm going to need. (I need to study on that one) All I do know is, that I am going to need a lot of blocks if the entire quilt will be made of blocks. If I run out of momentum and time, I might end up putting borders around each block. So, it's just too early to tell what I'll do at this point. The determining factor will be how far I can go with the cloth I purchased because some of the prints are probably gone from the stores now and I can't run to get more if needed.


I did take a couple of hours to make some extra business card holders, two check book covers, and a new wallet (that still needs a snap- that pesky snap assembly I had, has hidden itself from me!) None of these items are available in my Etsy shop yet- I just can't find the time to photograph them, let alone get them listed. Maybe soon.


The blue flame fabric that Ardy the dragon is made from, gave the impression that a poison dart frog would look nice made from it. Well, here is the poison dart frog. I haven't named him yet but he will have a new name soon if and when I decide to list him at Minnie Maes.

So there you have it- some serious sewing is going on. Stay tuned for updates on the quilt. I'm hoping that holding myself accountable on this blog, will give me inspiration to keep going.

To Crochet or To Knit........

I recently figured out that I can't sit still. I'm not hyperactive by no account. It's just that if I sit still, I quickly start thinking of all of the things that I could be doing that need to be done and I feel really guilty for wasting time. Know what I mean? Anyway, I figured that if I was going to sit still, maybe I should be doing something somewhat constructive. Hey, my mother in law was wanting to learn how to make dish cloths so I figured I'd give it a try and maybe we could practice together. The problem is, neither of us have a clue as to where to begin. Maybe crochet is the "constructive" thing that I could do while I sit still (if that happens very often).

I started my learning process at my local Walmart by picking up a book that is "supposed" to teach you how to crochet. I say supposed because I'm wanting to blame the book for my mistakes (and there are a gazillion of them). The book probably does a good job at explaining things. I'm the one that is not understanding those instructions at all.

Things started off pretty good. This is a chain stitch. So far, so good.

Still doing OK here.....

This is the finished product. I'm really good at making something look good when it's not, don't I? I folded it over to hide where I tried several different stitches, got stuck doing a chain stitch again for no reason, and totally bombed when it came to "finishing". And yes, this dishcloth would give even a geometry teacher a headache if you saw it lying flat. I guess that I shouldn't complain since it is a first try, it took two days to make, I answered the phone a total of 6 times during the making of it, I had to get up 19 times each time I got started, and I almost burned supper (twice!).

Will I try again, maybe. Right now, I've switched back to trying to learn how to knit. So far, I can cast on easily. Let's just see what happens next.....

Happy Bunnies and a Scary Pony

I found this super cute bunny and lime green fabric the other day on a clearance table. I fell in love with it and set out to make my first diaper bag to sell in my Etsy shop. The picture above the end result. I looked at a lot of patterns and picked out the features that I liked the most for this prototype. This bag is unlined (in the photo, it's stuffed with a couple dish towels) but any that I make in the future will be lined with batting so they will stand up by themselves. There are 6 pockets on the outside of the bag and it does have a zipper on top. The pattern that I came up with could be turned into a purse if desired but I'm not sure if people would want pockets on the outside of their bag or not!


I have this ongoing project that I have been working on for almost a year. That project is what I call, "patchwork ponies". This patchwork pony was made from some scraps leftover from the diaper bag above. This pony is my latest disaster. The poor thing can't even stand up on it's own so I'm forced to go back to the drawing board again. One of these days I'll finally get those pony legs right- or at least I sure do hope so.

Anyone out there that has made a stuffed creature with 4 legs that can give me some advice, I would really appreciate it!

The Big Pile Of Lizard Looking Stuff Finally Takes Shape

Remember some time ago when I mentioned that I was working on this big pile of lizard looking stuff?




Here is that "lizard looking stuff" transformed into a stuffed dragon. Isn't he cute! I know that he needs eyeballs but my button stash just didn't have anything that would justify his overall "cuteness" so he is eyeball-less for now. If you remember, I had lost two important pattern pieces to this guy so I opted to take my son's dragon apart and trace his pieces. Hooray, I now have a complete set of pattern pieces now and I can start making some of these guys to sell! My next problem is that I just can't seem to find the perfect fabric for the next one I'm going to make. This lizard patterned fabric is something that I bought long ago and I haven't seen it since, so "lizard scales" are out of the question. I'm eyeballing some "flame" fabric at the store right now.

Here is a side view. I wanted you to see his cute tail (that is an absolute monster to sew). I changed how his head is attached (which is much more sturdy now). When I finished putting him back together, I put fresh stuffing in and then handed him back over to his owner. My son laughed and said that his dragon now looked like he was "expecting".

I'm On A Sewing Roll- Believe It Or Not!

It all started with this pile of "stuff". I've found that it's much easier to cut everything out and get it ready before I try to put something together. I finally figured out this little fact the hard way. Don't you just love that red? Sometimes I browse through the fabric department and something catches my eye. That red certainly did. That cute argyle was in a remnant bin- can you believe it?

A gazillion steps were missed by the time I took this picture but you get the idea that it's in the "rough" stage by looking at the edges. The stuffed puppy in the top right corner was a strategically placed distraction by Roly Polley Girl to try and get me to stop sewing. It didn't work.

Once, I got up to unplug the iron and looked down at the floor. I make big messes when I sew. (Ask my vacuum cleaner. It may never recover from the thread wrapped around the beaters.) This was the debris left over after I picked most of it up.

After that, I proceeded to attach the metal snaps. Oh how I detest putting in metal snaps. They aren't very nice to me........not to mention the fact that my hammer ran off twice (thank you Roly Polley Girl) and I had to rescue it. It's funny, usually when I put one of these together, I worry more about someone getting burned on the iron. This time, the only casualty was the poor iron cord that got sucked up by the vacuum. Oh yeah, and Scott counts as a casualty too. He was the one that sucked the cord up with the vacuum. When that happened, the iron fell off of the table and hit his foot. He survived to tell the tale so don't worry.

This is what the finished wallet looks like open. It has 6 pockets with vinyl label holders and three debit/credit card holders in the middle. There is also a zippered pocket for loose change.

How about that? It only took 2 hours, wrapped up string on the vacuum beaters, a runaway hammer, and a smashed foot. Not bad for a day's work I guess.

By the way, this cute wallet (that I almost kept for myself) is currently listed (if I don't change my mind about keeping it....) at Minnie Maes in case you are interested.