A quick and easy pencil case

One of the things on the long list of stuff for the floral fancy workshop was a pencil and a fabric marking pen. Clearly I had pencils, but the fabric marker was on my shopping list - I decided that I needed a pencil case to put them in, and as I wasn’t sure exactly what the pencil was for I also looked out a rubber and a pencil sharpener (I like to be prepared!).

I do have a pencil case, two in fact, but they have a variety of pens in. And I could have emptied one out, as I did for the Adult Learning courses, but I also realised that once again the answer could quite easily be that I needed a new one to take out with me, rather than the ones I had for storage!

So after a quick internet search I found the free tutorial for an easy pencil case on the Merriment Design blog. Doubly useful as earlier whilst looking for something else I found a square of felt which I could use, and of course my eBay stash of zips was bound to have something I could use.

As it turned out there was a zip that exactly matched the colour of the bright yellow felt square. I also had a piece of material left from the gift tag pouches, which is cute even though it’s a Christmas fabric, technically.

Starting to sew

This pouch is a departure from my more usual pouch style, and has a more traditional pencil case look to it, although the zip is on the front rather than the top. The free tutorial was also easy to follow, and I think in total I made this in well under an hour, which is pretty good.

And yes, the yellow isn’t perhaps a natural choice to go alongside this material, but I like it (though as you’ll know I do like bright colours and have always liked yellow!). I’m also a fan of these super long zips, as they make it much easier for a zip novice like me. But using an extra long zip and then cutting it down to size has been a game changer in these pouches - I’m not sure the same approach would work for dressmaking though, but I’m happy to be corrected.

As you can see I did go for the quick and rough and ready approach, and I’m ok with that.

I didn’t press anything as I went, and I used the thread which was already on the machine - but no matter as I still ended up with a fab new pencil case.

And yes, I’m even using a couple of the ‘procrastination pencils’ - the messages on them are great, these two say: ‘you can’t possibly work in an untidy room and ‘you probably need another coffee’ - both of which can be very true!

Post Comment Love 7 - 9 February

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed from the linky, and if older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

Things are starting to feel more normal here, finally. I’ve even started the 12 Days of Abs which had been my plan for January, and having a bad cough really made the point for this kind of workout! Yesterday was the first day, and while it’s only 12 minutes, I think I’m going to feel it - but I knew I would.

My photo this week is of some gorgeous buttons which I picked up in a new-to-me shop in Newark. I’d popped into an independent card shop, which I suspect has been trading for many years, to see if they sold stamps. They didn’t, so I thought while I was there I’d have a quick look round and was surprised to find a small craft section.

This pack of bright yellow buttons stood out to me - so much so that I don’t think I looked at what else there was since I spotted them, so they were clearly coming home with me. And all this vintage loveliness for a pound - and I need to go back to see what else I missed out on, I really did have a mission once I’d spotted these!

Have a great week.

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My garden in January

Another short winter garden post this month understandably as most of the time we’ve spent in the garden is either walking to the car or emptying the bins - but I have enjoyed viewing the garden from the house.

And with frosts like these it’s hardly surprising is it?

Thankfully the plants seem to have taken the wintery weather pretty well - though it looks as if I’ve lost the sickly rosemary which I planted in the outside border, I’d hoped it would be able to turn itself around out of the wind, but it was not to be. The other plant that’s looking decidedly dodgy is the one midway in the border below (to the right of the three concrete balls). It’s got a variegated leaf and it really doesn’t look too happy - if it makes it, and I’m hopeful it may, then I think I’ll pop it into a pot and see how it does, as maybe the rootball is restricted somehow.

We had a large leaf blowing around our garden, and neither MOH or I could work out if it was actually a leaf or some cardboard. It turned out to be a very large leaf indeed - I’ve not seen other leaves like this, so I wonder how far it had blown.

The pots of daffodils and tulips are starting to do their thing and poke their shoots through the surface. I was glad to have spotted this as a couple of the tulip pots were double stacked, which clearly wouldn’t have been a good thing - though I’m sure the tulips would have tried their bendy best to seek out the light and grow!

Last March I’d bought some snowdrops in the green and had planted them in the border which we look out over from the house, and was wondering where they’d got to. Towards the end of the month I spotted some potential snowdrop activity, then overnight a single snowdrop appeared.

Since then this one has been joined by a few more, and the second clump is also showing signs of growth - hopefully they’ll really come into their own during February (and of course in the years ahead), but they are a good reminder that spring is on its way, however slowly that may feel at times.