DIY and Book Review: Yoga Mat Bag!

I am back from China!  So, as I'm slowly getting over jet lag and a reluctance to do anything productive, I managed to tackle an item from my list of things to do: Sew a bag for my yoga mat.

Fortunately, I remembered seeing a tutorial in a book I bought a couple of years back, called, Simple Sewing: Patterns and How-To for 24 Fresh and Easy Projects by Lotta Jansdotter.  I bought the book because of a 40% coupon I had at JoAnn's one day and I was impressed with the cute designs and the simplicity of the patterns throughout.  This was my first time actually trying a tutorial, however (I know, after two years! I'm a bit of a procrastinator sometimes).

The first step was deciding on what fabrics I wanted to use.  I didn't want to go for something too simple.... I thought this project was a great opportunity to go for some really fun patterns!  For the bulk of the piece, I stumbled across a maxi skirt in my closet that I originally found at a thrift store months back-- I've always loved the bright floral on black pattern, but the fit of the skirt was awful, so I thought it was the perfect candidate for the focal point of my bag!  It was a little difficult to cut it evenly, because of the tapered panels, but I managed to make it work.  The rest of the fabric, I took as remnants from other projects I've done.

I tweaked the dimensions from the tutorial a bit, so that I could utilize a bigger pocket for my gloves/keys/phone, and I added a flap with a magnetic closure (I can get a little paranoid about things falling out, since I'm prone to have that happen).

It closes with a draw cord, which I was lucky enough to just have a spare one lying around.  I went a little fancy and kept the ends a bit long, threading a few wooden beads to the cords, to dress it up a little bit.

All in all, I was incredibly happy with how easy the tutorial was to follow and how great my bag turned out!  This is definitely inspiration for me to start doing more of the projects from the book (some great gift ideas, for sure).  I can't wait to start bringing my new bag to class!

*Sings the Sparrow

On a slow boat to....

China!  I'm headed to Beijing, precisely, in T-Minus one and a half-something weeks.  (Okay, so maybe not that precise.)  It's crazy how fast it's all happening.  One minute I'm unemployed; the next minute I'm unemployed and going to China!  Or at least, I will be unemployed for the 3.5 weeks I'll be out of the country, which shall be interesting, considering how tight my budget is already.  At the same time, I'm not worried, and I know I'm doing exactly what I'm meant to be doing (at least for now).

Staying with my mom's sister and her immediate family, I am beyond excited to see my cousins again -- it's been over ten years.  My mom just informed me that one of my cousins has a piano in his photography studio.  Why?  I'm not really sure, because he doesn't play the piano, but for some reason, it immediately warmed my heart.  The comfort of a piano is the comfort of home.

So, naturally, these next coming weeks will be full of traveling updates from me and I'm clearing a bunch of storage in my iphone so I can take as many pictures as I can.  I contemplated bringing my DSLR but it would be just one more thing to worry about packing and subsequently losing on my flight across the world.  I'm all about packing as minimally as possible, if I can help it.  I'm also crossing my fingers that my cousin will show me around his studio and let me experiment with some of his expensive equipment.  

Also, my mom, who is as much of a clothes horse as I am, made me promise to come back with my suitcases full.  That translates to: pack lightly on your way there and make sure your aunt buys me new clothes that you can bring to me on your way back.

Will do, Mom.  Will do.

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Now on tumblr: singsthesparrow.tumblr.com

Bella Bear on a Blog!

My friend, Becca, at Hot Diggity just featured Bella as their dog of the month!  Go check it out :)  Thanks, Becca!

All the.....small things....

I have known this about myself for a long time, but I so rarely declare it:  I love clothes.

And with my recent thrift store obsession, I have found that more than clothes, what I really love is looking inside a thrift store and finding an awesome piece of clothing I couldn't find anywhere else.  There is something so satisfying about rummaging through all of the dusty useless objects people have discarded throughout the years, and seeing a diamond in the rough.

I went up to Loveland, CO to see my good friend and she was convinced that the ARC was one of the best places to find awesome used clothes.  I'm pretty spoiled by the Unique Thrift by my parents' house, but was excited nonetheless to see something potentially great.  Lo and behold....

There was definitely the typical:

and

,

BUT, I managed to find a great vintage piece that fit me like a glove:

.

So excited.  

Boxing Day?

One of my favorite things to do on a beautiful day like today is walk my dog from my house to the park, sit on a bench, and just be-- look out at the lake, watch the people walking by, write in my journal...  It seems like an "old man" thing to do, I know, but something about it brings about a sense of calm to me that can't be accomplished any other way.  As great as it would have been to see snow on Christmas, I was grateful for a beautiful and sunny post-Christmas day.

I think the last time I saw so many geese and ducks on the lake was when I lived in Germany.  My dad was in the army then and was stationed there when I was 3 years old to 5.  So.... that was over ten years ago.  NO..... twenty years ago!  Something about my memories in Germany brings me to a different, almost ethereal, place.  Back then, I didn't have a lot of places to call home, considering we were moving around so much due to my dad's job,  but Germany, the way I look back on it now, was definitely the closest thing I had to that "home" feeling as a child.

My best Christmas memory was in Germany, when Santa (and a scarecrow-- I don't know if it's the culture, or if they couldn't come up with any other costume) came to the door with a brand new Safari Barbie.  And then my dad came home not an hour later with the giraffe to match.  The best part, I think, was when my parents started laughing at how unplanned it all was.

So, the park definitely reminds me of Germany.  Maybe that's why I love it so much.  Now, if I could just get Bella to stop eating the goose poop off the ground....

Today will hopefully be a momentous day when I can finally say everything is listed on etsy.  Either today or tomorrow.

Christmas Time is Here....

Merry Christmas.

First things first... I posted all of my wallets on etsy.  More to come tomorrow, like some of my jewelry and cards.  I wish I had the time to do all of this before the holiday season, but I'm satisfied to finally get part of this done.

So far, my Christmas has been pretty low key, as they tend to be.  I went over to celebrate with my parents yesterday, and they gave me the GPS I've been asking for the 2 years.  So glad I don't have to worry about my lack of direction, at least when I'm driving, anymore.

I decided this Christmas, I would intentionally seek out solitude.  Christmas, for most people, is a time when they get together with their families, open presents, and whatnot.  For me, it's never been a huge deal.  I never had a Santa Claus or a big morning ceremony to wake up for.  Usually my mom had to work.  This year was no exception.  I went to my parents' house and found my mom asleep on the couch and my dad's car gone.

My dad's brother passed away three days ago, hit by a drunk driver while he was going on a walk, and my mom decided Christmas eve was the appropriate time to tell me, I guess.  Not that I was close to him-- I met him once when I was in Korea one summer during high school.  But it did make me think....

The true meaning of Christmas is.... more than presents and more than family, even.

If I could articulate my words more eloquently, I would.  But for now, I'm going to continue to reflect in solitude.  On beauty.  On life.  On love.  On sacrifice.  On the meaning of it all.

'Tis the season to be....

It was an eventful week, to say the least.  An even more eventful Sunday.  I woke up to find that someone had stolen the CDs from the front dash of my car and the cord to plug in my iPod.  It was more of an inconvenience than anything else.  Ironically, they had taken my gloves out of my glove compartment and had placed them neatly on the passenger seat.  They also neglected the CDs I had in the back seat, but made sure to take my 9v batteries.  LAME.

Besides that beautiful little surprise, I had a wonderful weekend.  I watched my friends in The Say So rock it at The Summit Music Hall on Friday, played a show for the IPO, and went downtown for Jessica Christie's birthday (check out her photos).

Subsequently, I'm behind in posting items on etsy, but managed to put a couple up today.   After Tuesday, things should slow down in my life quite a bit, so hopefully it won't be too long before everything's up, finally!

Vintage Flower Envelope Wallet
Dusty Blue Cloth Wallet (relisted)

Throw the yule blog on, Uncle John.

Black and White Wallet with Yellow Rosette

It's like a switch turns on immediately after Thanksgiving is over.  We're inundated with holiday wreaths and Christmas music like it's been hiding around the corner, waiting to jump out at us all along.  All of a sudden, I freak out a bit, realizing that I hadn't put much thought into what I'm getting or making for whom, and I'm behind on Christmas shopping before the season's even began.

However, I love the warm and nostalgic feeling Christmas gives me.  I have fond memories of watching all of the famous TV specials, drinking non-alcoholic eggnog, and trading Hanson CDs with my best friend in middle school.  That being said, I need to remember to....just...breathe.

All Hallow's Eve

So it's the day before Halloween and I'm finally getting around to updating....

Amidst going back to work, moving to a new place, and just life in general, I'm back :)  And much more to show you very very soon.

That said, I put up a picture of the fruit pizza I made for last night's housewarming party.  Without the energy to cook anything this morning for breakfast, I managed to consume the last of it for my first meal of the day...