White orchid blossoms and some more bloomin’ handbags

Please send prayers and good thoughts to the Houston area. My friends and family are safe so far, thank God, but the flooding is getting worse. Thank you!

One of my phals has been budding for several weeks and I couldn’t remember what color it was. It finally blossomed last week and it is a beautiful white with a yellow throat.

It was a Kroger rescue. It looked pretty bad when I bought it (half price). It had rotting roots and some fungus on the potting medium. I pulled it out of its pot, cut away the rotting roots, sprayed it well with Listerine, and sprinkled them with cinnamon. Then I gently repotted it with new growing medium. I also cut bigger holes in the sides of the clear pot to let it get some air to the roots. I have to water it twice a week, but it’s worth it to get these blooms.

While the phal was growing its buds I was making hats and purses and one wallet. The hats aren’t ready yet. They’re by my sewing machine about half-done. I did get two purses finished and to the Appalachian Arts Craft Center last week. 

Buttercup Bag pattern by Made by Rae.
Necessary Clutch Wallet and Marichel Hobo bag by RLR Creations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Marichel Hobo by RLR Creations is made from an outdoor fabric and a very soft black vinyl. I used the same fabric and vinyl on the wallet and a wonderful map fabric–Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Expedition Multi–on the interior. I used repurposed cotton webbing belts for the straps on both bags. I love these for straps because they are reusing something discarded and they don’t slip on your shoulder like quilting cotton or vinyl. 

 

The smaller striped bag is the Buttercup Bag from Made by Rae.    It’s a small bag and won’t get too heavy, but it’s large enough to hold the necessities. 

The Necessary Clutch Wallet by EmmalineBags is one of my favorites. It holds everything I need in a wallet and more. However, my daughter says it’s too big. I’m going to force myself to make some smaller bifold wallets and some trifolds for men. 

Eiko and I have about one more week before Eiko’s show. I’d better get back to sewing.

Hats, hats & more hats..

I really hope some of these hats sell. We have less than 6 weeks now before Eiko takes them to her show out-of-state and we swapped hats for more woven fabric this morning.  She is weaving like crazy and I’m making hats, trying to keep them original and attractive. Handwoven fabric is a challenge to sew. It is beautiful. I love Eiko’s color choices and weaving patterns, but one of the fabrics kept getting caught on the feed dogs and the presser foot. 

I think they are all cute. I hope someone else does too!

Here are some new pics of the sun hat I made earlier after I stiffened the brim a bit with topstitching and removed the flower pin. 

Butterflies and Alligators and Otters, Oh My!

I wrote a bit about the Chattanooga Aquarium last time, but I want to add more about the wonderful stuff that we saw there. First, the buildings are beautiful. You can see pictures of them on their website as I forgot to take any photos of the outside. There are lots of skylights that remind me of the Sidney Opera House for some reason. And when I think of the Sidney Opera House, I think of Finding Nemo which totally brings me back to the Aquarium. Great how that works, huh?

The interior is bright and airy. It has escalators and elevators and the only place inaccessible with a stroller is the Butterfly Garden. The butterflies are amazing, especially the Blue Morphos. They were too fast to get a good picture, but I managed to capture some meager ones. 

Look Closely at the Blue Morphos in the picture. You will need to enlarge the photo. They’re on the left
Blue Morpho blur at bottom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Blue Morphos are in front of the whiteboard in this photo.

The Morphos are the largest butterflies, but some of the smaller ones were SOOOOO colorful! 

One older boy–probably about 11–got one to sit on his finger. He actually walked around with it on his finger and the butterfly never budged. It was a magical place. 

To see the otters, you will have to either visit the aquarium or see them on the website. I almost made it to them before they all climbed out of camera range, but I would have had to run over a little one to get the shot. By the time I got to them, they had all gone to the top of the “cliff” and seemed to grin at me in defiance. Just kidding. They were really cute. 

BUT, the alligators were more cooperative. One even posed with a turtle. A long-necked turtle. I’m still wondering how the turtle kept his head while sitting next to an alligator. 

Can you spot the white alligator? It’s centered pretty well.
The brave little turtle and his alligator room-mate.
Barely showing gator like bumps on the water.

And to top off the trip, there were penguins, even penguins for small boys to wrestle.