That Fabric Box

I couldn't post anything about that fabric box because I wanted it to be a surprise for Joanna. However, that thing was so weird to make! It has Timtex type interfacing in it to make it stiff - as it needs to be to make it useful as a box, but then when it came time to satin stitch around the top of the box to finish it off I was stumped. How do you sew around the top of a box that you cannot squish to get it under the needle when it is too tall to set one side on the table and still have one side under the needle?? Here is what we came up with: I had to take the removable part off to create a smaller arm and then put the machine on a CD player box. It was a balancing act to make sure that enough weight of the machine was on the box so that it didn't tip over when I sewed with it! It was a great learning experience! If I had made the box any smaller, I couldn't have finished it though.

I am also very pumped because I got myself some new slippers. Now I know that slippers have nothing to do with crafting at all, but these are so darn cute that I just have to share!! When I went Christmas shopping last week, I found them and got them for myself. (I mean, what is giving to others without at least a little splurge for myself????) Check out these things:

I don't even pretend to understand that pre-teen culture enough to know why sock monkeys are so popular these days, but I really like these. And since my old slippers were literally shredding on the bottoms because I had worn them out, this splurge was definitely justified! Don't you think?