Two to zig-zag and one for Me
As I mentioned yesterday, we spent Thanksgiving afternoon at home, the weather being too nasty for us. Interestingly enough, along the way we noted that pipeline construction over the several bridges was under way with dozens of vehicles and safety hatted/vested workers at each bridge. On Friday, there were no vehicles and no workers—was it the release of the oil from the reserves? or was it no train traffic on Thanksgiving day? Either way, it had to have been a miserable day working in that rain and chill wind.
However, I worked on these two books.
In our younger years with young boys and trips to family and for some of my CME events, in addition to clothing and toiletries, they each had a ‘fun bag’. They usually had a coloring book with crayons, small Hot Wheels or other small toys, stickers, a book to read or magnetic checkers—just something to keep them occupied during the trip.
Two of our grandsons will be flying to Europe next month to visit family–it is a long flight—and I thought perhaps a book with paper and markers might be handy.
I used upholstery vinyl samples for the covers, cowboy fabric for the interior lining and a mix of papers for the two signatures. Signature covers make them a bit more sturdy and more festive–these came from an old calendar featuring train engines.
I sewed the first one three times—thread too thin, then discovered I needed to use a spacer to make the stitches even.
And do you think I could find any of my containers of beeswax? No, I had to retrieve the large bag we used to wax frames.
And then used a boot lace to fasten them closed.
Parents were pleased—and hopefully the boys will be too.
And here is my latest book-binding tool–used to punch holes in that vinyl.
Sylvia Weir Art 
haven’t tried the zig zag stitch yet but that spacer sounds like a great idea. I seem to remember members having issues with too tight stitches. And wowsa – you’re not fooling around with that giant cropodile! I used a 40% off JoAnn’s coupon to purchase the small version – even then it felt like a pricey indulgence and I wasn’t sure how much I would use it. Got sucked in by the people using eyelets on bookcovers with exposed spines. Have I used it that way yet? no, months later it still sits in the drawer, although I did use the punch part on something recently – can’t even remember what! Carry on . . .