A Pouch for Everything

My sister-in-law A is a professor at Purdue University. She teaches; she does research; she manages the emerging careers of PhD candidates. I really have little idea of what that all means. But, I figure even a modern-day academic who has blogged and can use the wireless network anywhere to email, Facebook and photostream may need storage for the rogue piece of real paper. For her birthday, I mailed this pouch for her file folders. The exterior zippered pocket may work for flash drives or auxiliary cables, or just gum for later.

Work Smarter, Or At Least Neater

2012 was a good year for fabric and zippers. I sewed more and sold more than any other year. I attended more farmers' markets, tried new venues, explored a few new products and finished a smattering of custom projects. I think I have discovered the limit of my productivity; it's time to work smarter and not harder. To that end, I recently spent an entire day refolding and reorganizing my stash of fabric. Along the way I stumbled on prints I haven't used in quite awhile. Sometimes I held onto the last little bit of a pattern because I had a project in mind for "someday". Often, I hesitated to use the last of a favorite print because I didn't think I could replace it. I will endeavor this year to loosen up. It's just fabric, and they continue to make new patterns I like. Besides, it takes quite awhile to curate a fabric hoard as large as mine. Messy scrap piles of tidbits build up and slow me down. The efficient path is to slice it up and sew it--all of it (or almost all).