Purple and Mint Green, and a Suitcase to Clean

This week started off with my new laptop case and keyboard cover arriving in the mail.  It's the first one I've bought for my precious computer, and I was all too excited for it.  I was hugely disappointed though, to open the envelope and find one corner of the case cracked.  The company from which I ordered from was happy to send me another one free to replace it, and so a few more days wait brought me my beautiful case and cover, both a minty green and just perfect.

In the middle of the week my family and I went to a neighboring town to go old bookstore and antique shop hopping.  To be honest, one of the only times I like to go the stores are when they're stores like that.  I walked out with an armful of books I don't have room for ( I've started putting books on top of my bookshelves because there's no more room on them anymore ), and my father walked out with a 24 volume set of 'Books of Knowledge' from the late 1800's when he had only been looking for one.  So basically it was a normal trip for us.

Then I found something I never knew I wanted in an antique store.  "What is that old, dirty green suitcase?" you might have been wondering scrolling through the pictures.  Well, for $10 it's my old, dirty green suitcase, and upon opening it I saw how much DIY and TLC it needed, but it came with it's key and is still more than sturdy enough to actually travel with, and I love it.  I'm a junkie for old things, you see.

All it's pockets and straps on the inside are still just fine, but the fabric lining the inside of the case was no longer attached to the case, and so needed to be taken out.  Underneath it I found lot of orange dust.  I first thought it was rust, assuming the suitcase was metal covered with hard plastic on the outside.  Turns out, it wasn't.  As I scrubbed and scrubbed away, I found only plastic underneath it all, and if there's no metal, then there can't be rust.  As my scrubbing turned sticky, I realized it was the remains of the foam that must have padded the inside of the case once and the glue that held it in place.  A couple of cans of elbow grease later and I was able to get it all off, leaving the inside of my case as clean as can be.

The outside got a wipe down too, the pockets and straps reenforced and fray-checked, and so the only thing left to do is get more fabric to line the inside.  I don't have to, as the suitcase is fully functional as it is, but it sure would make it look pretty again.  An excursion is planed to the fabric shop tomorrow to look for just the right fabric needed.

Aside from all that I've been working on a couple of sewing projects, one for me, one for my sister.  The one for me is... something.  The pattern calls it a kimono jacket, but I'm not so sure.  I'm no expert on kimonos, but last time I looked that's not what kimonos look like.  Anyways, it's almost finished.  In fact, it would be finished, except I forgot that my sister's birthday is this weekend.  Not that I forgot when her birthday is.  I just didn't realize it was already the middle of the month.

That is where the second sewing project comes in.  A patchwork tote bag, very similar to one I made myself years ago that she always wanted to try and take from me.  Now don't worry, she doesn't read my blog, so unless you tell her something, she won't know it's for her.  It will ( hopefully ) be something she likes, and also stop her trying to steal my things.  So two birds with one stone.

I need to get to sewing though.  As you can see, I've not gotten too far past the cutting stage, and I only have a day or two to finish it.  And just in case you were wondering, I did stick my fingers in a couple of the photos just to show them off.  I haven't done my nails in over a year, no joke, and felt the need to have my purple polkadot artwork seen.  Plus purple goes really well with mint green.  My two favorite colors.

Em