Bobcat Lens Cap Holder

As you may know, my husband is a brilliant photographer & I have linked often to his flickr where he goes by the name Baubcat. He often misplaces his lens cap and a few months back I saw a cap holder on B&H that attaches to the camera strap & the lens cap snaps into it. I was thinking of buying one, but then realized he had multiple lenses with different size caps & I didn’t want to buy a string of holders. I then googled ‘lens cap holder’ & found lots of pouches used to hold them. This brought my mind around to the many animal themed coin purses I’ve faved & pinned. I decided to make one of a BOBCAT. I measured his lens caps to determine the diameter of the holder. I drew a bunch of circles on a scrap of paper & began designing. I wanted to velco it closed, rather than snap so the snap wouldn’t be pressing into the plastic cap. I figured the nose was a good place for that. Then I needed to draw a cutting line somewhere along the middle to open up & insert the cap. I looked at many a photo of bobcats & had planned to make it very simplified & abstract, but when I left out too much detail it either looked like a kitten or a fox. Since bobcats have almost a mane, it was hard deciding whether to fringe the outer edge. You can see a sketch of a few of my various ears, eyes, etc. In the end I decided to do some embroidery, and as I did, I kept adding more, so much for simplified! What do you think; does it look like a bobcat?

Etsy Treasury, Hippie Days are Here Again

I created a new Etsy Treasury today, I've really been slacking off on my Etsy Shop & Blog since starting my part time job in January. But this morning I was inspired to through a treasury together, Hope you like it.

Mother’s Day, Thank You for passing on the skills and talents

Where would I be without the knowledge, skills and artistic encouragement passed down from my mother and grandmother. As mentioned in my profile, both were responsible for teaching me to sew. Even though most women of their era were taught to sew, many did not take to it or enjoy it as they did.

My grandmother did quite a lot of hand sewing, embroidery and crochet. Here are some of the wonderful vintage linens of hers I still have. She used to embroider lots of pillowcases for us, and our doll beds too. She started me hand sewing doll clothes, possibly as young as five years old. She made lots of things without patterns at all.

My mother inherited quite a lot of skills from her mom and was a talented seamstress. She used to design her own clothes by modifying and combining patterns. She passed those skills on to me. She made quite a lot of clothes for all 5 of us kids. She also made curtains, toys and other stuff too. I can still remember the day she taught my sister & I how to use the sewing machine, helping us make curtains for our bedroom. Boy did we have a hard time mastering that foot pedal. I also remember some adorable pastel flannel polka dot PJ’s with reversible robes that she made my sister and I. We modeled them in a fashion show for what I believe was a sorority sisters event when I was maybe 3 and my sis 5. I may still have a scrap of that fabric. Here’s a lovely linen dress she made in the 50’s.

So a big THANKS to mom and grandma, and don’t forget to pass on your crafts to the next generation.