Glutton for Punishment

Another Sunday night, another frantic rush to submit for contests and book entries... I completed my first Instructable: 

It's a wrist rest set for the computer. I needed a wrist rest at home and the one that I had at my old job was so plastic-y and got so grimy right away- not appealing at all. I was inspired by feather beds, and made a firm rice and balsam (for fragrance) base and topped it with a lightly stuffed wool bolster. Considering I had the idea less than 24 hours ago and made it, posted the directions and the Etsy listing already, I am pleased with how it looks. I wish the contrasting pillow and lining showed more, as I really like the way the stripe and the print look together. For the mouse rest, I skipped the ribbon and you can see the pillow more.

When I make this again, I will make the pillow about a half inch longer so it sticks out just a hair more. I do like the ribbon ties, and want to make regular pillows for my couch with that detail and regular ticking lining. Usefulness-wise, it is a success, I think it will cut down on "mouse wrist," as Michael calls it. Here's what they look like at my computer:

So, that's what I did most of the day today. This evening, Laura and her family came over with her (almost) completed project. We are submitting a new baseball bag (I made a tidier baseball with better stitching) and a totally new bag of hers to the Lark "500 Handbags" book. The deadline is tomorrow, but Michael had to photograph everything for us tonight. I think her bag is just lovely and even if we don't get in the book, it is a HUGE victory that we even got the stuff together for submission. Here's her bag, it's called "Night Life."

Isn't it great? She wanted it to be reminiscent of bug catchers that kid's use. I think the top stitching and hardware cloth look good together. I will post detail and inside shots soon. She used little mica chips to make the Luna moth sparkle. Next up is dying up some more wool felt, we want to get the indigo vat going.