Gifts for the Girlfriends

By the time you are reading this, I will be on the road with my "flea market friends", heading towards Round Top. One of our traditions is bringing a little gift for each person. Over the years, we've fallen into different roles in that regard--Pam and Sandy get us a shirt, Pam W brings us some "bling" accompanied by a toothbrush or something similar (she's a dental hygienist) and I bring something made of oilcloth. Given the current state of my hand, I waited until the very last minute to decide what I was going to make, then got them sewn up last night.

Using leftover scraps of oilcloth, I covered tiny composition notebooks, making a loop to hold a miniature pen. Over the years, I've learned that scotch tape is a great way to hold things in place on oilcloth while I sew. (I also discovered it is a bit challenging to pull off using just my left hand)

And here they are completed.

On a completely different note: After breaking my favorite sunglasses back in the fall---the ones I bought at Canton that have a reading bi-focal at the bottom---I knew I needed some new ones prior to this trip. I've been unable to find any locally, but after doing a quick search online, I found Reading Glasses Shopper. I ordered two pairs--the Brandi Bi-Focal and the Omni Bi-Focal. The prices were good and the shipping very reasonable and fast. I ordered on Thursday and received them on Monday!! I especially love the Brandi glasses--the transition between the bifocal and the other part of the lens is much easier for my eyes. The Omni lenses are much darker (and possibly better for your eyes in that regard), but I really had to concentrate on focusing more as I switch between the two areas, so I think I'll take the Brandi's with me this weekend.

A new pair of glasses calls for a new case. This morning, I used a few more scraps of oilcloth and a little scrap of white knit fabric for the lining and whipped up this up.