Can i borrow a pencil?

I belong to craftster.org, as it seems half the whole world does. I used to enjoy it quite a lot, and i still do, though i find it much less useful than i did before. I did what many members did- Swap Swap Swap like crazy, until i blew myself out. A swap is when a person collects some members, and questionnaires about themselves, and then assigns partners. the partners do a bit of conversation back and forth on-line, and then craft for each other. The item crafted is usually centered around some kind of theme- i.e. a Pink Purse Swap would require all participants to make a purse that is pink for their partner, based on the questionnaire and bits of cyber conversation.

I don't swap too often anymore- the themes are a bit too.... mundane for me, and there are all sorts of qualifications and requirements and deadlines and things that for me, it's just gotten a bit too stressful. I really just like to craft for people.

so to the point of this post:

i recently completed a swap for pencil cases. My partner in this swap is still in school, so i wanted to make her something she can use with binders. but i also wanted to make something centered on her great loves- music and polar bears. well, it's hard to find polar bear fabric, so i had to settle for her favorite color, teal.

I think i hit the mark pretty well. the case is useful, and it's full of fun things. it can be threaded around the binder rings, and it's pretty durable. the omi-yuri pin was an afterthought, it can go on a purse quite nicely.


I really like to craft for people; Though i DO NOT like to do freelance or commission work. I like to try to make something i think someone will like and be able to use. For me, it becomes much less fun if a person keeps asking- where is my bag? how much fabric will it take to make....? my all time favorite is How hard is it to make curtains? not hard at all. my first sewing projects were curtains and pillow cases. You should start there too.