TexasWren’s Work Renown Stealth Release Disguise Kit

Premiere Edition.

This was my contribution to the goody bags at the BookCrossing UnCon in Kansas City this weekend. In the past, I've sent handmade leather bookmarks, notepads, more bookmarks, yarn kitties, pillows, and this year, I was completely stumped. I really didn't want to send bookmarks again, and I know several others were going to send bookmarks, and I like to be a bit different.

In the way of all good crafters, I spent hours pouring over blogs to find the perfect idea. It had to be relatively inexpensive, since I was making 30 of them. It had to be fun. It had to be something I could actually do. Just as I was about to give up and drag out the random pieces of leather from my stash---again---I found This Tutorial from Whimsy-love. It just screamed "Perfect!!" to me.

Let me stop here and give a brief explanation of BookCrossingso that you can grasp the fun of this craftiness. We register books, label them with unique numbers and leave them for people to find and enjoy, and hopefully, journal on the website. (It's free and private!)

We have several release methods. There is the standard "Leave it somewhere, and when the waitress/person on the bus runs after you to tell you that you forgot your book, you casually tell them that you are finished reading it and someone else can have it now" release. And then, there is the stealth release, which avoids the awkwardness of the aforementioned style.

Thus was born the Stealth Release Disguise Kit.

All of the contents were gathered in a ziploc bag with an instruction sheet.

The bag contained a yellow dowel rod—the BC color-and 5 disguises.

Please ignore the muddy footprints on my table. The feral kitties decided to take up residence on this table during all of the heavy rain. I took these pics in a hurry and decided it was better to explain the muddy pawprints than to miss the brief moment of sun.

The moustache was my first project. I used the link provided by Whimsy-girl to make the moustaches. I couldn’t find any brown felt at the only store in town that sells crafty things, so I used white and painted them with acrylics. Worked just fine.

The second project was the magic wand. I cut stars out of different colors of felt. Because I didn’t want my conventioneering friends to yell at me for glitter everywhere, I used glitter glue. I heart glitter glue.

I dredged up anything sparkly that I could find in my office/craft room, and attached them with my low temp glue gun. I used beads, gems, and even some metallic confetti. I used shiny curling ribbon out of the Christmas box and some beads from the dollar store, glued on feathers, and suddenly, there were wands to make BookCrosser’s appear authoritative.

The third project was the pirate eye patch. I had a lot of trouble with this one, but my darling hubby figured out a solution. The problem was that gluing on the skull and crossbones didn’t really work, because the dowel needed to be interchangeable. So, each patch is made of 2 patches. The design on front is printed on paper, cut and glued. The dowel goes only through the back layer. It worked really well.

Finally, I decided that we needed some Ballycumbers to make them appear literate, since it is, after all, a book club. Bally is our mascot, so I invited him to join the fun. I couldn’t get enough yellow craft foam, so I cut them out of white, drew on the lines with sharpie, and thinned down some acrylics for the yellow.

I was really proud of this part!

The arms and legs were pipe cleaners poked through the foam.

I haven’t heard anything from the convention-goers yet, although I did see a picture on flickr where someone needed a stronger disguise and turned a second moustache upside down to make a beard. It might have been more effective if she had used the same colors. ;-)

And, just for fun, here is a picture of a couple of my feral cats. They have lived under my house and been fed by me, every single day for over 2 years. I have never been able to touch any of them. The kitten went under the floorboard (too much rain + a really bad carpenter=ruined floorboards---we have someone to fix them this week, I hope.) and without her mom knowing, she came back out. Mom sat there for several minutes waiting for her kitten, while kitten ran free. Ok, it was funnier to watch than it was to read.

Meet Momma and Little Kitty.

Sewing machine meme

Sew, Mama, Sew is having sewing machine week. To kick off the fun, they have asked for answers to these questions. I think they plan to compile them into a sewing machine resource. I'm not sure how much help I will be, because I have vintage machines. I love the word "vintage". It covers so much stuff that would otherwise be defined as old, used, or ancient.

So, here are my replies.

What brand and model do you have?
I actually have 3 machines. I have a Bernina. I can't remember what model--I think it's a 1980's model. It was my mother's, and she's been gone since 1991. It may be a 1970's model. I put it in the shop a few years ago, and when they returned it, I put it away, since I had another machine. When I finally pulled it out months later, I realized that they had left out the whole bobbin mechanism. There's just a gaping hole there. I keep thinking that I'll hit ebay for the parts, but I haven't bothered.

My second machine is a Singer, ca. 1940's. It's a Featherweight and a half--or so the repairman calls it. For a number of years, it was my only working machine. I liked it just fine, it did everything I needed except backstitch and zig zag. I wasn't sewing much in those days, so it didn't really matter. I bought it at an estate sale for about $20.

The machine I'm using now is a Singer Fashion-Mate, also from the 1970's, that my MIL passed along to me when she downsized. It's my primary machine now, and it's never let me down.

How long have you had it?
Bernina-1991
Singer#1-I got it about 10 years ago.
Singer FM-about 20 years ago.

How much does that machine cost (approximately)?

I think they are all too old to have value.

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?
These days, I'm mostly just making toys, pillowcases, a few pillows and kitchen things. I'm not making clothes anymore.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?

I probably sew less than 20 hours a month now, although that's way down from a few years ago.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?

I am ambivalent about my machines. It's what I had when I couldn't afford anything else, and now that I can afford to upgrade, I don't see much sense in it.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?
Pretty featureless.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?
Not really,

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it!

When I found the older Singer at an estate sale, it was tucked into a bedroom on the second floor. I carried that machine, in the cabinet, across that house, down a steep, narrow flight of stairs with rude people trying to push past me to get upstairs, and outside to the car. All by myself. I worked for that machine!!!

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?
Honestly, I'd have to say yes to both Singers. You can pick them up on ebay and estate sales for almost nothing. If you are just getting started, or just doing basic sewing, it's an inexpensive way to get a machine. Mine have all been extremely reliable and both make a pretty stitch.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?

I honestly don't know what's available now. I just plug along with my antiques.

Do you have a dream machine?
Funny you should ask. I want a sew/quilt/embroidery machine. I actually planned to buy one at the State Fair last fall. I saved for a year and had the money in my hot little check book. But, that was about the time the economy started getting a little shaky. I'm self-employed, my husband is semi-retired and works for me, and the truth is that I got scared. I started thinking about how much it was going to cost, and anyway, my office/sewing room is so crowded now that I don't have a place to put a large machine. In the end, I went home without it. It was a good decision. We had a few rough months, before we re-bounded with record sales this spring. So, even if I'd bought it, I wouldn't have time now to get a lot of benefit from it.

So, basically, if you want to get started and think that a machine isn't in your budget, do 2 things. First, ask around and make some phone calls to find out who can work on machines in your area. That might not be an issue in urban areas, but in rural areas, a machine repairman nearby is a very good thing. Once you've done that, start visiting estate sales or yard sales for a machine.

Welcome to the new Wren's Crossing

Some of you may have reached this page expecting to find the old home page, with links to all of the BookCrossing related information.

Never fear, the information is still there, and except for the map page, the links are still the same. Since I loaned most of my faqs to the BookCrossing faq page, I'm finding that fewer people are visiting me here. So, I'm in the process of re-doing the site, starting with a new blog. The blog will be mostly crafts, with some BookCrossing and anything else that crosses my mind. I hope that you will visit often, bookmark it, and join me in this expanded site.

The link to the new map page, which includes all of the old pages, can be found here. You might want to change your bookmarks.