I’ve been making new iPhone cases for myself after having finished the one for my friend Heather.

In fact, this is the third one. I made one using a bit of leftover painted leather, but wasn’t happy with it – the design wasn’t straight on the piece leather and it annoyed me. I did a second using some leftover royal blue leather, but when I took it apart to add some firm backing, the leather split!

This one is made from a cork fabric. Not easy to work with – it’s stiff and turning the bag rightside out took a bit of effort, but I’m happy with it, even if it could be a 1/2″ wider. I can still get everything into it, but it’s a tight squeeze. I’m hoping the fabric will soften and stretch a bit, maybe not. I also have no idea how long the fabric will last before the thin layer of real cork begins peeling off!

Now on to fixing some errant place mats I made for a friend. We didn’t preshrink the fabric (a bad decision) and the backing fabric shrank when she washed them. I made eight. Four are still unused. I’m going to quilt them with a tight design so when the backing shrinks it will just give the placemats some texture. The other four I’m going to have to take apart, and remake trimming the top fabric to fit the backing. Once they’re sewn back together, I’ll quilt them, too. The taking apart is an evening project while watching TV.