Ta-Da! So inspired by Olympia Le-Tan’s Catcher in the Rye felt book cover, I tried making one for one of my most beloved books that had such a beat-up old cover. There were several images from the original book cover to choose from, but I went for  a simple design since it was my first endeavor at sewing details. The pine cones are a really lovely touch, I think. They’re definietly my favorite part of the cover. The stitching took a lot longer than I anticipated. You can probably tell by looking closely at the letters where I grew tired and started going crooked. I’m so used to using a sewing machine to do all the handy work, I couldn’t help but feel like a sweatshop kid at work, except, without the satisfaction of getting paid a nickel for the job. Lesson learned from this project: try not to sew so much at night. I’ve decided that if Mary Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie wasn’t blind, she most likely would have ended up so because all she ever did was sew in the dark.

I want to tackle a bigger project for my next book cover, but I think I’ll wait it out a bit until I have more free time. My Where the Sidewalk Ends book could really use a cover, but that one is definitely going to involve a hell of a lot  more stitching skills. I really want to replicate the exact cover Shel Silverstein has for the book, and that includes many line work and minute stitching details. But I can’t wait to get started! I can imagine the finished product already.