Tote time again

So instead of cleaning (situation under some control: another trash can requested...again, but a promise to pick up trash bags with no can coating. We'll see.), I worked on another birthday gift, a tote for my friend Jean.  And it's a few days early even! I'm planning to be off on her birthday so I made it early! It's a miracle!

I meant to bring it yesterday. I forgot. I managed to bring it in today, but my delivery was less than a celebration. I was involved in a minor fender-bender this morning and showered my front seat with Diet Coke, the drink of the gods, but managed not to get any on the gift. There I was...innocently stopping at a yellow/red light and bam...Diet Coke droplets everywhere. An hour later, I was lightly damp (it's endlessly raining here, hence non-stoppage), a little achy/jittery, and seriously annoyed so I gave the gift in a grumpy manner. Jean will forgive me.

My car drives. The bumper's still attached. Everyone was reasonable. The state police were quick and helpful (and did not judge me as impaired when I couldn't find the right paperwork, remember my license number or drivers license number,  and couldn't find the shoulder they pointed me at and instead went for the island. It's dark, raining, I've been involved in an accident. And clearly, I'm a little low on Diet Coke. They probably just judged me as blond, and no, it isn't the same as impaired. I can live with that.) There's insurance involved. It could be worse.

This thing with all the dust? That's a sewing machine

I actually forced myself to sit down to sew this weekend instead of feeling guilty because I felt like I should be sewing. It was a liberating experience! I used my rotary cutter and everything. And...I still have all 10 fingers. Yay, me! Since I'm not buying fabric this year (except when I go to a local quilt show, see something that is so not typically me and decide that I gotta buy it because you only live once and who knows when that fabric is coming around again and "oh, look, I found it cheaper at this vendor across the room so now I really should buy it because the universe wants me to"), I had to pull things from my fabric stash to do it. And this is a very good thing. It's a gift for someone. I don't think she reads the blog. Blogs don't seem to be her kinda thing. Nobody tell her, OK?

The photo that was never meant to be

So the first time I took a photo, the memory card ate it. When I went to find the super-professional shot I had taken, I saw the view from a Dublin hotel room. That's just wrong on so many levels. I did, in fact, take shots out the window from a Dublin hotel room. I'd like to do it again. All over again. I don't want to see those pictures unexpectedly. Stupid memory card.

And then Mrs. SJ brought the bag back to work and offered to let me take another photo. So I took my phone over, my phone that has never let me down and takes passingly acceptable shots every time. This time...blur. But that's just fine. The proof is here anyway. I can sew. This, too, must be somewhat like riding a bicycle because I haven't practiced this in a while. I decided that all my gifts are coming from my stash this year. That doesn't really narrow things down because I have several stashes to work with, but this is also the second gift of the year that I actually had made to give (really close to) on time. Things might be looking up!

Oh, and the tote pattern is modified from Pat's tote for the sewing class at www.icantbelieveim.com.

Another tote bag audition

Over the long weekend, I've managed to actually do some sewing! Here's the latest audition...black and red appears to be the color.

I'm mid-cleaning spree in order to get my house presentable by the weekend. Yes, it will take that long. I'm hoping to have my sewing machine off the kitchen table tomorrow and back into it's less-than-perfect-but-still-adequate home. We may have to acutally eat off the kitchen table. Imagine.

The next project

The next project and I haven't even finished the last one...that's the way I work. As I've watched the video for the upcoming online Sewing Basics class (with your host Pat Sloan), I've been daydreaming new projects. I've watched all the lessons at least 3 times now. I have several projects daydreamed at this point. Here are the fabrics I'm working with so far...

Orange Peel update

I managed to sew a little more on the Orange Peel quilt. I'm really liking the blue blocks and blue "melons" best. I made 4 more of those this weekend. I probably ought to check out the instructions to see how many I actually need to make. On the bright side, if I manage to make too many, there are plenty of these completed blocks that could be lovingly discarded.

Thank goodness my quilts don't have to be perfect!

Conspicuous Consumption

So I know you're wondering how much damage I really did over the weekend. I think the alarming fact is not in how much I bought but in the fact that I freely acknowledge that most of this is doomed to moulder in the stash, never to grow up into a real quilt. The fabric pile is planned for something, the Curved Piecing class that Pat's got over at icantbelieveim.com. She makes it looks so easy to make that Orange Peel. We'll see, I guess. The rest of it...I believe that would be called wishful thinking. Some of it I bought to make gifts for people. I think now I'll just put a bow on the pattern and call that the gift. It's the thought that counts, right?

National Quilt Day

So I did manage to do some (a very little) cutting and sewing of fabric this weekend and it was nice. My machine and I spoke nicely to each other. I decided not to make the apron because I was afraid I would be forced to cook something. I still covet the Petals apron. And I'm still considering my Amy Butler stash as a match for the apron. Instead, I made a crochet hook roll because it is quick and easy. I still got to cut and sew and I'm finished. And I have a home for all of my 3 hooks. I should probably have done something to organize my knitting needles but that seems like a massive job. And I got to use the Joel Dewberry fat quarters that I had to have at Quilt Festival. I couldn't really justify going to Paducah for the quilt show without using some of the stuff I bought at Festival. And now I have. See how that works???

I also went to the first baseball tournament of the season (where we huddled under quilts as the spring-ish temperatures disappeared). Saturday was great.

And if you missed it, Sunday was "Everything You Do is Right" day. To celebrate, I took a nap. We need more of those days.

Sneak Peek: Brand New Sewing Pattern Downloads

As I am a person who knows talent when I see it, I have to take a minute to tell you about how talented the Quilt writers are here at Leisure Arts. In fact, I happen to also know how talented all the writers are, but great design isn't something that they get to do every day. Technical expertise is what they are all here for. And then some of them are creative designers on top of that. I shake my head in wonder sometimes as I am a dedicated pattern-follower, not a blazer of trails. Still, there may be something in the air around here that I occasionally have this idea that I can be a designer too. And really, that has nothing to do with this...a sneak peek (well, really not so sneak as these patterns are now available for purchase over at the Leisure Arts Library. Click on Mary Engelbreit. Go, look, buy. You're going to want to.

What we have here is 12 brand new patterns featuring the new line of Mary Engelbreit Friends and Flowers fabric from Moda and the original designs of my "original" quilt writers, Jean, Lisa, and Frances. And they are impressive and would be stinkin' cute even if you don't have the Mary Engelbreit fabric. Like, you could make one in another fabric while you were waiting for the Mary Engelbreit fabric and still love them both. I'm feeling the need for one of these aprons (which may be my salute to International Quilt Day tomorrow). That's the power of these designs...I don't even cook and I know I need a Petals apron. Click on the link above to see all 12 of them.

A quick stocking

Yesterday after the Thanksgiving dinner, I decided I needed to do something fun. So I set up my sewing machine (yes, it's set up again so maybe I can actually use it) and started cutting up (some of) the fabric I bought at Quilt Festival. I decided to create a stocking to hang up in my department. I was warned that I better get one up quickly. And I can never do things the easy way, so instead of using one of the stockings I already have, I decided I needed one to show what I do. A little anyway. That stocking would be covered with meeting notes and Diet Coke cans if it really reflected the real me and what I do. Still, I cut and sewed the stocking (although now it looks like the heel needs to be trimmed. Oh, well, more room for stuff, right?) and then I knit the edging to attach. I had big plans to actually do some applique to liven things up a bit. I scrapped those plans about midnight. This works. I sewed, I knitted, I beat the deadline, and my sewing/spare room works although I'd really like more room. Now, I just have to get all the Christmas decorations out of that room...