Thank Goodness for Saturday!

 Since the first of the year, work has just been - well - chaotic.  For the lowdown, click here.  I have to admit that it is taking its toll.  Consequently, I've been looking forward to Saturday to sew.  Just sew.  Without interruption (you can do that - usually - when you are empty nesting).  Just sew.  I have several swaps that I need to get my act together for and a quilt, and a project that has been niggling at the back of my mind for months.

Way back in October, I stopped by Target after work and found their flat sheets on sale for ridiculously low prices - like $3.97 for a king sized flat sheet.  Flat sheets are awesome.  They have a million uses.  Think of all the yardage in a King Size flat sheet for less than four bucks!  I had to have them.  I bought pretty much all they had.  The had a really pretty aqua, and a cream, and white, and yellow, and then they had red (more burgundy really) and blue.  I really didn't have an interest in the red and the blue, but I kept coming back to them.  I stood there for a long time, picking up the little boxes and putting them back, picking up another and putting it back.  Finally, I decided that if I never did anything with it I was only out four dollars.   I have surely wasted more money than that in my life.  So I took home 7 or 8 flat sheets, including the above mentioned.

That Sunday, I subbed in Primary.  We have found that the childrens' behavior is better if we are proactive about where they sit and who they sit by.  We accomplish that by putting their names on their chairs.  Our previous method involved construction paper and packaging tape.  It was ok, but after a few weeks, really looked shabby.  Anyway, when I came home from Primary I happened to look in the sewing room and spied those sheets that I didn't know what to do with.  Aha!  Now I knew why I bought those colors.  They're Primary colors.

So, I went to the fabric store and bought some plastic and within a few days had created a pattern and cut out 30 chair covers - 10 red, 10 blue, and 10 yellow.  They have a cool plastic pocket on both sides to put the child's name and class in.  They are quick change.  If a child only comes one Sunday, we can still put his or her name on the chair, without a lot of hassle.

Then, On Veteran's Day, I made 6 red ones.  I have to admit that after the technique was perfected, they are pretty boring.  And this is mid-November.  It is time to start sewing for Christmas.   So I put it aside and began all kinds of other things.

 Finally, today, I worked on them again.  I have now completed 16 of these little guys - all the red ones and 6 blue ones.  Only 1 4 to go.  But 16 should be enough for all the children who generally come to Primary.  I will get the others done soon.  Frankly, I'm tired of looking at the pieces.

 When I got tired of Chair covers, I worked on Ari's Fandango Sugar Rush quilt for awhile.  The pattern is by Camille Roskelly from her book "Simplify".  I LOVE that book.  I think I want to make every quilt and project in it.  Anyway, this is a work in progress, but it is now ready to quilt.  I had done the scallops one evening this week, and today I was ready to put it together, but I had to piece the back.  That took much longer than I thought.  The pattern calls for the final border to go under the scallops all the way, but I wanted to reduce the bulk of the scallop - and I am running out of fabric - so I only cut them long enough to sew the scallop on, and then trimmed away the excess.  I really like the way it looks now, much better than before it was trimmed.  I did a raw edge scallop and machine blanket stitched it on.  I really like the stitching.  I am thinking about free motion quilting the top.  I really want to, but my machine gives me fits when I try to free motion quilt on it.  Oh, well, not tonight.  It's late.

I didn't get much done on the swap stuff today, but it was still an enjoyable and productive day.

Bee happy

Here is the second block for the First Time Bee I am participating in.  I almost wish I had used white between the rows, but at least I got the curve right on the first try this time.

And I think I managed to salvage the other block.  I took off the curved piece and cut a new one, slightly larger, and added a piece of white to the top above the top triangle piece.  It now measures exactly 10 x 10.  I think it will work.

Amazing the ideas that come to you in your sleep.

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Sooooo, one of the swaps I'm doing is a First Time Bee.  None of us have participated in a virtual quilting bee before.  This is our first month.  This month's Queen Bee posted Flickr photos of the DC Metro Station as the inspiration for our blocks.  I have been fascinated with this weird curvy shape since she first posted it.  I have drawn about 20 sketches.  Finally, I colored this one.  I'm here to say that it's harder than it looks.

I pieced the 1" squares at the bottom and that wasn't too hard, except apparently I either can't cut or sew accurately, because I couldn't get the seams to line up.  Finally got that fixed.

Then I tried to applique the triangle pieces onto the white background.  They looked like they were stuck on, and I couldn't get the points right.

Then I tried paper piecing the triangles, and that was better, but the background looked wonky.  Not sure I like it at all, but I decided to keep moving.

Then I tried to paper piece the curve.  I finally figured out how to get that to work, but somehow my finished piece ended up 9-3/4 by 10 instead of 10-1/2 square.  So I get to do it again.

But I have to admit, I was way out of my comfort zone, and I learned a lot.  Hopefully, the next try will go better.

Here's to perseverence....  And square quilt blocks.

CHARMED - I'm Sure

Charm square swap package received from Lucinda

One of the swaps I am currently participating in is the Chronic Seamstress Charm Square Swap.  There are 18 members, including me, and everyone just selects 8 of their favorite fabrics and sends them to the other 17 people in the swap.  It was fun to choose and send the fabrics - not so much cutting the charms, but every job has a downside, right? - but the most fun part is getting the little envelopes in the mail.  Everyone's choices are so different.  Some are things I would never have chosen.  Some are things I dearly love and wanted.  Some are things I dearly love and didn't know I wanted, until I received them.  So far, I have received 7 sets.  The one above was tied in such a cute way that I can't bear to take it apart.  It has Tufted Tweets as one of the selections and I love it.

Charm square package from Rebecca

This was the package from Rebecca.  Isn't the star great?  Here are the fabrics in the package (it wasn't tied together, so I was ok with spreading it all out).

Charm Square package from Rebecca

This package was from Val and came with an extra 2-1/2" bonus

Val sent this one.  Some of these fabrics I looked at while fabric shopping yesterday.  I may have to go back and get some.

Charm square package from Sue

Here is the package from Sue, all the way from the UK.  Fun!

Charms from Amanda

Amanda sent this package.  These are so pretty.  Love the butterflies.

Charms from Kayce

This is the package from Kayce.  Aren't they pretty.  Such a wide variety.  Nice!

Here are the fabrics I sent, although I ended up not sending the plaid.  The selection included Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Kaffe Fasset, Dena Designs, Felicity Miller... These are truly some of my faves.

There are a couple more that I must not have taken pictures of yet.  I will add them later.  Sadly, I have to go to work.  I'd rather stay home and play with my fabric!

Garden Party Tote Bag - FINISHED!!!

BD#2's Garden Party Tote Bag is finally finished.  It is very long - much longer than I would have liked it to be - but it had to be long to accommodate the knife case.  The main fabric is Garden Party, by Anna Maria Horner.  Pretty, huh?

The interior pockets and side gussets are Happy Go Lucky, by Nell Whatamore.  So pretty!  (Don't you think it is just a joy to work with pretty fabrics?)  There are pockets for cellphone and pens and pencils

and a seriously large pocket for her chef's coat, which was the other requirement for the bag.

and here is the pocket opened

I honestly used every scrap of fabric of any size that I purchased for this bag.  I think the largest scrap I have left is 2" by 6" or something ridiculous.

I am fairly pleased with the quilting on the outside.  It seems to give it a feeling of motion.  It was kind of fun to make the bag.  The only thing I am not so happy with is the bottom of the bag.  It turned out OK, but I had to hand stitch the exterior bottom, and I am always worried that hand stitching on something like this will tear out.  Oh well.  There wasn't any way to get it under the sewing machine needle.

So now that this one is ready to pop in the mail, I'll move on to some of the projects for my Flickr swaps.  I have 3 or 4 things that have to be done by the end of the month.  

Happy week!

Lollipop, Lollipop

When I was in our LQS today, they had all their 2008 and 2009 prints on sale for 50% and 40% off, respectively.  I happened to be on the phone with BD#1 and she mentioned how much she loves Anna Maria Horner.  So, I bought half yards of all of the pieces of AMH Chocolate Lollipop they had and kept a fat quarter of each for myself and most generously shared with BD#1.

But, proof that good deeds do get you somewhere, BD has some Freebird she is going to give me.  Lucky me!

Fabric Therapy

So, the last time I blogged, I mentioned that I was glad BD#2 had come home for Pres Day weekend and that she arrived at the end of a t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e week.  I work for a bank and we were laying people off, most of whom were my friends.  In addition, I had to move my workspace after 9 years at the same desk.  Many tears shed, many late nights, much anxiety about friends gone and new responsibilities and a tired, sore body on top of it all.

It was time for some fabric therapy, and I was very glad BD#2 was home and glad to have a playmate.  She and I went to A&E and I thought we exercised a great deal of restraint there.  We only bought enough fabric to finish the 2nd McKenzie pillow, the fabric for my PP6 swap (Hideaway in aqua),  and fabric for one other project she asked me to make for her.  And we even shared half of the AMH Garden Party and selected coordinates (A&E didn't have much AMH left) with BD#1!  Wasn't that generous?
 
BD #2 is taking a culinary arts class.  What she asked me to make was a knife case and a tote bag for her CA stuff.  Hmmm...  I've never made a knife case before.  Just what are the requirements?  How big are the knives?  Are there patterns out there?  Not that I could find.  So, I did what I always do when I'm really stumped - I made it up from thin air.

Oddly enough, while I was at quilt guild last Monday, someone donated some home dec fabric on the giveaway table that was perfect for my purposes.  And I just love the outside fabric.  It is so bright and cheerful.  Anyway, here are some pics of my creation.

Here is the knife case folded closed into a neat, tidy bundle.

The case rolls together and ties shut.  I forgot the handles, so will add those before it is mailed.

Here the case is open with the cover folded up.

Here are the pockets for the individual knives.

In this one, the knives are covered and safely stored.

I thought it turned out OK.  I hope it will be functional and make BD#2 happy on those COLD, no make that FRIGID Idaho mornings (it was -7 there this morning when I checked).  Farenheit.

So, my kind sister got me two books for my birthday.  This one, that I've been oogling forever:

And this one, which is just the ticket for my next little project:

So here are the beginnings of the tote bag.  The outside is mostly done - sewn and quilted.  It was mostly fun to quilt.  I am not a great free motion quilter and frankly, my machine doesn't like it.  I broke several needles in the process, but I am fairly pleased with the results.  The flowers look kind of cool quilted.  I'm not so happy with the quilting on what will be the sides.  It is kind of funky, maybe because the pieces are so long and narrow.  Overall, though, I'm ok with the results.

I am currently working on the inside pockets.  The requirement is that at least one pocket has to be able to hold BD#2's chef's coat.  Now that I have the quilting done, I am thinking I should have put a couple of pockets on the outside.  I may add a pocket for a water bottle to the side, but frankly, the flower is just too pretty to cover up with a pocket.  I may just have to put all the pockets on the inside.  This is a WIP, but I hope to finish by the weekend.

Anyway, so the Tuesday after Pres Day, I head in to work thinking that the layoffs are over, the worst is behind us, and things will get better.  Not so.  In the next 2 days, 6 officers leave to go to work for another bank in town.  THIS required major fabric therapy.  Friday night, I went to A&E and treated myself to the above selection of yummy fabrics.  When I came home, I arranged them, and rearranged them, and petted them...  WH laughed at me.  He just doesn't understand.

So the next week has to be better, right?  Nope, my boss retired suddenly and we have a whole new management team.  Whew!  That's a lot to happen in 3 weeks.  It required even more fabric therapy.  The picture above is the selection from last Friday night.  It is also the selection for the charm square swap I am in.  (So, if you are involved in the swap and you are reading this, I just spoiled your surprise when you get your little package....  Sorry.)

This selection includes:

Weekends by Erin McMorris
Dancing Paisley by Amy Butler
Monaco by Dena
Kites by Felicity Miller
Picnic Plaid by Joel Dewberry
Daisy Chain by Amy Butler
Freshcut by Heather Bailey
Paperweight by Kaffe Fassett
Kumari Gardens by Dena Designs

Speaking of the charm square swap, there are 18 members (including me) who are swapping 8 unique fabrics each.  That's in the neighborhood of 144 charms (of course I kept a set for myself - I just love those fabrics!)  That should be enough charms to make 2 quilts.  I think for one of them, I will do the Square One quilt from Camille Roskelly's book.  I really only expected to have enough charms to make one quilt, so I haven't really thought about the second one yet.

So far, I have received two of the packages of charm squares.  It is turning out to be a wonderful selection of fabrics so far.  And getting these little non-bill envelopes in the mail has brightened my less-than-stellar-but-better-than-the-last-three-weeks days so far this week.  Here are pics of what I have received so far from Val and Lucinda.

Charm Square Package from Val in Indiana

Charm square package from Lucinda.  I'm not ready to untie it yet, but it has "chairs" in it!

It is so much fun to get these little packages in the mail.

Also yesterday and today, I have gotten 2 books from BD#1 and her family (for my birthday? - she had already made me some hand-knitted dishcloths for my birthday!)  Anyway, I have had 2 great mail days in a row.  Here are the things she sent.

 I have been eyeing this book since I first saw it at BD #1's house.  Yummy projects and ideas.  I can't wait to try them.

And I hadn't seen this book before, but it has some great modern twists on traditional quilt patterns.  Can't wait to try some of them. 

AND today is February 1 and I signed up to be in the Mini QT swap.  My partner is Valery Anne.  As I understand it, you know who your partner is, and you only give sneak peeks of your project until your partner receives it.  So here is my sneak peek.

I just love this fabric.  It is going to be so much fun to play with.  The theme is 3D, and I think there are wonderful possibilities.

I think this blog post should have been 3 or 4 blog posts.  If you have made it to the end of this, you are uber stout hearted, and I wish you a wonderful week.  Meanwhile, hopefully, this week there won't be a need for so much fabric therapy.  On the other hand, if something good happens, we could go fabric shopping to celebrate....