Why am I smiling like an idiot? Because I found out today that myself and my friend Amie Miller of Enamor have been accepted to vendor at the Renegade Craft Fair this September! I'm seriously excited.
These next two months are going to be full of lots of sewing!
I know that it seems like I've yet again, abandoned the blog, but alas, I am here. Sewing my brains out!
I'm getting ready for a show next weekend, and these are the latest edition to my goods that I'll be bringing along with me. Journals! For as much as I'm obsessive compulsive about writing everything down, these have been perfect for me to make. Once I fill up one notebook, I can slide it out and put a new one in.
I've been using different colors of linen to line the outside, with three pieces of cotton to make it all pretty-like. I've also found a bit sturdier of an iron on interfacing that seems to work really well. I'm not sure of the name; so far I've been able to pick it out based on feel.
**Side note: Am I the only one who does that with interfacing? All the women at the craft stores don't believe me when I ask for other interfacing than what they have on display, and they'll tell me, "Oh honey, these are the only kinds they make. I'm sure one of these are what you need." And I'm all like "no, I can tell the difference by touch, and this isn't the same interfacing you had last month when I was in the store. I swear there's a conspiracy.
So, these, along with oodles of pouches and bags and other sewing have been keeping me busy this month. Next Saturday I'll be back in Ypsilanti, Michigan for the Summer Shadow Art Fair at the Corner Brewery. It's always a really fun day, so if you're in the area, stop by, look at crafts and have a beer! (You'll have to buy your own, though.)
I'm in a really frustrated mood this week. I've been thinking that on the whole, the week itself has been good (a free iced coffee from the new coffee shop in town for lunch yesterday, a phone call from my very best friend, Kate, and my summer break only a few weeks away) but I think I'm feeling out of touch with my creating. Instead of feeling inspired, I'm feeling run down and out of new ideas.
I need to build up my confidence in new projects, and be happy with those that I want to finish. I feel as though I base my success solely on the opinions of others, and I just think I need to move past that.
This, apparently is what a gloomy, chilly, rainy day in May does for my confidence.
The posting is a little late, but here's my report of my first craft show of the season!
This show was in Flint, Michigan and was at the cutest little sandwich shop. I loved the place--it had brick walls, pictures of customers, and a really sweet owner. The day overall was a little quiet (it was raining most of the day, and I was a little bit out of the main loop of sellers) but everyone who came by was so nice and positive about my work.
I'm really feeling like I'm getting the hang of the whole show thing, too. I was able to get set up in just a few minutes, and I had time to relax before people started coming by. I'm really starting to enjoy doing these more and more.
Overall, it was a great day and it got me really excited to do more as the summer goes on.
P.S. I do have a lot of bags and totes left over from this show though. So if you're interested in a tree pouch or tote, or just some of my other patchwork totes and Japanese fabric pouches, check out my Etsy shop over the next few days. Thanks!
I should have no-brained this one. I have a 6 month old puppy and a very excitable year-old cat, so why would I have ever left a partially filled glass of water sitting next to something I'm working on?
Because I'm lazy.
Who could have ever knocked my glass over? Who runied the bag I was so close to finishing?
Could it be you?
Or maybe you knocked it off the table?
Ugh...Either way, I'm off put my dishes in the sink, and remake my bag.
First of all, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who left a comment or sent a message in the last week about Kasey. It's been a week of adjustment, and it would be an understatement to just say that I miss her. It's unreal how much a dog can become a part of your family. But each day is better, and knowing that she's no longer sick is a relief to us. So, I really do appreciate the kindness of everyone who has reached out to me. It has meant more than you could know.
But now for some better news, alright?
Way back in the fall of 2006, I was asked by super crafter, Susan Beal, to contribute a tote bag embellishment project to a beading book that she was working on. Today, Bead Simple has finally come out!
Not surprisingly I decided to do a button tote. My friend's mother had just given me a heaping bin of some amazing vintage buttons, and I knew I had to use some of them. I had some friends over, and after consulting about what looked best, this is what I came up with:
I had no idea what to expect with this book, but it's so lovely! I'm one of 39 guest designers, and all of the projects look like they'll be so much fun to make. I love the fact that even though it's a beading book, there's a ton of other projects that aren't exclusively about jewelry. It's just a really beautiful book all the way through.
So tomorrow, to help celebrate the book and my project, I'll be posting a tutorial of how to make a simple tote. I know there's a lot of patterns around for bags, but I my goal is that this tutorial will be simple enough for even beginners to figure understand and use. That's the plan at least!
Things are hectic but productive around the Hip To Piece Squares home these days. Before I really get settled into thinking and doing for the holidays, I've got a show to get ready for!
I'll be at the Shadow Art Fair on December 1st, in Ypsilanti, Michigan from noon until midnight. I did this show this past July, and it's such fun one. It's at the Corner Brewery (Beer + Arts and Craft = Ridiculous Fun) and if you live anywhere nearby, you should really stop in, say hello, and start your shopping for the season.
And if I'm not sewing, I've got a cat on my back. That's just how it goes!
Hmmm....
I think I must be riding high after being called "the bomb" by Brit the other day, but I am on a roll, people!
Let me just tell you how pleased I am with how this bag turned out. This happens to be one of the only things that I've ever made that turned out the exact way that I had planned it to even from the point of when I bought the fabric.
::Cue whirly sounds and fog::
I seriously stood in the store, picked out the red and cream prints for the outside and thought, "hmm...I've got some black fabric that would look really good with this for a tote." Then I picked up the red polka dot print on that I used on the inside and thought, "this would look perfect with the vintage black and white gingham that I've also got." Look! I've done all of these things on this bag, making it the first time ever that I didn't change my mind about things 42 times before I was finished with a project. It's a big day for me.
Could it be true?
It's true! I'm back! I guess it was never my intention to leave this just sitting her for months and months, but I know most people know how it goes: you just get lazy. I don't know what happened--I just seemed to lose my blogging mojo. Then, after you stop writing, it's hard to get back into it. It seemed weird to just jump right back in where I left off at. Oh well, I think it'll do it anyway.
I've been back up to my old doings--making pouches!
I got a huge wave of inspiration to start working on them the other night, and I finished them all up this morning. It was nice to get a big batch done all at once. The assembly line method works wonders.
It's pouch time, hey hey! That's regardless of the fact that it's been "pouch time" since about March. I promise I'm trying to work on other things, too.
Here's what went up in the shop tonight, though.
I think I may have made the best bag that I've ever made this week.
Not to toot my own horn or anything (that so sounded like something a grandma would say) by I'm pretty pleased with my work on this bad boy. I was sitting in the sewing room the other night, playing with my buttons and I needed to make something with them. I've been through the standard tree button colors a few times now, and I really didn't want to repeat that with this. Instead I started thinking about trees in the spring, and how the purple lilacs are one of my favorites. I ended up with this.
I did pockets with this one. I didn't know I could do pockets!
There was a bit of a tense moment during the whole process when I accidently ripped the last bit of gray fabric that I had. I had miscalculated the seam allowence when I was making the handles, and instead of carefully ripping out the stitching I sliced the whole side of the handel, wrecking it. I nearly lost it. Thank goodness JoAnn's had the same color gray, without any mismatched dye lot issues like I was fearing.
And as usual, I've put this bag up in my Etsy Shop. It may have to be torn from my hands though, since apparently I'm in love with it.
Being the kind of person who likes to be a joiner, I thought I'd participate this week in showing what I've been working on.
My pile of fabric that is soon to be sliced and diced to become pouches for the shop. I get on these kicks where I just have to make a lot of one certain thing. I'm feeling that way right now with the pouches. You may be seeing a lot of them in the near future. :)
I don't know if this counts as a project or not, but I've been working on re-organizing my sewing and crafts room for a good week now. This shelf is starting to show some progress, but there's a good reason why I didn't show a picture of the floor....or anywhere else in the room for that matter.
I've survived my very first craft sale this weekend! And thanks to some of the nicest people I know (Ben, Mom, Claudia, Mom and Dad Minshall, Dana, Jenny and Mike, Kristina, Meghan and Allison--you are all the best!!) I actually had vistors and a few sales to boot! I did learn a few things about this weekend though for future ventures into local craft sales that I'd like to share:
1. If it's a craft sale at the fairgrounds, then chances are it's going to bring in the same crowd as last weekend's gun and knife show. There will be very few people who are hip to tree tote bags and bright colored pouches. They're looking for things that will instead show their John Deere spirit.
2. Old men really like craft sales at fairgrounds. I've always thought that men were crabby about going to craft shows, but it turns out, after you retire and begin making things that nobody really wants, it's the best place to meet other old men like yourself. The old men will then meet in masses in front of your very small setup and block anyone from seeing what you have.
3. Even if there are no animals present in the "Main Arena," the scent of years and years of pigs, cows, and horses will still be present and can possibly make your things smell like last year's fair.
4. Old ladies wearing sweatsuits with Americana applique will not buy your things. Not at all.
5. A teeny craft sale at the fairgrounds is not an entirely bad place to start out. I got to set up my things the way I wanted to, got some feedback from women not wearing sweatsuits and even sold a few things (but most to my friends and family). Good times, I say!
I've decided that I love pouches. They're wonderfully fun to make and really, you can use them for about anything. I like how this one looks sort-of
quilted, but still really quirky.
It's even got girly umbrellas on this inside, along with one of my new tags. (I feel like a real crafter now!)
I like this one, but I reminds me of things I had growing up in the 1980's. The purple and green combo really set me back a couple of decades. I'm not sure if I'm happy about that, or a little freaked out.
So while I've not been posting, I've been staying more busy than I've been in weeks. My motivation is back, and I've been exciting about what has been coming together at my sewing machine.
I loved the brown tree bag that I made back in January, and since I got such a good response from it, I decided to try another one. I started out with another of the brown bag/orange, yellow, and green button combination bag. I was happy with the first one, but this one exceeded what I thought I'd be able to do.
The sewing turned out much neater than the first and I added more buttons to this one. I think that helped it out a lot.
Just as I was finishing the brown one though, I scanned through my fabric colors and got so excited about this combination:
I loved how this one looks so much like a spring tree as compared to the brown tree that looks so fall-like. I've not been this happy with something that I've made in so long. I'm really thinking about making more in other colors still.
***Both are available in my Etsy Shop if anyone is interested!!! :)
Merry Belated Christmas! I'm sorry about my slowness in posts the last week or so--I've been caught up in all things holiday related, as well as overly relaxing on my time off of work. I figure since I'm going back to work tomorrow, that the holiday is officialy over, and if I waited too much longer to post the rest of these, I'd really be trashed by everyone!
Here's the final look at the advent felties:
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them at first, but I found this little tree at Michaels for a $1.50 about a week before Christmas. It turned out to be the perfect size to hold the felties and sit on the ledge between my kitchen and living room. I'm sad to have to put it away, but I'll look forward to having it already made for next year.
I really like how Santa turned out. Every Santa needs a number 24 on his beard!
Again, a little late, but a stocking hung with care, nontheless.
Rudolph looks like someone just told him the stupidest joke in the world, and he's trying to make them feel better by acting like it was funny. What a wonderful Christmas story I've just come up with.
I added the cheese to make my mouse look a little more like a mouse. Although he is a mouse with whiskers the size of logs compared to his tiny face.
Apparently my penguin is a little bit shy, and decided to take a jump into one of my vases. He's still cute like that though.
Everytime a bell rings, a gift gets wrapped. That's why there are no bells ringing right now in my house. Happy day 18!
One of the 2nd grade boys that I work with at school told me last week that you "have to be careful when you hug an elf, because their ears are pointy and you may get hurt." That young man is a smart one.
I'm sorry about the last few days delay of posting. I've been feeling a little lousy, and I'm in overdrive trying to finish up the last of my Christmas gifts. I hope the next few days make up for my slowness! :)
The ice skate was a last minute idea and I was really excited about it. I just wish I would have been able to get a little better picture of it. Only 10 more felties to go--yikes! I guess I need to think about finishing my presents and Christmas cards, too!
Day 14 took me a long time to finish up, but I think it was worth it in the end.
On the 13th day of Christmas, I made a sheep out of felt. Again, not exclusively Christmas-y, but I just had to do it. Some of my close friends know that I have a number 13 Serta sheep that I cuddle with at night and have a strangly human relationship with (he SO talks to me in sheep language!). So in honor of my cuddly Sheepy, I had to recreate him in felt.
Here's Sheepy with my sewing machine, Emma. Yes, I do name inanimate objects in my house and no, I don't think you're ever too old to have a pal to hang on to at night.
I'm finally starting to feel the pressure to come up with something new each day! I've got a few felties finished up for later on with some more obvious choices for Christmas themes. Does candy consitute as Christmasy though? I've been looking at what's already hanging on my tree to get some ideas. I'm hoping to not have any repeats, but we'll see how desperate I get in a few more days!
There just something warm and happy about a teddy bear to snuggle with on cold winter nights. Hope some of you find snuggly bears under your tree this year!
I'm just squeeking in under the wire today. Hope everyone enjoyed day 10! (And for people who aren't really sure what I made today, it is actually a lightbulb. I put the sparkles on it to help it look more twinklie.)
Simple, but pretty for day 9. (I wish the picture would have turned out better though!) On to double digits for tomorrow.
It may look like a sweet little day 8 poinsettia, but truth be told, it's actually a giant, crafty gal eating flower. Just before this picture was taken, it tried to swallow the snowflake from day 3 down inside its giant flower center. Somehow this one got a little bit out of hand. I hope you enjoy it, anyway!
I'm keeping myself warm today on day 7 with my new candle. It's not doing much for me, due to the fact that weather.com says it's 8 degrees out right now. Brrrr!
I must still have my mind on this weekend's tree decorating extravaganza. Happy Day 5!
Here's day 4, posing on the newly decorated Christmas tree. More to come tomorrow!
It's a snowy day here on Day 3! Isn't Christmas a perfect time of year to get the glitter flowing?
The countdown until Christmas has finally begun! I'll be sharing my Advent calendar one day at a time this year. I'm going with wool felt for Christmas related cut-outs. I'm pretty much making them as I go along, so I'm not allowed to run out of steam on this one. You're allowed to yell at me (nicely, please!) if I don't post my new cut-outs each day!
I totally think this canvas print looks like squished multi-colored marshmallows. Anyone else? I also think that this bag proves that if I take longer than an hour to think out and make a small project, it really can turn out good.
My friend Alice gave me this fabric before she moved earlier this year, and I knew right away that I wanted to make a bag with it. It's just perfect bag making fabric! I didn't want to make as hastily as I do some of my other things though. There's not really anything different about this bag as compared to my last round (other than some pockets) but taking my time and paying attention to details really made it a lot nicer than others I've made.
I'm in the process of opening an Etsy shop, and the squished marshmallow bag will be for sale there, hopefully by later this afternoon!
I said I was making more! This one is also a bandana I found (cool bandanas, aren't they?) and I quilted it in spirals. Here's a little bit better of a look at that:
Sometimes it's important for me to take a break from my bigger projects and do something I can get done in a few hours. I'm ready to get back to my other projects now.
Gosh, I love bags! I picked up a patchwork bandana today, and decided that I'd make it into a new lunch bag for work. It only took me a few hours and for a first try, I'm pretty pleased with it. (I love projects that only take a few hours to do!) I have collected a few other bandanas (not the patchwork kind like this one though) so I think I'll make some more. Maybe my sewing skills will get better with the next one.
Say Hi To Eddie!
I'm happy to say, I have finally created a softie to submit to A Month of Softies. I've been wanting to do this for months, and I just haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I'm really pleased with my first attempt.
Now on to quilting! I've been trying to decide on my color scheme for my Eclipse quilt, and I think I've decided on red, pink, yellow and orange. Here's Fun Quilt's version first:
Here's some of the fabrics I have pulled up so far:
I'm just not sure how I'm going to work this though. I want this project to be as much about making the right fabric choices as the quality of my quilting. I think my fabric is really going to be lacking in the lighter hues, especially in the reds and oranges. Does anyone have any good tips for me, or would be willing to do some fabric swaping for some of those lighter colors? Let me know.
And since my kitchen is still taking up the majority of my life lately, (it's so cool to see everything starting to look like a real kitchen!) here's another look at the same wall that I showed in the last post. We have cabinets, a microwave, and a fridge that isn't in the living room anymore! It's so exciting!
Since it's been 85 degrees and over for what feels like forever, I've been knitting instead of quilting lately. The nice thing about knitting is that unlike quilting, I can have a major project finished in a couple of weeks if I put my mind to it. It's just impossible to do that with quilting. To keep myself busy, I made this poncho:
While I was working on it, Ben asked why I would ever want to work on a sweater on a 90 degree day in June. At the time, my answer was that it was too hot to sew, and that I was making it to wear in the fall. Unfortunatly, I want to wear it now, despite being so hot that I would die while wearing it.
And until the heat breaks a little more, I'm going to be doing more knitting. My friend gave me a pattern for a bag that she's already made, and I'm going to make one for myself and one for a friend's birthday. For Kate's I'm using a dark gray and bright blue wool.
I'm excited to get the first one started, but I really do want to get back to my quilting too (the hot weather is supposed to get better by Wednesday--yay!). But, being that this is primarly a quilting blog (and since I like to write about quilting and not other random things) I've been slow on the news this last month. I'd rather have quality things to say about my blog's topic, rather than blathering junk. Some people may have more interesting lives, or have the ablity to make their lives seem that way, but I'm just not about that here. So please don't give up on my blog, friends, I just haven't had anything too interesting to say lately! :)
I've been really into bags and purses lately, and it's been taking up a lot of the time when it's been too warm to quilt. I've wanted to try felting for quite awhile now, and a couple of weeks ago I finally picked up some wool yarn. In typical Sarah style, I started knitting (without any clue) until I thought I had a decent bag. Turns out on this one, I did pretty well:
I've been excited to have several compliments on it at work. (Does that mean it's not a piece of crap?) I'm pleased with it at least.
Also this week my friend Kate sent me this awsome bag:
To explain: we call each other Cirrus and Nimbus because we're like that. No one else gets it, but I think the bag is so cool! She ordered it from a company called Neighborhoodies that sells custom made bags, shirts, sweatshirts and other fun things. I think it's an awsome idea.
Off to quilt before bedtime tonight.
I just realized it's Hip To Piece Square's birthday today! I've somehow made it a year talking about not much more than just quilts and quilting. Are you guys still really still interested in reading about this stuff?? Anyway, here's to another year of quilt talk! I can't tell you how much fun it's been for me to keep this up--I've loved getting to know quilters and crafters from all across the country. You all make writing this blog a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who's read for the past year, and I look forward to talking to all of you who haven't posted yet--I love hearing what people think of what I'm doing and what people are doing in their own art.
A quick post otherwise: this past week I took a little break from quilting one day to make my friend, Kate, a little gift. I used wool felt (which I think is just the most fun stuff ever) and put together a little pouch.
It seems like everyone is making these pouches lately, and I thought I try one for myself. I have to say, that little zipper is kinda tricky! I hand stiched it in, and it seemed alright to do. Hopefully it won't fall apart on her once she gets it though.
And if you aren't on the recieving end of a wedding quilt by me, click on to see the quilting in progress!
I started quilting this week, and although I've been happy with the quilting pattern, I'm not so happy about the quality of my stitches. They're not even, they're not always straight, and I just don't think that I'm doing that well on them. But okay for me, they look okay in this picture:
Maybe I'm just being too picky. Good news though, I'm right on schedule with its progress. I'm hoping to have it finished by the start of June, because I'd like to enter it in the fair (begin strumming your banjos and roll up your coveralls!) at the end of July. Mmm... I'm sure our friends will love getting a quilt that smells like pigs, carnies, and elephant ears all at once!
Despite having a very busy week last week, I think I can officially say that I've caught up. Last night I finished pieceing the last block of the wedding quilt (YAY! No more two inch sqares to piece!) and tonight I'm hoping to finish putting the last six blocks on the rest of the top. All I'll need is a bit of a border (I'm thinking it'll look strange, and will possibly be too small without one) and then I get to quilt! So very, very, very exciting!
Another projects that I started and actually finished this weekend were shrinky dink pins.
Again (like many good ideas these days) the pins were inspired by the ones done at Wee Wonderfuls. So many cool things ideas come from there. All I did was make crappy little drawings on the shrinky dinks (I totally love that stuff now--I've never played with it before and now I'm hooked!) and then I stuck a pin through it before I put them in the toaster oven. If nothing else really, the look so cool in a pincushion!
In the world of blogs that are not my own, I did want to mention that everyone should go check out Angry Chicken. Amy Karol is a textile artist has the coolest things on her blog. Today's post featured an amazing log cabin quilt that her mother made. The quilting on it is so unique--it makes it look very different from any other log cabin quilt that I've seen, which in my opinion, is a good thing.
Finally, I have to post a picture of the cake my friend Laura made for our crafty girls group birthday party last week.
Here's Alice and Allison posing with their knitting cake--yummy and crafty!
Yep. And I feel like I've done very little the past several weeks besides getting my quilt on. It's not like I haven't had anything to say either--I've just been quilting. A lot.
I'm finally on the last six blocks of Laura and Steve's Wedding Quilt. I've been feeling like I've really been hauling on it recently--it seems like it's taken me no time at all, until I look back and realize that in fact, I've been working on it for what is actually forever. I have been trying to really get the piecing finished up soon though--we're expecting to start a major renovation in our kitchen, hopefully starting at the end of this month, and I'm not sure how much work I'll be getting done on it when we start that project. No new pictures of it at this point though--it still all looks the same to me. I'll post a shot of it again when I get the entire top pieced. It's too hard trying to hide the pictures from those people who are not allowed to see it at this point!
Unexpectedly to me, I've also gotten a ton of work done on my Bright Squares Quilt that I started about two or three weekends ago.
Despite being a smaller quilt, I have almost the whole top finished! I'm about seven blocks away from having it all finished, but most of those blocks have actually been started. Hopefully another week or two, and I'll be able to start piecing those blocks together. I'd like to have it finished soon so that I can order the fabric that I love for the back of it:
And finally, after seeing all of the really cute pincushions at Wee Wonderfuls, I decided that I had to make one too. This one is for a friend in my Crafty Girls group (that I'm headed off to shortly). For being my first one, I thought it turned out pretty cool!
Okay, I'm going to try this one again. I had a new entry completly finished last night, and then somehow I lost the whole thing. I was not a happy camper. So let's see what I can remember.
Despite not doing a whole lot of quilting, I did manage to get quite a few crafty projects finished up over the weekend. My making-things rampage started with a shopping trip to JoAnn's, where I managed to spend the rest of my gift card that my Aunt Claudia gave me for Christmas. I got some green beads, a few frames, a couple of pieces of red fabric (that I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with) some new knitting needles, a knitting magazine, and a few other things too that I can't remeber at this very minute. I think I had the most fun with the beads. Normally I don't have the knack to make nice jewelry, but I was pleased with how my first necklace turned out. In fact, I liked it so much I made a second on with red beads I already had:
Then I also used one of the pieces of red fabric that I bought to make a needlecase for some of my knitting needles. I had thought about making one awhile ago, but I didn't think I'd need one until I started going to crafty girl's night. Now it's nice to be able to bring all of the needles I think I'll need along with me, in one place.
I just took a fat quarter, divided it into thirds, sewed in a bit of extra quilt batting and used some other red fabric that I already had, and it really turned out nice. (I know that wasn't a great tutorial and all--sorry!) It also got a lot of compliments Monday night at crafty girls group.
Then I also finished up a scarf made out of super bulky yarn that Ben gave me for Christmas. I thought that the two skeins of yarn would be plenty to make a long scarf, but the yarn was so huge that it only came out to be just long enough to wrap once around my neck. It's still very warm and very pretty though!
And then finally, it's not quite crafty, but gardening is one of my most favorite hobbies. When it's too cold outside to grow things, I love having my plants inside. This weekend Ben bought me a new Phalenopsis orchid (my most favorite plant of them all!) and so yesterday I had to have a photo shoot with it. I think this was my favorite:
To me, there's nothing better than to have a beautiful plant flowering inside your house when it's cold and snowy outside!
I'm currently on Day 2 of Sicky Week, and I've finally mustered up the energy to come sit down and do something semi-productive at the computer. (I stayed home from work yesterday and today with a pretty nasty earache.) Being sick is so frustrating. You've got time on your hands, since you can't go to work, but you feel so lousy that working on projects is like the worst thing you could possibly make yourself do. I'm feeling so bogged down on Christmas projects right now too (and whose fault is that.... SARAH???) and I've got to get moving on things. None of it's been quilting related either.
I think the worst thing that I've gotten myself into latley is that I decided that I'd make my own Christmas cards. Let's talk about how stupid of an idea this has been. There are several large problems going along with this task:
1. I should have started this project last March. I doubt I'll ever have enough time to finish all that I need to do.
2. It's not fun at all. Maybe if I were making 10 of them it would be fun, but I have a lot more than 10 people on our Christmas cards list.
3. They look like crap, and I have no idea how to make them look better.
4. I've already bought the materials, and if I give up now and go buy store bought cards I'll feel defeated and lousy that I gave up after buying the supplies.
It's not just the cards either. I have four more gifts to finish making, including two that go to people at the school, so I'll have to have them finished by two weeks from tomorrow. That's really soon! Then there's the decorations that I'd like to make for my own house, including a pretty good idea for a snowflake garland type thing that I'd really like to get done soon, so that I'm able to use it before the first of the year. It's stupid that I'm stressed out about projects that I'm making myself do--it's not like I should have to have any of these things done.
Oh yeah, and there's a big quilt whose due date is approching closer and closer, and it's not getting any closer to being finished.
I need to chill out.
My mom called this afternoon after work to tell me that my Granny's in the hospital, and isn't going to be feeling up to having the fam up for Thanksgiving. Both sides of the situation are disappointing: having her be in the hospital, and not being able to give her the quilt. Hopefully she'll be feeling up to having company again in the near future, and I'll be able to deliver the quilt then. Bummer.
But let's not be sad, people! I've got more project news to report!
I'm halfway done with a Christmas gift that I'm making for the teacher that I work with. I had all the kids in the class sign a canvas bag (one was sick, and I still have to have her sign it, but she's a bit of a loudmouth tattle-tale, and I'm waiting until the last possible moment for her to sign it so that she doesn't give the surprise away) and I'm embroidering over their signatures. (There's nothing cuter than a bunch of first-grade signatures written in bright colored floss.) The first side is finished, and I hope the backside goes as fast as the front did.
October and Halloween has come and gone. I carved my pumpkins,
dressed up like the tooth fairy for a class full of first graders,
(that's my tooth fairy wand. Thanks for the great costume idea Becka!) and now it's November. November sucks. No really, it does. I hate the snow that will be coming soon, I hate the cold, and I hate the way it gets dark at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon now. But the one good thing about late fall is that it's finally the right season to quilt. I'm so close to finishing up Granny's quilt, that I'm hardly able to control myself. I need to finish it! I think that if I work everyday, I'll be able to have it done by the end of the week.
And to prove just how far my nose has been buried in my quilting lately, I didn't even happen to notice that Craftster has added a new section for people to post just about quilts. I didn't have a lot of time to look at all the posts, but there were some good quilts posted. I may have to show off this quilt there when I'm finished with it. (I'm such a show off! Is that a bad thing??)
I love it anytime I can finish a project in just a couple of days. My quilts always take so long to do, that it's almost like a race for me to finish a small project as fast as I can. I bought the materials to make a messenger bag on Friday, and I finished it up late last night. It's gray corduroy, with wool felt flowers tacked on with buttons. For making it in just over a day, it's not too bad, and it's cheaper than any of the other bags that I had been looking at. I only spent about $15 for the materials, instead of $60 for the bag in the store that I liked the best.
And here's the details of the flowers:
Now I can take my quilting with me in a semi-stylish bag!
