Gettin' There

I survived the first week of the quarter. Only 10 more to go until Spring Break.

It was an interesting week, as it always is when the students come back from a long break. I sent an email to a student informing him I expected him to drop my class after not showing up the first day. He wrote back and said he's not going to drop, his afternoon nap was longer than expected and he missed class because of it. *HMPF* Let's all try that excuse with our bosses.

My crafty time was a lot less this week, but I made some progress on my Four Seasons Quilt. Before starting the quilt I went back and forth about the design. I liked my idea but wasn't sure the execution would be successful. I almost started a different design twice. I'm glad I went with my first idea, I think it is really fun!


I basted the parts of the tree to the background fabric with some Lite Steam-a-Seam (on clearance at our local JoAnn for 99 cents for 5 9x12 sheets. Are they discontinuing it? Perhaps I should see if there is any left...), and basted the "gift boxes" to the backing the same way (lining everything up was a bitch!). I layered all my pieces together and machine quilted on the inside edges of my tree pieces, creating a quilted tree on the backing. Now I am hand quilting the gifts and adding bows. Here's my progress:

Detail of the quilt front...looks a little smooshy in the photograph but just needs a warm iron

Detail of the quilt back...the label is one of the "gift boxes," you'll see it next time

The quilted gifts were inspired by my lovely quilt from Louise. She hand quilted leaves on that quilt, and I love how subtle they are. I don't think you can call the quilt I'm making subtle, but I liked the idea of using the quilting as a shape.

I've also been working on my Etsy shop. I took photos of everything I have left from Pattyfair, edited the photos and compressed them for the web. I did research into shipping and how much I should charge (Thanks Kathy!) and I went to the post office and picked up some envelopes and boxes. Then I realized that I should probably open a separate bank account for this. Not because I think I am going to make a ton of money, but because I would prefer to only spend on this venture what I profit from it, and that won't happen if I am using our family account. Also, my preference would be to use PayPal for payment and you can only have one PayPal account per checking account. Our current PayPal account uses Charlie's email and what a pain that would be! I can't get to the bank to do that until next week, so I won't meet my goal of getting my Etsy shop running this weekend. *sigh*

Etsy is addictive. I just popped it open and found three things on the front page to look at! I guess I should get back to work...I should be working on my homework, my quilt, or chasing Jaxon away from the pets. Poor Samantha!

Still Christmas?

I've started my Winter Four Seasons Quilt Swap Quilt. I have high hopes this time that I will hear from either my swap-ee or swap-er.

This quilt needs to be in the mail by January 30. Although the deadline is well after Christmas, I am going with a festive scene. Can you guess what it is?


So far I have used only fabrics from my stash. No purchases necessary! I have fabric for the backing, but I am not sure what I will use for the binding. I wish I had more of the candy stripe!

Friday was an exciting day: my order came from Fat Quarter Shop! Now before you reprimand me on spending willy nilly on fabric, this purchase is a Christmas present from my sister and her family. And I only went 25 cents over my gift certificate. Not bad!

My original order included two yards of clearance fabric (from the Moda Blossom line). I got a call from Kimberly at the store -- the Blossom fabrics are out of stock, but she was willing to send me two yards of any other fabric for the clearance price. Woo Hoo! That's good customer service.

So here is my order:

Two patterns from Pieces from my Heart (Rick Rack and Abby's Room); a Fat Quarter Bundle of Prints Charming's Two Young Street; two yards of Michael Miller's Retro Lolli Dot (my replacement fabric); and a yard of Michael Miller's Sea Monkeys

Now I must get sewing, but tomorrow it is back to work and I am woefully behind. *sigh* Winter Break seems shorter every year!

Decisions, decisions...

I got a couple of fabric-related gifts for Christmas, and I am trying to decide what to do with them.

These are teatowels from my SIL, but they're too pretty to use as towels.

Maybe two fabulous bags??

And this is a length of silk (about half a yard of 60" fabric) that my sister brought back for me from Lyon, France! Tres Chic!

I hate to cut this...maybe I will back it and use it as a wrap or full scarf.

In other news, I've been trying to get the house back in order before school starts. I put the last of the Christmas stuff away last night; now I have to get our regular decor back in place.

I've also been trying to catch up on my blog reading (my Google Reader is quite bogged down!). I'm behind on commenting, so to all my blog friends: I'm thinking about you and inspired by your Christmas creations!

Finally, I whipped up this skirt, and I am super happy. I've been looking for a jersey knit skirt that could be worn casually with leggings or dressed up with heels. I had no luck -- I even ventured in to the Junior section of Macy's for about five minutes before I was overcome with sensory overload.

This one was really easy to make, and with a nice turtleneck you'll never know it is a drawstring closure.

Sewing the skirt was much easier than getting this picture. Jaxon was ready for a snack. This is me trying to convince him that the grapes would be better than the piece of chocolate behind my back.

While making this skirt I got to use the automatic buttonhole foot for my sewing machine. So much fun! I am going to make more of these. In fact, after I completed this one I was daydreaming about the other colors (periwinkle! coffee! deep red!) of Ponte Roma they had at the fabric store. After all, it's on sale for 50% off and I need less than two yards. But then I thought that is not the fiscally responsible way to start the new year.

So now I am feeling proud and smug of my good money spending choice. Maybe I should celebrate by buying myself something...

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2008.

I am sad to see 2007 go, it was a good year...but I feel great anticipation for good things this year.

I've tried to start the year well, by making some things. As we approach the beginning of the quarter I can feel my sewing time slipping away. *sigh* School is not back in session yet, and I already feel behind.

Now that Jaxon has graduated to the Toddlers room at daycare, he needs a couple of big boy items to take to school.

Jaxon gets to sit at the table now when he eats instead of at a portable high chair. He can take his lunch in his new cowboy lunch sack. The cowboy fabric was left from one of the bags I made his teachers, and the sack is lined in red with iron on vinyl for durability.

I modified a pattern from "Sewing Packs, Pouches, Seats & Sacks," a book I picked up at the library.

Also, Jax now naps on a cot at school. No more crib! His teacher requests that we bring a blanket and small pillow for nap time. We have a blanket I got last year at a Christmas sale that is really cute and practical for school. It's blue fleece with big graphic robots. I made a fleece pillow to match. This is my first machine applique, and I probably shouldn't have chosen fleece. Much too stretchy!

Let's pretend Mr. Robot is supposed to be funky and not wonky. Domo Arigato.

And finally, after dinner tonight Jaxon got a little treat of ice cream. I think he likes the new year!