THE CHASE RACE

So my friend Tisha from work is having her first baby at the end of October. She's been HUGE since July, poor thing, so he's probably going to be a honker! His name is Chase Allen Gallop. So cute. And his nursery theme is cars and trucks. I pledged a baby quilt for Chase at her baby shower Saturday. And I found the cutest race car fabric collection. It's brand new, thank God, so I'll be able to find some while I have money! I have mapped out a preliminary design. Tell me what you think!

MY BARGELLO PLANS

So here's my plan for the bargello table topper for Mom's and my booth at the Harvest Festival. It'll of course be a little different than this, since I didn't take the size thing into account -- I was just trying to figure out if it would look okay when there were only six colors. Whew. Thank God it looks like it will. I'll let you know how it goes -- no worries there!

EVERYTHING BUT THE BINDING!

I have finished my sisters' placemats -- well, everything but the bindings. Those are going to be tricky for me, but my mom is going to help since she's a better hand sewer than I am.

Anyway, I've included a crappy cell phone picture because I can't find my camera right now. And I really don't want to worry about great pictures until I've finished them.


I'm moving on to potholders and coasters for Harvest Festival. I'm going to make some sets of four and sell them at Mom's booth at the Arts and Crafts show. I'm also going to make another bargello, but this one will be a bit different -- only about 12 inches deep, but quite a few feet long so it can be used as a table topper for Mom's table at Harvest. It's browns, oranges, and creme. It'll be really country-ish but funky since it'll be bargello. I really enjoyed making my first one, and I was really proud of how well I did with it, so I'm looking forward to trying again. It should be interesting!

HARVEST FESTIVAL

My mother and a bunch of her cronies up in Cambridge started a Harvest Festival last year. The parade wasn't too successful -- it lasted less than five minutes -- but was entertaining. The big draw was the market. It was a farmer's and arts and craft market.

They are doing it again this year. It's on Saturday, October 11. It's going to be fun. It was a blast last year. I sat at Mom's table and sold her hats and purses and took her first commissions. I'd like to have something of my own to sell. Perhaps I'll work on something this week since I have no money and tons of time on my hands. I haven't sewn at all for a while. I only have two placemats left to quilt, and they are already pinned (thank God -- that is such a pain in the ass), so it shouldn't take long. It's just painful since the table is so short and I'm so tall. Oh well!

Hope to see you at Harvest Festival!

CAN I JUST SAY?

I love Etsy.com? It's totally awesome! I've been on it for a while, and have tried (so far in vain) to get my mother to put her stuff up for sale. She makes beautiful knitted and crocheted wool hats and purses, etc. I started a shop as well. The irony is that I haven't posted anything for sale yet -- I'm not quite at that stage. But I started my shop to figure out how to do it for my mother. Piece of cake. And of course, now I have the bug to make quilts and then make money.

Anyway, why do I love Etsy.com so much? I haven't placed a single thing for sale, yet I'm on 14 people's favorite lists (not including Mom, and I was the one who put that on there)! Isn't that crazy? I'm pretty active on the site -- even if I haven't bought anything yet. But I always check the quilts to see if anyone's put up anything new. And I check the knitting every once in a while to check out Mom's competition, as it were. I just really enjoy the site. It's tons of fun! And there's fabulous things on it. Just check it out to your right -- or click on the title of this post to go to my shop! ;-)

HOW RUDE!

I found a certain website through a friend of mine who has a different craft hobby than mine. I checked it out for my mother, who has the same hobby as my friend and then some. It looked like a great website. I really thought it was cool, and a little beyond my mother's powers -- which she would readily admit. I read later that there was a group of people who participate in my hobby, which you all know about. So I decided I would join this website.

I was on it for about a week or two, adding this and that to my profile and enjoying all the features that could be incorporated or thieved for my hobby. Then yesterday, I was basically told by the founders of the site that I was unwelcome. Others had complained about my profile because I didn't participate in the same hobbies that were on the site. And I was also told by members of other groups on the site that I wasn't using it how it was intending. I wasn't -- I admit that. But I wasn't the only one, and I certainly didn't expect to be basically banished from the website.

Therefore, I cleared all my things, quit my groups, deleted my friends, and said good-bye to this site.

PS: If you have any desire to know of which site I'm speaking, email me and I'll tell you. Otherwise, I'll not broadcast it. They know who they are -- I made my displeasure known.

I SLACKED AGAIN

After I said I was going to sew. Instead, I finished reading the Hound of the Baskervilles. It was an enjoyable read, though, so I don't really regret not sewing. Besides, I was only three chapters from the end last night -- it was necessary. You can read my thoughts here: queenbookworm.blogspot.com.

SLACKER!

I slacked this weekend -- no sewing. Oops. Tonight, I'll sew. No Closer anymore till January -- I'm going to have withdrawals!

I must admit, however, that I am intrigued by the new season of Dancing with the Stars. Hello! Misty May-Treanor! I hope she doesn't get voted off right away. That would suck. Not sure if I'll watch, though. I get bored by that crap easily. Not ballroom dancing, mind you. I love it! But ballroom dancing by people who don't really know what they're doing. And reality TV in general. The only one of which I'm a huge fan is Project Runway.

I digress, do I not? ;-)

TONIGHT, TONIGHT!

I celebrate tonight -- because I'm going to sew. I was busy last night -- I had a volunteer orientation and then I hung out with my friends and their son and ended up babysitting for about 45 minutes.

He's really cute. I've included a picture just because George is cute, and now it is known why I get so distracted at their house. He's attempting to crawl, and he's talking, and he likes to stand up. He's 4-and-a-half months old going on 25 years, y'know? The picture is from when he was just a month old.


But he will not deter me from sewing tonight. I'm going to clean off my dining table and sew in there -- that table is higher than the piece of crap plastic one I sew on in my spare room. Plus, it's cooler -- thank God for eves on apartments. I have two more placemats to quilt, and I will finish them tonight. There's no more Psych on -- I'll watch it online when I go to bed. So I have plenty of time. I'm determined to finish them tonight and then prepare the bindings on Sunday -- busy Saturday! Mom's going to help me with sewing on the bindings. I'm not so hot at the hand-sewing. Oh well! Wish me luck!

I HAVE COMMISSIONS!

Again. I didn't get any sewing done last night -- just as I predicted. And I won't tonight -- Bones is on. Sorry, but I must watch David Boreanaz. And the Dog Whisperer is guest starring -- my mom loves him.

Anyway, I thought I should blare the fact that I have been commissioned by a friend to create a table runner for her dining room and a quilt and pillow shams for her bedroom! Woo-hoo! Gotta get started on the designs. Wish me luck!

LAST NIGHT

Once again, TV ruled the evening. I'm sorry, but it was the season finale of the Closer. I don't miss an episode of that show if I can help it. Ever since it came on, I've been watching it. Kyra Sedgwick can be a little annoying, but that's kinda part of her character. And I really watch it for all the other characters on that show. They are an amazing cast.

Anyway, it also looks like I won't be getting any sewing done tonight, either -- brand new Eureka. That's another one of which I've never missed an episode. It's one of my favorites. So, sorry, but sewing's taking a backseat tonight. And tomorrow, too -- Bones. Damn TV! Oh well.

I DIDN'T JUST TRY

I really did sew today. I waited until it was later, about seven this evening, since it's been so hot. And then I finished quilting another placemat. I didn't finish them all, but I have all four of Ginna's done, and two of Mary's. I'll finish another one tomorrow, perhaps -- although the season finale of the Closer is on -- and then all I have to finish once they're quilted is the binding. I have a crappy picture of one of Ginna's. Excuse the fuzziness!

I SHALL TRY, REALLY I SHALL

To sew this weekend. Okay, wait. I think I'll live this weekend by one of Master Yoda's more famous sayings: "Do or do not. There is no try." So I will sew this weekend. By God, I will! Hee, hee.

My priority: those pesky placemats for my sisters. I can finish the quilting this weekend and start on the bindings, no problem. However, I've never done bindings before, so it might get a little ugly. Thank God for online tutorials! I figured out how I'm going to bind by reading up on Marcia Hohn's website, The Quilter's Cache. I go there all the time! She has tons of great patterns of traditional ancestry or her own, as it were. Great site. Check it out if you haven't already.

If you click the title of this blog entry above, it will take you directly to Marcia's tutorial on quilting binding.

DIDN'T HAPPEN

Oh no, it didn't happen. I got no sewing done last night. Bloody hell. And I know I won't tonight, either -- Ghost Hunters AND Bones. Both brand new. It ain't gonna happen -- the sewing. Unless I do move my machine into the living room. Which I very well might. Hm. Thinking.

DAMN THE CLOSER! AND DAMN EUREKA!

So there was a new episode on last night. In fact, for me, there were two. I missed last week's because I had returned from my parents' house that afternoon and was exhausted! I went to sleep last Monday and hardly woke up to go, "Oh, there's a new Closer on right now."

Needless to say, I got no sewing done last night. But this morning, I did put together a diagram for a wall-hanging that I've been wanting to do forever! It's for my living room. Aquas, taupes, and brick reds. I love the combo of aqua and red. Saw it in a Martha Stewart Weddings and have been in love with it ever since -- I totally plan to use it if I ever get married. The fabrics are from a Moda line called Wuthering Heights. My mom bought me a bunch of fat quarters at a local shop, then I got them home and started to wash them and press them. That's when I discovered the name of the collection. It was meant to be -- I'm a former English teacher! The design is simple because I want to show the fabrics off. They are gorgeous!

This is sort of what I plan for it to look like, including the quilting lines. When your machine is 28 years old, you can't do a lot of fancy stuff. It's a Husqvarna Viking, but it's got a really short arm on it, and no variable speed. Oy. Time for a new machine. That's what the Etsy shop is going to be for -- making new machine money!

And I doubt I'll get any sewing done tonight, either, since there is a new Eureka on. Hm. Maybe I should move my sewing table into my living room so that I can sew and watch at the same time. I could sew during the commericals! EUREKA!

GOOD INTENTIONS

I love it that I always have good intentions of sewing over the weekend, but they never seem to come to fruition. I spend the first part of the day being busy with friends and their children, and then I lack the energy to create anything once a I get home. Or to finish anything.

I am a terrible sister who needs to get her butt in gear. Last Christmas, I decided to make placemats for my two little sisters and their husbands. But we opened presents early so I didn't get to finish them in time -- and I never have. It's almost a year later. I can't believe I never finished. Shame on me. I think I'll work on it tonight if there's no new Closer episode.


But see, they're going to be cute when I finish them! They are the first things I've actually quilted, not just pieced. The first one to be quilted didn't turn out so well, but the rest look really good!

POOR, UNFORTUNATE SOULS

I know, an ominous title, but they certainly are poor, unfortunate souls. They are my only two finished tops, but they have never been finished. Shame on me. Of course, one of them belongs to a friend of mine now -- she sews, too. So here they are: the first is the top I created for my sister's wedding three years ago; the second is a bargello, my very first, and I was really proud of it, except for the fabric choice.


The above is the wedding table topper that sat under my sister's huge coconut hatbox cake.


And above is my first bargello. I'm totally making more of this -- I loved it. And I pieced the strips without using pins -- I apparently line up my corners better without the pins. Weird!