WHOLE LOTTA CUTTIN' GOIN' ON

Nearly a month ago, I said I was going to my first craft retreat.  Due to crappy Internet service, I've been unable to share everything I got accomplished at that retreat.

One of the big things I got done was my stitch sampler.  I'm in a class to learn all about my new machine, Regina Bernina.  One of our homework assignments, as it were, was to complete a stitch sampler.  I felt pretty lucky compared to most of the ladies in the class -- I only have 85 stitches.  There's one woman who has THE fanciest machine Bernina makes.  She has over 1000 stitches she has to sample.  Whew!  Glad I'm not her!  Anyway, here's the result:

It was a lot of fun to do, and one of my friends, whom I call Crazy, watched over my shoulder the whole time.  I asked her if she was bored at all.  She said no!  Too fun to watch!

And I did a TON of cutting.  I'm 5'10" and I own a very short table on which I cut.  That means I can't cut for long periods of time without getting major back pain.  The house we had the retreat in had a huge kitchen island that was nice and tall.  I set up cutting shop on the island and cut the fabric for an entire table runner for myself.

That's all of it!  It was so nice not to be in pain when I was done with cutting!

After the stitch sampler was finished, I worked on my mom's table runner, which is going to be bargello.  I love bargello, and I've made one before.  It turned out pretty darn good.  So I had a honey bun of Blessings that I'm turning into a runner for Mom.  I already have the tubes finished and ready to cut.

There's four different tubes that I'm going to use.  It's going to be a lot of fun to put together.  I'm even thinking about trying to cut really small strips, like 3/4" to see what happens!  Wish me luck!

And here's an action shot of Regina Bernina because it's awesome!

I'll post pictures of my table runner when it's done -- just have to add the borders and do the quilting and binding!  Woo-hoo!

CHARMING STACKS OF FABRIC

I didn't get as much sewing done this weekend as I'd hoped.  I ended up helping my mother clean out the house I grew up in.  I cleaned my own house.  I babysat my sisters Doberman.  I was a little busy.  But last night, I finally sat down and sorted out the two charm packs of Moda's Blessings that I bought.  Mom bought me a honey bun of the same fabric, so I was able to use both charm packs for the placemats.

I'm going to do reversible disappearing nine patch chargers, rather than your typical placemat.  Mom's table is oval, so large placemats really wouldn't work very well.  And she likes funky things, so there you go!

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!

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!

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!