Random Thoughts

This has been a productive and also a non productive week. I bought a pattern for a cute little fabric pouch. The ad said that it could be made in 30 minutes. It would be instant gratification and I could make a few for the craft fair. The pattern was downloaded and read. Pictures were included with the instructions. I knew that the first one would take more than 30 minutes while learning the technique. Everything seemed to be straight forward. Then, when I did the final turn, it didn’t look anything like the pictures. It was awful. One whole day was spent trying to get it right. I finally put it aside and will deal with it later. I unsewed to a point where I could make a small zippered pouch. At least something is finished.

I needed two birthday presents. Nancy Zieman had a program on sewing bags from squares and rectangles. Nancy said that this bag was easy to make. She was right. I made two cosmetic bags out of double sided quilted fabric. It was so much easier to have instructions that worked. I might make a few bags from this pattern for the craft fair. The double sided fabric in my stash is gone so I might machine embroider some pieces for the bags. It’s a great way to use up scraps.

The bags will be smaller as I have a lot of 7″ zippers in the zipper stash. Instead of two pull tabs, I might make one tab and a strap. Each bag could be different. The original bag had an outside pocket. It might be omitted on a smaller bag. Lots to think about. More to come on this project.

I have received a quilt back from my wonderful long arm quilter. She makes the quilts come alive. This quilt was made from the 10″ block patterns in Kimberly Einmo’s book, Precut Bonanza. The fabric was from the Robert Kaufman Japanese fabric box.

I still have a lot of fabric in that box. I might use it in this year’s mystery quilt. The fourth clue for the mystery quilt comes out today and I haven’t even started. I’ll catch up when it snows.

My Maine guild is doing a rip and tear project, Everyone brings a yard of fabric. They stand in a circle and tear the fabric in half. Save one piece and pass one piece. Rip and tear the new piece that you receive. Keep one piece and pass the other one. Keep repeating until the piece is small. Then, the challenge is to make something out of your pieces. Everyone has the same fabrics but different amounts of each one.

My Concord mini guild did the rip and tear project yesterday. There were five people there. One member was missing, but we ripped and tore fabric for her. We have set the finished date for the project for February. This will be a fun project.

Most of the fabrics are dark. We decided that we could add one fabric for the background.

The weather should be good this week. Maybe I can finish the fall cleanup in the gardens. Some flowers are still there. I saw some morning glories along with the silver lace vine. I had planted some seeds in that spot, but didn’t think that they germinated. It was a nice surprise.

The geraniums are now in the house. Also, some cuttings which will hopefully root this fall and winter. I should also pot the rosemary and basil. They won’t survive outside. I bought a large plant stand that has 11 spots for plants. I need to fill it up.

Two of my Christmas cactus plants survived their vacation outside last summer. One is loaded with buds. The other has none. I’ve taken cuttings from the third one to keep it going. All three are different colors.

It’s a pleasure to work outside now that the weather is cooler. Planning for next year while cleaning up the gardens make the work go faster.

Have a great day and happy quilting.