happy halloween!

"Who needs a broom when you can just Zip?"

it was feverish

I relapsed a bit, but for good reason. We sold our [costly-repair-bill] car, so we're now carless, and everything just takes a little more time (no complaints!). We also took a last-minute camping trip to North Georgia, and then we took turns being sick. Feverish part I.

And then my parents' fall craft shows really snuck up on me (slash I bought fabric in March and waited until October to make anything). Feverish part II. I was responsible for making some home accents, mostly revolving around the kitchen. I finally sent off the round-one package today, just in time for show #1 next weekend. Here's a little sneak of a bit of what they'll be selling.

as much as I love me a rich more-than-six-color rainbow, these aren't being sold together. bummer!

I have literally been in front of my sewing machine for as much as 12 hours per day, so I'm taking a little breaky-break. I'm sure that really means I will be back at it tomorrow.

Happy weekend!
Mary

a new purse-wallet

I guess I will call it a purllet.

I was inspired to make this double-flex-frame purllet by this really expensive clutch and a friend who had a double-framed wallet.

The fabric was a scrap given to me by a friend who had a skirt/dress made out of it in Ghana by this company.

I added a flush zip pocket to the inside to store goods and used the same technique to add a cash pocket and card slots (I lined the card slots with laminated cotton to help the cards stay put). I also inserted magnets to keep the purllet closed when not in use.

The flex-frame pockets are made with a recycled tape measure rather than an actual flex frame [because I am too impatient to wait and cheap to pay for them to be shipped to me], and one pocket contains a zippered change pouch.

Thanks to this tape measure for giving its life to this awesome little accessory. The remaining portion of the tape measure is underneath all that duct tape - I learned my lesson in securing it when it shot across the living room :) (I used a narrower 12' tape, not the 25' one) (PS, these things are harder to destruct than one would think.)

I was so happy to move into this new purllet - it's so convenient and the perfect size for all the regular items.

I'm contemplating writing a pattern for this guy :)

Happy Monday!

Mary

habitat quilt top

I kept right on steamrolling and ended up with the herringbone portion of the top finished yesterday, and I ran out of [some unknown color of] gray at the same time. I have a bit of an instant-gratification problem when I am on a roll with a project, so I set out today to find substitute fabric (knowing full well that I would not find the same gray).

This is when pillowcases from your friendly cheap-o discount store saved the day. They are a deep gray-almost-wants-to-be-purple color. I also picked up a microfiber blanket, a favorite in our household, to use as the quilt back. Fuzzy, comfy, and cheap completely outweigh the boringness.

 

A few quick finishing pieces and I now have a completed quilt top! The entire quilt includes the herringbone piecing as well as the white and dark gray bands at the foot of the bed.

Here is a close-up of the herringbone piecing. The 'height' of the parallelograms vary from 2.5" to 4", and the width of the herringbone bands varies from 6" to 9".

 

Next purchase: batting :)

someone lit a fire!

(potential energy stored during break) + (me time associated with busy husband) + (inspirational goodness provided by Habitat)

=

amazing productivity

 

I am not sure if it was always this fast or if I am experiencing some sort of hyper-drive, but I darn-near have a quilt top.

 

[I may have to purchase more gray, went a little crazy with the size of the quilt] [but I don't remember what gray I bought to begin with] [[crap]]

Happy Monday :)

the good news is I still like to sew

The bad news is that it took several weeks to figure it out. That's the cool thing to do these days, right? Take a break from the thing you normally use to take a break?

First it was "well, the Webernets aren't working, so I guess I can't post."

That turned into "does that mean I don't need to make anything...? yes."

Then it was "yay! we get to go to Minnesota! clearly I can't pack the Singer"

After that I was saying "crap, we're moving back to Atlanta WHEN? I totally forgot. okay not really, but for real."

And finally, after moving, "everything is packed away so nicely in our new apartment. who, in their right minds, would disturb this kind of organizational perfection?"

I overcame that last question today. But I'll be honest, taking a break was nice. I literally did not read any blogs for a solid six weeks [eternity? depends on who you ask]. I still love them, but I found myself getting caught up in everyone else's projects, and I lost my good old[some-would-argue-young] self.  Sometimes technology can take over your life, and I'm guilty of letting that happen. So now I get to resurface, minus one data plan on my phone and a large handful of blogs I "read," in favor of really keeping up with my faves and having more time to be inspired by me.

With that fervor, I kicked back into gear by starting a new quilt today! I have had a fat-quarter set of Habitat on hand for the whole summer, burning a hole in my stash. Initially I wanted to do a simple diamond pattern (or rhombus, if you ask my mathy Sean). Clearly I stewed too long on that idea because on the drive back from MD, my diamond shape cutter found a precarious place above the speaker in our car, and over the course of a 12-hour drive, it formed a new 3D speaker shape. Sorry mom! (she gave it to me for Christmas).

But in the shadow of tragedy blossoms creativity (so true in a million ways in my life), so I started cutting today for what I am calling Herringbone Habitat.

I am particularly excited for this quilt because I am not using anyone else's pattern but my own made-up one [eh, could be a disaster, but we'll find out soon enough]. And Habitat is so random, yet so unified. This quilt is easily going to skyrocket to the favorites pile.

I sincerely hope you all enjoyed the end of summer. I will be back in sooner than 6 weeks, scout's honor.

M

Mug Rugs and Internets

I'd like to think it hasn't been three weeks since my last post, but hey, things happen (or as someone told me while we were in the ER for the broken collar bone, sh** happens. and it does). In that time, I have visited family in Long Island, been without the Internets for quite some time, and completely overused my new favorite word, "fancy." So here I am at the Bucks for some fancy coffee, AC, and internet, feeling a little bit like I'm back in grad school.

I haven't been completely lame with the crafts. In preparation for the generosity I knew my aunt and uncle would show us during our visit (including but not limited to amazing seats at a Mets game), I whipped up some tea mug rugs and a mat for their teapot. They are big tea people. Morning, noon, and night. I forgot my camera, though, so here's a little snap from the phone.

I'm still not entirely sure if they all "go" together, but I think they are each cute. I used a lot of Modern Meadow and a little Hideaway (the clocks).

I also spent the better part of a week editing wedding photos. And I maybe got 25 done.  By no means am I an expert at editing, but I've definitely learned some amazing tricks.  My good friend took our wedding photos and didn't charge us a penny for the whole raw lot on disc. Uh-mazing. So now it's my turn to build it into a photo book. Here is one of my favorites because it POURED during our wedding :)

Anyway, until my next visit to Starbucks, or until our landlord gets back to his job, happy crafting :)

Mary