Naptime

Not really, but seeing all these pillows sure made it an enticing idea! I spent Labour Day weekend cleaning and reorganizing my sewing room and one of the things I had to deal with was my collection of Clothesline Club kits from several years back. I made a few of them, but I still had a lot of them sitting in their original packages. It was time to do something about it. I took all those pretty 30's prints out of the packages, pressed them all up, and integrated them into my stash. But I knew that wasn't the final answer, so I tried to think of how I could use up some of the fabric and came up with the idea of pillowcases.

I'm a sucker for making pillowcases; they are a quick sewing fix and the method where you roll everything up into a tube and turn it inside out is pretty genius! I ended up with enough large pieces to make seven pillowcases. I pressed those babies up and got them stacked and they've been sitting in my sewing space, cheerfully awaiting deployment to some good cause. My only hesitation in giving them away was I really wanted to get a picture - must blog, therefore, must take photos! Today was finally the day!

I asked eldest daughter dear to help out with the photo shoot; basically, I said "go up to your room and bring me all your pillows - make sure they're naked!" So most people's children, I imagine, would have been somewhat fazed by such a comment but not my daughter. She knew exactly what I meant and having her mother make such a request didn't even cause her to skip a beat - not even one. Not sure what that says about our family, but on with the story!

Or wait, let's just get on with the photo:

It's autumn now. I love fall, but overcast, dark, blustery days are a bit of a bummer, especially for taking photos (although not quite as horrible as it getting SO dark SO early in the evenings, anymore!).

Quick finishes equal happy sewing! They'll be off to a new homes shortly.

Happy last day of September.

e.

Whiskers

Paper piecing. Any chance it's a "love it or hate it" type of thing? I truly admire the people who do it and the projects they make. I am amazed at how someone can get an idea for a design and then break it down into small sections that can be joined together with a straight seam. It really is a gift.

But I don't think it's for me. As a technique, that is. This month, our assignment over in the Happiness circle for Do Good Stitches is to make one of these Whiskers blocks in catfish colours - oranges, greys, and watery hues. I appreciate Craftsy making the pattern available as a free download - thanks, Craftsy!

Here is kitty:

You can't tell with the way the light is but the background is a nice grey pindot from one of Bonnie & Camille's lines. The orange is Glimma and the nice charcoal fabric is Running Stitch by Patty Young. I think the colours came together nicely and the block itself - not too bad at all.

I'm not a fan of the amount of fabric it takes; you need to have generous slabs of fabric to ensure the section is completely "covered". I'm not a person who prefers to sew with itsy bitsy scraps or crumbs, so the chunks I cut off end up in the garbage can - phooey! I imagine with (lots) more practice I would feel more comfortable cutting it close with my fabric pieces, but obviously, I'm not there yet. I also don't care for a lot of texture in a block when it comes from seams - from great fabrics and contrast, yes, sewing lines? No.

It's okay though, right? I really do like how the block turned out and I learned something new - can't complain about that. For now, though, I'll probably stick to other methods of piecing (and hope those little scrappy bits of fabric don't end up in the dog's mouth!).

e.

Fresh Sewing Day: September!

September is my favourite month. It always has been. I'm not sure why because I love so many other times of the year as well but I was definitely one of those people who loved school, and getting a whole bunch of new school supplies to sharpen, organized, and label was always a very exciting time for me! And now I work at a college and for us, school starts again the Wednesday after Labour Day each year and there is always an excited energy in the air which is kind of neat to be a part of!

I have had a great few weeks at work and I even managed to sew a fair bit, but I don't have anything to show because I loaned out my camera to my daughter so she could take it on her field school course - she's not back until Tuesday. I'm really, really hoping she doesn't leave my camera out in the woods as a gift to one tree or another (like she did with the last camera I got her, and the last water bottle...do you see a trend?). I am a big fan of trees but I am quite certain they are not hankering after my Nikon so Eryn, if you're reading this, please bring my camera home!

In lieu of fabric and quilt-friendly photos, I bring you this masterpiece taken with my phone around noon today:

No, it isn't a dust bunny gone wild (although I've seen a few come close), it's a bat. I don't know what type of bat as my naturalist is out in the woods somewhere (hopefully still with my camera) but it isn't very large at all and it appears to be quite content just hanging around outside our front door. I checked when it started getting dark - assuming it would be gone - and found it had moved into the corner. It looks very content (and almost cute) so as long as it doesn't bother us, I don't plan to bother it.

I did celebrate Fresh Sewing Day and the first day of National Sewing Month by tidying and organizing in my sewing room. As of September 1 my job description has changed so that I am now only responsible for 1.0 full time positions (instead of the 2.8 I was trying to hold down - all of the moms get what that is like!) and I want to celebrate by making my sewing space as accomplishment-friendly as it can be. I absolutely have some kind of sewing ADHD and had many (I won't admit HOW many) projects started all over the place. In fact, as I cleaned up, there was one or two I had forgotten about. Every time I'd go to sew, I'd be so overwhelmed by it all that the best answer (here's quilter's logic for you) I'd start something new! I am fairly certain I'm not the only one to have done something like that. As of this evening my work surfaces are cleared and my projects have been gathered and organized into plastic storage bags and placed on the shelf for when I am truly ready to focus on them and get them done. Yay for a fresh start on Fresh Sewing Day!

Linking up here!

e.