Finally something for me.

Here it is, finally, my consolation bag.

It's a little bigger than I meant it to be but I think it should work out well.

It's even got the pockets I like so much.
I'm a happy gal.

Even if I did have to make it myself.

Really, I have been meaning to.

Gah.
What happened to my new year's fresh start?
All that enthusiasm for making new things?

Actually it's still here, sorta. Just with single digit temps, sitting on the couch sounds more enjoyable that sitting in my cold sewing room. Yes, I know, poor me.

Well, here's my growing project list that some day I need to tackle.
Maybe it will motivate me or something.....

- finish birthday present for a certain someone. See, I haven't been completely lazy.

- Consolation bag for me!

- Sunglass case for me. I finally have a pair of sunglasses that I love! Trouble is I have to keep them in the car so I won't break or scratch them in my purse but then they are cold when I put them on and they fog up too much. Anyone know of a good pattern for sunglass holders?

- The infamous Ugly Elvis Quilt - It's not infamous yet but it will be.

- Birthday present for my mom. I have no idea what it is yet but I better figure it out before March 17th!

- Twirly skirts for the little girl.

- Shorts for the little man.

- Various dolls, softees, quilts and whatever else I've managed to forget or that will insert itself onto the list at a later date.


Okay, that's it for now. No reason to make myself ill when I still have 11 months until Christmas.
Hope all of your new year projects are going better than mine!

Not much crafty over here

Trying to get this little dude to sleep in his big boy bed is murdering my crafty time!

Oh, well. At least he's cute.

Resolutions and the art of quilting

This year I wasn't able to make very many handmade gifts but I was able to make each of the kids a small quilt and a bear. You all know about Arlo's quilt. He seems to like it so I'm pretty happy. Maisy's quilt is just some Hello Kitty flannel and white flannel. It turned out alright in the end but it was one of "THOSE" projects.

First, I put it off until the last possible moment thinking that I had plenty of time and um, fabric. But when I went to my stash, I realized that my memory was PAINFULLY wrong and I did not have nearly as much fabric as I thought. Hence, the stripes. Then when I was cutting everything, I realized that the Hello Kitty fabric was not 45" wide but a mere 41". After a lot of cursing, I pieced together two 3"x60" strips and put a border on the sides. After that , it was mostly smooth sailing. We don't talk about the fact that one end is wider than the other, it's just not polite conversation.

All in all, I'm really pleased with both quilts. They have become our favorite blankets to snuggle under and have really inspired me to quilt more.

So here come the resolutions:

1. I'm going to be more darning in my projects. I take a very safe route when sewing and I want to experiment more, get a better eye for color and combinations. Worry less about being perfect and focus more on learning.

2. I'm going to make more things for myself.
I love making things for other people and that's not going to stop. I'm just going to fit in more projects for myself because I should get to benefit too.

3. I'm going to find a way to get Maisy more involved in sewing. She has an interest just not the attention span but I really believe that if she worked on it, she would love it.
(I hope.)

4. I'm going to make more quilts. Some from my own design, some from patterns.

5. I'm going to clean my sewing room.
Actually clean is an understatement, I'm going to make my sewing room into a place that I want to be. A place that I can have other crafty people come over, sit comfortably, chat and work. This is my largest goal but the most important.

Okay, I'm going to stop at 5. I could go on and on and on but I want these to be do-able, attainable goals.

So here's wishing everyone a creative, kind and peaceful 2008!
May we all have a wonderful new year.