Its a new dawn, a new day, and I'm feeling good.....

Bonus points if you name the songstress. Anyway, it is a new day. Fall, while not quite upon us, is definitely coming. The cooler weather brings out the heavy projects, so out is the pink and blue 30's quilt that I have been working on for at least 4 years. Out is also the "wee play" quilt that needs to actually be quilted. My boys have asked for new quilts or for extensions to be put on their old quilts, if they would just stop growing this wouldn't be an issue. So it looks like I have my work cut out for me, it will be tricky as the baby girl wants to "help" and I have yet to figure out how to have her with me without sewing her to something. Life is good, a little crazy but good. I will post pics of WIP's as soon as I fish out the camera from the cabinet.

What I really need is

What I really need is a fabric stash fairy that will organize all of my fabric and take pictures of all of it for me so I don't end up buying it again. I also need someone to show me how the heck to miter corners that comes out even and straight. I need the thai place up the street to anticipate my need for late night pad thai and bring it to my door. I need a craft room where baby girl can't run off with bias tape, no it does not taste good I promise. The phone not to ring, because I don't want more insurance, yes I am registered vote, and I am not giving to the bogus policemans fund because it is a scam and I even asked my favorite local policeman about it so please stop calling me.

A few notes to my family.
Oldest child, hear my words, I love you and you are an amazing young man but your arm did not get lopped off and you are not bleeding profusely so could you please stop screaming like that, its lego, just lego ok, life will move on. Middle boy, I also love you, you are my world, but no you cannot have popsicles before bed and launching yourself on the floor flailing about will not change my mind. Baby girl, contrary to what you may believe naps are not for losers and you would greatly benefit from one right now, lets embrace that mmkay. Darling husband, I cooked lots and lots today is there any chance that the kitchen elf will come in the night and make the kitchen all shiny and pretty. I made your favorite carrot cake, and bread pudding, and corned beef brisket for hash in the morning, and that groovy cous cous, and marinated grilled chicken. Wait, whats that, I think I hear the kitchen elf stirring now. Excellent, ahh the power of cream cheese frosting.

Wee Play by Moda

I just picked up a jelly roll of this fabric and I cannot tell you how cute it is. I love brights, I love batiks, and I especially love the new up and comers like Amy Butler, Tina Givens, Heather Ross (lightening bugs and other mysteries is the very best ever), and Grand Revival designs. But seriously I have a weakness for retro inspired prints. I love the whole aunt grace thirties inspired stuff. Just yesterday I went to the store I cannot stand, my local quilting fabric store. I will explain why I can't stand them in a minute. Right now I want to express my joy and love of this very sweet fabric line. It will remind you of your grandma, well if she was from the Midwest it will. You see, my grandma on my mother's side was actually my great grandma and she went from Arkansas to Kansas in a covered wagon. Probably not because that was the only mode of transport but because it was the cheapest way to get a family of 10 from point a to point b. Anyway, my grandma made actual clothes out of feed sacks and had a pedal foot singer and a hand wringing washing machine, if you can even call it a machine. She loved sweet little prints, and this line is full of them. If you are not yet familiar with the jelly roll or charm pack or layer cake. Let me explain, a jelly roll is 40 2 1/2 inch strips. Sometimes it is the entire line or there are coordinating solids or they pick and choose from coordinating lines. A true jelly roll is always 40 strips. A charm pack is a collection of fabrics again from a single line or coordinating lines that are 5 1/2 inches square and a layer cake is a collection that is 10 inches square. There are quilt patterns and assorted project patterns specifically designed for these items. It is a great way to see the entire line at once. Sometimes you can even get them on sale on Ebay or Etsy or at your local crafter/quilter store. A jelly roll costs between 20 and 30 dollars depending on how new it is and mark up in your chosen store. You can get un official jelly rolls everywhere comprised of like colors or bits and pieces of other peoples stashes. If you need them to follow a quilt pattern make sure you get at least 40 strips. If you are just collecting them to add to your stash then the quantity won't matter as much. I will figure out how to post pics soon, but I created a very sweet quilt top from the Wee Play line and I hope to sell it somewhere soon, that is if one of my children don't claim it first.

Now, why I can't stand my local quilting store. I love fabric, I mean I love it nearly as much as shoes. Fabric doesn't judge and it won't make my ass any fatter. I love to collect it, I love to try new projects with it. I enjoy it as an artistic medium. The people who run the store are very old, and quilting purists. They are snobbish about anything other than quilting and they are unwelcoming to the next generation of sewers. They are not friendly, they are not particularly helpful and they aren't really all that kind. Now in case you think I am too quick to judge. I even took a class there in beginning machine quilting. I was the youngest by 30 years easy, they were condescending and rude as if they didn't really want me to know how to use a walking foot, like it is some secret reserved for octagenerians or something. You would think that pursuit of the almighty dollar would open their eyes to an untapped market, the young and eager. I don't think it will happen. I am not even sure that the store breaks even let alone makes a profit. I get the feeling that this is a "yes, dear" venture by a very wealthy absent husband to appease his empty nesting wife. The fabric selection is mostly drab, full of civil war reproduction fabric and lots of thimbleberries. There is some thirties and some novelty fabric but thats about it. The prices, well if there were another store in town that carried the fabric I wanted I would never shop there again. This town is interesting, there is one apparel fabric store, one quilting fabric store and an absolute ton of home dec fabric stores. Perhaps I need to travel one town over where there is a large Mennonite population I bet they have a nice quilting store probably two and I bet the people who run the store are actually nice and helpful. Wow. Dare to dream.

I am not a one trick pony

My other love is food, I love to cook. I cook every day for my family from scratch. I even make my own convenience foods and stock the freezer with grab and go meals. I have made my own pancake mix, my own bisquick type stuff my own soup stocks. I so enjoy the process, I really do try and make everything from scratch. I volunteer for our local fire department, and what do you think I do, thats right cook. It makes me so happy, the firefighters tease me a little bit, but I take it in stride. I most recently made them chicken and dumplings from scratch with three desserts because I just couldn't choose. So I made them fresh strawberry cake, peach cobbler and cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing. I collect recipes from everywhere. My favorite new software is One Note, it is a microsoft product. I have no idea what its original purpose is, but it is a wonderful tool to gather web information and put it in a single source complete with a footnote. So I find my favorite recipes online and copy them into one note, sort the recipes as I do according to my strange logic. If you have it, try it out. I use it for recipes but you could easily use it for craft projects or tutorials or whatever you can think of.

Attempts at craftiness

Wilendur, how I love thee

Most everyone has had or has seen a wilendur textile. They come in tablecloth's, tea towels and napkins. I love them all especially the florals, not only are they campy in a very sweet way but they are tough, they stand up to small spaghetti covered hands. They wash great and they look great. I have probably 5 or so, at least one original wilendur and a few knockoffs. You can buy them on ebay and on Etsy and if you like campy kitsch then it is worth your time to check it out. If not, more for me.

Today, today is the day for pictures I hope

Smocks, my personal favorite brand of ugly. My husband would rather see me with my hair in curlers, comfy sweatpants with strategic air comfort holes than see me wear one of my favorite creations. A smock, a highly functional, well crafted and even better repaired smock. I made it out of bargain bin home dec fabric from Joann's. From my limited world perspective it felt pucci inspired. Now think about that for a minute, first home dec fabric, bargin bin, joann's and pucci inspired. One of these things doesn't quite fit. So maybe in the grand scheme of the world it isn't inspired by a fabulous designer, maybe it really is more like curtains on the partridge family bus circa 1972. A girl can dream right. So I made this wonderful garment, I made the short version and I shortened it considerably as I am 5'3 with my tall shoes on. I even made the bias tape, I wish I had watched a tutorial on bias tape because I made it following the pattern not knowing what bias tape was. For the life of me I couldn't figure out where those strips were going and why I needed so many. Blindly I followed the directions, which were otherwise very easy. What I failed to do was use a zig zag stitch to prevent the seams from fraying. Hence the repair that was needed after the fact. I worked hard on it, and I can say it was the first thing I have ever made without a real live smart person sitting next to me to show me what to do. I made it myself and I lurve it.