Something is Brewing

The stars were aligned just perfectly on Friday, or something else crazy like that happened.  Everything came together. 

Friday was day two of our local Spring Shop Hop.  This is where the local quilt shops run specials and all the fabric-a-holics like me wander from shop to shop in a dazed stupor of bliss.

At the first shop I went to, I found a bolt of one of my all-time most favorite fabrics ever.  It's called "Up All Night" from Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party line.   I use it in a lot of my projects because the colors are so vibrant and it's wonderfully symmetrical.  I'm a sucker for geometric things.  And hot pink.  This fabric has both.

Not only did I find the bolt, it was on CLEARANCE!  *gasp*  How did such pure joy not get snatched up the minute it hit the shelf?  I think it was waiting for me.  This fabric is hard to find so I bought the rest of the bolt - a wonderful three yards.

The second thing that happened on Friday was I stopped into Borders bookstore on a whim.  Our Borders is closing, as are many.  The neon signs in the window advertising rock bottom prices drew me in like a cat to an open tuna can. 

Good thing I wandered in, because just inside the door was a delightful rack of quilting magazines.  Most were traditional quilts in traditional fabrics which isn't my cup of tea, but there was one, peeking out from behind the others, practically shining with awesomeness.  

The above doodlings are my ideas taking shape.  Stay tuned.

Purses Need Friends Too

Every lovely purse needs an equally attractive wallet, or the whole bit just isn't any fun dontcha think?

This, my friends, is the wallet that caused all the headaches.  This is the wallet that wouldn't fit into the carefully crafted purse, which lead me to abandoning the bag altogether because of it's shortcomings (literally.  Another inch longer and we all would have been happy).

It's awful cute, though.  So I have forgiven it for the agony it caused.

Therefore, I spent another Sunday creating Perfect Purse #2, which lovingly holds the wallet with room to spare for keys, coupons, kid snacks and other necessities of motherhood.  And peace reins again.

Two full-sized pockets, a zipper pouch for coins, six credit card slots and a snap to secure the whole thing.  A magnetic snap is easier to install and therefore tempting to use, but I don't recommend it because of the close proximity to your credit cards.  Put on your Brave Hat, cut the two holes in your project, and install a real snap.

The funky hexagon fabric was a fat quarter I picked up at a quilt show last fall.  I have no idea who the designer is.  The designer of the yellow is also eluding my brain, but I remember it was from a line called "Monaco" on fabric.com.  The hot pink diamond was a scrap gifted to me from my Mom, who, I should mention, taught me almost everything I know about crafting.  (Thanks Mom - you're super!)  I think she said it came from Hancock Fabrics.

Want to make a wallet like this!  It's insanely easy.  Really.  Check out this tutorial.  Note that hers is made with a vinyl cover which really stiffens it up.  I used cotton fabric instead, so I added an extra layer of extra-stiff sew-in interfacing to the final step, right before you turn it all right side out.  It gives the wallet some heft.

Dishes, Dishes Everywhere

When I was a little girl I loved reading Shel Silverstein's poetry.  Sometimes his delightful little diddy's creep back into my head at random times.

If you have to dry the dishes;
such an awful, boring chore.
If you have to dry the dishes;
'stead of going to the store.
If you have to dry the dishes;
and you drop one on the floor.
Maybe you won't have to
dry the dishes any more.

Fortunately, our dishwasher has one of those drying settings which makes dish-drying a non-issue in our house.  What IS an issue, however, is getting the darn dishes into the dishwasher in the first place.  My children are six and eight.  My husband is 36.  One would think that people of these ages could place dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

Maybe this little reversible sign will help.

Purse-aholics Anonymous

I am embarrassed to admit how many purses and bags I have.  It's ridiculous, really.  On the positive side, most come from thrift stores and garage sales so it's not like I have a fortune wrapped up into these things.  Still, despite the massive collection, The Perfect Purse has eluded me all these years.  You know, the one that's not too big and not too small, with the handle length that hits just so, and with pockets in all the right places? 

"It doesn't exist!" you say!  "It's a myth, like Bigfoot and Loch Ness!" 

Ahhh....but it does exist, my friends. 

The Purse Quest started last year.  In crafting my own purse, there have been lots of trials and many more errors.  Someday I'll take pictures of all the attempts so you can point and laugh, but this time, I think I got a few things right.

I made the smaller one first, thinking it would be perfect.  It was an eensy-weensy bit too small to comfortably fit my wallet into, so I passed it on to my daughter and made the larger version last weekend.  Fabrics used are Michael Miller's Lava Light, Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party, and Melissa Averinos' Sugar Snap (lining).  There are scraps of others that I can't remember. 

Now for the details that make this creation part of the elite Perfect Purse Club:  Zipper pocket inside for the small things, a large magnetic pocket outside for the larger things, zipper closure across the top (dontcha just hate it when you toss your purse onto the car seat next to you and it tips over and everything falls out?  Early lesson learned: always seal the whole thing shut with a zipper.) and - this is the big one - a single, adjustable strap.  Cute strap adjusters are impossible to find in a craft store.  Save yourself the trouble and go to Goodwill.  Hit the belt rack, and buy a few belt buckles.  If you can find the adjustable ones without the middle tong, super!  Otherwise you can remove the tong later with pliers (or your husband can go at it with a metal cutter, like my crazy man did.  It worked though).

My purse was inspired by the Piping & Stripe(ing) bag here.  I liked her use of piping and borrowed that idea, but I made the whole thing smaller, changed the handle placements, used one strap instead of two, made the strap adjustable, added a zipper at top, added an interior pocket, and made the whole base wider by including a graduated gusset that goes around the bottom and halfway up each side.  Oh, and I skipped the chevron stripe bit and used a solid piece of fabric instead.   If you're new to pursemaking, her tutorial is great!

I Heart the UPS Man.

Today the big brown truck pulled up and left this little package of delight at my door. 

I get giddy just looking at it!  Oh, the possibilities!  I think some of this will become new living room pillows.  The pink could be a delightful summer sundress.  And the rest will cozy up with the rest of my stash until inspiration strikes.  Which usually happens at 2 a.m.  Why is it the best ideas come at times when we can do nothing about them?