Retail Therapy

This last week was going along as usual but about mid week, out of nowhere I was knocked out by a blow from a "friend". Friday was my day off and I moped around all day, trying to regroup, trying to understand and get used to the facts. I gathered all of my bag patterns, thinking about what bag to make for my swap partner. Suddenly I was making a bag using PamKittyMorning's pattern for her Market Bag. Suprisingly, it went together very easily, I've never really attempted to make a bag. Cool! The outside shell was done by Friday evening, but didn't have a lining, so I did a little stitchery to get through the evening.

Saturday I thought that maybe a little retail therapy would help me out, after all I needed to get the lining, some fuseable and a few other things were on my list. I took a trip downtown to Main Street Quilts. This place makes me smile.

I thought that Susie might still have some of the Moda Fruit Cocktail line that I was using for my bag. I originally bought the line to make mother/daughter aprons for Christmas gifts a few years back and had some left over. I love this line, it's an old one, but it's adorable. BINGO, she had a few choices. I went ahead and bought a couple of yards of each. Don't ask what I'm going to do with it. Who knows, I didn't know I was going to make the bag with it either. Sometimes you just can't plan these things and it's good to have "adorable" on hand.

Look at that red/black fabric for an apron, soo cute, huh? can't wait to make one up! Hmm what else is in that bag? I plan on making a quilt that calls for a ruler (Omnigrid 98L, which I think is basically the same as the one that Okperi bought) to make the tubular hsts. That will also be a new experience for me. Also another package of those Easy Threading needles. Easy Threading needles come in handy! They are the ones that I thought were for old ladies that couldn't see to thread a needle, LOL. You know the ones that you can just pop the thread in the top. Well, when I took a machine applique class I was shown that they are a very good tool to use to bring your threads to the back to tie off. Since then I've found a lot of uses for them and there is always a package near!

Last nite I managed to get the lining made and finished the bag up this morning. TADA!!! It looks so.... well so.... PamKittyMorning! LOL So anyway I love how the bag turned out. For the swap bag I have a few changes planned, but now that I've made it, that will be simple. I hope you like this bag, it will be showing up next month for a little celebration.

Today I'm doing the necessary get ready for the next work week kind of stuff. This evening I'm going to find my way to San Jose to have dinner with my son and his stepdaughter. Thats enough to cheer a mom up! Hope you have a wonderful week xoxomar

It's been a week, a pretty busy but boring week I must say, all work no play makes Mar a boring blogger. I'm winding down on a weeklong cat tending job and also double dipping by petsitting in Benicia this weekend. (Debbie, if this mention of Benicia brings me into your radar again, please email me again as I lost your contact info).

At the office we have all been busy trying to figure out where to put things and we are making headway. It's a very busy public office, so we don't have much time to figure things out, but, bit by bit it's coming together nicely!

You may have noticed by the emblem on the sidebar that I've joined another swap. Linda's swaps are great, I love that they are secret swaps, so you don't know who you've got till it's done. This makes it exciting. (doesn't everybody love a secret?) Also, she takes effort to swap us out with other countries. How could I resist. The pincushion swap was a great success. Of course now I need to do some more pet sitting so that I can afford it. I know I will buy materials to make at least 3 different bags and then decide on something I have, but need a little more of something to go with? At least I know this about me and can plan for it, sheesh! (if you'd like to join the swap there's still a little time, it will close at 8:30 pm tonite)

I'm slowly working on my Prairie Paisley quilt. I love how it's coming along. Problem is that it's a big one and I don't have a space where I can sit and ponder and plan (gettin into my P's again, did ya notice?) The next row will be the middle row. I doubt that I will keep what I have up on the wall for that row, but it's a start. I need to get back into making some more blocks. At the start I had planned to use a variety of the reds from this line for the cornerstones so I pulled them out and didn't use them for the blocks. Since then I've decided to use the same red that I'm using for the setting triangles and now would like to incorporate the other reds into the squares. I guess I should do this before it's too late, I wouldn't want them all at one end, now would I?

This picture isn't very good. I have been putting it up on the wall in my hallway and it's hard to get a good shot, and soon I will be out of wall!!

Ok, thats it. I told you it was boring and I didn't even mention my laundry or my nap! I'm off to feed the cat and sleep with the dog. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. xomar

The Pincushion has landed. Will you look at this! This sweet little package had a long way to travel. It came all the way from Finland! From what I can figure, that is over 5,000 miles! I am so thrilled to receive such a treasure. Lucky for me that Linda paired me up with Jeanette . Jeanette enjoys a second hobby, wire working. This is a new hobby to me, I've really have never seen anything like it. How clever of her to blend it with her stitching and make such a beautiful, unique and useful pincushion! Not only the pincushion, but she has made this sweet angel also.

Thank you Jeanette, they are both wonderful.

Oh No, I'm not done, there's more! Jeanette is not only talented, she is also generous, look at the cool thread bag she made, she hand stitched my initial on it too. A cute little tin was also inclued. I can't thank you enough, it was worth the wait.

Special thanks to you Jeanette & to Linda for selecting you for me!

Now, back to the normal stuff. When I went to work on Thursday 6/30, one of my workers told me some information regarding one of the participants in the trial. So on Monday I had to appear before the court and share that infomation. The court excused me. Since this was a murder trial I was greatly relieved to be excused. At work, my staff have all been moved as of yesterday. There is still a lot of "stuff" that we need to fit in, and we need to learn new processes and get re-oriented, but it only takes time. I worked my day off yesterday and I was glad I was there to help them. The new work area is so nice. We also had a fellow unit member retire this week after 37 years! Needless to say, I haven't gotten very much sewing done. I have managed to get about 40 blocks finished. There are only 61 blocks so I'm over half way there. I hope to get started putting it together tomorrow, even if all of the blocks aren't finished. I just don't have a space big enough to lay it all out. Hope all is well with you and your world. Everything is moving along here! xoxmar

I finished this wall hanging last year just in time for the 4th of July, wanted to share it with you. This is "3 Cheers" by Verna Mosquera of the Vintage Spool. I really enjoyed making this, it's a nice size and goes fairly fast. I also have the fabric all picked out for the St. Patricks day wall hanging, but not enough time, maybe that one will be for retirement? For those of you have asked, the air has now cleared, we finally saw blue sky yesterday. There will be high fire danger through fall. I have noticed that my life is in the "P" lane again. As you may have noticed Andrea received her pincushion surprise (I think she liked it!) and I just got notice that mine will be put in the mail tomorrow. ANTICIPATION!! The fun part of this swap is where they are coming from. Linda swapped each of us with someone abroad and it tickles me to think that I could receive something from someone so far away. The Internet has brought us all so close! Now, "P" is for pincushion and "P" is for Pay It Forward (which I should be working on) and .... "PP" is for my Prairie Paisley fabrics!! WHOOO HOO, I finished the socks and decided in celebration of the holiday I would start cutting into them. After all they are red/white/blue! I used use "PP" to describe paper piecing but now it is for Prairie Paisley. I did paper piece the hst's in this, I used Triangles on A Roll, I had a partial roll of the right size and happened to have the exact amount for the quilt. Sometimes things just work out! This is just a rough little peek at what I've decided to do with my precious prairie paisleys. I like how it's going to look, but have a lot more work to do on it. Are you good at math? I'm not. I'm wondering... if you have 42 different fabrics and there are three different fabrics to a block, how many different combinations can you make without duplicating a block? Is anyone that good at math? Now for my final "P" I'm going to say that I'm patriotic. If you can say that serving on a jury is patriotic. I've spent most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in jury selection. I was selected and will begin on Monday. They think the trial should last approximately 2 weeks. I never ever thought I would be chosen. I don't know what to think. I guess you are never too old for new experiences.

I also want to thank for my blog buddies Cara at Quilt Nook and Kristin at Quiltilicious for the tags, so sweet of you to include me. I hope you don't mind if I pass. I have played before. I'm just lazy right now I guess.

Hope you have a safe and happy 4th of July!