These are travel sewing kits that I made from Amy's tutorial at Lots of Pink Here. It's a great tutorial, and these things got whipped up pretty quickly. I actually made 3 of these from one charm pack, some leftover white scraps, and 4 pieces from a layer cake (mostly for the binding)! Since I didn't have the yardage in a fabric I liked to make the tie that Amy did, I decided on a ponytail holder/button combo for the closure. Mama likes!
I already sent one off to Elisa of the Postpartum Quilter. Such a sweetheart! I made one for another for a special someone... Here it is, already to be wrapped. up.
And of course, I made one for myself!
As you can see, mine is full to the brim! I've got some hexagon paper pieces, a charm pack that I cut up for such things, and a few already started. I like to keep my travel pack in the car or my purse for when I am between driving the kiddos to activities, or for when I am 20 minutes early to a doctor appointment, or... you get the idea. I love it!
In other news, I also finally took Ms. Kitty to the spa. I agonized over where to take her. When I last got her serviced, I was spending a lot of time down in Orange County visiting my niece in the hospital, so it wasn't a big deal to drop her off while I was down there. But, now I'm not going down there every week or so. In the end, I decided to drop her off at the local Viking dealer inside Joann's. They charge a little more and don't fix her onsite, but in the end the choice came down to an extra $50 and a few extra days or 4 hours of my time (OC is about an hour each way!). Time is just in too short of supply at the moment.
Hopefully, Ms. Kitty will be feeling better by the end of next week. I have started to miss her, especially since Brother Bear is starting to get particular about what he likes to sew. I had no trouble with him when I first pulled him out. He did a marvelous job on my FMC piece for April, and I've been piecing away on my New York Beauties. BUT, I got about 1/3 of the way through the free motion of my Bee Happy quilt, and he started giving me some trouble. As far as I can tell, it has to do with the iron on fusible that was used in the applique pieces. He just doesn't like sewing through it and it throws the tension off whenever I go over an applique piece. The quilt is covered in appliques (front and back), so it has proven challenging. I finally got fed up and put the quilt aside for a while. Brother Bear does an amazing job with the paper piecing though, so I have been able to continue with that. In case you are wondering, I call him Brother "Bear" because he is so much louder than Ms. Kitty. He sounds like a bear chomping on a fat salmon.
Later today I get to go to, not one, but TWO, Mother's Day Teas! Both the elementary school and the preschool are hosting me this afternoon, back to back. It should be fun. I have no idea what I am going to wear. My usual uniform of jeans and a T-shirt may be a little too casual for these occasions but I also know I'll be running around the playground playing games and kneeling in the grass, etc, etc. A dress or skirt just won't do either. The dilemmas I face!
Happy Mother's Day to you mothers!
Just popped over from the handstitched class flickr discussion. I can't wait to see what everyone else does with their projects. I actually just made up a travel sewing case for myself too, in anticipation of all those hand projects that I can now take wherever (although most will probably still take place on the couch haha).
ReplyDelete