More project bags

I finished both of these today. One, as you can see, easily holds that bottle of Wild Turkey while the other is a smaller bag, more suited for a hip flask.

Oops! I mean they'll both hold your very small knitting projects, like socks.

Both of these have round bottoms, as did the other three bags I've made. I'm starting to see why most people use a small square for their bag bottoms since they are so much easier to sew into place. I like the way the round ones look, but they are a lot of work with the easing of fabric and folding and creeping the sewing machine along.

I think both of these fabrics are quite fun, and they're both nearly vintage. It's been years since I've bought quilting fabric, and the peppers are from our trip to Sedona, AZ, sometime back in the 90's. The stars are from a fat quarter club I joined in the mid 90's.

Here you see the girls know it's their duty to sleep near my sewing machine and cover all the just washed and ironed fabric with lots of wispy cat fur. Argh! I'll have to re-wash it and re-iron it. Yes, I know I'm the human, and I should have known better. While it's easier to look at the fabric and think about it when it's all out, I'll have to put it back into the bins. That's a small price to pay for having a snugglebunny within easy reach.

Speaking of somewhat terrifying

I'm getting my etsy shop set up. You can go directly there via the link I've added, thanks to etsy.

Wow, I really do need to work on my photography. Apologies for this less than stellar shot, but since one of my work supervisors was helping me hold down the quilt, I had to post it.

The baby quilt is finally 100% complete, just days after Claire's 5th birthday. It's still a good size for a child, and as she grows, it can be a great lap quilt.

And now for something completely different. The other night at knitting guild Ellen came to me and said she was enjoying my blog. I said off the top of my head, "that's slightly terrifying". I'm really not sure when I became someone who just said whatever popped into her head. I used to actually have some sense, but I've lost it somewhere along the way.

Ellen, I must clarify my strange comment. I find it slightly terrifying when I find out someone I know is actually reading my blog. There's such a wonderful anonymity about blogging. I let the thoughts pour from my head. And while I personally know most of my commentors IRL, it still freaks me out a little when I discover people are actually reading my blog. I don't know why. It just does.

I do want to take this opportunity then to thank those of you who do read my blog and enjoy it. I do appreciate it. This all started out as a way for me to tell my family and friends what was going on without boring them to tears about knitting and pets since I can entertain them with pictures, and they can skip any details if they choose. The real irony is that I've found out that most of my family doesn't read my blog. They may look at it occasionally, but not very often. However, I enjoy it. I can wax poetic about knitting or Jason O'Mara as much as I want, and not have Keith rag me about it. (Actually, he says things like "your man is on tv now", which is only fair since sometimes I yell to him "OMG! You've got to come see this woman's boobs!" Hey, it's TV, and you'll never know what freaks you'll see.)

Well, I must get moving. Coffee is waiting, as is Sassy. Her medicated shampoo arrived in yesterday's mail. You must be very quiet. After all, "bath" is one of the most frightening words you can say to a dog. Swimming in an algae and frog filled pond is one thing, but getting sprayed with soap and water is quite another. Luckily for Sassy, bath comes sometime after breakfast, and breakfast is the word she's thinking about now.

eta: grrr! Blogger keeps messing with my formatting! Sorry for all the run together paragraphs.

Sassy update

I forgot to mention earlier that I think Sassy is already improving. She did curl her lip at me the other day when I tried to clean her ears, but yesterday she just sat down and let me do her drops. Her medicated shampoo should be here today or tomorrow. I've discovered that benadryl affects her like it does me. Who knows if I feel better since I'm sleeping all the time?

Thank goodness she loves Pill Pockets.

Atlanta Knitting Guild meeting

Last night we had a program by Margie Deeb, who does some amazing beadwork. She was there to talk about color theory, and like any guest speaker, she brought some of her work and books.

Ah, the books. I had to buy two of them. One of them is all about looking at something in art or nature and deriving a color palette from it. The other was also about color theory, but it has some wondrous beadwork in it. When I saw a bead woven, incredibly realistic octopus, I had to have that book. (Remember, I love, love, love cephalapods. Enough to stop eating calamari.)

One thing she said last night is that when she's gone to speak before groups, she gets feedback later about how she made color theory easy. Hmm, I thought, we'll see. She lived up to her word and gave me much food for thought.

I'll admit, I've been goofing off since I quit working for Needle Nook. Yes, I don't have a dedicated place to work. How could I possibly dye with cats wanting to help all the time? I can come up with all sorts of excuses, but the truth is that I found myself frightened by the prospect of it all. I personally know 2 indie dyers who sell to Loopy Ewe, as well as selling in some brick and mortar stores and online themselves. It's daunting to think that wow, I've got to come up with great colorways, then dye it all, then label and sell it. What if my colors that look interesting in my head totally suck. What if I can't translate them? It was a type of paralysis of analysis.

Actually, Margie's talk about color theory was like that small, but absolutely crucial, bit of information that I needed to hear. And I find it interesting that in some ways I was headed in the right general direction, but this nudged me onto the course. I think her two books will more than pay for themselves for both the color theory help, and I wouldn't mind picking up beading again. Glass fascinates me in ways that yarn and fiber can't. Light and transparency, reflection of metallics, the glow of pearlessence - captivate me like a magpie.

One more thing. I had been in Walmart yesterday, and I stopped to peruse the magazines. I ended up getting the Bead And Button's Beader's Handbook. Margie has an article in it.

Life on Mars

Boohoo! It's all over now for Sam Tyler. I won't give you any spoilers, but I wasn't disappointed with the ending. We knew from the very first episode what some of the explanations could be for Sam landing in 1973, and we found out which one was right.

All I can say now is that I'm waiting for the DVD set to be released. I can definitely watch this over again.

Now I'm off to work on my bad imitation of a good housewife. I'll see if I can improve it any.

Assorted stuff

For Miss Sassy I've made an Excel spreadsheet so I can mark off when she gets her meds each day. It makes it much easier than wondering if she got her antibiotic or not.


I also did a little photography this afternoon. Now that I have them on the computer, I see I need to do a little more work on them.


They are all going up on etsy in the next day or two. I've got several errands to run tomorrow, and most involve pet stuff. Anyway, the yarn is kettle dyed. I did it while taking Gale's class last year. The base yarn is Louet Gems.

The kitty bag is fully lined. All fabrics have been pre-washed, so any color bleeding or shrinking that might happened should have already occured. The satin cording was not prewashed. The fabrics are 100% cotton, and they are from my stash. Both bags comfortably hold that bottle of bourbon as illustrated last week.

The dessert bag has some rather stiff interfacing in it. I was experimenting, and while I'm not thrilled with the results for a round bag, the interfacing will work really well on a larger tote or a square bag. I'll be back at the machine, trying out some other things.

I've really enjoyed making something from scratch. Shorter project bags are in the future. Also, these two have somewhat gathered bottoms as my circle template is a little too small, so I'll have to work on that too.

Off to watch some trash tv now - America's Next Top Model. Later, I get to watch the series finale of Life on Mars. I'm going to really miss seeing Jason O'Mara each week.