September finishes

In many ways, this has not been an especially good month for me.   But when life gives you lemons, you know what to do with them.     Since I ended up mostly homebound for several days this month after my concussion, I had more time on my hands than usual and, between long periods of sleep, actually got a few things done. 

First,  I made another eternity scarf out of minky fabric -- this will be one of my go-to Christmas gifts and I will choose to keep at least one for myself because I love these things!   They are super fast and easy to make -- maybe 15 minutes from start to finish, so a perfect activity for those feeling-crummy days -- and they are warm and cuddly to wear.

My painted teapot was also fired and finished this month and I am happy with the way it turned out.    It is the perfect size for me when I am alone, which is most of the time.   I might use the grandkids as an excuse to go back and paint a few more pieces for myself!

I have several partial packs of charm squares laying around in my stash so I took a couple of hours (separated by long rests) to sew a couple charm totes and think I will make more once I decide whether to make others the same size or experiment with larger ones.    You can make three of them out of a single charm pack!   I got the tutorial from the Missouri Quilt Company website.   I loved the way they turned out, so then I started just making totes from some of the mountain of fabric from my stash.   All I needed to buy were the buttons for the closures, and that's only because I lost my button box in my last move.

And of course I made my ooo la la tote from the April in Paris fabric that I thought my lovely daughter in law would enjoy carrying her French classroom work to school in.

 I also made a delicious french  coconut pie, using a recipe from Dolly Is Cooking.    This super simple recipe was so good that I immediately forced my children to take more than half of the pie out of my house because otherwise I would have eaten the whole thing myself!    I sort of regretted not keeping more of it for myself because my portion was too soon gone.  :)   It was so good that I made two of these pies again for a volunteer retreat that I put on at the hospice where I work.

I won some beautiful threads from Lisa at In the Boon Docks.  I am trying them out in a variety of my projects -- using good thread makes me feel like I am pampering myself, so this has been such a treat!   For a slacker like me, September has been a productive month!

And so of course I am linking up to Barbara's September NewFO Challenge at Cat Patches.  :)

Another Tote

I saw this tote and pattern on Fort Worth Fabric Studio and fell in love with the outside pockets and the April in Paris fabric.   Go ahead and click the link to see the original -- you'll see why I was so smitten! I ordered the same fabric, but in a different color palette, from Fort Worth Fabric Studio.  What a great shop -- I wasn't sure that the green dots would work well with the Parisian pattern but a woman there (oh  my gosh, my memory is so bad -- Jodie?)  emailed me immediately and reassured me that it was a good match.   I wanted the French-themed fabric because my daughter in law is a French teacher.   I love to make gifts for her because she has such a grateful heart.   It is a joy to give things to her because she is always so happy with what she is given, it always makes me want to give her more.   It's funny but I find that it is hard to find people to give things to.   I love to give little gifts, but so many people are anxious about receiving them, and that takes a lot of the joy out of the process.    Anyway, Lindsey's tutorial is easy to follow even for a novice like me, and the tote was a joy to make in one afternoon.   It took longer to iron on the fusible interfacing than it did to make the tote!   Be sure to check out her original here, it is a beauty, but my DIL is more of a green than a pink person.    I'm making the next one in blue.

Be Gentle

Not much time to post, but wanted to make an appearance.  :)  I have been busy sewing tote bags this week.    And baking!   I baked for our volunteer retreat at work, and I baked for the local recovery drop in center, and (I confess) I baked a little for me.  :)    I performed another wedding ceremony in which I did NOT get hurt, and I have another to do on Friday where I hope to continue my string of non-injury.   And I finally tried spaghetti squash and was as amazed as everyone else.    Seriously, if you haven't tried it, do, just be sure you like whatever you put on top of it because that is what you will be tasting.  

I hope you are all busy and happy and healthy.  :)

 

Getting Back to Normal

September certainly started off with a bang and, after a day in the hospital, the doctors decided that I had, in fact, suffered a concussion when the wedding bower blew over and hit the back of my head.    From the nausea and blurred vision, I could have diagnosed myself on that one!

Other than that, it's been a very nice week.  :)