::I love the blur of this shot, it mimics what I see at 10 pm while eating said ice cream::
There has been a lot of the above happening around here... nighttime exhaustion, a little ice cream and cheering on of favorite (and American League East Champion) teams. I'm still getting the hang of the 5:30 am alarm clock, which seems to happen a mere nano second after the 2:10 am dog watering, the 7:45 ring of the first of 20 bells of the day, the 7:51 to 2:15 high energy craziness that is me - some child's English teacher, the 4:00 pm arrival home (finally) with the 24 hour a day desire to sew and make things. Difficult to find time or for that matter the energy, I tell you. But this weekend has been quite relaxing, and I'm almost ready for the week...almost. We purchased a brand new microwave to soften the above nightly snack. I've been doing some reading, a lot of Little Dorrit watching, not a lot of laundry putting away and some sewing (a bad demonstration on free-motion quilting for Rob) happened. Here's what we've been up to...
I finally finished my first quilt block, and discovered I have a ways to go in figuring out how to iron seam allowances. The pattern for the above block was found at Cluck Cluck Sew, a lovely and very funny little blog that I follow. I'm looking to make a quilt like this one, also done by Allison at Cluck, Cluck Sew using a jelly roll... fabulous idea as the cutting of the strips seems to be my least favorite part of making blocks.
Besides some first steps in quilting... I finished the school bag... finally!
::Lotta Jansdotter's All Day Tote, from Simple Sewing::
::And look, already loaded with papers!::
Besides some sewing and obviously, procrastinating on grading papers, I've had some fantastic books arrive.
::Some new reads, and inspiration::
Audrey Niffenegger's second novel (her first was The Time Traveller's Wife, and one of my favorites) Her Fearful Symmetry is what I'm currently reading. The first chapter was breathtaking and instantly captivating, I love the way she writes. One of my students read Heather Gudenkauf's The Weight of Silence for her Summer Reading project and while grading her essays, I decided couldn't know the ending, and had to read the book. I can't wait to start it and look forward to some conversations with the kids on this one.
Also arriving in the same horribly packed (is there a plastic wrap shortage I'm unaware of?) Amazon shipment was some handmade inspiration. Rob and I are looking forward to making the holidays a bit more personal and creative this year. We've toyed with the idea of hand-making most of our gifts. How he intends to make a Bernina walking foot is beyond me (I kid! Sort of...), but in all seriousness I have so many ideas swimming around for gifts and favors that I hope they are able to happen. I'll have to get more serious about making time for creativity.
The first is Last Minute Patchwork Quilted Gifts, a book loaded with lovely little ideas, and some really beautiful quilts. The author, Joelle Hoverson and her sister are the lucky ladies who are living out a dream... they own Purl SoHo a yarn and fabric store in Greenwich Village in New York. Someday Ame! Anyway, Joelle's book is packed with some items that have found their way into my sewing queue...
::Quilted Coasters... the perfect favor for Thanksgiving Dinner attendants and a lovely Holiday Gift::
::Coin quilt... I'm told it's very easy... we'll see, but very, very beautiful::
::Scrapbooks, maybe for some new work friends about to be Moms::
::Sweet bird ornaments, sort of already in the queue for those paying attention::
I've also been drooling over the projects and lovely ideas in Amanda Soule's new book, Handmade Home. I'm a huge fan of Amanda's blog and love that her designs are easy to follow but more importantly repurpose materials - perfecting for giving new life to old favorites. Some of the highlights...
::Luckily I have some time for this one...::
::Sweet satchel that I'm thinking of adapting for papers and important things I'd like to keep::
::Love this for the kitchen, a bag for shuffling towels to the laundry::
And that completes my little wrap up. Hopefully this week will allow for some more exploration and inspiration. I hope this weekend finds you rested, reinvigorated and looking forward to the coming week with all that it has in store! Be well...
