Bags, stitcheries, and other random works

Well, my god daughter's jacket is now well and truly done and on its way to the Portland area. I hope it gets there in time for her birthday next week! I added a few goodies into the package as belated b-day gifts for her mother -- so I'm sure I'll hear when it gets there! You can also see here a few of the fabrics I bought last weekend. I mentioned that I had broken my no-buy June vow, here are three of the lovelies. Normally, this wouldn't bother me at all -- I'm not sure buying a gift for a fellow quilter counts as breaking my no-buy pledge. I mean, they're not for ME. But, well, I may have bought some fabrics for myself as well. Just a few. I'll get some photos and fess up properly. In my defense -- it was a sale. A really great sale. And I had an additional percentage off coupon. Oh, and an additional percentage off the next day too. Ok, I'm incorrigible!

On the plus side, now that the jacket is done and gone, I have a few other projects I managed to work on. The first is a bag I made in my first ever quilt class. I've been quilting for six years now (about -- give or take) and I have been meaning to take a class for ages. The new LQS I mentioned awhile ago had a class to make these little bags. I figured it would be a fun and painless way to dive into the whole class thing. I was right. I had a great time at the class and I ended up with a cute purse. And, despite the temptation to buy new fabric for the class, these beauties came straight out of my stash.

Did I learn anything new in the class? Yes and no -- I did put in a magnetic snap for the first time, and a new technique for dealing with the interfacing in the straps. Otherwise, not much new -- but it did tell me that my vague idea to take an absolute beginner course is probably not a good choice. Now if only a quilt shop would offer a -- yes, you've been quilting for awhile but how about a class that can fill in the gaps in your self-taught quilting education -- class. On the plus side, while talking with the owner during the class, I got an invite to demo the clover yo-yo makers (which I LOVE btw) at their "grand opening" celebration. So, I got to spend last Saturday doing my demo thing. That was a ton of fun, and by the end of my demo the shop had sold out of all of their stock of the darned things. I don't know if it had much to do with me -- but I had a great time talking with other quilters and showing off a product I love. Oh, and did I mention the 30% of discount I got on anything I purchased that day? Yeah -- that would be a reason I fell off the no-buy wagon. Other than total lack of self-control of course.

I've also been plugging away at my Christmas quilt. I have a few of the blocks 1/2 done and the fabric colors look sooo good together! I can't wait to have more done and move on to the next step. I've also been working on the embroidery for this one. I finished the boy elf (yes, he still needs to be ironed, but hey, I washed out the iron on transfer pencil) to go with his sister and am now working on the other little ones I'm going to sprinkle into the quilt. I've also changed my mind about some basic design things with this one, so I am going to need to go and buy another charm square pack or two to get the size top I want. Originally I was going to do a 3 x4 block design with borders, but now I think I'm going to do a 4 x 5 block layout. Still not sure about the borders, but I have the feeling I'm going to leave them off.

Other than that -- not much to report here at casa de cornfields. I've been busy working on the paid research gig and trying to get some quilting time in as well. The little one is reluctantly taking her nap and the sound of the computer is making her stir, so I think I'm off to go put together more Christmas blocks. Have a great day!