Diary of a Sewing Addict: January 2018

Four days in the life of a sewing addict...

Thursday 1/18/18:

In an effort to document my sewing addiction, I've begun this diary. 

One might say "beginning" a diary on a blog meant to document my sewing is de trop, but I refuse to be cowed by convention.

After my favorite child went to bed, I finalized the design for the quilt I'm going to make out of all of the half-square triangles (HST) I made out of a jelly roll.

HSTs are great because they're so versatile. But since I went into making them without a plan, that versatility worked against me. When I do a full post on this quilt when it's finished (it might be a while, so please don't hold your breath) I'll take you through all the possibilities I went through.

Alas, this was not to be my project for the evening, however I was glad the decision no longer hung over me like a dark cloud of quilty concern.

Instead, I finished up some star points and started chain piecing this beauty together:

I got through five of the vertical columns before I realized I really should go to bed.

I knew it was time because I started making mistakes. Grr... You can see in detail below: that blue star's top and the piece next to it are rotated the wrong way. After this picture I did pull out my seam ripper and fix it before putting this project to bed for the night because I didn't want to accidentally forget the next time I picked it up.

And so to bed.

Friday 1/19/18:

After another eventful day of life as usual, once Babu was in bed I continued working on the starry quilt I worked on the night before.

This fabric is the same as one of my favorite quilts ever, which until now I hadn't realized I never blogged about other than mentioning in my end of year post.

The fabric is a Windham line by Carrie Bloomston. It's just so gorgeous. I love the colors, I love the pattern, and I love the fabric. You can still get some here at Hawthorne Threads or here at Fabric.com. The lookbook also shows all sorts of other cool uses for the fabric. It's been out about a year and a half so stockpiles are dwindling, unfortunately.

Above you can see Maggie's utter disrespect for my efforts in the sewing room. You can also see half of the horizontal rows sewn together compared to the unsewn half. It's crazy how much it shrinks once it's sewn together, one quarter-inch seam at a time.

I closed the night with a completed quilt top, although I waited until Saturday morning to document it in the sunshine. 

This is as far as I can get until I procure some more quilt batting, although I do have the backing fabric on hand. I'm not sure what I'll use for binding yet. If I were smart I'd figure that out now so I can make any necessary purchases ahead of time.

The jury is still out on my smartness in this regard.

Saturday 1/20/18:

1 yard of stretch corduroy went to the fabric store in the sky today.

I remember the first time I saw it:

It was 19 years ago. I was 12 and had just finished my sewing lesson at Rhona's. As I descended the stairs I almost tripped over a pile of fabric.

Rhona would leave fabric that was up for grabs on the stairs for her students to pick through. I saw this beauty and couldn't leave without it. 

It's not *actually* beautiful, dear reader. Consider that verbiage dramatic irony. It's just cheap stretch corduroy that attracts lint like it is its job.

Ol' stretch corduroy and I parted ways for a few years when I went to college, but when I cleaned out my old room at "home" once I got an apartment we rekindled our relationship.

SC joined my stash and when the stretch vinyl I got for the belt of the Washington Dress turned out to be classless and vulgar, I reached for my old friend to fill in.

It was finally happening. After 19 years we were finally sewing together. No sooner had I sewed the whole dress together and was trying it on for fit when SC started to fall apart at the seams.

I held it in its final moments. I cursed the heavens. Why now!? Why did SC give no indication of its weakness even hours before, before I'd wasted its final minutes on earth being punched with needles in a last ditch effort to realize the dreams I'd had all those years ago?

But those dreams were dashed upon the floor of my sewing room. I had to rip it asunder, and separate it in a most unholy manner from the dress. The violence! 

O, the violence.

In its last day on this mortal coil, it was among the beauty of this floral double knit. If it had to go, at least it went having known a true connection with a majestic friend of its own kind.

Goodbye sweet stretch corduroy. 

--

Prior to this travesty, we went to a toddler friend's birthday sledding soiree. 

Once we had recovered from all of the fresh air that had infected our lungs, I bathed my self-healing cutting mat. 

The "self-healing" cutting mat apparently needs to be properly hydrated to heal, and it wasn't recovering from all of the abuse I was inflicting up on it.

Only time (and a bath) will tell if my mat will recover.

Sunday 1/21/18:

My mat did not recover. It's possible it's not actually a self-healing mat and hydration will not cure it.

I had gone as far as I could on two projects this weekend only to find myself in a holding pattern, so I decided to whip up something to satiate my unending desire for a finished project using materials I had on hand.

I whipped this baby up in a *mere 6 hours. 

(*This is an example of verbal irony.)

The full explanation of this little tote is a post for another day, but please be assured I documented it fully and made plenty of mistakes along the way. As I have before, I blame this on my rudimentary understanding of geometry (curses upon you 10th grade geometry teacher!) and basic math "skills."

This project's intended recipient was my favorite child, and upon receiving it she immediately filled it with crayons. 

She has not colored since.