Breaking Up is Actually Easy to Do

I’ve been frustrated with WordPress for a long time but things got even worse. Something as simple as changing a font or color must now be paid for.  While I respect their business model I also respect my right to change hosts.  I’ve gone ahead and migrated all of these posts to  a new blog which, while needing some tweaking, is going to work out well.

I did this over the past few days while trying to sort out my thoughts about the Boston Marathon.  Please visit the new Major Thoughts Blog as this one will no longer be updated.  I’ll get back to sewing and quilting and all good things over there.

Thanks – I hope you come along and continue the ride.

Sunday Afternoon Spooning

Trying out a new WordPress app to see if I can do this on the fly.
I’m using a spoon to pin baste a table square, am going to do some stippling and thought I’d give this kind of basting a whirl. I can’t see doing it for a full sized quilt – it takes just as long and frankly I don’t see the attraction. I’ll have to watch them closely as I stipple around, removing them as I go, right? I still see broken needles in my future!

I Did It. My Way.

We’ve already established that reading pattern directions is my kryptonite. Even when I was making dresses and blouses for Home Ec I needed help translating arrows and darts. The fact that my mother was a pretty accomplished “sewist” didn’t help matters because she was left-handed and (to me) did everything upside down and backwards.

Finished purse front w/strap

Stippled snap-in interior pocket trio

Other snap-in double pocket

I wanted a purse made from my treasured stash of Japanese fabrics.  I knew how I wanted it to look, and I knew I had all the hardware and fabric and fusible fleece to do it.  I even had the right size hexagons to paper piece the top part so I dove right in and then spent an inordinate amount of time ripping it apart.  Ironically – I understand purse construction SO much better that now I might actually be able to tackle reading a pattern!

When I made this I tended to put pieces together and then say, “Hmm, I should have put those snaps in before I joined the 2 pieces together.”  I honestly think I made a purse upside down and backwards.  While I don’t think Mom would be proud,  it is finished.  I might need to remake one of the snap-in inserts, I got so caught up in stippling that the finished insert might be too heavy for the purse.  I was always so afraid to stipple but I’m finding it can be very Zen-like.  (It’s also quite a workout for your upper arms, let me tell you!)  I have no explanation for my obsession with pockets other than to admit I have a fantasy of presiding over a completely organized purse. I bought a special zipper for the topmost closure – just in case those pockets get overstuffed and unseemly, I can zip the whole thing shut and no one will know.

I’d say it came out about 85% like what I wanted, and I might up that percentage after using it for a while. Think I’ll move into it and give it a test drive next week.  But YAY, I finally (after years of waiting) did it!