Puttering on a Saturday

I finished the crazy quilt pillow Friday afternoon. I am quite pleased with it:

If it doesn’t go to the store for display, I will use it as a class sample. The backing is Grunge in a color that matches the thread in the quilting.

I was a bit at loose ends yesterday. Some of that was because the husband’s schedule got messed up, and what I do occasionally depends on what he is doing. He was here when I thought he was going to be out cutting concrete, so he went out to his shop while I recorded the rest of Tuesday’s podcast episode. (That was no hardship for him.) After that, I attached the embroidery module to the 700 and was going to play around with some simple designs, but I need to watch a few more videos.

I spent the rest of the day puttering around on a few projects. I’d like to finish my byAnnie Place for Everything Tote especially because Annie Unrein is coming to give a lecture at the store on September 2. My PFE tote stalled weeks ago at the point of making straps. I don’t like to make straps, but the project can’t move on without them. I sucked it up and made the straps. The next step is to make front and back pockets. I could have started those yesterday, but I need one more zipper. A pile of cut bias strips was staring me in the face so I sewed them together instead.

And finally, I gave in to temptation and cut the pieces for the Kaland Weekender Tote by SOTAK Handmade:

I know I am going to have to recreate my beloved traveling tote at some point, and this pattern is the closest to it in both design and size. (I still will have to make some mods but I’ll have the basic foundation.) I am using some Moda canvas for the upper portion and a chunk of black waxed canvas from the store for the base. The interior lining is a remnant of some Bonnie and Camille fabric from their Vintage Modern line, which tells you how old it is because Camille Roskelley hasn’t designed fabric with her mom for several years now.

I got all the pieces cut and labelled just before dinner. I made a HUGE bowl of potato salad for the husband because he loves potato salad and we needed something to go with the leftover meatloaf from Friday night.

I will tell you something about my workflow: I have what some people probably would call an insane amount of supplies, all in labelled bins. I am not a minimalist who buys only the supplies I need for a given project. I have a “deep pantry” of sewing supplies precisely because I can’t just run out and get what I need when I need it. That is even more true now that Joann Fabrics has closed. When I decided to make that Kaland Weekender Tote yesterday, I was able to pull literally every single item on the supply list from what I have on hand.

The husband is much the same way. He has a shop full of tools and a wall of bolt bins and everything else he needs because he can’t just run to Napa or the hardware store in the middle of a project.

The estate sale our kids hold after we’re gone is going to be a DIYer’s dream. 😂