Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Graduation, Snow College, oh my!

Life has been busy, shall we just say that?  Time passes hastily it seems.

We've had some excitement here.  We traded in our family van for a BMW which promptly blew its transmission.  It went downhill from there and a month later we bought a used Toyota Venza, which my husband loved.  We had that about a month (one payment exactly) and my husband was in a wreck and that car was declared a total loss.  It protected him and got him home though!!!  Thank goodness for GAP insurance (which still hasn't paid everything off but will.)  Now we're back to being right-side-up in a third vehicle and praying for no nefarious incidents.

Yeah.  I haven't really been in the mood to write.

My son, however, got home from his church mission.  Yay!!!  He liked his room and quilt.  Double yay!

My daughter, my baby, just graduated from high school with honors.  We found a school with an AFA in Theater (specifically backstage) that she is interested in pursuing at Snow College.  Two scholarships later and one summer job, and we think she has her finances squared up for next year.

2,000 miles away from home.

So my method for dealing with the stress of having my daughter leave is by sewing and quilting.  Here are my latest creations:

Made these placemats for the 4th of July.

An apron from one of my sons.

And another apron for my other son.  Maybe I should make one for my daughter too?



A sewing machine organizer for my daughter's sewing machine.

A wallet. It fits my smart phone but doesn't have pockets for a credit card, license, etc.  I've been carrying it around and like it to a point but I'm still looking for one that really fits what I need.  The Online Fabric Store offers a free pattern for the wristlet (I skipped the wristlet part.)  https://www.onlinefabricstore.net/makersmill/how-to-make-a-phone-wristlet/

 The wallet folded over.  I played with magnetic snaps, and they're a little powerful for cotton even when it's reinforced.


Another set of 2-sided placemats for friends.


A makeup bag for my daughter to take with her to Snow.  Sewing around corners is tricky and downright hard!  This bag is from Denise Clason's book, Quilted Bags and Totes.  There are some corrections to the book online at http://www.deniseclason.com/p/instruction-fix-its.html




I really like the inside.  The anchors are cute, but the dots are so much fun!  I found these Waverly fat quarters at Walmart and fell in love with the anchors fabric and the mango shade polka dots!  It's as close as I can get my daughter to pink.

I've started playing with a pack of 10-inch squares for an Around the World quilt too, but that process has just begun.  In case you're wondering, I've stalled out on the Row by Row quilt because I'm taking Angela Walter's free motion quilting challenge that you can find here:  https://quilting-is-my-therapy.myshopify.com/collections/free-motion-challenge-quilting-along.  Most of the above projects were practice projects for FMQ!

So what should I do next?  A bag?  A messenger bag?  A better wallet that's lighter than the one I'm hauling around now?  A new apron for my daughter?  I wonder if I could find fabric with books and pencils on it?  I'm only halfway through the first FMQ challenge, and Angela Walters is filming the third one now.  The fabric is sitting there!