A friend is hosting an online “silent” auction to raise money for a coworker who is in the process of adopting two children from China.  Jen asked me if I had a baby quilt that could be combined with some other baby items to be offered as a set. I just happened to have this quilt top already made up in the stash.  It’s a 4×4 grid of pinwheel blocks from the Hello Luscious line with white-on-white squares. I machine quilted it the day the movers came to pack up the house and hand stitched the binding on the very L-O-N-G day that was moving everything to temporary storage.  This quilt, along with another baby quilt, were the last items laundered at the old house!  And I got two quilts finished and out into circulation!  If you’d like to take a peek at the items available, please visit this link.

As of next Friday, for the first time in over 20 years, I will no longer be a homeowner.  It’s kind of surreal.  I’ll be at my mom’s with the dog while hubs stays close to work.  Yes, we are building another house, but weather delays and the purchaser’s needing to take immediate possession of the current house means we’re in limbo for a little while.

We have a closing date on the new house in about three weeks, but a serious enough issue has arisen that could potentially call the deal off.  Not what I want after 7 months of building, planning and dreaming…but we’re not buying the house with this problem.  We meet with the builder and his rep on Monday to see how they intend to address the issue.  If no resolution can be found, we’ll go into an apartment on a short-term basis while we restart the home search.

Stay tuned.  We’ll see what Monday brings.

We used the Snap Happy Bag pattern from Stitchin Sisters for our class. While each student brought her own purchased copy of the pattern to class, I made some modifications to the cutting and construction sequence to make it a little bit easier on the girls.  My goal was to get one large bag completed before the end of class.  We managed to do just that – barely.

I made kits for each student consisting of full-size freezer paper templates of the rectangles and squares needing to be cut for the bag, precut batting and fusible interfacing.  I also provided snap parts and practice fabric.  I charged a nominal fee for the kits.  The reason behind the freezer paper templates was simple – the shop doesn’t allow kids to use rotary cutters in class;  nor would I be able to cut fabric pieces for each girl in the allotted class time.  Students got to practice pinning and cutting pattern pieces out the correct way – something none of them knew how to do.   I was able to quickly even things up with a rotary cutter, if necessary.

Notes to self for next time:
1) Precut the snap parts to  7″ for the large bag, round the corners and wrap the ends with electrical tape. Will save much time and mess to clean-up.
2) Allow students to iron fabric.
3) Provide mini-lessons on proper cutting techniques, fusible interfacing and 1/4″ seams at the beginning of class.  Cut large rectangles of ugly fabric so students can practice sewing a 1/4″ seam all the way around.  If student doesn’t have a 1/4″ foot, use the outside edge of the presser foot as a guide to keep it consistent.
4) Stop and make everyone do prairie points at the same time.  Demonstrate how to edge stitch and maybe bring some folded scraps for them to practice on.
5) Provide baggies of scrap fabrics for girls to use while they are waiting their turn for instructor assistance (this was a huge godsend as two girls consistently kept losing their top thread every time I turned around).
6) If a mom offers to stay and help – accept her offer.  She can press fabric, fuse interfacing and help keep girls on track.
7) If funds become available – buy 2 machines (like a Janome 3128) for 3rd-5th graders to use.  Super simple machines and great for beginners.  I got my hands on a Hello Kitty version to use for the class and was very surprised at how well it sewed AND how quickly the girls learned to use it.  It was one machine I didn’t have to consistently “fix” during class.

If I weren’t moving in less than 2 weeks, I would have scheduled another one of these classes in July.  It was a LOT of fun for both the girls and me!

Note to Ava and Ada:  One of you left your pattern directions sheet at the shop!  Pls call Miss Robin to retrieve it!