Project Update

The rice warmers are done. The canvas totes are a almost done. Here is one finished canvas tote showing the backside. The front has the organization name with a softball right in the center. The canvas tote has a zippered top, and the tote bag/instructions are from the Volume 10, Sew Simple magazine. Guess that's the Fall issue.

The tote just needs a good pressing right now. The two other totes are almost done. I stitched the photo on last night to both. Originally, I ironed the photo transfer right to the tote but the photo quality on the cavas fabric was poor. It produced a much better pic on the white cotton flannel, so I turned under the edges and topstitched it over the originally tote photo. The two other totes I worked on yesterday are the same--flannel photo transfer stitched to the canvas back.

Here's the preliminary work on the softball memory quilt for the Chinese Auction. I created all the photo transfers yesterday and transferred them to the cotton flannel. What a chore! It reminds me of block fusing which I loathe. The photo transfers have to be ironed on a piece of wood, not an ironing board with a soft surface. The luan board that's been in my hall for a homeowner's project (found out it cannot be used for it :( ...) now has new life as a pressing aid for photo transfers. Today I will finish the totes and begin cutting my quilt squares. This should be interesting. I'm SO not a quilter, but like all things warm. The project will be done from instructions right off the top of my head! Isn't that scary!! However, I've been mulling over this project and think my plans are solid.

BTW, I've decided to keep the green flannel. I'm sure my DH could tell you that I desparately need a new nightie robe. And DD#2's pajama pants I made last month that turned out to be mine? She'll get new pajama pants from this material. It's so darn soft and that quality alone makes it a keeper.

On second thought, those quilt squares may have to wait another day. I'm being badgered by at least one child to make more rice warmers. He's frequently trying to abscond with mine. I have to make mini ones for coat and jacket pockets too. That's a good way to use up the smaller scraps.

I have to catch up on blog reading too. Kim has a slew of new reviews I haven'ted checked out yet, Cennetta has at least one new review and a few blog posts, and Robin has 13 (yeah, 13!!!) new blog posts I have to check out!

Held up.

Here's the good news...In a few minutes, I'm going to iron and cut out the fabric for a rice bag warmer. It will be made out of a white cotton fabric to hold the rice along with the cover. My projects are coming along nicely.

However, for some of them, I'm being held up by zippers of all things. A zipper for DS#2's fleece jacket below and my canvas totes. The totes are being made from the directions in the Fall issue of Sew Simple. I'm thinking of using that project for the sewing class I'll be teaching and want to test out the directions and mull over where to put the project in the Intro project lineup. It is really turning out to be a cute tote. I embroidered the front with the name of DD#2's new travel softball team and will use the iron-on photo transfer paper to put the team pic (with their second-place trophy from their first tournament together which was last weekend BTW) on the back. I'm making the bags assembly style up to a point, but finishing my muslin bag first. The sample embroidery on mine is not as good as the other two--had to work out the kinks with the tension and needle used. My sample had two spots of loopy threads so I glued them down with FabricTac and hot-fixed a few clear crystals strategically placed so it looks better. Tomorrow I will pick up the photo transfer paper--first time using this so I hope it turns out okay. If you have any tips, I'd appreciate hearing them. I'll post pics of the bags soon.

I took a pic of DS#2's jacket last night. Here it is:

It is made from McCall's 4234 which also includes two types of casual pants, two styles of tops, and hat along with the jacket. I've made Kwik Sew pattern jackets for my kids but like this McCall's pattern so much better. For starters, I like the 5/8" seam allowances when working with fleece. Fleece likes to curl under my presser foot. Another type of foot would probably work better, but I'm a lazy sewer so the standard foot with 5/8" works mighty fine for me. I like the style, the directions, and the sewing instruction methods. My only issue is the pattern mentions fusible interfacing. I never use a fusible with fleece and always use a sew-in. That's really minor though, but it could throw off an inexperienced beginner. The pattern appears to be an OOP, and that's really a shame. It's a great, versatile kids pattern that I picked up on a $1/pattern sale.

Here's some really good news! My eye pressure check last month was 23 left eye, 26 right eye. Way too high for my comfort. (The specialist in the summer said I'm high risk but still no glaucoma. At least not yet.) So my optometrist checked it last month during my annual exam, then is doing repeat checks every month. Today it was 17 in both eyes! What gives with that? I told him I purposely skipped coffee. At my last appt. I had at least two cups before going. Who knows if that had any effect but I skipped my caffeine jolt this morning. It made my gym workout quite arduous however! Working out felt darn hard.

Now I'm off to the ironing board. And then hopefully check out bloglines. I'm SO behind in blog reading!