Sorrow

The carefree, happy feeling of a personal day yesterday was interrupted by the horrific news of the shooting at Sandy Brook Elementary.  My heart is breaking for the families, the school, the community.     I pause to think of the interruption in life for those who dropped their children off at school, perhaps off to a fun day of Christmas shopping, only to be interrupted by a overwhelming feeling of panic, loss of control, sadness, and fear.  May God bring healing, and somehow -- some day -- restore joy and peace to this hurting community.

Let the fun begin!

Let the fun begin!  This morning I woke at 5:00 -- even before the alarm went off.  How unusual, I thought to myself.  It's usually way too easy to push that snooze button and doze just a few minutes (20 minutes?  30 minutes?) longer.  It's Friday -- one of my favorite days of the week.  But today, this Friday, I've taken a personal day off!  Oh, the things I can accomplish ... baking, shopping, sewing, hair appointment, wrapping.  Sounds a bit ambitious, I know, but even if I accomplish a few of those things, I'll be happy.  So -- with the scent of cookies already wafting through the rooms, and the Christmas music playing -- I'm ready for the fun!

Making a hat -- a new project.

Today I finished making a hat.  This one already has a "home", but I had to try it on, of course!

Here it is in its true color.  This one is made with fleece, but I'm thinking it would be fun to make one with felted wool and a few variations on the brim.  The search begins for some old 100% wool sweaters!

A different kind of organizer...

How do you organize your bed sheets?  Folded neatly and stacked by size?  Stuffed into a pillowcase?  Put in pretty bins, or a drawer?  Somewhere -- and I can't find where it was from -- I saw a tutorial for making a drawstring bag with the letters "q" for queen, "k" for king, and "s" for single, etc. appliqued on the outside for easy sheet identification.  What a great idea!  No more searching for the sheet tag to see the size.  Here's the start of my own "sheet organization!"

Weather Day Sewing

On days like this ...

This was actually Sunday, but it's still cloudy today!

 ...it's fun to SEW!  Today's project was a few fun lanyards and ID tag holders.  My current one was in quite sad shape, so I used some of my "Little Apples" and "Walk in the Woods" fabric by Aneela Hoey to stitch up a few.  I will be using the one of the left.  The "foxy" one on the right -- hmmm...I have an idea for that one!

The back.

The front.  It's hard to see but this side has a vinyl top to slip an ID card into.


Pattern sources:
ID Badge holder tutorial was found at Skip to my Lou.
Lanyard tutorial at Two Peas in a Pod

One bear, two bears...

Since the Zakka sewing marathon, my daily sewing routine has gone way down!  I'm slowly getting back into working on some projects.  I had made a bear pillow as part of the Zakka sew-along, and just recently finished a second one to add to my stash of gifts.  I have one more to go, and three little gifts will be ready for the holidays!

I've also had some fun recently with a "build a bundle" project/contest by Fat Quarter Shop.  One of their staff member chooses a fabric and you are invited to put together a coordinating bundle of fabric.  If your bundle is chosen, you receive one yard of each of the fabrics in your bundle.  Sound like fun?  I spent quite a bit of time coming up with my bundle, which I've named "Jungle Bundle", but it was an enjoyable way to check out some fabric.

My "Jungle Bundle"

You can see the fabric names on my flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/77537602@N07/.
I used Mosaic Makers to create the bundle grouping.

New fabric in the mail...

The shop at burgandybuttons.com had a great sale this week, and I picked up a few pieces of fabric I have long admired.  I'm not completely sure what I'll use them for yet, but in the meantime I'm enjoying looking at them.  They are so cute!  

From the Little Apples collection, designed by Aneele Hoey for Moda.

From A Walk in the Woods, also desinged by Aneele Hoey.  Can't wait to see what these little foxes will show up on!