Sewing Mojo up and running

I was seriously concerned about the lack of creative sewing I've done with my sewing machine. Little did I know, but all it took was the simple act of taking it out of Ava's closet. Now, it sits patiently side by side with Rich's Memoir '44 game. But I have plans, ha, ha, ha!

Last night, after a fun-filled day in 103 degree weather with 2 kiddos, I dragged it out and started to work. I made a fun jacket for Kate's little one - can't post it yet, I want it to be a surprise. Then BOOM, with that little project finished, the creative juices started to flow. Now, I have cut out a new bag, and 2 coat jacket bags.

Does that look like the sleeve of a jacket? Why yes, dear reader, it is! The lining of my new bag is made of an old early 90's GAP jacket and I used the sleeves to make little bags. The little bags are not for me though, maybe I can sell them or something. Maybe my knitting friends can use them to hold their notions. The purse is from Anna Maria Horner's book "Seams to Me". The coat sleeve bag is from Last Minute Fabric Gifts. I've had both books for a few years and just now have some time to work from them. There are some CUTE projects in both books!

And I'm OBSESSED with this mystery yarn lady who is trying to sell her friend's stash. Like 2500 POUNDS of it. I can only hope that her stash had it's own room or something. I can't imagine what it even looks like. And I thought a closet shelf full of yarn was a problem.....

Stash Diet??? What Stash Diet??

So here we are in February and I went to my mom's 60th birthday party. That was really fun! People come from out of the woodwork every time there is a party at my mom's. Of course, right before it started, I went to the Oklahoma Quiltworks. Just to see what they have (kind of like going to an ice cream store when you are watching what you eat). There was an awesome quilt store in Tulsa (I worked there), but now, no such awesomeness. So I'm browsing for small stripes and bought this:

Here are some of the blocks I was thinking about when I was buying the fabric.
I'm thinking about turning the squares so it's shaped more like a diamond (actually a rhombus, if you're technical). The goal is for it to look kaleidoscope-ish. So I'll cut out black squares, hopefully the same size as the other ones and then sew it together.

Later that night, after everyone went home - and let's just say it was LATE, my mom and her closest friends went to Jan's house to look at her quilts. Jan is old-school. She watched a documentary on Gee's Bend and saw a quilt that caught her eye. Then she paused the dvd, photographed it and then using many higher-math skills, made a pattern. That's not how I work. You can be sure that my process goes from "I have this idea" to "OH NO!" to "Now, I think I have it!" and then the quilt is done. Ask me about my coffee cup quilt.

As for the $63 spent on fabric, let's just say I'll make plans for it, but first you can guess that it will hang out on the shelf for me to pet for a while. Yeah. Crafters pet things like yarn and fabric. It's weird.