Sew Here I Am Again ...

It's a new year! I'm not making any resolutions, but naturally I am thinking about what I should and shouldn't be doing with my life. Writing more is one thing I would like to do.

(I hardly recognize the Blogger interface and will have to learn all over again how to tweak the code to suit my needs. Bear with me.)

One very positive life step is the creation of a dedicated sewing area in our upstairs hallway.

This spot was originally conceived of as a reading nook, but in reality, it became a collection area for boxes and luggage and other random stuff. Meanwhile, I could only sew on the dining room table, which meant I didn't sew much at all in the last couple of years. The Sergeant came up with the idea of converting this space. We got a corner desk from Ikea, and put in a new overhead light. The chair is not great, but it'll do for now. Any suggestions?

This all came about in part because I decided to whip up some gift bags for Christmas, and because of the imminent arrival of the serger, a gift from my talented and enabling mother-in-law.

Gift bags:

I just copied the structure of a cheap giveaway drawstring bag I had, using some fabric samples from my stash (Robert Kaufman Imperial Collection). The ribbon is from the Container Store.

(God, how I love the Container Store. I'm not allowed to go there unless I have something very specific I need to purchase.)

Then for a workplace gift exchange, a cow-orker brought some zippered bags, which everyone oohed and ahed over. A few days later, she showed me how to make them.

So I'm going a little crazy with the bag-making, and then my mother-in-law shows up for a visit, along with my 15-year-old niece.

MIL has a degree in fashion design (hence her enabling prowess). She showed me how to use the serger and we did a little fabric and notions shopping.

She also did some fabric shopping in my stash, because I have a metric shit-ton of quilting cotton. I just brought all the bins up from the basement and she browsed through the fabric while the Sergeant and I took the niece to the top of Pikes Peak (wind chill: minus-12).

Finally, MIL walked me through cutting out a knit T-shirt pattern and sewing it on the serger. It's not perfect, but it fits and actually looks OK. I'm going to redo parts of it so I can wear it in public and not be embarrassed. I'll post a photo when it's done.

Happy new year, indeed!