September Summary

I know y'all probably think I've been a slacker the whole month and have done nothing but watch old TV series on Netflix and eat potato chips. That's not true. At least not the potato chips part. The problem has been that I've been working on secret Christmas stuff that I can't show. I can show you the picture of the bags containing the stuff - - -
but that's all you get to see. Tomorrow it all heads by special courier to Canada where it will be picked up by another courier next month and carried on to Paris. The stuff destined for Spain will have to wait there until one of the Spanish comes to visit. It's all very complicated and involves having Christmas deadlines in September, but it saves the cost of international shipping, which is more than the cost of the goods. (I know, Auntie Lauren made them, which means they're priceless; I'm over that.)

When you prepare gifts to be scrunched into the corners of suitcases, fancy wrappings are out. In fact, TSA doesn't like it when you carry stuff that's gift wrapped and will make you unwrap it if they're having a slow day and need to break in the newest rookie. The solution is fabric gift bags, and I'm getting rather good at making them. This is a new kind I made for the first time yesterday. They look a bit like a lunch sack, but the tie means they'll stay closed. This one is filled a bit full, so the top doesn't fold down quite so neatly as in the pattern, which can be found here: Fabric Gift Bag. I have an idea I'll be making more of these before the gift-giving season is over. Perfect size for something like a pair of socks or mittens. And of course the size can be changed.

I did get a new quilt started. This one is for a young man who will be having his first birthday this coming week. I'm using the ideas in Judy Sisneros' book 9-Patch Pizzazz: Fast, Fun & Finished in a Day. The main print has so much white space between the figures that cutting it into small pieces means you only get to see bits and pieces. This allows for using bigger chunks of that fabric, but then breaking it up with nine-patches sewn from companion fabrics. I have no idea what this quilt is going to end up looking like, because the construction is very free-form. I'll just keep adding things in and taking things out until it looks the way I want it. I'm incorporating some scraps from another quilt that happened to be lying out and that turned out to be perfect color companions, so we'll see what turns out. 

Meanwhile the current Christmas crunch is over and October looks fairly clear of deadlines. There are a couple in the middle of the month, but one of those projects is nearly done and the other won't take more than a day or two once I get all the materials together in one place. I'm finishing up a couple of knitting projects that don't have any particular purpose in mind other than giving me something to knit in social settings. I'm starting on the next round of Christmas goodies. And Marketplace is less than two months away, so time to get serious about that.