Retail Therapy

So to say that August has been a busy month is a little bit of an understatement. You may have heard me go on about it before. Or not, seeing as I seem to never be blogging these days.

Weddings, church responsibilities, vacations- that are more exhausting than relaxing- and buying a house have happened this month. Add to that facing the reality of going back to work at a high needs school after a maternity leave. And teaching a grade I've never taught before.

Second graders know nothing- like literally nothing.  I asked one of the them during our dinosaur research how tall their dinosaur was and they replied 21 cm. They had measured the picture of the dinosaur in the book! Not quite what I was looking for, but I guess at least they can use a ruler and measure. You have to find the silver linings whenever and whenever you can.

In lieu of no sewing to ease the stress of the day, I have taken to a little late night retail therapy to soothe my frazzled brain.

It felt so good, it might have gotten a little out of hand. But who can resist Anna Maria Horner Loulouthi or Cotton and Steel? I may have more coming. Ok, I do have more coming.

And all of a sudden I decided that I needed ribbons. I don't regret that buy though. They are pretty. Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner and Tula Pink. Now I just need to find something to use them on...

And then like some drunken night of adventure, I have no idea how Micheal Miller gnomes and children sucking lollipops ended up in my cart. I must have thought it was a good idea at the time...

I also stopped by a quilt shop that I had never been to before and found some great Tula Pink, Urban Mod by Art Gallery Fabrics and Frippery by Thomas Knauer. I'm slightly in love with the Thomas Knauer.

The lady who was cutting my material suggested that I get a babysitter the next time I came in so I could browse without the companionship of my sons, who were slightly terrorizing the place. I didn't know if I should be offended that she was trying to get rid of my sons or acknowledge that it might be a great, if not expensive, idea.

I also stocked up on some Essex linen. And of course the boys found some fabric that they wanted. Super heroes- anyone surprised?

Hopefully, as things calm down, people get back to school and everyone gets back into a routine of sorts, all the buying will eventually translate into making!
Until then retail therapy!

Linking up, because I actually have something to show!

A Note on Blogs

So, there hasn't been much sewing or blogging going on around here for the past month or so. But I'm not going to apologize, that's just the ways it goes my friends. We've had an unbelievable summer up until this point, and if you live in this country, and you get a good summer, you make the most of it- and we have been.

Summer stuff

I did use quilts this summer though. Does that count?

So, no blogging or sewing, but in preparation for going back to school (which I did this week), I have been reading a fair amount of blogs. Probably not yours, sorry. Teacher blogs. And let me just go on a tangent (like I always do) and say that teachers have blogs figured out. If you want some examples of good blog designs that cater to their genre and niche, just peruse teacher blogs. In fact they're almost overboard. Everything matches and is cutesie (which is awesome if you like that).  Especially the kindergarten teachers.

More summer stuff and my somewhat cutesie classroom

First off, you are a special person if you teach kindergarten and like it. You are even more of a super human if you teach kindergarten, make stuff and blog about it. Seriously, waay too much work for me. But I'll gladly pay for it.

Which leads me to my next point: if you want to make money, forget fabric, make teacher stuff. It's got to be a gold mine. Just saying. (not lying check these out- here and here. Haha they'll wonder where all this traffic is coming from.).

And I might have lied a little to you when I said there hasn't been any sewing going on. There has been. A little.

 I still am trying to finish that wedding quilt for my brother. Yep. It happened (thank goodness!).

Anyway, I was all on track to get it done and then something went wrong with my darning foot. The needle was rubbing right up against the foot and would shred the thread. Then I actually started breaking needles because they would hit the foot. You may be able to see the small indentations on the foot where the needle hit it. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I got a new foot and it seems to be fine, so maybe I bent the other one. Can you even do that?

Also I didn't baste my quilt very well and had a terrible time with puckering and the backing folding over. I thought I had it all fixed and then discovered this.

Many curses were said. Well, my type of curses (we've talked about this).

So, what would you do? I've quilted quite a bit around it- like lots. Like almost the whole quilt. Do I unpick everything or play blind and oblivious and hope it fixes itself a little bit in the wash? (I have not pre-washed).

I'm going to have to unpick it aren't I? Sigh...

Anyway, I enjoyed my summer. Hope you enjoyed yours!
Linking up like I used to. You, know like when I use to blog ;)