Last Saturday my husband Luke and I went to Los Angeles for some shopping, an NBA game, and some fun! Our first stop was Mood. Let me say that my husband is such a good sport when it comes to fabric shopping. He always gives me good feedback when I ask him sewing questions (he doesn't sew, but he humors me), he gets me tall bolts of fabric that I am too short to reach, he is patient, and he doesn't rush me. This time he also entertained himself by picking out buttons for a sewing project that doesn't yet exist. He just wanted the buttons.

Sorry if you don't like cats, but my blog is filled with pictures of my cats.


 I bought two fabrics. I know, only two! I am trying not to be a hoarder, so I am only buying what I need. Plus, being in Mood is kind of overwhelming to me because there are so many different choices. The red lawn fabric above is what I am using for my Sorbetto. I love red white and blue!

This sheer silk fabric is a very light pink with black polka dots. I'm nervous to use it, I've never sewn with a texture like that.

In case you are new to my blog, my husband is a huge Los Angeles Clippers fan. We ordered tickets for the game against the Milwaukee Bucks as soon as we could. We got seats in row eleven!! I have never sat so close and now I feel spoiled, like I never want to sit farther back again :)


The only sewing related thing about this photo is that I made myself a Clippers headband. I would like to get more fabric, but can't find it anywhere :( When I eventually find some I plan on making myself a dress for future games. I'm going to look wild, but who cares????

Since we got to the game really early we got to watch warm ups. That's Blake Griffin making a layup.

The game. I can't get over what good seats we had!

Look who we were sitting next to. Hell yeah, I took that photo stalker status.

I am so glad that I made the muslin. After trying it on I decided that I wanted to add a few inches to the length. So glad that I didn't realize that after I made the top.

The second new thing I tried was altering the pattern. It was a quick and easy horizontal slash alteration to add extra length. After cutting directly across to split the pattern into two parts I added a new piece of paper that was three inches (the length I wanted to increase) and taped it between the two pieces. So easy!

At the end of the night I learned that muslins are awesome, I will make a muslin each time I use a new pattern, and I should be making pattern alterations whenever I am not happy with the fit. Common sense for some, but new techniques for me to work with! :)

Next up, a muslin for the Meringue skirt.

I imagine that someday IF I ever have a child I will prepared to deal with distractions while I am sewing. I base this on the fact that my cat Lebron seems to need a lot of attention whenever I am working on a project. He wants to be my number one priority whenever he sees that I am busy and I have to stop everything to pet him or cuddle him... or else he gets destructive!

On Sunday when my friend Jessi was over I sewed strips of fabric together for my quilt. Last night I cut  the strips into blocks and tried to arrange them on the carpet. Lebron did not like that one bit. You will notice in the above photo that he was prancing around trying to get my attention.

Next he decided to fall down in the center on the blocks.

"Pay attention to me!!!"


Before Lebron totally destroyed the layout I quickly gathered the columns in order and numbered them with a post it and sharpie. The smell of the sharpie offended Lebron and he left, of course as soon as I was done.

 I had all this for breakfast. We still love juicing! Coming up with different combos everyday is fun and something to look forward to. It's amazing the way fresh juice smells and tastes, so different from the store. The mango wasn't as sweet and flavorful as I had hoped though :( My favorite combination so far is cucumber, apple, and a little bit of lemon. Very refreshing.

Lebron was sleeping in this patch of sun this morning. He is so cute. The morning is his favorite time of day. I know this because when he is happy he falls down a lot, literally he body slams himself on his side. In the morning he does this nonstop.

Let's talk about fabric and look at pictures of fabric because that's what I like to do! I am very excited to make another quilt for a Christmas present. I won't say for who because it's a surprise :)

The quilt will be very Americana, so red, white (cream), and blue. The fabric pictured above will be for the main blocks inside the quilt.

 The gold star fabric will be a thin 1.5 inch border and the plaid fabric will be a 3 inch border. At least those are my plans for now.

This fabric will make up the main 6 or 7 inch border at the edge of the quilt.

I met up with my mom for lunch at Fig in Atascadero (melted brie, greens, and fig chutney sandwich on fresh foccacia bread = amazing lunch) after my fabric purchases and she couldn't really envision how my quilt would all come together. I think that a lot of people think the same when it comes to the color choices I use for my quilts, but maybe that's how it is for everyones quilts...?

There was an end of bolt sale, so I bought up the rest of the Michael Miller poodle fabric. There ended up being close to 2 yards. What to make, what to make...

Lebron likes the fabric too.

I got a couple of cool things to make my sewing life easier. The item on the left is used to turn long, narrow pieces of fabric to the opposite side. For example, this is used for skinny straps on dresses or tiny loops for buttons. I was cursing myself when I didn't have this to make ties on my cape.

The second purchase is used to keep my bobbins organized. As you can see, I don't have many bobbins to keep track of, but it is nice not to have them rolling around in my sewing box!

Friends, I have something to confess: I have been sewing for the past year and a half without a cover to put on my sewing machine when it is not in use. I know, I'm probably going to hell ;) Yesterday I had enough and decided to buy some oilcloth, even though I swore I wouldn't buy any fabric for myself until I had crossed more projects off my to do list. I justified it by deciding that if I was going to make the purchase then I had to make the cover THAT NIGHT to avoiding having another pending project on the back of my mind.


When Lebron realized he wasn't going to get attention while I was sewing at the machine he decided to pout on the other desk and supervise from afar.


 The finished product and the rest of my sewing area.


 A front view. I am very happy with how it turned out. I loved the oilcloth print, I had been eyeing it for a while now. Luckily there is a good amount left over for another project I want to make...


It's hard to tell from the photos, but I used a black bias tape to finish the raw edges. I even made (and finished the edges!) for a space for the machine cords.

All in all I am very pleased with the outcome. It took less than an hour, why did I procrastinate on making this for so long? At least there won't be any cat hair in the machine, which is more than I can say for the rest of the house.

I hope all of my friends had a nice Labor Day weekend, I know I sure did! It was a whirlwind of friends, but luckily Luke and I got to relax all day yesterday. Well, he relaxed while I cursed at my sewing machine.

Saturday
In the afternoon I went to see my friend Curtis for a haircut and color. He dyed most of my hair black, bleached a few pieces, and then dyed the bleached pieces gray. I was overdue for a trim as well, so now my hair feels so healthy.

In the evening I got to see my godson Bronson. Yes, I have a godson and he's so cute!

Luke was busy working out with 1 lb weights while I visited with Bronson.


Sunday
My new friend Samantha invited me to go wine tasting mid afternoon. It was so much fun getting to know her while drinking Laetitia's sparkling in the sunshine. We have decided that next time we go we need to bring a picnic basket with cheese, crackers, chocolate, fruit, etc.

 How cute is she??

In the evening Luke and I went to my friend Ariana's house for a BBQ. We always have so much fun at her house! We ate amazing food and watched The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.


Monday
Lazy day for us and the cats.

 Lebron sleeps so cute!

 Lebron's favorite thing is being kissed on the head. If you are not kissing him on the head then he puts his head on your lips to remind you.

Hopefully I will have a finished sewing project to show you soon. That is, if I can put in a zipper correctly. Cross your fingers for me.

A month or so ago I was with my friend Kim at the fabric store. She showed me some fabric and my immediate reaction was to say, "that's disgusting." Well, she was showing me the fabric because she actually liked it! Awkward.... We both laughed about it, but I just couldn't get that fabric out of my head.

Kim and her family moved to Colorado on Saturday. I knew what had to happen: she needed that fabric made into pillowcases as a going away present.

One member of my family loved the fabric.

Of course, Lebron probably liked it because it looks like him as a badass on a motorcycle.

Now Kim can sleep on a pillowcase that has cats on motorcycles zipping around. Wild! Oh, she liked the gift! :) She started laughing as soon as she saw the fabric. I miss her already!