fresh new things

A finish!  On Sunday, I was on a mission to finish up this new knitting bag for a store sample.  It's a pattern by Among Brenda's Quilts, and is named Wooly, Wooly.  It has zippered vinyl pockets and slip vinyl pockets, big pockets all the way to the top of the bag, some with divisions for tall skinny stuff (knitting needles and crochet hooks).  Inside, there are snap tabs for separating yarn strands.  There is a drawstring top closure and an adjustable carrying strap.  It has a lot going on!

I found the pattern to be pretty clear.  If I were to do it again, I would have changed some fabric placement on the outside to remove some of those chopped up apples, it's a pretty large scale print. I love the fabric, it's from a relatively new design/fabric maker, Cotton + Steel. Also, it's a heavier weight fabric than usual quilting cottons, which lead to some pretty thick seam build-up that was tough to manage.  I did some grading of the seams (trimming out layers) and even got handy with the hammer to flatten the thickest seams.  Although I love my Bernina for almost all my sewing, in this case, my Juki was a life saver.  It accommodates thicker things beneath the foot, and has a more powerful force behind the needle.  Even with that, I could feel and hear when it was really working hard to penetrate everything.  So it's perfect for something like this, but is limited by the fact that it only does straight stitching.  There are trade-offs in everything!  I'm lucky I have what I need for various sewing situations.

Now, just a pretty picture!  This English Paper Piecing project was draped over the chair to get it out of the way for dusting.  And it just looked pretty!

One of the fun things we did while Ian and Jack were visiting was indoor gardening.  The day after they arrived, great-grandma Sally and I helped them dig in some dirt and plant some seeds.  Everything but the tomato seeds sprouted, and the peas were the champs because they grew the most!  In fact, the peas and the few beans that sprouted are going to the compost heap now because they are too long and spindly, and it's not nearly warm enough to put them in the outside garden.

 The grass is ready for Easter eggs!  One thing that isn't seen in these pictures is the celery.  I think it was the first thing to show some growth.  I simply took an old wilted remainder of a celery bunch, chopped off the top leaving about 1" of root and base of the stalk.  I put it in a little pot and just barely covered the surface deep enough with dirt.  Now it's growing into a whole new celery plant!