Day 3 of Labor Day Sew In

I finally finished the iron tote. Without benefit of the lost buttonhole foot, so please don't look too closely as they're half-assed satin stitched. It's not like I do a lot of buttonholes, so I really don't have a clue where it is.  I have a vague recollection of my machine foot/needle box getting dropped and the contents flew everywhere, so it is probably hiding someplace super weird. Maybe I'll find it when I rearrange my work space (a huge upcoming project).

So it fits, but the folds are goofy, turns out that the pattern I used (very unclear directions!) really could have used an overall diagram for the angled stitching lines for the corners. I don't want to un-stitch it because the stitch holes will be in the pressing surface that's on the inside.

So it's a little lumpier than it is supposed to be.  I think it looks mad in this picture.

I'm still glad I made one, but I won't recommend the pattern to you unreservedly. But next time I go to a class or a retreat, I will have a pressing surface in case there are no ironing boards, and I will be able to put my still-hot iron in the car without worrying about burning up my car upholstery.

I also made one set of ATC's which I can't show until after the Saturday CQFA meeting, and got a start on a largish new quilt made entirely from one of my scrap bins that is not at all ready for a picture  quite yet. More on that one later.

All in all, it was fun to participate in this sew-in, the people were really nice, making interesting quilts and other things, and even though I didn't chat all that much, it still felt like I had some company sewing along with me.

Day 2 of Labor Day Sew In

Sunday I started making an insulated iron tote, from a pattern no less. I'd had all the ingredients for it sitting on my worktable for quite a while taking up too much room. And I got it all done pretty quickly except for the fastening bits where I was stopped in my tracks looking for four largish buttons. First I tried non-matching but I didn't really like this look.

Then I got obsessed with finding four that matched and had to re-sort a large part of my button drawer. "Somebody" had dumped one of the larger containers and the bottom of the drawer was a sea of loose buttons.  An hour later I found these black ones that have lovely etched designs on them. But then I couldn't find my buttonhole foot, and gave up sewing for the day. So much getting tons done on the second day of the Labor Day Sew-In.

Another potential fabric painted for ATC's, this time with Tsunienko inks.

I really like having a colorful clothesline.

Warm September Sun Curing Paintstik Odor

Happy September!
Can you believe summer is pretty much over already?
My youngest kid starts college on Tuesday...

Did some Shiva paintstiks work on this last night, and it was too smelly to leave in my studio workroom,

So it's been hanging up on the clothesline all night and this morning to cure.

I'll iron it later today and see if the smell has gone down enough for me to work with it to make some ATC's. It is supposed to be in the 90's F today, so the warm September sun will undoubtedly help things along.