One More Apron

I had some time before leaving for church yesterday, so I block fused* interfacing to some of the leftover apron canvas pieces in preparation for making a couple of bags. The first is the Norwalk Pouch from Sotak Patterns:

This is not something I would carry or use, necessarily, but I’m experimenting with a few items to see how they do at the co-op sale.

*Block fusing is the process of fusing interfacing to a piece of fabric before cutting out the pattern pieces. I’m doing it that way for these bags because I always seem to have a problem with the interfacing shrinking or distorting when I try to fuse individual pieces, especially small ones. Block fusing went quickly on my steam press and now I am ready to cut pattern pieces.

I also have this design, the Petunia Pouch, from Sotak Patterns:

She has lots of really cute designs and they appear to be well written and illustrated.

After lunch, I finished the last canvas apron:

I also sewed the rest of the log cabin quilt blocks into four-patch blocks. I started with sixty-four 12-1/2” individual blocks and now have 16 very large four-patch blocks. Those 16 four-patch blocks need to be sewn into a king-sized quilt top. This is where it gets a bit hairy. I’ll have to set up my small folding table behind my sewing machine to hold all the fabric as I am assembling it. I’m also going to have to take the backing, batting, and quilt top up to the church and baste it together on the (carpeted) floor of the fellowship hall because I don’t have a space big enough to do that here.

The plan is to get that log cabin top quilted and bound before the end of July. At some point, I need to get out all of the inventory I have for the sale and start making a list.

The rain and cool temps have kept me out of the garden for a few days. It appears that we will be in this cooler-than-normal pattern for another week. The peas, cabbages, and broccoli love this weather. The tomatoes and squash are holding their own. They got a nice head start and can tolerate a bit of discomfort. The tomatoes are already two feet tall.

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I’ve casually started looking for a new car. The Diva is nine years old and has almost 140,000 miles on it, although it’s a diesel and I could, conceivably, drive it for another 140,000 miles. I have my own BMW mechanic, after all. I don’t really want to give it up. I enjoy driving it and it gets 40 miles to the gallon. Of course, I cannot replace it with another diesel station wagon and that annoys me to no end. I don’t want an electric vehicle. I don’t even want a hybrid. I don’t want one loaded with a million potentially breakable pieces of technology. I also have to factor in the husband’s preferences as he knows more about what models are reliable and easier to maintain. (He is no fan of Subarus, so those are completely off the list.) I am looking for a unicorn. He checked the Mercedes dealer in Missoula yesterday morning and said he found a vehicle that met all my requirements for only $87,000. That’s insane. I am not spending that kind of money on a car.

We’ll see. I am not in a hurry. I might take some test drives the next time I am in Seattle.

I moved all my Monday errands to tomorrow as I need to stop by the bank and they are closed today. I will keep myself glued to my office chair this morning until I get all the paperwork handled.