I May Have A Problem

It's cloudy and rainy today and I don't feel like doing anything--but I did get up and sew this morning, finishing a new cross-body bag (more on that below) that I started yesterday afternoon.  But I'm feeling kind of drowsy right now and I think I might need another cup of coffee.

I've lately been in a little bit of a fabric buying frenzy. Here are some of my recent purchases (the rest is coming by mail):

This Daniel Tiger fabric (2 yards, if I recall correctly) will be sewn into pillowcases. Daniel Tiger is my go-to when my life is falling apart and I can't get out of bed, so I figure that pillowcases are the way to go with this fabric.

(Sorry for the sideways picture.) That smiling jack-o-lantern fabric (also 2 yards) came home with me before Halloween (but I should have waited because it was 66% off--instead of the 30% off that I paid--after Halloween). I bought it because it reminded me of Halloween decorations from my childhood and I'll probably sew it up into a tote since it's a heavier, almost canvas-weight fabric.

Okay, that stack has the jack-o-lantern and Daniel Tiger fabric at the top, but it also includes a bunch of Tula Pink polka dot fabrics, some solid blues, a bunch of one-yard cuts of things that caught my eye from an online vendor, and some black and white prints that I bought at a local quilt shop. (This stack is sitting there because my fabric storage bins are full and there is no place to put these away yet.)

SANTA!! This is the first and only piece of Christmas related fabric that I have ever bought. The jolly Santas reminded me (and Dave and Betty, the woman cutting fabric at the store) of the Santa mugs that everyone had as children but which only came out at Christmastime to drink cocoa from. (My grandmother had them.)

The Santas and these two prints and the stack of solid colors below the prints came about because my mother texted me about a 40% sale at her work. I brought home about thirteen yards of fabric,

. . . stripes and . . .

. . . rainbow array of solids. I brought only a few solids (ha!) because I wasn't sure about the quality of the fabric (which is Kona cotton) compared to the brand of solid fabrics that I usually buy (Moda). The Moda is slightly thicker, but these Kona solids are more than acceptable, and, even at regular price, about a third less than the Moda.

And this fabric is one of my darlings:

It's not new to my collection, but I haven't used it since I bought it (until this week, when I made myself a new cross-body bag out of it. I used this fabric for the exterior and some red shot cotton for the interior). I absolutely adore this print and didn't find it until it was already out of print. I hunted down a couple of yards of it online and if I had the option, I would have bought a whole bolt of it. 

(This is how I know I have a problem: While writing about this fabric, I went online to see if I could find more. There are a few small quilt shops around the country that have some yardage, but I also found quilt panels at Missouri Star Quilt Company, where I've ordered from before, so I went ahead and bought four quilt panels with the same design from them. Then I ordered some more solid fabrics and...a few other things, too. Not more fabric though! Honest! I ordered sewing machine needles, a triangle ruler, a bunch of thread, and a thread holder.)

Other things that have been going on:

I had a doctor's appointment in the morning, which went fine. I have a follow-up in a few months.

And we voted yesterday. Dave, my brother, and I went to the polling station at the high school that we all attended many years ago. Dave said it seemed smaller than he remembered, but it seemed larger to me for some reason--except the cafeteria, where the voting booths were set up. That seemed really tiny. They've painted the lockers in the halls maroon (I remember them a different color, maybe gray?), too. I would have loved to wander the halls and the other buildings and even go upstairs, but there was no time. After we voted, Dave and Rudy went for fizzy drinks and I stopped by the local grocery where I almost never go and bought some rice (to make rice-filled heating pads) and some beans (to add to burritos and green chile stew).

The rest of the afternoon, I spent sewing, then we went to dinner with Chris and Grace. We had pizza and salads and chatted for a bit. With the time change, we were all wiped out at the end of dinner and felt like it was midnight and when Chris checked the time on her phone, it was ten 'til 7. I hate daylight savings.

Dave and I swung by Whole Foods on the way home and picked up a few things, including the hemp-based CBD cream I've been using on my neck and shoulders. It works pretty well (though the cashier told us about another one that he says works better).

When we came home, I worked some more on my bag, sorted out my embroidery things (maybe I'll take it to work to do some stitching in the long hours in the night), and watched a movie (Fracture, which had too much Ryan Gosling and not enough Anthony Hopkins).

And that was my day