Early to Bed, Early to Rise, and Sew

Pin It I usually go to bed quite early because I try to be at work every day at 5:30am. So, a normal night for me is to be asleep by 8pm and up at 4am. Because last night was a Friday, I went wild and stayed up all the way until 9pm. Of course, my body is used to getting up at o'dark thirty in the morning so I woke up this morning at 3:30am. Wide awake with no chance of getting back to sleep and sleeping in. So I got up and goofed around on Farmville for a long time (level 99, does that mean I'm addicted?). I also sewed another little zippered pouch. I finished it before 6am. Then, since I'm going to see my Mom and my Mother-in-law tonight I had to make one for my MIL too so she wouldn't feel left out. MIL's is the one with little crosses and churches on it. She is SUPER catholic. Sometimes she seems more Catholic than the Pope.

The outdoorsy moose one is for my Mom. The church and crosses for my MIL.
The pink one and the brown and green one are for friends of mine for their birthdays.

Silly story about my MIL. She has been giving us brochures for Conservative Catholic universities since DS was 3 years old. Once to tease her, I told her that we were planning on sending DS to Seattle University which is a liberal Catholic college. (who knew there was a such thing as liberal and conservative Catholic schools?)  I got the outraged reaction that I expected. Of course, she knew that I was just kidding because I've also told her that DS can go to any university that she wants if she will pay for it.

Just for fun, here are some additional pictures from around my shop / sewing area.

My Singer 401A. The little green garbage can in the background is what I throw all my thread clippings into. As I've said before, I actually have two of the exact same machine. One for home, and one in a wheeled sewing machine case for when I go to classes. My Mom has two more of the same machine at her house. I grew up sewing on her machine and have been lucky enough finding more at secondhand stores that I haven't had to use a different machine than the one I learned on.

My thread. Yes, those are wooden shoes you see in the upper left of the picture. I used to do medieval recreation (SCA) and these were really handy for damp or rainy weather. Not that it is ever damp or rainy in the Pacific Northwest. In other words, these shoes got a lot of use. On the right hand side are two frames my Mom had and I haven't gotten around to using yet. I'm thinking of making a jewelry holder out of one of them. Also you see a hand quilt frame - haven't used it yet. The baskety thing is a basket backpack that I used to use for medieval camping. Very handy and period looking. But it actually came from REI a long time ago. My Mom is very outdoorsy, she hikes and camps and still (at 70 years old) teaches hunter safety classes through her local gun club. She worked at REI for 20-ish years before retiring about 4 years ago.

My favorite tool in my sewing room. I bought this from a vendor at a local quilt show. I love it because I can iron small things without having to get up from my sewing machine. Notice it is yellow, my favorite color.

My inspiration / bulletin board. Yes, that is a leopard print devil ducky from Archie McPhee's in the center of the board. The board is over my cutting table. I use it to tack up pictures of what I'm working on or just things I think are funny or interesting.

I got this postcard from Archie McPhee's too. I like it because it's not too risque (I have an 8 year old to think about) but it is still amusing since it is mildly sexy and I am a woman of forty-ish. The text across the top cracks me up because of all the fabric I've snuck in the house that my husband doesn't know about.

Tonight we are taking most of the in-laws to the Knights of Columbus steak fry. Best steak, potato, and veggie that you can get for $10.