All I did...

was walk in the room to put away a paper and the next thing I knew, this was completed. I have no idea how this happens...in this room...it must be magic. Funny thing is, I read Heather's post this morning and she had the same thing happen to her. She meant to be doing one thing in 'the room', but the fabric got touched, then matched, then cut and since it was cut, well, one might as well sew it together. Next thing you know you've got something very useful and practical sitting in front of you.

Someone will be happy about this as he has been patiently waiting for me to make it. I made similar embroidered covers here and he asked for one to hold the highlighters at work. I didn't mean for it to take this long, but I suppose I was waiting for inspiration (or magic) to hit. But there you have it. Another item off the ever increasing list of projects I want to do.

Speaking of lists, I'm trying out a new calendar method that I accidently stumbled upon during December. I love lists and I'm a huge fan of the list of three, but December always has a flurry of last minute baking and crafting that should get done, and  I wanted/needed to be organized and know at a glance what I still had to accomplish. I printed a blank calendar page from here, pasted it into a spiral notebook and scheduled tasks or wrote completed tasks in the squares. The opposite page held my list of tasks to be completed. I knew at a glance what I needed to schedule time for, but I could also see my progress and I love knowing how much I've accomplished. It worked so well that I decided to keep going with January. Heck, maybe I'll do it through the whole year. Hey, then I'll have a momento to look back on and see how much I've accomplished throughout the year.

I'm putting everything on the list (and still using a small pad for the list of three), like making up that granola recipe everyone is raving about, making homemade laundry soap for the January One Small Change, making cash budget pouches and scheduling a Valentine Bunting class. I haven't hosted a sewing class in a while and they're always fun. Perhaps I'll even schedule a sledding party. I can do anything as long as I'm prepared and organized. Love it!

So, tell me, how do you keep yourself organized at home?

That sewing project.

Yes, well, I was so engrossed with the telling of my latest adventure with a Little that I completely forgot to post this picture of the sewing project I was working on. It's a gift for my niece. She and her brother are in the middle of the pack as far as gifting goes. They're not young enough to get in on the fun projects I make for the Littles and they're still living at home so they don't qualify for the family gifts I give to my siblings and their spouses. They've never complained, but I suspect they didn't exactly appreciate things like the family market bags or the homemade wash cloths and scrubbies, however my niece is very appreciative of the biscotti I bake for gifting every year. But still, for the last couple years I've been making them something special for Christmas Eve. Last year I made her Cashmere mittens from a thrifted sweater...they felt (haha, pun) delicious. This year, as I was perusing blogland, I ran across the tutorial for this make-up bag and I thought it would be perfect for Miss K.  I sort of love it and now I want one for myself.

Sometimes I can't believe how I'm intimidated by new techniques, but when I actually try them they turn out to be the simplest thing to do. I quilted the fabric for this. First time. Now, all of you quilters out there might scoff and think I'm being a pansy, but I truly didn't know how to quilt and I was afraid to try. What was I thinking? It's not like the sewing police were going to swoop in and haul me off to jail. It's just a simple 1" grid that I chalked off and machine stitched. Oh my, it made such a difference in the look, and the quilted fabric is just sturdy enough to help this bag hold it's shape. I suspect this pattern might have been created by a quilter (now I know it is) because there are a fair number of hand-sewing steps and the inside seams are bound off, which is good because it makes for a very professional looking bag. I like the hand-sewing. It quiets my mind and I feel like a little more love goes into each project. Will she appreciate all that work? Probably not yet, because she doesn't sew, but someday, if she takes up handcrafts, she will surely understand how much love went into her gift. Until then, I know and I'm happy to put a little piece of my heart into her gifts.