NO MORE LEAKY FAUCETS

Can anything feel better than having the plumber leave, knowing that all the faucets and flushing valves in the toilets work better than ever? First the kitchen wand-faucet began to drip, then the toilets were running much too long and then a problem with the outdoor bar sink on the deck. The latter was a good idea at the time but has proven to be more of a nuisance than a convenience. The plumber left a few minutes ago and since I have not yet seen the invoice I feel really good; that may change when the bill arrives.

Meanwhile I have been stitching furiously to get much work completed before Friday (tomorrow) when my precious Bernina (now going on five years old), gets delivered to the fix-it-shop. What will I do for a week without a sewing machine? Besides going into withdrawal?

The Sun Glass Case Project is proceeding according to plan. Beginning with a large basket of fabric 'crumbs' cut off from years of various quilt endeavors, hundreds if not thousands of scraps were sew into eighteen crazy-patch blocks. I like to think my color and print editing was the real talent applied to this project after years of visual arts practice. Weeks of fitting scraps together, trimming and squaring each block before making up the pattern and determining the procedural details.
This is a labor intensive job that requires trimming to EXACT size of the pattern. The accuracy here will save much frustration later as I have already proven to myself. No point in doing it twice! Unless the two-sides meet each other exactly when the case is top stitched it will look lop-sided and sloppy; not my kind of work.


Second, stitch to the lining fabric(with top fold-over-lip already applied), closing three of the four sides. Turn inside-out and press the corners square.


See the wrong side of the lip fabric (bias cut) waiting to be sewn. Here is where the project stands now: machine stitching on all eighteen finished and much handwork remains to be done.
The top-red lip will fold over and be secured along the top edge (consistent fabric to all), and a snap will be sewn inside the top outside corner. The hand work will be slow but without my 'function' machine this will keep me busy for a week if not longer.

Don't you love the D-ring attached on the top of each case (see below) to snap on your car keys? Toss the bright, colorful, scrappy case into your beach bag and you will never have to hunt for keys or glasses again.

When all is complete the case will look like the four pictured below. Waiting for the top stitching along the bottom and side, these cases will be my 'gift' to all the family females in our upcoming summer celebrations. What a fashion statement we will all make at the family picnic. Or at least we will find our sun glasses!

Much of this photography is now being done in Photoshop Creative Suite 4 (CS4). This upgrade accomplished just in the past few days after mentioning casually to DH that I needed to upgrade from CS2 to CS4. This notion from my Photoshop class at Duke Gardens in January as suggested by the instructor. At first DH argued that it would not work, it was too pricey $$$ blah blah blah... until yesterday.

I came home from the gym after an early morning workout - he was off to "The World Today" class in Durham - and there it was. A note on my monitor ready "Cannot use computer until CS4 finishes downloading." Who knew? bbf