From My Stash to Yours, Merry Christmas

From my stash to yours, Merry Christmas!

Thanks everyone for your comments on my last post.  Two great things happened:  I found a fellow sewist to trade fabric (Andrea of Needle Nose Apparel--she makes dog collars and dog pajamas for greyhounds!) AND the donation service came and took away 12 bags of clothes and fabric. 

And a third great thing happened:  I am now off for a week--my first week off at Christmas since 1998--and it is pretty fabulous!

I bought myself two things for Christmas:


I had been wanting a sewing machine necklace for a while now.  Elizabeth had one and I coveted it.  I bought mine on etsy from this seller.  I used the $50 gift card from the McCall's focus group (plus a little bit of my cash) to buy it.  I promise to write about the focus group soon.

I saw the labels on Lladybird's blog a while back, but they were out of stock at the time.  Now they are back at the Sublime Stitching shop.  I got them 25% off with a holiday sale.

I made myself an apron as a Christmas present to myself.  There was much fretting about placement of cats for maximum cuteness.  See the hot pink cats on the straps?  See how symmetrical they are?  See how the hot pink cat is in the middle?  Yes, yes, yes!


Yes!

I learned how to get this curve to come out flat instead of puckery:

 I have always had trouble with that curve which is a narrow, double turned, 5/8" seam. This time I serged the edge first, then turned it once and ironed it flat.





And then I turned it under again and ironed again.

And then I stitched from the right side.


Hurrah! No puckers!
Who knew the iron could be such a friend?

I did that for finishing the other edges as well.

The fabric is Kobayashi Quiet Cats in the pink/green colorway (it comes in three colorways).

I bought my first length of it in Hawaii in May with MushyWear and bought more on Maigo Cute.


The reflection of the chair in the window makes it look like there's still snow outside.  After an unusual weekend of temps in the upper 60's F, the snow is all gone.  Now it's 40-something.

So, Merry Christmas y'all.  Have a great holiday!!
Be well!