Tags
busyhandsquilts, Butterick 5948, cats, clothing, quilting, sewing, splashofcolorQAL, travel, WIP Wednesday, Yakima, Yakima Greenway

I was trying to catch them having a kissy-face session, but managed to take their CD cover photo instead.
WIP = work in progress
Well, it has been a week, my friends. Some ups in there and some downs, too.
Autumn arrived this week, which has me feeling a bit melancholy. All four seasons have their pleasures, for sure, but I wasn’t quite finished with summer yet! We’ve had a little rain, which I know is very much needed, but I can’t help but feel a little gloomy when the weather is gray.
And then yesterday, this happened:
Not my fault, but it was a hit and run, which my insurance doesn’t cover. 😦
Sigh.
I’ve been fretting about it–because that’s what I do–but I’ve decided it’s time to move on to the rainbow part of the rain business. YOU HEAR THAT, BRAIN?
Because some other stuff happened this week, too.
Like this:

Made some good progress on cutting strips for the quilt.
And this:

B5948 in ALL the colors. Life lesson: if you don’t have blue skies, sew some.
You can’t see them here, but I put vents in the sides of this like I did on the tank from this pattern. Vents always complicate the seam finishing issue–French seams, my favorite seam finish, just don’t play well with them–so I zig zagged the seam allowances on the side seams. This fabric doesn’t fray much, so I think they’ll be fine.
This took longer than it should have, simply because I was being terribly indecisive about the length of the top and of the sleeves. I wound up leaving the top a bit longer than I usually do (more of a tunic length) and cutting about 6″ off the sleeves to get them to about a 3/4 length. (I really should do all my woven blouses with 3/4-length sleeves so that I don’t have to keep rolling them up.) I wore this yesterday and I think I made the right choice in both cases.
It’s also been raining patterns over here!
I picked up some patterns on sale at Joann’s recently. I am particularly obsessed with the vest (V8954) and I have a piece of FOREST GREEN mystery knit from SCRAP that I’m going to use for it.

Totally not a Tilton sisters fangirl.
And then I met up with my buddy Heidi last Saturday and she gave me these for my birthday!
We had a lovely lunch and then a walk on the Yakima Greenway. Highly recommended if you’re in the area. This part of the path leads right to the door of the animal shelter–a seriously genius move, if you ask me. I would sure walk a lot more if every walk involved PETTING ALL THE DOGS.
So there’s plenty of good stuff happening in between the stuff that isn’t so great. I’m basically taking Jenny Lawson’s approach to September: sit under the sunlight lamp, read a fun book, and pet all the animals. Plus sewing.
Have a great week, and I hope you’re making time for some good stuff.
STH
ETA: I have linked up this post to the Splash of Color Quilt-Along over at Busy Hands Quilts.
Well, definitely some downs but also major ups! That top! And the cool cats. When I have something funny French seam wise, I do the French seams but stop a little bit short of the opening and (gasp!) cut. At least then most of the seam is enclosed. But then again I am very un-Pro.
Here’s wishing you some blue skies.
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Ha! I have cut them, too, but I felt like such a criminal! It totally makes sense to do it, but then I’m also very un-pro. 😉 Have a beautiful weekend–hope you’re sewing right past your block!
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CD cover = Cat Divas ? oh! Belated singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU in ole woman gospel voice ;). Ouch, sorry about the h-n-r. Gray karma for them that ran. OMG! the tunic/tank is gorgeous! Now wearing that will surly lift any gray day spirit. Much rain on this side this week and gray too. I know the feeling. Great walk it seems, Savour these days ❤
Happy sewing!~cheers
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Thank you! Hopefully you’re getting all the rain you need over there, even if you have to put up with some gray skies to do it. I’m enjoying the tunic very much and the fabric seems to be softening up with each wash, which is lovely, too.
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“if you don’t have blue skies, sew some.” – I love that!
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I do, too! I get such a buzz from working with bright colors. Like your African fabric–love that fabric and what you did with it!
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Petting all the dogs is my favorite thing. Sorry about the gray skies and times, but your rainbows are wonderful, the tunic is beautiful, and you have patterns galore! Happy sewing days ahead, regardless of the weather. 😉
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Oh, thank goodness for sewing! Best medication for gloomy days ever invented. 🙂 Happy sewing to you, too!
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