Whimsical

I know this post may shock some of you.  In fact, you better put whatever you are drinking down before you spray all over your monitor.

I sewed something.

I know, you were beginning to think that this blog should have been titled “He Sows, She Knits” which would have been cute too, but I didn’t think of it back then.  No, I haven’t done any sewing really since last Spring when I went on a quilting retreat.  Seriously, I had not even fully unpacked.  There were tubs of fabric still in the laundry/sewing room, and patterns and notes stacked on top of them in a haphazard sort of way.  Then lint from the dryer fell everywhere, and more stuff was piled on top, and it really started looking quite sad in there.

This nesting craze I’ve been on has been great for organizing my house, and I decided to clean my sewing room so I could actually sew something.  It took me a whole evening after the kids were in bed, but it was so well worth it!  I ended up getting some organizational extenders for my little cubby unit in there.  I got some baskets to put in the little cubbies, and now I don’t have balls of yarn falling on my head while I sew.

What I do know is that I am now officially on a yarn spending freeze, as I was/am on a fabric purchasing freeze.  Once I’ve gotten the organizational tools in place, I just can’t fit anymore.  If I want more, I’ll have to use some up.  Whatever I get has to fit in this space.

So after walking past this clean sewing space over and over the next day, by the time the kids were in bed, I was just dying to get in there and just sew something.  Sure, I had patterns and projects that are always available to pick up.  I wanted to just be creative and see what I could come up with.

I remember seeing my friend, Beth’s sewing project once, where she just took a variety of orange fabrics and put them around some very plain fabric with this incredible result.  Then she took the leftover patch fabric and sewed up a bunch of napkins.  I thought that was so cool.

So I figured I could do something like that.  With very little measuring, and using 2 1/2 inch squares, I just put this tan lightweight canvas-y type fabric with some Christmas prints I happened to have in my stash.  Well, I actually picked up this tan fabric at the quilt shop a few days ago, because I didn’t have that on hand.  I had one impulse buy when I was there, and that’s the green polka-dot fabric that made it into this project.  There’s something about polka dot fabrics that just get me, and I have a tough time not getting them.  So I just got a tiny bit.  I know I said I was on a fabric buying freeze, but this fabric was used up right away, and aided in using up some stash fabric, and that’s the loophole in the spending freeze rule.

I’m not sure if this runner will stay in the dining room until Christmas, or be moved to the front entry way table so it will still be in use, but for now it’s going to be here.

Anyway, the whole project went just so easy.  The first day I sat down to my sewing machine, which just happened to have the right color thread in it.  I didn’t have to rip out one thing.  When does that ever happen?

So, Knut popped his head in once to see how it was going, and he said, “Looks, um, whimsical.”  I knew from his tone that he was trying to say that the look we’re going for in the dining room isn’t quite whimsical.  True.  But I love sewing whimsically.  Whimsical sewing means doing what you like.  It means that I can shrug my shoulders when corners don’t meet up quite exactly.  That’s probably not what whimsical means, but I like my definition.  I think I’ll still keep my eye out for a fancier runner for this buffet, but until I find one I like, this will be some good protection for this furniture.  Right now the kids and I are forcing some paper whites and amaryllis for Christmas in this spot, and I wanted something under the pots.

Actually, most corners did meet up, which surprised me.

Well, I did sort of mess up the front edge.  I should fix that.

But then I realized, that’s right where some poinsettias should go.

I still need to play with the stems a bit.

Well, some more “whimsy” made it into the project.

The bottom of the lining accidentally whimsically is facing out.  Isn’t it cute?  I immediate decided I liked it.  The alternative to liking it would be ripping out the entire lining.  That’s logical, isn’t it?

Actually, the whole project went off with hardly a hitch.  When you consider I did pretty much zero measuring, and just started stitching, I’d say it turned out fantastic.  It was like my sewing room was just welcoming me back with open arms and saying “Please don’t leave us like that again!  We’ll all work together and be good, we promise!”  At least that’s what I heard Sassy Pfaffy and all the tools quietly cheer.  The last few months have been pretty lonely in there.