Chili Peppers! , etc. etc.

Whilst in the U.S. a couple of weeks ago, I was on the hunt for some fabric to make an apron for myself. I found the perfect fabric but didn't have a pattern in mind so didn't know the exact yardage I needed. The salesperson suggested I buy 1.25yd.

Last week I purchased a pattern that looked like the apron I wanted to make.

But it required 1 3/8 yd. (1.375 yd). I figured I could fudge things a bit.

Today when I started cutting the pattern out, I decided to make the top (bib) part a bit wider as I am a bit wider (ahem) on the top than most folks. I'm a messy cook so I wanted the top of me well protected. The pattern included a piece for the bias strips that would become the ties. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough yardage to do it in one piece AND accommodate the piece for the pocket so I did it in two pieces and it worked out just fine.

With a minimum of cursing (Scooter even noticed that) I was able to complete it.

Tada!

I LOVE that fabric! Now I wish I had bought more to make table napkins as they'd hardly show any stains or foodstuffs. Now I have something to look for next time...

With the increased width at the top, the top edge of the bib now gaped so I added some elastic to gather it and it's perfect now!

Last night I was looking at the photo of the quilt top and noticed that there indeed was a mistake! The top course of blocks was flipped and the houndsteeth were going upwards to the right instead of downwards to the left. Eeeek!

As it was quite late at night, it took me a while to figure out how to fix it. I picked out all the stitches of the offending strip of blocks, and removed one 2 square piece, repositioned it and sewed it back together correctly.

Now all the houndsteeth go in the same direction. Yay!

Phew! Am I ever glad I noticed it BEFORE I quilted it.

My next dilemma was how I was going to machine quilt it. I thought I'd do wavy lines an inch apart but I don't have the correct attachment for my sewing machine to guide me a consistent distance from the adjacent quilting line.

While at Marion's today, we figured big x's from point to point on each solid square and along the centre seam of each diagonal strip square would work.

In knitting news, Skip has requested that I knit him 8 (!) golf club covers. He only uses woods now and he wants them all protected in his golf bag. He mumbled something about the 'shoemaker's children going without shoes'. I think I'll use Patons Classic Wool as I can't bear to do that much knitting with acrylic yarn. Also, if the club cover develops a hole, I will be able to patch (felt) it if it's 100% wool. It'll be the equivalent of knitting 4 pairs of thumbless mittens. A knitter's work is never done....

Tomorrow night at spinning I will be passing 'the loom' off to Julia so she can complete her weaving project.  Initially I was trying to hasten things but my knitterly friend, Paula, has kindly consented to lend me her 8-harness table loom for the summer. Yay!  I have all kinds of things I want to try.

We had a very nice Father's Day today. After our celebratory breakfast, Skip and Scooter went to the driving range for a couple of hours. Skip has his league golf tomorrow and he wanted to further hone his skills. We met for lunch at our favourite pita place and then came home for the rest of the afternoon. Scooter played a computer game (he's almost done his last high school exams), Skip napped and watched golf and I sewed. It was a fine day.