A bit of reality...car talk, and swap talk.

Once again, I convinced myself that I was not at all busy and joined a bunch of swaps all at once. While normally, that wouldn't be a problem, my husband has been home this past week and we've been (or should I say, he has been) going going going. Working his normal 40 hours plus overtime while he has been home. In the middle of all the working and taking care of kids, and sewing projects for me, we were pushing really hard to get something HUGE done this week while he was home.

We finally purchased my (second) dream car! Let me elaborate...

I had one once, in 2008, for a year, and sold it because we had it in our minds that we would be moving to Alaska. Since I was making the arrangements on my own (my hubs was gone in remote Alaska) it seemed easier to sell the one I had. I had left it in California, it was November, and there was no way of getting someone (and who?) to drive it 3500 miles through some pretty serious terrain for that time of year. Especially since it's only a front wheel drive vehicle. So I sold it, figuring I'd just go purchase another one. Well, no one told me that finding a Scion xB in Alaska, was harder than finding a needle in a haystack. So we bought a Chevy Equinox instead. It was a good looking car, but it wasn't my Scion. It wasn't my dream car. I had already had my dream car, and I wanted it back. Things didn't work out in Alaska, and we never ended up living there permanantly. We also, like so many others, hit some rough patches financially, and even had to sell our Equinox to save ourselves the $550 a month it was costing us. My dad was gracious enough to lend us vehicles that he owned that he would fix and have no use for. One of the cars lost it's transmission on a trip to visit my family, one of them didn't have A/C and was a double use vehicle so I'd have to make sure it was available when someone else needed it, and one has been great, except I get nervous driving it long distances, its a bit shaky on the freeway.

I've mentioned frequently this summer that my husband has been gone. He has been working out of state which hasn't been completely terrible. Let's just say, compared to when he'd be gone for 7 months at a time, 3 weeks at a time, has been cake. And I kept reminding myself, that the whole reason for him being gone, is the extra hours, the extra overtime, so that eventually we can get my dream car again. And wouldn't you know it, this week, while he was home, we busted our butts to get paperwork filled out, rides found, and phone calls made, so that my hubs could get down to Utah and pick up Lilo. That's what I named her.

In between all this, I've been working on the commisioned NERF quilt, and swap items. I've been having a hard time finishing the NERF quilt for some reason. I finally got all the applique on and now I just need to sandwhich and bind it, and make a couple matching pillows. But the swap items have been keeping me sane. Currently I've completed the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap (I forgot to take pictures, sorry). And I am currently working on Pillow Talk Swap 9, Modern She Made Swap, and Fab Little Pincushion Swap (FLiPS).

This is the Modern She Made Swap item that I made. This round we needed to use a triangle somewhere in our item. I used some test blocks I had lying around and through in some Bella Snow to give it a modern feel. This is a 14" pillow cover that could easily double has a mini quilt if my partner decides she does't want it sitting around.

The next project I worked on was a cathedral window pin cushion. I had never done a catherdral window before and I really enjoyed it. Although you'll probably never see me make an entire quilt (a TON of fabric and a TON of folding - its like oragami with fabric), I'll probably be making a few more of these pinnies. They are a great way to use up scraps and they're so elegant looking when they're done! (sorry about the bad phone pic).

I've also been enjoying making fabric tape using Ayumi's tutorial. I've put together a few sets to send out with my swap items. I really like them. And they use up quite a bit of those teeny tiny scraps you really can't part with but can't use any other way!