School's out for summer!

Today was Anthony's last day as a freshman. Boy, is he glad it's over. Still has to get through summer school though.

This reminded me that I needed to get a thank you gift done for Chris' first grade teacher, Mrs. Whinery. She has put up with a lot of his "kolohe" (mischievous in Hawaiian) behavior all year and has been really nice about it. I didn't want to do the usual apple theme so when I came across a really cute school themed print, I knew a tote bag was in order. Who can have too many tote bags anyway? It was so easy (sew easy?). I started with a premade canvas tote bag from Wal-Mart (less than $3.00) and 1/2 yard of this fabric (about $2.00) plus one magnetic closure (pack of 6 for $3.00 at Joann's).

Also, since I had the sewing machine out (no, I don't have a craft room) I decided to make that placemat purse I've been thinking about after seeing them on Craftster. I found this really cute ladybug placemat for $2.99 at Ross' and it told me it wanted to be a purse. Add in some black fabric that I bought as a remnant and 1/2 of a shoulder strap set from Joann's, et Voila! C'est facile! Je suis heureuse.

Here are the fruits of my labors:







Speaking of craft rooms, we know that knitting and crocheting can be done anywhere and anytime, but since I've been doing more sewing lately, I have been looking around my house for a spot to set up a permanent sewing station. Our upstairs loft has a little space near my computer desk that I can snag. Right now it is home to Chris' dome tent. Ha! I really want one of those armoires that open out to a sewing table, as right now, I'm using our dining room table and have to put everything away as soon as I'm done. Nothing wrong with cleaning up after myself, but sometimes I want to sew but am too lazy to take out all my stuff. Also, I've been looking at new sewing machines but I'm really confused about what kind and which features. I would eventually like to learn to quilt so that is a consideration as well. My friend, Michele, who is an avid quilter, told me that I'd probably never use most of the fancy stitches on this computerized 100+ stitch Brother sewing machine I've had my eye on. When I told Bernie he was going to buy me a new machine soon he just said, "oh shit!" and left the room. The Singer that we currently have is a very basic one with only 6 stitches but it does everything I need it to right now. It probably needs to be serviced as it sounds like it's complaining when I use it. I bought it for Bernie 17 years ago for Christmas, our first Christmas together. He showed his crafty gene way back then! I should have seen it coming!

Gotta run. We have a party to go to tonight and then I have to make that Amish Friendship Bread, for which I've had the starter fermenting for the past 10 days! It's really delicious when it's all done but what a pain in the ass to wait for.