Sewing in 2011

Now that I look at it, it's actually kinda messy.  But check out my table!  Greg & I scored it for $5 at an auction. 

I was wondering if I'd ever feel like sewing again...and thank goodness, I do!  Honestly, except for a handful of times, my sewing machine sat idle for most of last year.  I blame it on the knitting.  I learned how to knit (you can read about it here and here, if you wish) last year, and it seriously took over my life.  But in a good way.  Well, except that my husband now considers his life "a lonely existence" (his words)...but I think he finally believes me that I can talk to him and knit at the same time.

Well anyway...my machine got totally neglected for a REALLY long time.  I sat down the other day to make some bags, and mess around with some other patterns, and guess what I found out?  My skills are really, really rusty!  I kept making such dumb mistakes; it was frustrating!  I realized the other day that I have been sewing for about 15 years.  That is astounding to me.  That I have been doing anything for that long.  But I think the quality of my finished projects could be a lot better. 

So here's what I'm doing about that - and I think it'll be lots of fun, too (of course!) - I'm going to join a sew-along.  Pink Chalk Studio is going through the book One Yard Wonders and I'm going to jump in this week!

They do two projects each week, and post on Friday.  Being Thursday evening (last night) when I stumbled upon this little sewalong, I opted for one project this week.  ;)  The "Artist Brushes Case." 

Pretty simple and straightforward, it took about 1 1/2 hours (including "putting kids to bed" time).  I wanted to be finished in time for The Office, which turned out to be a re-run.  Grr. But I digress.

I didn't have any ribbon that I liked, so I did the ol' hairband-and-button thing.  I actually like it a lot...maybe not as cute as a ribbon, but my other needle roll (oh yeah, this for me, is a knitting needle roll. Imagine that.) has a ribbon, and it's kind of a pain to tie & untie it all the time. 

 The only change I would make if I do it again would be...I'd make it about 2 inches wider, and not make the "flap" so big.  It doesn't need to come down that far.  But overall, I'm happy!  Love that fabric!