I took my 7 year old son to a big fabric store nearby (Berkeley) today. We were there for an hour and a half. (He wasn't looking at fabric the whole time--he took a book to read!)

He wanted fabric to make a pillowcase for his bed, and he found the most adorable sock monkey fabrics by Moda. We also got one for my younger son, and I made his pillowcase when we got home. It is so cute, now I think I'd like to make a comforter cover to go with it. And while most store bought comforters have all those loose, annoying buttons along one end, I figure if I make it, I can use my closure of choice: the zipper. However, that will be one mighty long zipper. And, not surprisingly, I have "zipper phobia."

Funny how my first project with bias tape called for 6 yards of the stuff applied in one continuous piece. Now my first zipper might be a looooong one across a comforter cover.

I'm searching online for the best price for the fabric...

I was all set to work on some more "aprons" but ones that I can actually wear outside the house (which is becoming fashionable, believe it or not). But after 90 minutes in this shop, I am sad to say I couldn't find any fabric that I liked. Well--I found lots that I liked, but it all had a specific orientation (e.g. not stripes, but dots or flowers or some other pattern that were nonetheless in ROWS). So if I didn't get it exactly straight across the front, it would drive me nuts.

I picked up a cheap pattern for a kind of "babydoll" type top that involves...*gasp*...darts. But the measurements on the back are so odd. They don't correspond to typical sizes (that is, I normally wear a 6-8, but when I go by my actual bust, waist, him measurements on the package, it equals size 12). Hmmmmm. I'm looking for fabric for this one...

I also want to make an oilcloth shopping bag type thing to carry my knitting in. Speaking of knitting, my son is eagerly waiting for me to finish a pair of socks for him. So many projects, so little time!!

Let's see--what else: I played with all the cams on the T&S. They don't work very well though, b/c many of them require the fine stitch setting, and my fine stitch eats up the fabric like crazy (which also prevents me from doing buttonholes). And my bobbin now loads/fills about once in every 8 tries. So that is really frustrating! I wonder why?

:-)

From the other side of the fence....

Francy