Accidentally Angela

The Biased Beginning

I’ve been playing this evening! I have enjoyed myself working on my daughter’s apron. I cut out several strips of the polka dotted material and sewed them together to make 126+ inches I will be ironing into bias tape for trim around said apron.

Wrong Way!

I only made one easily correctable mistake putting the sections together. Other than that I enjoyed the math project of figuring it all out. I have a knack for conversions apparently. That was nice to find out. I enjoyed the fact too that the material was cut at an angle to produce the bias. Once the tape is sewn on the bib and skirt of the apron it won’t have any pull or give. If you don’t cut it at an angle, you can pull your item out of shape once it’s done. It was nice to work on it. In the Right Way! picture I am pointing at the seam you can’t really see. This is the right place to put the seam for bias tape, the angle opens up and keeps the ‘ribbon’ running in a straight line.

Right Way!

I also sewed a button on a jumper for one of the girls. I only have a couple of repair jobs waiting on me now. I like that too.

Other than that the day has been pretty good. It started out that way anyway. I was working on clearing up my to do list at work too. Only I was creating a problem for myself. Every time I opened an item to work on it, another item was created, identical to the first one except for the date. I’m not sure why this happened today. My boss didn’t understand what I was asking him and showed me how to do stuff I already knew. I have used this system before and it has never created a new work item when I visit an old one. Basically I was creating a double workload for myself. Fun right? I stopped working on the list and then spent the next hour getting rid of the duplicates. Hopefully this doesn’t happen next time, but if it does I’ll call tech support. I have enough to do without creating needless activity for myself.

I loved being home by myself this evening. It has been great. The beginning of this greatness is that I found a Sonic on my way home. Yes, I got excited over a Sonic. I don’t know why, but I LOVE their food and slushes. I had my supper ordered and eaten and was home around 6 PM. It was so-o-o-o-o-o good too! I had a grilled chicken wrap with onion rings and a strawberry slush. Yum! Now don’t go hatin’ on me, I said it was good. I did not say it was healthy. But I was H-A-P-P-Y! Still am.

Got home, started laundry and took a bath. Ahhhhhh! I love a bath too! This evening the girls were gone to Girl Scouts…(btw, it’s cookie time! Go buy some already!) and while I enjoy being home with them, today was nice to be home alone. Stuff just clicked and I was able to get all this done! It was great! And now I am sitting here telling you about it, so I am even getting a blog done.

Have any of you ever watched a show called Gilmore Girls? It is not a current show, but there are 7 seasons of DVD’s to be seen. It was a quirky little show that I feel in love with. I also bought the cd from the show, Our Little Corner of the World,  at some point and I’ve been listening to it tonight while I work, along with a cd of music inspired by Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I enjoy tunes while I work on projects or just around the house. I have even been known to have it going while I am reading. How about you? Do you like to listen to music? Do you have specific types for certain things? Rock and Roll to clean to, jazz for reading? I’m pretty eclectic with my music. If I like it I like it, but I can’t always tell you why. I do like music with dark humor in it sometimes too. There is a song that is sad kinda, I guess, but it’s just entertaining to me. It’s called Child Psychology and is on the Gilmore Girls cd as well as a single. My daughter does not like it, and always worries about me thinking it’s funny, lol…”Life is unfair, kill yourself or get over it,” is one of the chorus lines. Yeah, not that funny in itself, just click on it and watch the YouTube link. Maybe you”ll find it humorous too. If not, I don’t mind.

Well, I need to go fold laundry now. You know how it is. Once you wash and dry it you have to do something with the stuff! Hope you are having as good of an evening as I am. The girls made it home safe, yay! Even though I can enjoy my time to myself, I am ALWAYS happy when we are home together, safe and sound. The second best part of that is they brought cookies home with them. Hope you are safe and sound with your loved ones tonight too! Goodnight! Angela

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Angela W Fitch

Full Contact Cooking Apron

…or a fat doctor I’m told. Here are a few pictures of the apron in progress. Everything is cut out except the strips to make bias tape. It’s from the book “Seams To Me” I showed you in yesterday’s post. The apron is called “Full Contact Cooking Apron.” Cute name. There are several cute names for projects in the book such as Basket Case, Here’s the Dish Towel, and Magnetic Personality. It has lots of helpful sewing instructions and explanations. I haven’t made bias tape in a long time and the instructions are in the book which is very helpful. The instruction title for this: Maybe I’m Bias. Again, cute name. Now, let me show you what I’ve been doing….

First Cut

This is the first piece to be cut! I started with my rotary cutter but found out quickly this piece needed pinking shears! It was raveling like crazy with strings galore. For those of you who have not used pinking shears before they are special scissors that have a zig zag edge that keep the fabric from raveling most of the time when you cut with them. They were brand new (Christmas prezzie from Boyfriend!) so it really made some sore spots on my fingers at first – ouchie! But after several cuts they were working smoothly. If you want to see the pair I used click on this: Fiskars. That’s the name brand.

Polka Dots

This Polka Dot is the material I am using for the waistband, neck strap and bias tape. The bias strip for the tape will need to be 3 1/2 yards long for the entire project. There are pattern pieces for most of the apron, the rest the author gives you the dimensions to cut things out. The bib of the apron is a rectangle cut to fit the individual, the neck strap is also a measured thing she suggests you wait to cut out after you have put the other pieces together to get a more custom fit. This would be step 41. Of 44. It has more steps than I remember from the first look at this project. Oh well. It isn’t going to take me as long as the quilt to finish it (I hope!), but it was a little daunting reading through it all last night. But today I am very confident in what I am attempting here.

All Laid Out

This gives you a rough idea of how it will all come together. The pocket and ties are made from a striped piece of material. I really liked cutting these pieces. No raveling, smooth cut. I was able to use my rotary cutter and self healing mat with those pieces. That is the quickest way to cut anything! That is how I cut all of my quilt pieces out last time. The bias tape will surround the bottom and top of the apron too with the Polka Dots. My daughter likes the black and white, and now I do too!

Now my daughter is a skinny chef, but I’ve tasted many of her recipes. She is one skinny chef I can trust! She makes the best banana pudding, and I don’t even like banana pudding….yummy! Her Alfredo is also fantastic! You ought to try it sometime .  Maybe if I get this apron finished I can ask for some of both…wouldn’t that be nice? Hope you find something good to eat this week too. Let me know what you think. Later! Angela

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Angela W Fitch