Avoidance Behavior

I don't know why, but lately I've been avoiding quilting a little bit. I think it's just that I'm a little stressed out -- Joel is out of town this week and I'm in charge of Teacher Appreciation Week next week. Last week I even had a good, ugly cry.  Okay, maybe I'm actually a lot stressed out! I'm not used to being a single parent (and it's a good thing I'm not -- because I really don't do it very well) and last time I did Teacher Appreciation Week it was a HUGE time-suck and basically the WORST experience.

So... instead of quilting, I've been watching Dr. Who and White Collar and working on my "Once Upon a Time" cross-stitch sampler...

I won some fabric!  From Sarcastic Quilter's #sweatandsew Instagram giveaway.  This is HUGE, because I have never, ever won anything (except a date once... and it was the worst ever date I've ever been on).  But it all started with a giveaway Lindsey from "Happier Than a Bird" did, she gave me a ton of scraps I've used a lot recently.  The only problem is, this is a really great fabric collection, but I have NO idea what to do with it...

I made a sweet little needle book to help round up my needles.  Here are the pages -- I used the "nana and company" needle book tutorial, but I didn't want my embroidery stitches to be exposed (or worse -- to fray), so I added some fusible to the back of some fabric and attached it to the back of the pages.  I think it turned out pretty darn cute!  And now I have more room for my needles than I need -- it's so great!

 

 

 

 

Then I made a stand for my Kindle... so that I can watch shows while I quilt... in the future...

 

And then I made a case for my Kindle to go inside, while it's put away. Now that all's said and done, I wish I'd used the case colors for the stand, but oh well.  I don't remember where I saw this idea (although I'm pretty sure I pinned it on my "Sewing" board on Pinterest), but I LOOOVE the ruffles!

 

I totally love this back pocket so much -- I wanted to keep the cord with everything else, and of course I couldn't just leave that pocket plain. :) I knew I needed to make a really small block, and came up with this one. Because it was so, so small (those white corner background pieces are only 1/4" finished!), I made a little paper piecing template to help me out. I guess I didn't totally avoid quilting, either, did I? 

 

Now I don't have any more little projects to do, so I guess it's time to get serious about quilting again, right? Or maybe I should make some pillows...