Rainy Sunday and 360 degrees of chaos

This lazy rainy Sunday started out to be so ideal. We woke up and all hung out this am, I finished some hand-stitching on project 2 for the Urban Swap and had great expectations for the day! We got the kids ready and went to our favorite diner for breakfast. The place was so crowded with tourist on their way to the Saratoga racetrack, but we waited our turn and enjoyed ourselves despite the crowd! Then we took a wonderful drive to extend the outing. Driving in the rain is peaceful! Finally the natives were restless and we knew we had to bring them home and enjoy and inside day. I was hopeful to get some sewing in . . .

I got my second project (can't tell you yet, it is a secret swap) done for the Urban Swap with the exception of the binding, which should get done tonight. So I started feeling that good feeling of checking things off the list and making something I feel good about sending to someone . . . So I decide to take my chances and let the kids continue to play on Steve's watch (he sits on the couch watching sports and surfing his favorite Boston sports blogs . . . ) and keep sewing.

So onto the 3 x 6 Bee blocks . . . which I am the caretaker for our hive and have yet to start! I kept waiting to find the perfect block. I also want to try stuff I haven't done before. I decided to tackle a 10 point star and try paper piecing for the first time. I was able to sneak off to Staples and enlarge a template I found on-line. They couldn't get it quite big enough for a 12.5 inch block, but I wanted to add a border anyway . . . so off I went.

It started off great. Picked fabrics quickly and got to work. Then failure, I couldn't get the center points to match . . . at all! I ripped the seam three times and finally decided to finish, just so I could see if I really wanted the border. Here is what I ended up with

The top and the bottom halves are not centered right, no points match, the points on the bottom got lost and it is just an all over disaster. I plan to keep trying tonight and work hard to see if I can get it right. I really think that is the beauty of this bee to get out of your comfort zone and learn something new.

While I was sewing this is what was happening around me. It will take days to recover from the mess three kids and one husband made in a couple of hours . . . not to mention the sewing mess I have been making for weeks, it is much worse than anything the kids could do! I stood up from the sewing machine and took photos as I turned around in circle. Here is the 360 degrees of mess (including opening one sewing closet).

Ellie fighting the humidity today Mess on the dining room table

Mess on the sideboard Steve's spot on the couch with remote and laptop

Sam's fleet all lined up One of Ellie's piles that is everywhere

fabrics in the closet from recent projects or newly purchased that need put away

Under my sewing table that just got thrown under when the doorbell rang today and some friends stopped by!

So friends is it worth checking out for a whole day and just relaxing . . . I think so, even though my block was a bust, we all enjoyed the day and I like cleaning big messes for days to come!

Happy Sunday night!