Surrounded by fabric...

I'm sitting on my couch, surrounded by fabric. Last night I started cutting out the pieces for the Patchwork Prism quilt-along, and have continued cutting this evening.

But the fabric isn't limited to the couch area. From where I sit on the couch, I can see into the dining room -- which has been temporarily turned into a sewing room. The light bulb on my sewing machine burned out and until I can replace it, I decided it was best to sew in the sunniest room of the house. It really helps when you can see what you're doing!

And what I'm doing is working on the new cushion covers for the rattan chairs. Yes, FINALLY. Not a whole lot of progress though. I started yesterday by making piping. I already had a bunch of strips cut on the bias, left over from when I did the cushions for the rattan loveseat. I also had the cord, so it didn't take long to whip up one very long strip of piping. Nine meters, to be exact.

Which is when I realized I had a problem. Although I could easily buy more cord, I didn't have any more of that fabric, and 9 meters is only enough for one chair :(

I had to go downtown to pay a bill anyway, so I thought it would be easy to just zip into the fabric store and get some more fabric. I hoped I could find something really close in color to what I already had, so I wouldn't have to start all over on the piping. The chairs will be close but not right next to each other, so I thought something similar would be okay.

Well, I forgot to take a piece of fabric to match it. I had it ready and in my hand, but I set it down to get something else I remembered. And then proceeded to walk out the door and drive all the way downtown before I realized I'd forgotten it. *sigh* 

I just didn't feel like making the trip twice last evening so I waited until this morning and went back, making sure I had the fabric this time! Sad to say, our teeny tiny little fabric store didn't have anything close in an appropriate fabric (they had fleece, they had flannel, they even had a slinky polyester in the right shade of pale blue, but nothing I could use for piping). So I ended up buying a meter of navy, knowing I'd have to start all over.

Also had to go buy more cord. At the mercería I ran into a young couple who were buying binding and thread for what was obviously going to end up a baby blanket. I don't know of any other quilters here, but they do make blankets. I'm not sure why, but I was compelled to introduce myself and offer to teach her how to quilt. I gave her my e-mail and I'm not sure if I'll hear from Huara, but if I do, she'll be my first quilt student.

Shopping took the whole morning. Between finding parking, walking, driving, more parking, more walking... and, of course, waiting in line at each place, it was after noon before I got back home. I'm not complaining. I don't mind the slower pace, and it was a beautiful day. Just sharing that things don't move as fast here as they do in the states.

This afternoon I got enough piping done for the two bottom cushion covers and started sewing the first cushion. I'm taking my time and attempting to do a good job. I'm learning to take pleasure in the process and not just rush through it.

I'm also not going to worry about the mess in the dining room -- which is also the room everyone walks into when they enter the front door. I'm trying to keep it as tidy as possible, but since most of the people we know, know I like to sew, I don't think anyone is going to be shocked to find all my paraphernalia on the dining table. And the mess is temporary, because I WILL get these cushion covers done this week!

I have to. We're heading back to Sta. Rosa over the weekend to greet a group from the U.S. who will be staying there next week, and we'll need plenty of seating. So getting those covers done is not just something I WANT to do, it's something I HAVE to do.

But I admit, I am pretty excited to see how they'll look in their new covers, alongside the pretty "new" loveseat!