Tulips, and SEWING Went Wrong!

These are tulips, just peeking thru - early for western Nebraska but still, a moment of spring,  ahhhh, one of these days.

On the sewing front - today was a total disaster!  I am making small, flat zippered pouches.  I did my homework on Internet to find which method was the best, NOT the best plan because I have every method in my head and concentration is off.  DH always changes clocks early on a Saturday morning, which throws me more "off" than usual .  His fault, right?

I  used the lining for outside of the 3 layers, fused the batting on the wrong layer, sewed the zipper on upside down, used wrong color thread on the wrong side of product, forgot to change the foot and left machine in zig-zag and broke a needle, forgot to MQ layers together, forgot about making that little "tab" at the end of the zipper, then didn't leave enough room at the end of the "tab", a few more having to do with MEASURING, and the absolute worst one - cannot believe I did it -- I sewed the pouch 3 sides together and then even zig-zagged the edges and.... yes, I forgot to leave the zipper open!  Lesson ONE, beginner first lesson and I forgot - duhhhhh!   

If I dare, I'm going to try another method, moving the zipper to the front of the pouch, making it easier to turn.  And I'd still like to try one more method with a regular lining.

I DO have a tip - several of the zippers were not sliding easily.  I put a tiny drop of Sewers Aide on the teeth and the tab pull was much improved.  I occasionally use this silicone product on cranky thread when sewing. 

Sometimes it takes WORK to find JOY!

 

The sun has been shining, temps have been warm so I decided to move my winter body and rake debris off the garden and the yard.  19 trips to the "green" dumpster later and I found this tiny hope of spring - you have to look hard, there are tulips coming up in front of the wheelbarrow!  Yeah spring!!!  A week later (today) tulip tips are all over the entire bed.  Just doing some WORK helps me to feel joyful, but seeing the new growth, is always an extra PLUS!

 

And on the sewing/quilting front, here is my latest project, a version of Jamestown Landing from Quiltville.com, Bonnie Hunter.  Instead of the string blocks, I used large HSTs.  I counted the pieces, without border, and it's 2300.  I'm still sewing the last parts, the last HSTs that replace the string units. NONE of the units are together yet, unfortunately.  There are 30 stars in all.  My Design Floor isn't large enough to have all of them laid out.  Note that half the stars are "dark" (dark corners and centers) and half are "light" (light corners and centers).  Sewing them is not a big deal - just have to pay attention.  ALL the small HSTs units are the same.   I purchased the dark blue fabric for the large HSTs.   Other parts are all scrappy from stash.  You'd think a person would run out eventually, wouldn't you? 

On a separate note, several weeks ago, a message popped up on Google indicating G would no longer support Bloggers, or was it Readers or ???, as of a particular date.   Has anyone else seen that message and/or knows what that meant?