How to avoid washing the floor

It's getting really sticky, too. Especially under Sully's highchair. I guess the dog's not doing a good enough job of cleaning up after him.

Today's distraction was placemats. I made some a couple months ago:

but they're too big.


While looking at random crafty books on Amazon I found a picture of some placemats done in a kinda patchworky style and decided to have a go with it. I started last night, using the remnants of a jelly roll I used for these cushion covers:



So here's what I made today:

First, cut all the strips into smaller strips between 3 and 9 inches long. Do this while trying to prevent your 8 month old son from pulling the sewing machine down on top of him, also, try not to slice your fingers off while he climbs up your legs.

Sort them into piles of light and dark or similar colours or something. Drink some coffee. Eat some toast. Sew the strips, short sides together, in a long strip. I started this when Sully went down for his morning nap, and finished by the time he got up.

Next, go for a little walk in the rain with the family.

Feed everyone lunch, empty the dish washer and run a load of laundry... Etc. etc... Still avoiding scrubbing the floors. Ooo it's naptime again!

Measure the strip. I suppose I could have planned out the measurements earlier, but I was too impatient, so I just used what I had and did a little calculation later that said I had 676 inches of jellyroll, and that it would make 6.5 placemats. Well I ended up getting 5 and a bit out of it, so as usual, my 'math' didn't hold up.

Anyways, cut the thing into 13" long strips. Now you're ready for the fun part! Lay them all out and agonize for an hour or so about positioning them correctly so that you have pleasant contrast and such like. I think if I had grabbed them at random and sewn them together I would have come out with the same result. Perhaps better, even.



K. That's as far as I got today. Productivity is dependent on length of baby naps in this house, so today was definitely a good day with about 3.5 hours of naptime. Yee haw.

(PS, after retracing my amazon oogling steps I've found the book I ripped this off from. It's Sew Liberated, by Meg McElwee. Pretty awesome. Maybe one day I'll be able to buy it, right now I should avoid spending any more $$ on crafting stuff or else Steve's head will explode.)

Nighttime now, baby's in bed. I suppose I'll get a few rows done on this baby sock monkey I'm knitting for my neighbour's son, then go to bed. G'night!