2-day Tote

It seemed like a good idea to use up small pieces of the Patriotic themed fabric. All of it, scraps. Maybe it was me. Something new. Everything that could go wrong while I was making this went wrong.

I plan to keep this one, not because I love it or even like it, but because I am not at all pleased with the energy I put into it while I worked and do not want to give the energy, let alone the tote to someone. 

Here's my whine: First of all, I didn't understand some of the terms like wadding instead of batting. Metric numbers. Stabilizer. Ticking. And I think this is a quilt-as-you-go type of project where you add a piece of fabric to the batting & press it down. You quilt a direction on each piece, going with the direction it lays on the batting. It started to feel like paper piecing and I am so not good with that process. And I couldn't understand the pattern nor the tutorials. THEN my machine started acting up, changing tension on its own, catching thread in the bobbin so that it had to be re-threaded so many times that I lost count. A needle broke, and when I changed it, the machine needed cleaning. I even found a needle point from a different break. I got cold and turned up the heat, then got hot and .....

My lessons: Don't do this kind of project again. Make my own pattern. This one is too narrow & long making it inconvenient for things I carry. Read the pattern at least 3x. Stop working when frustration wins. Re-purpose the Patriotic scraps by cutting them into the sizes in my bins. Stop whining. You know who you are.

I put some bubbles in bath water, got in for a long soak and to wash my hair. That always feels good. I took the time needed to release the tension. When I dried off and put on clean clothes, I was ready to start on a different project.