A Mischief of Corvids

Except for a 5-day respite in February, I've barely been away from my various machines for anything other than meals, chorus rehearsals, and sleeping.

The respite was the advent of the biennial flocking of the Magpies, when we all landed in San Marcos and spent some glorious time together at the QuiltCon in Austin, on the Riverwalk in San Antonio (the Alamo was evacuated and cordoned off due to an undisclosed package), watching cattle roping in New Braunfels, with plenty of down time thrown in just for chatting and schmoozing. For each group of uninitiated 'Pies, trips were made to the nearby Buc-ee's as well. (I just don't get the allure!)

For the attending 'Pies I made plastic-lined litter bags (for the car or wherever trash gathers, such as near sewing machines), machine embroidered to commemorate the event. This photo is taken from the blog of Nann (With Strings Attached), showcasing much of the swag we shared with each other.

Nann made each of us tote bags (rolled up and buttoned in the above photo) from her collection of vintage tablecloths. In her words, "They are light weight but sturdy and we discovered that they hold a lot of fabric."

Another photo stolen from Nann's blog.

She does a great job of describing our time together, so I'll instead show some of the help I got making my litter bags.

Making the inner lining of these is tricky business, because the fabric shifts and slides over the plastic layer inside. I finally invested in a box of clips in order to wrangle the layers together for all 18 bags at once.

Zoe is giving a CAT scan, as is her wont and duty.

Being able to clip them all at the same time meant I could do some power chain-stitching, instead of having to get up after two or three bags and clip some more (until my purchase, I only had about a dozen clips).

They also are fabulous play things!

 

That girl-cat. She does keep me amused.