An Ode to the Start of School 2.0

Last year at this time, I was eagerly awaiting the start of school and even immortalized the sentiment in a particularly bad poem. The fabrics in the background are projects I was working on at the time ...

Now, 12 months later, I can say that I’m in the same boat. I won’t be able to make a dent in my WIPs until my boys are back in the classroom. And even then, there’s a new baby—a fur baby!—scampering around From Bolt to Beauty world headquarters these days and laying claim to much of my time (more on her in a future post).

Is there any hope for my long list of projects? To prove to myself that I will, in fact, get something finished in the near future, I looked through those WIPs from last year. Of the six projects that accompanied my pitiful poetry, I finished four!

Clockwise, from top left: Amy Butler’s Cosmo Bag, Watermelon Patchwork,
Flirting the Issue Skirt in Innocent Crush, and Moose-y Rail-Fence Quilt

Not too bad, right? I’m counting a fifth finish, too. I had extra fabric from the eggplant Cosmo Bag and made this Mini Miranda Bag with it.

One of the yet-to-be-finished projects is Park Bench, a block-of-the-month (BOM) quilt from Jaybird Quilts featuring Carolyn Friedlander’s Botanics line. I have done absolutely nothing with that WIP. Actually, I’ve decided that I’m not much of a BOM girl. I like BOMs in theory—work a little bit each month and have a finished quilt top in the end!—but I’m not fond of spreading a project out over many months. I’m going to wait until my sewing schedule frees up and devote time to wrapping up Park Bench in short order.

Then there’s this brown and salmon Amy Butler fabric (see pic below), which I wanted to make into a bag last fall. I still want to make it into a bag, and I’m leaning to lining the bag with the Scrumptious fabric on the right. (Who knew that Amy Butler’s designs could play well with Bonnie and Camille’s?!) The reject, on the left, is also from Amy Butler, but it doesn’t do it for me in this project.

I’d like to make a beach bag with my selections, something simple but roomy. The challenge now is mustering some enthusiasm for making a bag that likely will not be used until the summer of 2016!

OK, it’s time to come clean: Are you excited about the new school year, too? If your response is something about having an empty nest or not having embarked on parenthood, are you available for babysitting?!

Linking up to Sew Cute Tuesday, Let’s Bee Social, WIP Wednesday, Needle and Thread Thursday, and Finish It Up Friday ...