In which I get cool stuff and you get two blog posts

Hey all! You guys get TWO new posts today because I was dumb and wrote a post a few days ago and hit "save" instead of "publish." Isn't this the opposite problem most bloggers have? Sunday's post should be below this one, so go ahead and read that one first if you want.

Anyway, both my swap goodies came in this week and THANK YOU SO MUCH, SWAP PARTNERS! I am actually pleasantly surprised and touched that you both took my incoming baby into account and made stuff for her, too--I genuinely wasn't expecting that since my blog is more about self-centered me than about the kid. Jennifer at Knotted Thread made an ADORABLE mug rug that features both my kitties on it--how cute is that?! And Benta at SLIKStitches' autumn-themed rug came just in time for me to start my fall decorating since I love autumn so much. The scissor tags are perfect too, since lately my scissors keep disappearing from my sewing pile (yeah I don't have a dedicated sewing table). Now I can point to the tag and say, "SEE, MY NAME REALLY IS ON THEM!"

Jennifer's goodies on the left, Benta's on the right. Why yes, that's the back of my Fall blocks quilt, which has not yet made it onto a wall due to being stolen and slept on by a certain orange kitty.  Oh, and Jennifer also sent a small container of green buttons that I forgot to take a picture of...

I really enjoyed this goodie swap. I wish I'd had little more time to complete what I wanted to for my swappees, but it is what it is. Right when I was getting back into "sewing mode," real life took over and got in the way and unfortunately "Sewing Goodies For Internet Strangers, Which Is Far More Fun Than It May Sound" gets pushed further down the list, behind things like "I Need To Reapply Thermal Compound To My Computer's Heat Sink Because It Keeps Overheating, Oh No Now The Computer Is Crashing Every Time It Comes Out Of Hibernation Mode, WHY" and "I Just Filled My Car Tires With Air Two Weeks Ago, Why Is One Going Flat Again Already?!" and so on. I really admire those of you who seem to have it all together and manage to balance kids, work, hobbies, and everything else.

Now for more action shots of my goodies:

Yeah, this is my "sewing pile," otherwise known as the dining table, which is really just a card table shoved next to a wall by the kitchen (I miss living in a house). Um, I usually don't use my tomato pincushion upside down, so ignore that. I am very happy that my scissors are labeled, without that label being some squished lettering in Sharpie on an ugly piece of masking tape. This is a great idea!

So my cats are enticed way more by treats than they are by water, and I would have been mauled to death had I tried to intertwine their tails together, but here is the closest I could get to making them imitate Jennifer's mug rug. I also think this is Gray Kitty's pictorial debut on this blog--construction is being done on our apartment building and Gray Kitty spends most of his time cowering under my husband's desk, terrified that all the Scary Noises coming from outside are going to invade and steal his cat tuna or something. Orange Kitty couldn't care less.

Proof that taking pictures of cats is a several minute, multiple-try endeavor.

Thanks again to my swap partners! See you around the blogosphere (or whatever they call it these days).

In which I totally meant to post this Sunday, but didn't, so you get it on Wednesday instead

It's Sunday and I finally have time to myself to get things done, like surfing the internet and not cleaning and forgetting that the laundry has been waiting to go in the dryer for the last hour. It is a very productive day, you see.

The most exciting thing that's happened in the last week or so is that we got a new ironing board. I know, it's THRILLING. Our old ironing board we bought cheap, as we had just graduated from college and had no money, and it ended up sagging in the middle. The "board" part was plastic and so over time I guess the plastic melted and warped and there ended up being a fairly nice deep trench all through the center length of the ironing board. Why yes, that means EVERYTHING you've seen me make on this blog was pressed or ironed on a board that wasn't even close to being flat, which is as much a pain in the butt as it sounds like. Honestly, I hate to be all "IT WAS THE IRONING BOARD'S FAULT" but I swear half my mismatched seams and stuff were because I was pressing fabric at an angle, or in a trench. Anyway, the new ironing board wasn't exactly expensive either, but it's metal and much sturdier than our old one, so yay!

New ironing board action at an...uh, let's call it "artistic" angle. Yeah. 

And with the new ironing board I finished my mug rugs for the goodie swap. It took me way too long to do these because of how intimidated I got looking at everyone else's work on the flickr page. "Ahh, why do they have to be so awesome and complicated?!" I asked myself, and then finally it hit me: "Yeah, why DO they have to be so complicated?" It didn't help that my swappers both listed a bunch of colors and fabric that they did/didn't like and I was going crazy digging through my stash to find tons of fabrics. I totally respect those people who were able to make really neat designs and hand-quilt and stuff, but realizing that wouldn't work for ME and would just stress me out more was what allowed me to relax and get back into "sewing mode."

Both mug rugs ended up only having two fabrics (plus the binding, so three, really, I guess). I think it really ends up working, I mean, the colorful fabrics I think are colorful enough that the first thought that goes through your mind isn't "Gee, she only used TWO FABRICS, how lazy." I'm an hourglass block fan, so I used that for the "pinwheel." Neither mug rug is totally perfect but overall I'm really happy with how they turned out and I hope my swap partners like them.

I spy a bee button...!

The goodies are really easy pincushions. I had to put to use the bee buttons I got distracted by a while ago, and this seemed like a good use! A dragonfly snuck in there for one partner, too. I liked these enough that I made myself one as well. If I join another goodie swap I'll probably make more of these; they are quite fun.

Of course I had to keep a bee pincushion for myself! This was the first one made so it's not as fluffily stuffed as the ones that my swap partners are getting.