Kellincatty: Seamstress?

I am self-avowed worst seamstress in the world. I can sew a button, or hem my pants under great duress. No matter how much I seem (no pun intended) to measure twice or cut once, I just can't stitch evenly... I'm always getting the thread stuck on some bit of fringe - or on the leg of my pants - or somewhere... In addition, there just aren't enough thimbles in the world to keep me from sticking myself - something I do often...

It's not that I don't like the IDEA of sewing. I very much do - it's just that I have no skill or talent in that direction... so if I ever sew anything for you - it means you're very special...

So. Fast forward to last night (when the Phillies rain-delayed into a victorious Game two of the World Series...) I had it in my head that I was going to sew a project for my friend Nancy's baby shower...

I had to. She has a theme nursery. It's Pink and Black and It's Parisian... I was just glad it was a clever, non-typical children's room theme... Not that I hate Noah's ark, or Frogs or Fairy Princesses - but I kind of get a kick out of clever ideas for kids rooms.

Anyway, No baby boutique is doing pink and black so I was on my own. I bought a bunch of things - a baby med kit, a bottle, some Aveeno stuff, and a pacifier pouch... and decided it needed a basket. A pink and black Paris basket...

I had no idea what that looked like - but was hoping to find some pink fabric with a black toile design - but what I found - was pink fabric with black stripes... So I bought that, some cool black fringie-trim (have no idea - it probably has some cool french name that I don't know about), and sewed the fabric to the outside of a regular basket - and sewed the trim on the basket liner...

So anyway - I'm sewing while Dave's watching the World Series... And true to form, I'm sticking myself with the needle, I have no idea how to cut the fabric in the right shape or size, have no clue how to bind the edges - and I was a mess for about an hour... I stuck myself about seven times with the needle... The thread got caught on the basket handles about seventeen times, Um... I decided to sew the fabric to the basket itself, so I devised this way to cover the stitches with some black ribbon - and let me tell you, guiding a needle through a basket weave isn't easy... which only led to a remarkable thing that I've never done before - I actually BROKE the needle...

In the meantime, as the Rays are tying the Phils' score, I'm not in a good mood - but am determined to make this look like something nice... So I persevere... I try not to yell "OW!" too loudly - because the dog has already left to lie under the end table... Dave tells me I should really just buy stuff in the future and leave the sewing to people who actually sew... So...

Imagine my thrilled happiness when I managed to put this together:


The best part was when Dave finally looked at what I'd done and said, "Wow honey. That's really nice..."