Ready To Change

My mom gave me a gift card to Barnes & Noble while I was home for my birthday. The gift card had been a present to my dad last year some time, but, as Mom mentioned, he'll likely never use it. The gift card had a total value of $5. Five dollars is five dollars, and I determined to use it well.

Gift cards can be used online, so I trundled off to the B&N website to see what I could see. I knew I wanted to get Neil Gaiman's latest, Anansi Boys, a follow-up to his modern mythology American Gods. Neil Gaiman has been a favorite ever since I listened to Neverwhere on tape in my car and proceeded to lose track of time and completely miss all my turns.

I put Anansi Boys in my cart and went to check out. But, wait! If I buy just $6.14 more of eligible items, I'll get free shipping! Oh, hey... twist my arm.

So I added Flush, by Carl Hiaasen. This summer I read Hoot and promptly recommended it to my mom to use with her standard English classes this year. It won the Newbury Honor Award in 2003.

Now I had enough to get my free shipping and I could still use my gift card and all was right with the world. Why am I telling you this? Because the package arrived today. It actually "arrived" on Monday, but since I wasn't at my apartment to sign for it, (Of course I wasn't home! It was the middle of the day! This constantly boggles me.) I had to fill out a delivery change request and the package came to work today. This makes me incredibly happy.

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Last night I had my first sewing class at my yarn store. The Nappy Bag pattern I talked about yesterday includes a changing pad and case, which I had decided I wasn't going to make since, again, not pregnant, don't need one. However, that's the part of the pattern that was being made last night, so I relented. The class started at 6:30. I had gotten there early to choose and buy my fabric (for the bag... I brought fabric from home for the changing pad if I decided to make one), then started my cutting around 6:30. The other members of the class got there late, had to choose and buy their fabric, and they were all together... a group of four or five ladies from the same neighborhood (including Lori, the co-owner of the store). They didn't get started cutting until late.

Long story short, I was the only one who finished the pad/case, and I was there until 11:30pm. Lori and one other lady stayed also, and they got pretty close to finished. Let me reiterate: I'm really glad I decided to make this part of the project. Check this out:

This is the top of the pad (it's quilted!) and the case is along the left.

Here's the pad rolled up and tied (bottom) and the case on top.

And here's the pad rolled up inside the case, ready to stick in the bottom of the nappy bag that I haven't made yet. Cool, eh? The class itself was great fun; I enjoyed learning how to use a different and newer sewing machine, and I learned a few techniques to use on my quilting and sewing projects at home. Next Wednesday ought to be fun, and we're all wondering if we'll be meeting the following Wednesday as well.

I'll be making the bag itself out of completely different and unmatching fabric, and I'll probably use it as a project bag. I'll wait to show you the fabric until after the bag is complete, but it's bright and fun and I'm excited about it. I've been thinking about another fabric I have at home and about making another bag with it. We'll see how the first one goes.

Next big excitement? Friday night is the biggest knitting party yet. There are about 10 people from work getting together for a potluck and knitting party. Approximately half of them don't knit, but I plan to rectify that by the time the party is over. I'll be sure to take pictures and give you the scoop after the party.