Notions, books and thimbles make great souvenirs

At the end of a long day configuring SAP systems, I often did not want to go back to my hotel room and just eat room-service meals in front of the TV.  I did not want to hang out at a hotel bar and watch sports with my fellow travelers either, so I usually went to the Yellow Pages and tore out the page that listed fabric stores in whatever city I happened to be in.  Then I would check to see which stores were reasonably close to the hotel and go and take a walk around the stores.  I've been to fabric stores all over the country.  I think my favorites were Pacific Fabrics on the West Coast and G Street Fabrics on the East Coast.   I believed in traveling as light as possible so I did not purchase yards of fabric to bring home, but often I would buy a notion or a sewing magazine or book to read.  So although I do have a "small" fabric stash, I have a large notions tool kit and sewing library. 

Now I am trying out the various "tools" in my sewing toolkit.  Today I was playing with my Perfect Pleater that I am pretty sure I bought at the Clotilde booth at the Quilt Festival years ago.  I haven't figured out just what I want to pleat yet, but I will pleat a small bit of fabric and put it into my Fabric Manipulation sampler.  Have you pleated anything with this notion?

I also bought a ruffler foot for my sewing machine.  I tried using that foot when I made the outfit for my granddaughter that is pictured in an earlier post.  It made nice pleats but I found it was easier to just run basting stitches and pull the threads up to make the gathered strips the correct size for the top and pants. When I  used the Ruffler foot, it made beautiful ruffles but they were never the right length. What have you done with your ruffler foot?

I did use my "Quick Turn" tube-turning tool when I made my Snap Happy bags.  It would have been impossible to turn the little tubes without it.  I'm thinking of sewing up some tubes and weaving them for part of my fabric manipulation challenge.  I have no meetings this week so I will have time to play and sew and work on my to-do list.

My sister in California said she will send my sister in Colorado the baked potato bags so I am off the hook for that project.  It's my birthday this week, so I hope she sends me one also (Hint Hint).  She bought a new sewing machine this year and now she has an excuse to use it.

I'll write about my sewing book and souvenir thimble collections another day.  It's 1 a.m. and I really ought to go to sleep.