Sweets for the sweet...

Nothing like a little sewing emergency to bring quilt progress to a screeching halt...

I'm going to my goddaughter's First Communion this coming weekend. I made her a cute little bracelet with freshwater pearls and pink crystals to commemorate the occasion, and thought I should give her something more religious, too. I remembered carrying a satin-covered prayer book for my First Communion and thought it'd be nice pass down the tradition (I also took it upon my seven-year old self to cut my bangs with a pair of dull kindergarten scissors the morning of, but that's another story -- and a tradition not worth keeping).

So I trekked down to the gift shop at St. Peter's downtown in search of a fancy prayer book, and found one with gold leaf edges, a satin purse to carry it in and a rosary in its own little matching case (do they even use rosaries any more at that age?). I figure if there's a shiny purse involved, she'll be more likely to use it, given she's seven and obsessed with accessories. And I was all excited, because that meant I was DONE, and all I had to do was pack.

Once home, I took everything out of the very large display box it came in to wrap in something that would actually fit in a carry-on bag...and discovered that the little purse? Was the exact same size as the prayer book, no bigger. That book fit like Oprah in her skinny jeans -- and when it was all jammed in there, the snaps were a good inch off, so there was no hope of getting it closed: two annoying factors that could spell end-of-the-world disappointment to a seven-year old.

Yes, I could have returned it. But this was the extent of their fancy prayer book inventory, and time was running out. There were no seam allowances to work with, and I couldn't move the snaps swithout leaving holes in the fabric...so I did what every obsessive crafter would do: I went to Joann's.

With no clear idea in my head of what I was going to do, it was like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks: I bought eyelet, three different satins, interfacing, piping, cording, ribbon, buttons (both satin and pearl), flowers, snaps, magnets...and made two practice versions before I arrived at the final product:


White polyester shantung lined with pink satin, 7½" x 4½" with a Velcro closure. Same cording used for the piping and the strap. I used four different presser feet (if you don't have the #12 piping foot, you're don't know what you're missing), and am in love with them all. The book, rosary, and a little ChapStick fit perfectly with room to spare.

Now I'm done.