Hat Trick

It was a busy day yesterday with lots of running around. Everything feels so hustle-bustle this time of year, even when I'm operating on a good night's sleep. Yesterday, I was operating on only half a good night's sleep, and so my patience was half what it might have been...skimpy, even on a good day. The pedicure was nice, but then there was the grocery store which put a huge dent in my zen of the moment. But, oh well, now it's done, and I can stay home until Tuesday...unless we have to pick up Mike's truck. But let's just pretend for now, okay?

As expected, I took a nap yesterday afternoon in an attempt to catch up on my sleep. The nap was good and I slept hard for a couple of hours. It seemed late in the day by then to start working on my quilting, and so I decided the day had come to work on a mending project I've had sitting around, literally, for years.

So, long ago, I bought this funky hat from Eddie Bauer. Wasn't there some clown or somebody who wore a hat like this? I can't remember.

I really liked it, although I didn't wear it often. It's made of wool and it's warm, but its best feature is that it hides my hair on a bad hair day...or a day when I just didn't feel like styling my hair. I had it in my car, and it just lived there for emergency bad hair days. Then, a mouse got into my car and took up residence there, chewing a big hole in the rolled brim of my beloved hat. Bummer. 

So years have gone by, and it's been sitting in my sewing room. I've been tempted to just throw it away at times, but then...I'd want to give it a second chance at life, and I considered many different ways of patching it. I've probably picked it up and set it down a thousand times or more over the years. 

Finally, I settled on felted wool as a way to repair it, and I ordered the least amount of black felt I could from Amazon in the form of these 42 squares of 4 x 4 pieces of felt. They cost me $10, including shipping.

And, yes, I probably could have gone to Jo-Ann and purchased what I needed, but then...Jo-Ann. I didn't want to spoil a perfectly good day. 

Okay, so here we are with our 42 pieces of felted wool. I needed just one to repair my hat.

I wish I'd had a template of some kind to cut a better elliptical shape from it, but this is what I ended up with. And I decided on black embroidery floss for the stitching.

And then, I stitched a blanket stitch all the way around to cover the hole. Fortunately, it's on the side of the hat over my right ear. I doubt anyone will ever notice that. 

And me...I'm a happy camper now that I can wear my hat again. 

I just happened to be having a convenient bad hair day after getting a new perm and then napping on it to boot. It allowed me to demonstrate the bad-hair-day-cover-up features of my hat.

But what about the remaining 41 squares of felt? Well...I have an idea about that. You're going to have to work with me here. 

So, you know about the "Stitched Inchies" projects (my name for them) I've done for International Embroidery Month in February the past few years. Here are the resulting mini quilts that have come from that fun stitch-along project by Crabapple Hill Studios. The first year's mini was hand-quilted.

This was the one from the second year:

Last year, she did something a little different, but this is how I did it:

So, I don't know if she's going to do another one this year, but if she does, I'll stitch along. They're really fun to do. 

Here's my idea: What if I stitch each one onto a background fabric, then cut around it with pinking shears, then stitch it to the middle of a felt square? Thus:

When they're all finished, I'll sew the felt squares together somehow...maybe with a ribbon sashing or something. We'll see. And we'll see if she even does it in 2022. If not, my hopes will be dashed. But hey...Crabapple Hill...don't let that bother you. I'll be fine. I'll just be sitting here griping about the pandemic, with nothing to stitch, but I won't be bitter. Oh no. Not even a little bit.

So, on that happy note, I'm making a lasagna for a crowd today. Among our first stops on our trip south will be to spend a week with three other couples at one of California's state parks. It's going to be great fun. We won't all be there for the whole week, but we'll all be together for two nights out of the week. For those nights, we've figured out a pot luck style dinner when we'll all sit down and enjoy a meal together. Hopefully, the weather will cooperative and we'll be sitting outside at a picnic table. So, my contribution for the first night is a lasagna, and others will provide the side dishes. I can make the lasagna today and then freeze it for later. 

After that, I'm really going to get back to my quilting. Time's a-wastin' if I'm going to get it finished up before we leave.