There have been hints and suggestions and here it is finally, the days of the week quilt. It started so innocently with the bibs I found while opp shopping/thrifting and ended up as this.

The top went together pretty quickly once I decided on which fabrics to use. It was the first venture into in my little pile of bandana type prints. I even cut a few extra strips and am contemplating breaking into my stash of cowboy fabrics.

Nana's visit went well and we hope to see her again in a few months for little e's birthday.

I noticed the fridge light first. It wasn't working. Our power was out for some hours this morning. In a sense, it was a relief.

My Nana-in-Law is visiting this afternoon and I really needed to get ready.

The stoppage was planned. We even had a letter about it. I had just forgottten, until the fridge light, that is.

My first thought was to head to a friend's place for the morning. However, I couldn't place my cell phone and couldn't use the land line to call it. One day we really MUST get a phone that isn't portable.

So little e and I stayed home.

I started to think of all the things I couldn't do.

I couldn't start on the cowboy quilt that I've been dreaming about

I couldn't put on another load of washing.

I couldn't bake a cake.

I couldn't check my emails to see if Beth from Sew Mama Sew liked my Tutorial.

I couldn't vacuum

My days are often a flurry of multi tasking. Put the cake in the oven. Put a load of washing on. Do the dishes and going well, it should all finish at the same time. It's like a construction program, with the long lead and long cycle time things getting kicked off first. I feel like I am working smart but in truth, still not getting everything done.

Today I had to stop.

We played on the floor and under the washing line, with pieces of apple and flyaway circulars. It was nice outside.

I sat down with the transistor radio and could hear it for once as it didn't have to compete with the sewing machine. I managed to put together an engagement card for some friends, only two months after buying the card. I even considered getting my knitting out.

In fact, we managed to get a lot done. It is just that it wasn't the usual way.

Now the power is back on. There are some things that I thought I needed to do but really they can still wait. It is time to stop. Nana is coming to see us not the house.

I've had enough of snap fasteners pulling through the fabric when I use them. It seems to happen a lot on children's clothing. This got me thinking and I tried to solve the problem when making some winter tops for little e. The following tutorial below creates a strong snap fastener details that is useful for children's clothes.

The original pattern (Simplicity 4054) called for sewn on snaps. The modified detail replaces them with hammered on snaps with a contrasting strip where ever the snap fasteners are used as seen in this finished top. Don't mistake the contrasting strip for some new fangled decoration. It is holding the snaps and fabric together.

The instructions are colour coded with

Pink – top layer of closure

Turquoise – lower layer of closure

Stripey pieces – trim, cut to 1 ¼“ parallel to the grain

Purple running stitch – fold line

Orange tailor tacks - stud and socket locations

1, Measure trim against opening to span between fold lines. Stitch across ends with right sides together, turn and press.

2, Baste tool tape onto the top piece of the closure, on the top side of the fold. Baste tool tape to the lower layer of the closure, between the fold line and the edge. Note: the tool tape is placed on surface that the prongs of the snap fasteners will be attached to. This reinforces the area of fabric that will have the most strain.

3, Overlock trim to the garment between fold lines.

4, Fold over the ends at the fold line and stitch. Trim corners, turn right way out and press. Topstitch, parallel to the trim edge.

5, Sew along basting lines on tool tape to fasten the outer surface with the folded edge. While hard to make out, this stitching is shown in yellow above. To avoid bunching in the stretch fabric below, create each line of stitching in two sections sewn from outer edge to centre or use a walking foot. Note: these stitching lines reinforce further by holding the outer and folded layers together at the fastener location.

6, Apply snap domes following manufacturers instructions.