Life is Full of Twists and Turns [WIP]

I like these little Wednesday posts. It gives me a chance to assess where I am in my projects and my bees.

This week, I am on the road for work in northeastern North Carolina. It is hard to be away from my sewing machine when I travel for work. I am sad I do not have much to show you all. Sometimes, when I am gone for longer trips, I bring my sewing stuff. This trip is only 5 days. Sigh...

I also really have to work in the evenings. Double sigh...

I get to work here though. Worth it?

I am doing some hotel room hand stitching to get my Stars Align quilt binding done. Pictures will be here next week, I promise. If you follow me on instagram you have already been photo bombed with pictures of this quilt (follow me at stitchingandbacon). It is awesome cuddle under this little quilt in my hotel room.

Mostly, I have been grappling with some non-sewing news.

This blog is called Stitching and Bacon. I chose this name because I feel that bacon is a metaphor for treating yourself. Also, I like bacon. My husband and I cure our own bacon. I live in North Carolina, this is a pork state!

A week ago from Thursday, I found out I was allergic to bacon. Well, not just bacon. Technically, I am allergic to all mammalian protein. If you want to get really technical, I am allergic to a sugar found on the protein. This is a rare (not rare enough!) tick born allergy most commonly seen in the American south. I will not bore you with the details, but basically reactions to mammal meat range from indigestion to anaphylaxis. I barely notice anything, but my doctor is worried that if I get a tick bite again it could quickly get much worse. I am an archaeologist and ticks are everywhere.

This sounds like a made up allergy. It is not (see here and here for some stuff describing this allergy), I wish it were. No more bacon. At least until my next appointment.

I know. This is not that big of a deal in the scheme of things.

I did not think I ate that much meat until I could not have any...

In Pilates class on Sunday, I was telling my instructor about this freakish allergy and she said, "people still eat red meat?" with an honest question in her voice. Well, not me. Not anymore.

Now back to watching hotel room television.

Christmas Presents and a Story

It has been quite a couple of weeks. I sort of lost track of time. First it was December, then it was Christmas, and now December is almost over.

December was a tough month for me this year. I was in Atlanta when it started for work and then the week before Christmas I was working in the field all week. In between, we baked some Christmas treats, decorated the house, cleaned (oh family Christmas visits!) and I frantically sewed presents.

Now, I get to share some of those finishes here! The recipients all seemed to like them and I had fun trying to make them to suit individual personalities.

My mother asked for a knitting needle roll. I based this one off of a couple of online tutorials for the basic design. The hot pink framed cats, are a nod to my parents' little kitties (Although, they never get a chance to go outside and kill birds. This fabric is a called "Out to Lunch", by Tammis Keefe my selvedge cuts off the manufacturer. It is a linen I picked up on super sale a while back knowing I would make something for my mom with it. The gray is Kona Coal and the pink is Kona Camellia. The inside trim is a Liberty Lifestyles print.

I think my mom likes it... It might be a bit "modern" for her taste, but I could not resist the hot pink and blue framing of the cats.

For the rest of my important ladies, I made fold over clutches, LBG studios pattern (btw, this is a great pattern).

These were really well received.

This leads to the story portion of this post. First, let me set the scene. I was sewing zippers on these little pouches. It was Saturday before Christmas and I was working on a deadline. I had an assembly line going and I was feeling pretty good.

I was having some trouble with the zipper on the teal bag. I could just not get it straight and I did not have TIME to be taking it out and redoing it. So, I gritted my teeth and started using my fingers to line up the zipper with the bag edge. Then, I felt the needle go right through my finger tip. Next, this is the worst part, I saw my impaled finger. I will spare you the grizzly details. Needless to say, I lifted my needle immediately and pulled my finger out. Umm, I am not proud to say I began freaking out at this point and my husband came running and he had to pull out the thread. That's right, I sewed my finger. To the fabric. Yeah.

It turns out there is nothing really to be done for this type of injury (as long as it is not near the base of the nail and does not get infected). I am current on tetanus (professional archaeologist here).  We did not even have to see a doctor (we called to ask). It is actually pretty much healed at this point. I just can not unsee that needle. through. my. finger.

My husband gets major credit for taking care of me and throwing away the bloody thread and needle. Although he did point out the needle seemed perfectly usable, to which I responded, "I am NOT sewing with something that has been through my body."

Most importantly there was no blood on my gift. I finished it that evening.

There are no pictures for this story (you are welcome).

Anyone else had sewing related injuries? I need to learn what to protect myself from in the future... Rotary cutters are coming to get me...

I hope you had a Merry Christmas friends! I am going to post about my New Year's resolutions soon. Happy Sewing!