Art, Craft and Needlework, March 2021

[Harriet]

What fun things are you getting to these days?
Creativity is the icing on the cake of a productive day!
(And a pretty good topper for any other day, for that matter! )

[Nancy]

Been knitting as I process some emotions.

[Twins' Mom]

I need to break away from genealogy some time and do some creative things, engage another part of my brain a bit!

[Nancy]

Have pieces if one project ready to assemble. done
Started another dish cloth. It is half done now. done
The others in sets left this morning for gifts in a bag with book donation dd needed.

[Harriet]

Twins', I firmly believe in engaging the mind like that, yes. You and I both have changes in physical surroundings threatening, however! Lots of upheaval around the house keeps from concentration sometimes - temporary.

Nancy, yes processing can happen for our hearts when creating something pretty.

Consolidating today. A few items are off the design wall and back into their project containers to keep things carefully together for a move.

Re-labeling when able to put more than one type of supplies into a container. For instance, embroidery supplies are so physically small that they can share space in other supplies' container. (I so seldom embroider) Strips of fabric leftover from strip projects can share container space with my little leaders-enders scraps (some quilters call them "crumbs") that are corralled in their baggie anyway.

Have one project for which there are just about more patterns (paper) than project/fabric, so waiting until I gather all and get a visual on it, to see what size I need. Hmmm...

So far, only one sewing-type magazine tossed. Book tossing/donating has been happening in other areas of life - not quilting. So I will need to get tough, hmmm?

[Nancy]

I have been purging planners in the creativity room. Pages are gone from three of them brain dump pages mostly,
they have the expander disc that I did like, I need some refill pages and will get the journal ones and reuse the disc when I am done with the pages.
I keep the covers and discs. some discs. cheapo brands that broke and not a full set did not work as well so I tossed them that felt great.
Got out one I am using for a gardening planner forgot I had set that one up that was fun.

I have some items to paint in there. A small and medium sized shelf and a dresser or two.
I have done another dish cloth.
I would like to do a set of crochet hot pads when my arm is better after the tree branch work I did last.
Made a walking stick.

[Harmony]

I am working on a bench pad, as part of my anti-procrastination chore for today. This thing has been half done for about 10 years or more. It's not put away in a box somewhere, I look at it daily. Good grief. I challenge anybody to beat THAT record!

We have a nice hope chest that matches the furniture in our master bedroom. It used to sit at the foot of the bed but I'd moved it to another wall. In the 1st space DH used to set things on it, like belts with metal buckle, etc. and I didn't want it to get scratched, so I made this quilted pad. The plan was elastic at the corners to hold it on when complete. I got some nice blue and white print material, white for the backing and I had batting. I got another darker blue and appliqued 4 big hearts in the middle shamrock style. I put a white border around and then pinned the 'sandwich' together. And there it sit all these years.

So today I am doing free motion quilting all over it...well I'm trying to anyway. I'm out of my talent zone with this... but I am trying. This will probably be one I never show anybody! If I'd quilted it by hand it would be beautiful... and I just looked up a video of it because I realized I have the wrong foot on it. I have the right foot, just need to change it out and try again. I may take out some of what I've done and do that part again. I might have to look up some other blue for the binding, I think I used the binding material I had for a couple masks! Will let you know how this progresses. I was disappointed I didn't have blue machine quilting thread but I am using white. At any rate, this is good practice!

[Nancy]

I have been to knitting group and am working up another batch of hot pads and dish cloths.
We discussed neck scarves to knit up to go into gift basket.

[Harriet]

I remember your enjoyment of making walking sticks, Nancy.

Only a ten year old project, Harmony? (It sounds pretty and practical.) I could probably match that timeframe HOWEVER will not be counting! So I'll never know!

I will say I don't want to be too honest with myself about just how many potential projects I have. I see 6 in containers on my shelves right now, but know there is one in a drawer, for instance, that was not my own but was handed to me. These range from mini to maxi, lol. That doesn't count general containers for "mask making" and "bookmark making" and a dream project that has no container right now, of gathering orphan blocks into a sampler. Oh, I think I see another one. Okay, I'm going to stop admitting stuff!

[Harmony]

This project took way longer than I anticipated. It's a good thing we don't know how long our projects are going to take or maybe we'd never get started on most of them. I just finished hand sewing the binding to the back. I put elastic on the corners caddy-cornered and sewed them on by machine. The stitches I took out have been replaced using the correct presser foot and I did way better this time. Certainly not perfect, but acceptable. It's all done but I think I'll give it a wash and hang it up, maybe some of the markings will come out. Could be after all this time they've become permanent. They don't show up a lot because it's an all over print, but I know they're there and for me they show how I didn't stick to the line with my sewing.

I know now how important it is to use a continuous line pattern for machine quilting. On mine I used a large heart in each corner with crosshatching inside them and then shell pattern in between them in the empty spots, and outline quilting around the appliqued hearts in the middle.

DH says he likes the back side just as well. It is nice to see the pattern back there. Tonight he said, hey, I had something like that on my hope chest. I had to tell him this was it but finished now!