Art, Craft and Needlework, March, 2023

[Harriet]

Creativity in art of all kinds is so good for you! Mentally, emotionally and in practical areas like keeping up that hand-eye coordination, doing creative things has plenty of benefits. It will keep your stress (and blood pressure) down, too.

The website Painting to Gogh has an interesting article that seems to lend itself to a lot of creative pursuits as well as painting, and they have the research citations to back up their title:

10 Health Benefits of Painting You Won’t Want To Miss Out On

1. Painting Promotes Creative Growth ...
2. Painting Enhances Problem-Solving Skills ...
3. Painting Improves Fine Motor Skills ...
4. Painting Encourages Positivity and Offers Stress Relief ...
5. Painting Bolsters Memory, Concentration, and Spatial Awareness ...
6. Painting Fosters Emotional Awareness and Growth ...
7. Painting Offers a Healthy Challenge ...
8. Painting Boosts Self-Confidence ...
9, Painting Builds Non-Verbal Communications Skills ...
10. Painting Brings People Together ...

While we're staying so healthy , what projects are you working on in March?

[Nancy]

My focus has shifted from sewing to gardening this week just sayin'.

[Harriet]

I ordered items for making quilt-top design boards, both a large one and some small ones.

For small, the classic Lori Holt design boards do-it-yourself plan of foamboard is what I'm thinking, but probably with the newer twist of using heatnbond ultrahold rather than a glue gun. We'll see. There are plenty of DIY youtube videos for it. I don't have a smaller iron for that job - just my standard size iron and my very, very small iron with the 1-inch by 1-inch surface, which might not work well. I've heard it's nice to have 3 hands when you make them, lol. So, I'll see what I own around here for holding things up while working.

Dstepson will buy me insulation board at a home improvement store for a large one, and I assume I'll have a large enough piece of flannel. Sadly, I have a quilt laid out on that flannel in parts (and the flannel neatly folded away) and only a photograph to keep that straight so far. I may need to pin notes onto those blocks to be sure they go back where I planned.

For mini-items, I also ordered Plasti tak reusable adhesive because it had the best ratings of all the "tac" putty-type products for not leaving any residue.

With these projects, looking at the list above, I'm definitely going to stretch my problem-solving, fine motor and spatial awareness skills, lol.

[Nancy]

Cold weather has returned so I am working up a new batch of bags.
5"x 7" apx. for journals or whatever to go
to the woman's cancer foundation they are going to hand out gift baskets
so these can go in them.
I have lowered my goal of 5 to 4 for this week.
Not sure if I will do more next week sewing machine is making a clacking sound. Sigh.
Hope to get this last one done.

I do have a chair to paint.

[Nancy]

Been doing film / new hobby.
Started another hot pad. FInished one up the other day.

[Nancy]

There was not enough yarn to finish the 2nd hot pad.
Started a scarf.

[Harriet]

Oops, the flannel I already own isn't large enough, so I had to order a flannel sheet. That's okay. The board is setting sideways in the front hall, waiting.

I used our bed surface to lay out and take photos of two partially finished quilt tops. One is surprisingly close to finished - only 9 seams would do it but of course they are some of the longest seams and also require some math to be absolutely positive before cutting the last pieces. I need to contact the machine quilter I like and make sure she will take quilt tops that have some embroidery on them.

Some sorting has gotten projects more organized in their containers. Enjoyed considering the sampler blocks I have that could be ordered in different ways. Might separate those by spring/light color and autumn/earthtones.

The children have complimented that the sewing room is so much neater.

[Harmony]

Nancy, when my old machine makes a clacking noise it is past time to oil it. My manual has pictures saying where all the moving parts that need oil are. I guess the fabric stores have machine oil but I just use the little can of 3-in-1 oil that my DDad used on DMom's machine. On mine that stops 99% of the clacking noise. I have read the more one uses their machine the less it needs oiled and you use yours pretty often. But mine sits a lot between sewing, so needs it more often. And of course, mine is ancient. I'm lucky it doesn't have a treadle for power.

[Nancy]

The noise was from the thread on the spool wrapped around the thing that goes up and down.
Found the issue and after getting it corrected it runs fine now!

Had to put 2 refills in pens today and or get out others with diff. colors for journaling.
I am looking forward to using ombre some muli colored skiens ones I got for cmas last yr.
They will be dish cloths.

[Harriet]

Gray flannel arrived - king sized flat sheet, very soft so holds cotton fabric well. Has been washed and cut to the correct size, which I did by sliding my medium-sized cutting board along under it while it lay on the bed. Just used the scissors but had to have that extra protection - it's a thick awkward fabric and I could just see a cut in my bedspread! I have a lot left over, and the back side is a white with gray flecks so I believe I could use it like a white background for the smaller design boards if I wanted to. The more I think about using batting, it just seems too much of a dust catcher. Thinking - it's also lighter weight.

Oh, Harmony, a treadle machine would be so lovely in a home, wouldn't it, BUT it's true that it wouldn't be practical. I'm grateful for my ordinary machine. It's good about keeping dust away from thread, lol, with a smooth "lid" type top and sideways thread holder under the lid. It's so fashionable now to show off (and use) an old-type machine with the large thread spool up top, even a little doily under the thread. But keeping dust out - that is probably a good feature for me!

And it has the slick, rounded front, so I can set it on a regular desk or table with lots of space around, and even though it's higher, usually the fabric slides easily upward to be sewn. The only thing that it's bad for, is if you want to machine quilt large things that are heavy. Needs a surface for that. I have kept my old sewing machine cabinet that folds open and has a recess. This machine doesn't exactly fit but it doesn't exactly NOT fit, either and will work. Sadly, this cabinet has so little knee-space that I'm uncomfortable sitting at it. It rolls, so I have my pressing board on it now.

Evidently, as I had watched/searched some quilt videos, perhaps, advertising videos started showing up on HRH's computer's fb feed. How does that even happen? Anyway, he was getting long video ads for machines up to $1,500!!! Long-arm types that I would never consider or even glance. Besides their price, one would have to add on a room. I wish I knew what on earth I did to trigger that. It's like looking up how to dock a bass boat and getting ads for a yacht.