Art, Craft and Needlework, September, 2025

[Twins' Mom]

Harriet, my mother had one of those - I guess she made it but I don't remember. Was very cheerful with rickrack on the front edges!

[Nancy]

Next project is cut out so I can start on it yea!
Finished the beige & blue knit prayer shawl yesterday.

Sat. 9-13
Got the pocket & sleeved pinned & pressed and the bottom edge of the top pinned pressed and ready to be hemmed.
It got warm in the room so I took a break before prepping the neck line or doing any more on that project.
Happy with progress today however. Blue top is done.
Now back to yard work as weather is mild now.

[Harriet]

These mini-quilt-block ornaments are going to be SOOOOOOOO cute. Is a 4-inch square too large? I don't think it is for a traditionally sized tree, but it does occur to me that so many folks have small trees now or like to have lots of trees around the house, not just one large. If I turn them on the diagonal, they seem more delicate, but then the design/pattern changes completely and I'm not as fond of it. For one thing, finished is better than perfect, so I may just do the simple thing.

Twins', I hadn't gotten far enough to think in terms of a trim along front edges, really - but the binding left partially along the front would be like a trim. Rick rack would be so cute for a child, too - the big kind especially. So far, I haven't bought a plain sweatshirt - it seems something is wrong with all online, such as that men's sizing with thinner hips, or claims by purchasers that some are too lightweight, or hard fabric. Still looking. I told HRH that if he ever feels like a Goodwill trip soon, I could look there.

Nancy, pockets have so many possibilities. I have a set of those little clamps and see people use them in video tutorials. I've never gotten around to it - such a creature of habit.

HRH got a computer cord plug-in "caught" by my magnetic pin holder the other day. He couldn't understand what was hanging up the cord. Nearly pulled the pins off onto the floor and thought it would be terrible, but of course even if he did all the pins would have stayed in their nest!

[Harriet]

Found 2 sweatshirts at Goodwill to play with. If things don't go quite right, I'm not going to obsess. One is plain, the other with one of those central pockets for both hands. Pocket doesn't bother me yet, since I've seen lots of cardigans with various pockets and I see no reason I couldn't just cut through the pocket too, for a pocket on either side. It is the thickest one, so I might wish there weren't so many layers to sew through, but it's not a problem until it's a problem.

That idea is set to the side, though, because ornaments come first.

I've worked for several hours today and have one "top" of a little "quilt" sandwich finished already, the other 5 in line behind it at various stages. It would have been nice to assembly-line all the rest, but I knew I was cutting it close on fabric. Now that I've completed one, I see that one fabric will run out. I'll have to switch to a different fabric of the same color for some of the seams. I can have a short assembly-line for the last 3, I think, so still finding that a win. Thinking about what kind of loop for hanging and which way to close.

[Nancy]

I luv reading the progress in this thread.
I have done some knitting on Fri. had to take out about 3 rows got those re-knit plus 3-4 more.

Painted two terracotta planters that needed a re-paint I got free at a yd. sale.
They are now true blue and one is by each of my deck steps.
Thinking Mem. day 4th of July, Labor day & Vet. day decor.

Had a lite bulb moment while looking for pillows on the web ~
I have fabric and sewing zone I can make em!

Good news got the knitting I frogged out re-knit this weekend yea!

I have a board I rescued from a scrap pile it needed paint and I had some from
my last project so I've painted on it. I use this one on the deck like a lap desk.

[Nancy]

Update pink prayer shawl is apx. half done now.
Today I got some blue like the pink yard b/c I luv it so much to work with.

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Re Pillows I "found" some on the spare bed!

[Harriet]

Having an outdoor lap desk sounds like it would help with a lot of projects, Nancy. Sitting to sketch, journal, etc. Pillows can make such a difference in the way an area looks.

So happy to have gotten the first ornament all the way through to done. It taught me the mistakes I've made, some that don't make any difference, some that just wasted a little fabric - not too bad. The rest are close to finished and each one of them shouldn't take very long now. It's the hand-sewing that's a bother. Need to do just a little of that at a time to avoid cramps in my hand. I sort of wish I could have thought of some way to avoid having to hand-sew closed, but I just wasn't satisfied with anything else like bonding because I want these to last.

It did turn out that I could assembly-line a few at a time to finish the tops, so that was a good deal. I decided on thin ribbon for hangers. Even though I thought about it at length, I still put the first one in wrong, lol! Oh well, snipped a few threads, put it through in the correct way and sewed over the seam again. No one will know!

About Heat 'N Bond, I went through my projects over the years, and I've only had one come apart, but that was enough to stop me from using it this time. I found some from 2000 that are still holding on very nicely, though. That was back when I was doing a project of bonding cloth to felt/batting, then bonding on a label on the back that was made from brown kraft (paper bag) paper that was pinked around the edge. All have held up well. The one that is coming apart was a fabric bonded on to another fabric that was folded underneath, and I think the pressure of the fabric coming unfolded just finally lifted the bond.

I've tried the sweatshirts on and the brand-name one is okay, the other a little skimpy. Still worth experimenting with it, though. Haven't been able to get back to any store to find anything to put with these, like buttons or plackets.

[Harriet]

I've finished one ornament each evening except Sunday and now have 4 of 6 done. When I could, I assembly-lined. I'm reminded that BookSaver used to be sooooo good at assembly-lining her projects of cat cage pads for per rescue places and gifts for her co-workers at the library. Nancy, you would get a lot of the same things done together, too, like your gift bags. I've never been good at it, so maybe finally!

I have not had cramps in my hands with the hand-sewing since finishing the first one, so that's really positive.

Dd27 says maybe she and I could go to a craft store sometime. I really think she's my only hope because ddolder is wildly busy these days now that she even has one boy in a different in-person school with so many reasons to travel there. HRH becomes so miserable shopping that he is almost pitiful. I've never seen anyone dread shopping as much as he! Just can't do it to him!

[Nancy]

I did some are today in my bujo that helped.

[Twins' Mom]

I received the ribbon share yesterday, five or six yards of maybe 10 different ribbons for card making. I need to step up my ribbon game to use all this, lol! Having pretty things is a terrific boost to creativity isn't it?

I'm still needing to donate/sell a lot of stuff up there to make the room more pleasant. There's so much I'll never use and yet, I'm purchasing more.

I'm also working toward displaying what I do use so I can better see what's there. The ribbon shares come packaged in a clear plastic bag and loosely coiled. Not never conducive to seeing and giving me that visual creative spark.