Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2025

[Nancy]

I agree the retractable tape measure sounds great!
I have a tape not retractable one... looking for a retracting one.
My new mission and reason to go to H. Lobby.

Prayer shawl is now 24" I have a ball of yarn the side of an average grapefruit left now.
Just four rows left to knit on it should be done today maybe tomorrow. DoneX

Start on Sewing Planner Project list, * = underway.
Quilted vest have to learn that. ( Cmas one)
Quilt as you go want to learn that maybe on denim with out batting.
Hot pads to seam up for next years gift baskets?
Hem grey sweats needs to happen. Done! YEA!!!
Apron cream with green print.

Found snowman quilt block. X
Organize drawers look in tote moved fabric tote is now out of the center of the room! YEA!!! X
Find green fabric strips I've been looking for since last week. X Double YEA!!!

Sox needed. Thinking on that.
Bag up projects and hang up in closet.

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An interesting vid. on how crafting knitting & sewing can help our Brian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4BKRcqgBY8

[Nancy]

I made a 2 sided receiving blanket with 1 yd. pieces of flannel no batting.
That happened last night.
It feels so good to use the sewing room now yea!
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I made an upcycled mat from jeans and a towel for pets or people.

Two future projects in the wings:
I cut corners off of a piece to put binding on that's quilted for a mat for doggo.
It's great for on the deck. It's windy out might be a good time to press that and work on it.
Got that done not perfect but usable.

I have pinned binding of a quilt to mend I attached it by hand last time but will mend
it with the sewing machine might got around all of it with the machine. Did the mending
and then all around the whole quilt. Yea!

I will say I am really enjoining the main floor sewing room! Win win on that decision.

One other decision I will get a dresser to put together I can use the storage in the rec room.
If they will load it I can take it out of the truck bed on part at a time and take it down stairs and
put it together in place as dd suggested! Now that I've put the desk together I have confidence to
think about tackling that!

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Getting back in to practice with my sewing.
Listening to a quilting show she's talking about practicing with sewing!
I needed that.
Today I made a small gift bag a fat quarter coffee print and put coffee pods in it of a flavor
I'm not so fond of too strong for me. That was a fast fun project. It did not go with other fabrics
I had and needed to be on it's own. Win win.

I took a yt of the ugly mat for the dog it's black with binding on it I'll schedule it for next week some time.
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Had a knitting session then had to frog out that and even more rows found some dropped stitches so glad
that I have that section re-knit and it's better now.

Update Camo green prayer shawl is over half way done now! Yea!

[FrenchFlybebe]

Hi creative ladies !

I was looking for the right place on the boards to post a link to my current project. I need some accountability. Maybe also I want to showw off a bit even though it's a very simple project with nothing fancy.

It's an autumn-themed decor for the entrance veranda, I started it last autumn but only just did the brown fabric rectangle and embroidered the first half of the one word (there will be just one single word, automne, "autumn" in French). Last week and this past week I started sewing on the felt leaves, one for each evening I find a few minutes. One of them was stitched on by DS7.
Today I pinned more leaves so that I have an idea of the end result. I will prepare and cut a few more leaves. Not sure about what else to add. Very tiny pearls ? Sequins ? (DS7 loves them but I don't know). I want to have a simple thing in the end.
Also I need to work out how to hang it. It's pinned on a wire hanger but I may do something nicer if I have the courage. Or maybe next autumn.
Link to larger image : https://ibb.co/fGnhc1B1

I intend to do something for winter / Christmas later. I wish I knew how to quilt, there are so many great ideas !

[Twins' Mom]

This is lovely, FrenchFlyBeBe! You could glam it up with sequins, to be more of a "mixed" media piece, add some other fabrics like a gauze too. Or keep it simple, add a little top stitching maybe (machine or hand, to accent your leaves. Embroidery thread - the kind you use for counted cross stitch would give the felt a little shine.

As for hanging it, you can make a sleeve at the top to thread a dowel through with a thread, twine or ribbon attaching to either end. There are other ways, an internal rod - I think the way quilts are sometimes hung so the weight is distributed. I have a Jewish wall hanging - hand painted, that hangs with the dowel method. It's not longer displayed as prominently - but still much loved.

I've seen ads for these mixed media kits - I think they're beautiful. I don't need another hobby - and my eyes surely don't - but perhaps you'll find some inspiration in these if you're thinking fancy. https://wattleandloop.com/?srsltid=AfmB ... Ps4gLe3q_e I'm obsessed with the slow stitching Figs kit.

[Kittykatt]

FFB, that is so very pretty! I'm sure it will look stunning when it's hanging up. Twins Mum has some very good ideas. I'm very tempted, but I really dont need another project right now! I was just thinking the other day that after Christmas will be a good time to restart work on my dolls house.

[Harriet]

FrenchFlyBeBe, that piece is going to be so vivid and have so much contrast (contrast is what makes any textile art look beautiful to me - love it). It will bring attention to your veranda!

Twins', I think that's the first I've seen of the popular "Slow Stitching" ideas that I'd actually do. I could see a pillow, but of course the framed ones would last. Pillows would take a lot of wear.

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a little report

My dd27 and I got out to the North American craft store chain, Michael's, which purchased the "intellectual property", meaning rights mostly but also physical items, of JoAnne's. JoAnne's is (was?) a N.A. sewing store mostly, although also yarn and other textile art. It's been greatly missed since bankruptcy. She and I found that, at least local to us, JoAnne's has not been gathered in much to the stock there yet. Ramblinrose says not in her area in Florida, either. The branding and signage is there, called "The Knit and Sew Shop", but fabric isn't there yet, no cutting tables, and just a space/wall that says sewing machines will be coming. Yarn aisles looked wonderfully stocked to me, but I don't know for sure if there is more now than there was before the purchase.

I replenished my dark red thread, nearly used up in the ornament project.
Also bought a roll of "lite" Heat N Bond fabric bonding/web.
And 4 colors of simple felt for a craft I've been thinking about.

They did have wool "felting", btw, which has become a popular textile art, but I didn't need anything that lovely, just fun childhood type felt for a cheerful Christmas idea, if I should happen to get around to it.

The "lite" H N B replaces a similar project I already had but is old. That's for potential Halloween mini-projects and a Christmas one for which I doubt I'll have time but don't want to be short on materials. It says, "Sewable" and that sounds promising. I don't know that my old one made that promise, although I have heard that if you'll just wait a few days you can sew through most fusible webs without gumming up your needle. I usually cut out the center of an applique, for instance, and just fuse the very edge and then sew with a blanket stitch to dodge the glue. It would be nice to be able to forget being as careful on projects that aren't supposed to exactly be heirlooms, lol. (Potholders - yipes, any fusible could ooze out in that heat, so pins it is.)

__________________

Someone asked me... .. blessed? ... .. what dd27 wants Mod Podge for. Dd27 is going to make some decoupage ornaments this year. She found Mod Podge that says it is glossy but. unlike the regular glossy MP, will be able to take the dishwasher. She doesn't think anything she is doing will need a dishwasher but was impressed that it was marketed as being that durable, so she'll try it. I have no idea what the ornaments will be - she does such a range of art it could be anything.

[FrenchFlybebe]

Twins' Mom, thanks for the link, those are very beautiful ideas, and very much things I would love to work on. If I ever find the time to add rows of stitches and bits and pieces of colored fabric, I would love to create those kind of things myself... maybe one day... Or just buy one of those kits.
I have dreamed many times of decorating parts of the house walls with fabric and stitches and little bits of this and that.
Like scrapbooking, but with needles and thread instead of scissors and glue.

Thanks for the kind comments on my project. The goal is to have some sort of coloured decoration, and also to have kids to participate - it kind of worked with DS7.
Oh and I'm glad I found this part of the boards. I don't have much time on my hands, but seeing other people's projects, and reading about ideas and yarn and fabric and wool... is inspiring.

[Harriet]

I have dreamed many times of decorating parts of the house walls with fabric and stitches and little bits of this and that

Frenchflybebe, decorating more with hanging textiles, mostly quilts mini and large, is my hope, too. Don't you find that stitched work is so comforting and welcoming? That's what I did in our previous house. As I have complained here often, though, my problem is that my childhood home I moved back into 4 (?) years ago has all plaster walls. In the first place, I myself don't want to cause damage, and in the second place my dh is absolutely determined we're not going to. He's suspicious of even the "Command" hooks that are adhesive and supposed to let go when you want. (It cost a lot to do all the painting when we moved and the ceiling cracks we do have just keep coming back even when workmen swear they won't. He feels super responsible for taking care of this "family" homeplace.)

Right now, the only textiles I have decorating the walls are a place for one large quilt in the den where we have set up a tension rack and the funny little mini-mini I made of dd's wedding quilt scraps, pointing the way to my sewing room. I have quilts on standing racks, but the house is tight with small rooms, so they are mostly in the bedroom. Lots of 'room for improvement' here!

For the past few days, I've been experimenting with funny little projects. Maybe I'll have something for the grands when they trick or treat, maybe not. Yesterday I played around with making some bias tape from print fabric.

Today I ordered some of the tiny type of ric-rac that I hope to use. I was just browsing online, and one variety pack said it could arrive quickly so I was overcome, lol. Inexpensive. And if I don't end up doing this now, it will definitely find a use later.

[Harriet]

Experiments on little things:

The bias tape, both store-bought and homemade has worked pretty well on little items, aiming for about one-quarter inch width.

For store-bought, I've cut it lengthwise for smaller bias fabric, leaving one of their folds to use. Then machine sewn one edge down in a curve, then pressed to the side trying not to bother that fold. Then sewn the other side with a decorative machine stitch in a thread the same color as the bias. I used the stitch that just takes a "bite" to the side every few stitches, but there are a lot of stitches that would work.

To make my own bias, I just did it the old-fashioned way. I don't have a bias tape maker thingie, or if I do, it's the half-inch size and still in the package around here somewhere. You can burn your fingers with the iron making it from scratch, lol, but it does come out pretty in print fabric, and the curve works. I probably don't have time to do much more of this if I'm going to reach a finish.

The lite fusible works part of the time. Maybe there is still some sizing in some of the fabrics, or maybe I'm leaving the iron down too long the first press. Sewing through fused fabric doesn't seem to be a problem. It's another thing I need to stop experimenting with and get to a finish if I'm going to!

The feather stitch decorative stitch on my machine is definitely the most useful and prettiest one for small items, I've discovered. Works fine. This is the one that, to me, looks like chicken footprints.

The machine stitch that is supposed to look like separate stitches, as though you had done it by hand, is hard to master. You have to change the tension, and I can only get it to come out well on the back. At one point, I thought to myself, with small items I'd probably spend less time just stitching by hand and getting through with it. It would be faster than trying to get the machine to cooperate.

[Nancy]

My sis in the south sent me a short vid. on fb. of the main mall that has been vacant mostly for a while.
They now have a CVS place for Rx and Hobby Lobby.
An the long hall had craft fair type of tables booths and or venders looked very festive.
Does not have as much appeal for me as I seem to do less and less decorating each year.
I do not know where I would put any craft supplies now after such successful thrifting at
estate sales and yard sales this summer for those types of items.
Got a big bag of yarn from my dgd's for my bday too.

I am glad I got glad and read white and green ribbons for box's to redo a greenery wreath think fake tree
like material for those not sure what else but a bit of a spruce up for it would improve it and be fun!
The red and green baskets will be fun to use as well.

I did knit 4 rows my thumb was not so comfortable so took a break from that.
It is to the last few inches of it hoping to finish up this week or next.