Art, Craft and Needlework, September, 2024

[Harriet]

It's September - National Sewing Month!

Here is the cool new graphic POSTER for this year.

This year's theme will find us homemakers nodding in agreement - "highlighting the creative ways sewing enthusiasts resist waste" by reusing, upcycling, mending, and also (my favorite) with SCRAPS often becoming the most interesting creating we do.

It was BookSaver who reminded us for several years that National Sewing Month was a thing! I remember seeing some flyers or posters in cloth stores, but to tell the truth don't have a cloth store to visit these days. I'm glad it is such an active "holiday"!

Anyway, here's a thought from BookSaver a few years back:

Of course, this thread is for all types of arts & crafts -- cake decorating, drawing & painting, crochet & knitting, flowers, scrapbooking and other paper techniques, interior and exterior decorating ... What a variety of talents are shown here!

[Nancy]

Spinning is ongoing till I finish with the grey heather wool,
got it carded up today and did some spinning...
and maybe even the great /not heather too.
Sewing is omm this mo.

I got out my creative books with ideas in a stack so I'll be going through them tomorrow for some insp.

[Nancy]

Did mend the book bag it was simple but not that easy.

[Harriet]

Finally.
I started all over with the photo and was able to get it to show up here.
Might have been able to make it larger, but right now just glad to have it work.

BibRandomPatchworkSmaller.jpg

These are all 1930s childhood fabrics, most bought when dgs12 was on the way, left over from his quilt.

It's just sew-and-flip onto a cotton batting scrap cut into the bib shape. Some pieces I would sew together first, then sew and flip. Then cut out with about 3/8-inch around the shape, and sewn onto a backing, turned and curves clipped. Top-stitched along the edge and one simple shape to quilt the middle. It closes with velcro machine-sewn to each neck end.
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[Twins' Mom]

Harriet, that bib is adorable! I love the fabrics.

Yesterday I was stamping with newly received stamps, paper, and doo-dads for decoration. Today in the mail I received my "ribbon share." Most of the ribbon is a roll of 10 yards - so someone does ribbon shares, where each person receives two yards of each ribbon in the catalog. I have natural tones linen threads, candy cane red and white bakers twine, ribbons with gold, a neutral and adorable aqua ribbon with little pompoms down each side. So much fun to play with! And my designer paper share should be shipped soon also - each of the 12x12 papers is divided into four six by six portions so there's a little of everything. So I am feeling some creativity coming up!

[Nancy]

Cute bib!

I have made up two small fabric bags that look like a pencil pouch. They are ones with a zipper on the top.
It is a challenge not the zipper but the smallness of size a bit more finicky to do the turns, mitered corners for the bottom.
I need to add a loop with more effectiveness. Thinking what would be the best assembly for these I may try the turning
spot on the side seam next time and try that.

I am trying glue books , also called art journals or altered books. It's fun and I'm enjoying learning about these.

[Harriet]

Twins', those ribbons sound way too cute! Happy for you that you'll get a delivery of new materials soon, too. The "share"-ing sounds like the quilt-block swaps that used to be more common than they are now. SO much fun.

Nancy, as you make the next small bags you'll feel like an expert!

Making the mistake here of having too many projects going at once, so nothing is getting finished and I'm getting in my own way. Why do I do that? Not doing a good job of prioritizing. I keep having creative brainstorms at the same time that my surfaces are covered with practical finish work.

About that NSM month theme of using scraps, I am glad I saved even small scraps and selvages from the wedding quilt because I'm seeing great uses for these for small gifty projects. Thinking!

Twins', one new way I saw of making patchwork bookmarks was "backing with supple cardstock", which I thought looked like designed cardmaking paper, really. Then they were zig-zag stitched around the outside rather than turning in outer seams. (Good thing because these were heavily patchworked with lots of fabric layers already.) Cardstock is not always a problem for a machine but could be. Stamping was done on the paper to make it more interesting, and the same stamps used on the fabric front, too.

[Nancy]

Still not sewing planting bulbs yesterday.
Got some fun painting in today did the black stools in aqua teal color I luv it b/c it reminds me of
the sea around the Greek islands I see in movies & on net-flicks.

Put a pink plush chair together this week for writing in my butterfly room.
Proud I could do that by myself!

[Harriet]

I let something get ahead of my other UFOs.

Sewed a very scrappy bookmark for DangerBoy yesterday and got that in the mail to him today. In an ordinary long envelope, between two pieces of file-folder-paper cut to fit. One stamp.

Went with a usual fabric backing this time, since maybe I'd better practice/try that paper backing, zig-zag edge idea.

The bib had worked out so well with sew-and-flip that I did small sew-and-flip crazy patchwork for this bookmark, onto (regular, not fusible) interfacing. There were 2 little square fabric pieces I knew I wanted in there - his school's emblem and their mascot's cartoon image. So, first I pinned those on where I liked them, mascot near top and emblem lower, kind of at angles. Then just sewed-and-flipped out from those. At the middle I had raw edges but had a ribbon that was the right color and so I topstitched that to cover.

At first, I wasn't going to do any quilting in the middle, just topstitching around the outside, which took about a minute, lol. But I started thinking, what if the edges of that interfacing hadn't gotten caught well, so I did a little straight stitching. The interfacing did very well, thin, turned easily, but had enough stiffness.

No beads on this topper/ribbon because this one was going in the mail, so I could lay the ribbon inside and sew around, easy. When I use beads on the ribbons, they are bulky so I have to add them after turning - worth it, but harder.

[Nancy]

Harriet that wounds great and wonderful ideas for mailing too.

I hit the jack pot at a yard sale with some fall colored fabric from a neighbor's mom.
I got an assortment and basket, as well as trays and mugs.
I am excited to think what all I can do with these.

Maybe with Jean fabric for bags or what ever.

I did start a dish cloth the star burst ones I do up.
This one is in fun green, cream and bit of a blue it's fun & I've not used this color combo before.
Also finds from a yard sale closer to the beginning of summer I's forgotten about was
so pleased to find them when I was looking for room & a spot for the fabrics.