Slow Stitching - No. 005 - Hidden Histories - Untold Stories / English Paper Piecing

I am following Kathryn at K3NClothTales who is having a slow stitch challenge this year.

The prompt for week 5 was: Hidden Histories - Untold Stories with English Paper Piecing as the technique.

To be honest the prompt was not speaking to me at all.  I had nothing to write on my piece of paper. 

I did not want to get behind.

So today, I chose a poem called Quiet Moment which is always what my slow stitching is to me.

I cut my hexagon template with my Spellbinder Nestabilities #2. It measures 1 3/8 inches across.  I cut my cardboard then traced it onto some paste paper I made years ago.  I cut my paper pieces and my pieces of fabric.

I then basted the fabric onto the paste paper pieces with the words showing on the back. With my stitches I made sure to secure my folded corners.  Once all 7 were basted I started to sew them together. Can you see my mistake?  The floral one was supposed to be in the center but it was already stitched when I it so I just moved on.  Again, my scraps are in the blue tones.  I used embroidery thread to stitched the sides together but in some early cases my stitching is too tight. I should have left some slack to allow the pieces to fold out edge to edge.  I have never done this before so who knew!

I am happy with this piece and it will join the others in their plastic bag until the end of the year.

Sewing Project - ReUsable Bags - Polyester

 
I finished another 5 bags for donation today.  I had a piece of polyester fabric which I had bought when I thought I would be able to sell ReUsable Bags.  This fabric was great colors teal, cream and chocolate brown.

I managed to get 5 bags from the piece.  They measure on average 16 inches wide and 18 inches tall.

The seams are all nicely sealed french seams as the fabric frays like crazy.

The top hem is 1.5 inches folded over double.  I inserted the handles on the first seam at the bottom of the hem then pulled the handles to the top and top stitched the top edge of the hem to secure the handle in the upright position giving them 2 seams to keep them in place.  That should do. 

The handles vary from grosgrain ribbon in a variety of widths and lengths and one regular ribbon.  I made them as long as possible given the length of ribbon.  The ribbons mostly came from the ReUse Center so they have become useful and will be returned to the center.

This is the last of the polyester fabric so I am glad of that.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

It took about 5 hours to find the box, make the dividers, roll all the less than a full skeins onto bobbins. A full evening of busy hands. You can see my pin cushion, scissors and sharpener fit in there as well. 

Now that I have decided that I will continue with stitch work it was apparent I needed to organize my stash of embroidery thread.

I used my Stampin Up Tab punch to create my little bobbins out of 110lb white card stock. Added 2 slits on the bottom as the store bought ones. I punched 75 of them - 3 full sheets.

These are my DIY Embroidery Thread Bobbins.

They measure 2 inches tall and 2 3/8 inches wide.

I placed all the full skeins in a ziplock bag. The spools of embroidery thread went into a smaller bag.  The skiens of "different" thread into another ziplock bag.

There is room in the large bag for the small embroidery hoop as well.

I am very happy with my progress.

There are very many ways to store embroidery thread and I did view a few videos. The small plastic box is from the dollar store.  It is organized by color because that is how I will use my thread.  I am not concerned with the number. Much of what I have is acquired second hand when sometimes the labels are missing.  That is okay with me.

The Bookseller - First Hugo Marston novel by Mark Pryor was a great book.

Hugo is former FBI agent is working as head of security at the US embassy in Paris.  His friend Max the bookseller is kidnapped at gunpoint. 

The police don't seem to interested in getting to the bottom of his disappearance.  Hugo enlists a beautiful and mysterious journalist, a semiretired CIA agent and reluctant police detective to help him negotiate politcal intrugue, police corruption, an escalation drug war, and the ghosts of Nazi collaboration that haunt some of Paris's most prominent citizens.

I love Paris as a setting.  The plot took a lot of twists and turns before the truth came to light.

I will have to keep an eye out for the other 8 in the series.

I found a sparkly at the ReUse center this week. There were a few crystal ornaments which I brought home as well. It was a good week for clear glass and plastic ornaments.

I woke up the next day after I hung it in the window and there were the rainbows on the wall and the floor as well.

I will have to find a better place and way to hang it but it is a winner.

I brought these home as well from the ReUse Center but they were stuck to scrapbooking tags with some sort of glue.  It took quite alot to get them separated.  

These are very small buttons and I think will work with future embroidery projects.

They are pastel colors but 12 is super.

I got some supplies to keep my organized in the coming years.

The page protectors are for half sheets which I use in binders to manage my sewing projects.  My niece was kind enough to order them for me.  I met the delivery guy at the door and he had 7 packages for this building alone.  I wondered how the Amazon boxes arrived at people's doors and now I know.

The small sheets are for my memo binder that lives in my every day bag which I take with me everywhere. I found these at Staples.

I visited a small home based business this week which works at ensuring that unused fabric and sewing notions are given an opportunity to see life with a new owner.

I found this fat quarter of purple fabric, 3 spools of cotton thread, a bit of lace for future embroidery projects and I could not resist the Bernina tape measure.

Nice to support a local entrepeneur and get some goodies at the same time.

Slow Stitching - No. 004 - Choice

My fourth piece in Kathryn's Slow Stitching challenge 2024.

This week's prompt is Choice.

The challenge was to put bits of fabric in a container we could not see into and then pull one piece at a time and stitch it to our foundation piece.  It was a matter of accepting our choice and making the best of it. It is what it is.  

We had the choice of which direction to place our strip, the choice of thread, and the choice of stitch.

I don't have a not of fabric bits because until recently all these went to my sister's house after I finished a sewing project.

I have been visiting the ReUse Center and they have 2 bins of fabric bits.  It has been great to dive in and find little pieces that appeal to me.  That explains why my fabric bits are mainly in blue because that is a color I like.  I did have some red and yellow ones as well but they were not pulled.  And you can see that I pulled the same fabric twice.  That is the way it goes. 

Cards - Christmas Thank Yous

I finally got my thank you cards for Christmas gifts out today.  They have been made since early January.

I always like to use pacakaging from my gifts to make my thank you cards.  In this case, I used some gorgeous yellow paper which was on some body care products. 

I used my large daisy punch and cut 2 flowers - one yellow one white.  I layered these alternating the petals.  I added a small black flower punchie in the center and a green leaf die cut on the right hand side.  Leaf cut with the Sizzix Flower Layers and Leaves die.

I chose different colored card bases.  Black, Navy and Orange. I cut  frames with my Stitched Square dies and adhered those to the top of the folded card.

With all layers adhered on my flower I then used double sided tape to adhere it in the middle of the white frame.

These are out in the mail today!

Sewing Project - ReUsable Bags

I made 3 ReUsable Bags to donate to the ReUse Center this week.  I had some polyester fabric in great colors which does not work as well as microfiber.  I bought these because I was looking for a variety of colors.  They are very pretty.

Polyester fabric frays like crazy so these needed french seams to enclose all the edges. 

I folded the tops over double at 2.5 inches to provide a reinforced edge where the handles were going to be attached.

I did not have much for handle material.  I used grosgrain ribbon on the 2 striped ones.  I made handles with white microfiber fabric left overs for the purple one.   

These measure about 20 inches tall by 16 inches wide.  

The center provides a bin of bags and a table of boxes for customers so these will be used for sure.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I had been thinking of auditory things for relaxing this year.  A Westminster Chime Clock, a Tongue Drum, Tibetan drum music CD were things that cam up.  

I recognize that I don't have musical talent so a drum might be an expensive mistake and I had no experience so I would have to find someone to help me. Again, a chime clock is expensive and maybe to much for the small place I have, a CD is certainly a possibility. 

Then, I found these at a Thrift shop for under $5.  They are Chinese Chime Balls - Baoding Balls.  Well, that may fit the bill.  They are 1.5 inches in diameter and quite heavy so they will not work as intended in my hand. For now I put them in my pockets when I am home and they chime during my morning workout.

This is one of the things that arrived following my visit to the ReUse Center today.

Gorgeous translucent red mitten ornaments for the Christmas Tree.  Yes, it is still up. There were three of them and they are plastic.  Would have been amazing if they were glass.

I have to go through my ornaments and purge the ones that I know now will not work with my wall tree.  Maybe that is why I am not taking it down because there a big job ahead.

Another visit with the doctors in Ballybucklebo Ireland.  I finished this book - " An Irish Country Welcome" by Patrick Taylor. 

In this book Dr. Barry Laverty and Sue are now married and expecting their first child.  Barry is finding it challenging to be on the other side of the desk as he and Sue navigate a few challenges with this pregnancy.

During this time the country is suffering with sectarian tensions in Ulster in the late 1960's.  The Catholic / Protestants conflict arrives in the little town and the people put a stop to the divisiveness. Everyone are neighbors and treat everyone with consideration.

A new doctor, Sebastian Carson joins the practice for internship. Being upper class it takes a bit of getting used to the ways of the rural folk. Dr.  Fingal O'Reilly and nurse wife Kitty start to cut back on the work at the practice as they head toward retirement.

I finally got myself some applique pins for my slow stitching.  I am enjoying my big project and anticipate continuing to do stitch work of some sort so it made sense to invest in some of these.

They are shorter with small heads so they don't get in the way as the regular glass ball quilting pins do.

After several visits to Michaels I had to head to Walmart to actually get these.  I did find serger thread on sale so I bought 2 more cones.

The big project is coming into it's final stages.

I remembered to stop by Lee Valley and buy Tung Oil.  I had recently found a video on line talking about it and what is sold with that name on it.  The fellow was suggesting making sure that it is 100% pure Tung Oil. 

It will come in handy for part of the big stitching project.  You will have wait and see how.

I will use it on my dining room table as well.

Slow Stitching - No. 003 - Diversity

I finished my 3rd piece of slow stitching.

I am following Kathyrn at K3NClothTales on You Tube and Instagram.

 instagram.com/k3n.clothtales

The prompt for this week is Diversity.

After some thinking about it I came up with the amount of different fabrics I have used in my sewing projects. I have been sewing for 50 years.  My Mom was a seamstress - she sewed all our clothes, quilts, blankets, and many more projects. 

I have gathered several fabrics I have used - left to right. Denim, fleece, quilt cotton, heavy cotton, linen, corduroy, microfiber and flannel.  My sewing projects included bags, aprons, garments, quilts, placemats, linen, coasters, and unpapertowels, etc.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I've been following the eruption in Iceland for a while.  

Homes were lost. Some were new and the one the the family had not moved in.  Two years of hard work up in smoke.

I am so glad the barriers did a great job of keeping the northern eruption from invading into the town of Grindavik.  The quakes are creating cracks everywhere so it is very unsafe for people to return.  

It's been cold for only a few days with a few still to come but it feels like a long time.

Some mornings have been -39C.

The crane has been erected for the construction of a high rise building.  It took place between Christmas and New Years. 

The excavation of the basement was done in the fall with the ground pounding.

The sun is shining so I am grateful for that.

I am working on a slow stitching project and I dyed some flowers this week.

Pink, red, blue, turquoise, yellow and orange.  I was not sure how much color they would absorb but it worked out really great.

I really like these small bouncy balls.  I have acquired several because I am so attracted to them.

I have started using them with my walking exercise in the morning and when I am waiting for my tea warm up in the microwave.

I can do 100 bounces alternating hands in a minute.  I have added raising my knees and hands to more cardio through out the day.

I found a few softer apples in the crisper of the fridge this week when I bought a new bag of apples.

I decided to bake them.  Looking for a recipe I found this Cinnamon Baked Apples.  

The 2 ingredients that elevate this dessert is grated ginger and lemon juice.

Very easy to prepare, makes use of maple syrup instead of sugar, and tastes delicious.

Slow Stitching - No. 002

I finished my 2nd piece of slow stitching.

I am following Katherine at K3NClothTales on You Tube and Instagram. 

The prompt for this week is Balance - Light & Dark.

I chose 2 heavier fabrics in my favorite color combo - yellow and navy blue. I aligned the join on the center line of my 4 inch foundation fabric, pinned it and did whip stitches in both colors - yellow first then black next.

I traced the circle for the sun with a spool of thread then with a darker and brighter yellow embroidery thread 3 strands I stitched the half circle with back stitch and the rays with running stitch.

I added white stars to the navy bottom half.  The fabric was unraveling so I added a blanket stitch all the way around the outside edge with thread that matched the fabric color.

Slow Stitching - No. 001

This slow stitching piece is due to a challenge from Katherine at K3N ClothTales. 

Week 1 was fabric weaving.  

Her word was Community.

It represents stitchers of different varieties represented by the horizontal and vertical strips of fabric. The circle in the center represents the unity among stitchers. I added a button in mine as well.

Lessons learned: Basting in the forms of pins is very important.  

My piece is only 4 inches square so long sewing head pins is quite cumbersome.  The rows fell apart and I had to re do them so that was not fun.

I chose a navy embroidery thread with 3 strands as I wanted it quite bold.  Looking at it now I see that my end stitches would have looked better on the back than the front as they go opposite of the rows stitches. 

Slow Stitching - Set Up

 

Here's my set up for the upcoming slow stitch projects.  I have a large project and a few challenges.

1. Embroidery Thread - regular and pearl cotton

2. I have a small hoop - Not sure I will need it

3. Small scissors and sharpener - These are small enough to fit in the bag to be put away and the sharpener improved the scissors quite a bit.

4. Needles - I did my first piece with tapestry needles which was not ideal.  When I was out to see my sister she dipped into her stash and gave me 3 or 4 finer needles. Some with bigger eyes and smaller, some longer which has helped. The green zigzag tabs was a gift from my neice quite a few years ago and it holds all my needles so they are easy to find.

5. Pin Cushion - I used a vintage small shot glass wit a green bottom.  Wadded up a small bunch of fiberfill and topped it with a striped green fabric and stuffed it into the glass. Works great.  I only have 12 needles so that I can account for them at the end of the day. I don't need them in my flesh anywhere thank you.

6. Basting Thread - this is just sewing machine thread.  I generally use cones on the sewing machine these days so I am pulling the small spools to use up that thread.

7. Heat and Bond Hemming - a roll of this adhesive to hold things together without head pins.  I see some of the you tubers on line are using applique pins which are much smaller.  I will see how I get on.

8. Base Fabric - I ripped 4 inch squares for the challenges I will be undertaking this year.  I think I will jump around to find challenges that interest me.

Christmas Card - January 07

I made a card for a friend who celebrates Christmas on January 7th based on the Julian calendar.

I decided to make her a special card for her Christmas day.  I searched the internet for Christmas cards and downloaded one which I thought worked well.

I needed to add a bit of width to the image so I added navy bits on each side then I was able to print it on 4x6 photo paper. It had white borders which I did not want to keep. Before I trimmed it, I used the photo to create the embossed frame for the photo onto the 5x7 card base in SU Groovy Guava.

Once trimmed I adhered the photo into the frame and it was perfectly even.  That worked well.  I used to make these embossed frames a lot earlier in my card making.

I added a full insert on the inside to cover the embossed frame and that was it.

She really liked it.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 This tealight candle holder is likely the replacement for my Advent Wreath which is broken parts.

I bought it for $5 at a Thrift Store between Christmas and New Years. I like the lines, the fact that it holds 5 candles, and that there is space below to add decor for occasions throughout the year.  It will stay out all year long.  At a thrift store on Tuesday I found these beautiful tealight holders in green, red and amber glass.  Gorgeous blown glass holders. They are Christmas colors.

I have a year to find other candle holders.  I would like to have crackle glass ones again, crystal would be nice, cut glass as well.  What I want is the shadows on the wall which I had with the other one.  I recognize that my lifestyle is going for downsizing so this will be smaller than the other one. 

I bought this Stampin Up punch recently.  I think I will be making watercolor ornaments for Christmas cards and this was a good price.

It is from the Gleaming Ornaments Punch pack which included 2 punches and a stamp set.

I will be designing my own images to trace onto the watercolor punchies. 

You can see I was working of the lines for the hanger on the right hand one.

I was looking for a small scissor sharpener for my embroidery scissors.  I visited a couple of fabric stores and found this one.

I would say it is not the top quality but it has improved the sharpness of the blades so I can cut embroidery thread reliably.

The price was not as high as the Fiskars one I was looking for but the same basic design.

It has improved my experience so for that I am grateful.

It is dangerous to go into a fabric store.

I did come out with 3 small remnant pieces for about $1 each. Check out those flowers on the lace! I hope I can dye them, we will have to see.

The other two pieces are 100 cotton so they will dye nicely. Gauzy fabric to create texture easily on my big embroidery project.

I did buy heat and bond hemming for quick basting of my embroidery projects.

Another World War II story.  The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff.

I love strong female leads and Eleanor Trigg is no exception. This story runs in 2 time lines - 1944 London and Paris during the war and 1946 New York just after the war.

She works for the Special Operations Executive in London for the British Forces. Their male agents are being captured. There is the language and they don't fit in as well as needed. Eleanor is "just a secretary" but she proposes using women which would be less visible. Once the project is approved, she recruits female agents who will be working in occupied France assisting the resistance forces. Radio operators, couriers, and as it turns out much more dangerous tasks. 

Marie and Josie are 2 of these women.  They are sent to Scotland to train in the highlands. Combat, firing a gun, repairing radios, endurance training, learning cyphers to code messages being transmitted and received. 

Grace finds a suitcase at Grand Central Station one day and inside finds photos of 12 young women.  She is compelled to take the photos and she is not sure why.  She eventually learns the suitcase belonged to Eleanor who was killed that day just outside the station. When she returns to the station to put the photos back the suitcase is gone. 

She does eventually learn the names of the girls most of which perished in France just before the D-Day battle.  She learned who Eleanor Trigg was and her purpose for being in New York that day.

Very good book.

Happy New Year 2024

 

Wishing everyone at Happy New Year 2024.  

I am looking forward to watercolor, photography and stitching projects.  Art Shows and family gatherings are planned for this year.  I am grateful, optimistic and moving on from 2023 - leaving it far behind.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

This Christmas featured 2 big events in one day.  First in the morning was the 4 Sunday of Advent.  We light the LOVE candle.  

We are so loved by God that He sent His Son for each one of us.

May we truly take that in.

I spent most of the afternoon and evening on Christmas Eve with my sister, her husband and my brother.

It was a casual affair where we browsed food - shrimp, ribs, and pyrohy like Mom used to make them.

We caught up on our lives with all the good and bad and it was lovely.

We had blueberries, honey and cream for dessert.  

I headed home about 9pm with  my heart full.

Late on Christmas Eve we lit the Christ Candle which is the middle one.

I just love the sparkle that crackle glass brings.  

Unfortunately, one of the inserts is broken and so I plan on replacing this Advent Wreath next year.

I will keep my eyes out.

I spent Christmas Day at home.

I purchased sourdough cinnamon buns from Freesons for breakfast. They were delicious.  They came highly recommended and did not disappoint.  

Turkey with all the trimmings was on the menu for supper. 

This was the first Christmas without either Mom & Dad.  I missed them a lot.

I headed to my sister's and brother-in-law's on December 28th to have turkey with them.

It was a good drive with good temps, little traffic and a pleasure.

I decided that I would stop and visit a thrift store to get soup bowls to match my white dishes but they were closed till Jan 2nd.

This is how much snow was on the ground for Christmas this year.  Not a lot at all.

The deer came to visit in their neighborhood and I got a decent shot.

They always have a natural tree.  It is covered with personal ornaments each with it's special memory.  I don't think there was a commercial bauble of any type.

The Nativity under the tree with a stable of olive wood made in Germany and the Avon white pieces of the holy family and the additional members of that night.

I did not remember that we have the same Avon white set.  Mine has few pieces.

The birthday party was great.  

This is one of the gifts received.  A vintage Fisher Price tool bench with all the accessories.

A bench press, a drill, a hammer, wood that cuts on the table saw.

All in working order after 20 years in service.

It will be enjoyed for a few more years.

I rode with my sister and brother in law which was appreciated.

It's great to have like minded family that value something vintage and would prefer those to consuming something new and not as well made.

Sewing Project - Food Storage Cloths

I decided to make cloths specifically for moisture control when taking fruits or veggies to a pot luck.

They are cut to 6 inches square.

I serged the edges and tuck the ends into the seams.

I used paper towels in the past.  I have used some of my unpaper towels which are too big.

I decided to make a set that I know always are used with my Tupperware modular mates.  

I chose flannelette fabric in a snowflake pattern. The pattern makes me think fridge containers.

Celestial Stuffies

 

I made a set of stuffies for a little girl celebrating a birthday soon.  Sun, Moot and Star.

The Sun: I cut orange and yellow felt with rays layered on top of each other then turned the yellow one over. I cut a circle of warm yellow and stitched it to the center and stuffed before closing it up with over stitches. I add longer stitched to connect the rays to each other.  I added some orange stitches to the center.

The Moon.  I cut 2 large circles from white felt then cut out smaller circles from one of them. I layered some grey flannel fabric under it and used stab stitches to connect the two. Once the 3 craters were done I stitched the 2 white circles together with the blanket stitch around the outside. Once I was close I stuffed the moon with fiber fill and then closed the opening.

The Star: The 2 star shapes were cut with Stampin Up Star thinlit dies from yellow felt.  I embroidered the front shape with variegated thread.  The shapes are held together with blanket stitching.  It was stuffed with fiber fill.