This is definitely in line with my personal opinion, especially in these days of social isolation! :) Today was the scheduled monthly meeting of my Sew&Tell group via Zoom this time. Some of us were missing for various 'ordinary' and 'special' life reasons ... but those of us who came enjoyed one another's company. :)
It was also my daughter's (my oldest child's) birthday. 41 years ago I became a mother and my life changed forever (for the better, in my experience:). Being a mother has enriched my existence multifold and beyond any expectation I ever had before the fact. I've learned and grown in many, many different ways in the aftermath! I did call my dearheart and wish her a great day (she was excited to be going to visit her in-laws with the family - their gift to her was a day sans children to spend with her husband:).
Back to S&T. I spent the entire afternoon in my sewing room which is situated upstairs at the southeast corner of our house. Today was sunny, without the wind that was so chilling earlier in the week and not too cold (mid to high 40s). It was really pleasant to sit at my sewing machine in the afternoon sunshine!
I sewed two labels on baby sized charity quilts (our guild makes labels to put on the quilts we donate).
Then I managed to finish making a felt bowl that I have struggled with for some weeks, off and on. I bought a kit from The Bead Shop in the UK - saw it on a YouTube video and liked the idea. :) I struggled with it first because of the kind of thread included in the kit - very strong but very slippery. My hand strength was just not sufficient to manage tying off at the end. I had some bobbles with following the instructions, too (not the fault of the video, strictly user errors:). Finally today I managed to get my act together - I chose to use some of my book making waxed linen thread instead of the beading thread included with the kit ... and that worked fine for me. Here is the result (scissors added for scale - not sure exactly what I will really use the bowl for, yet:)
My apologies for the scattered light effects - was nicely sunny in my room. :) Having made this one, I will likely order more of these kits as I think they are lovely general purpose containers.
Once I had accomplished those two tasks ... I turned my mind (already focused as my back-brain was on my daughter) toward starting a 'new' quilt project. (I can't make any more headway on the embroidered quilt until the additional brown fabric I ordered online arrives). I promised my girl quite a while ago to make a nice sofa quilt for her/her family to go with their pretty Arts&Crafts style sofa/living room furniture. I'm FINALLY going to work on that.
I've dithered for several years over finding the TWO fat quarter collections of William Morris fabrics I bought for the purpose (heaven alone knows where I've stashed them). Then over just what project I should make with them. I finally decided to cut past all that when I visited my local quilt shop (Springwater Designs) recently and found the new 'Best of Morris' collection by Barbara Brackman for Moda. The sample they made is a very contemporary design but I like it and said 'Go for it, Linda!' to myself. :)
Anyway, I started in on cutting for the quilt and managed to get the bits for the body and first border produced before we called our meeting to an end. YEAH! When I go back into my sewing room (tomorrow, with any luck), I can start sewing right away. One of my coping-with-easily-distracted-self techniques is to try to always leave my working area in an easy state to begin again ... where it is obvious to me what I should do next. Any time I don't do that, it takes me ages of dithering to get going. :)
Here is what I managed the last time I worked on my embroidered quilt project (last Wednesday? Thursday?):
Just a quick pic to record progress made. :) Pegged up on my blackboard and waiting for more buddies when fabric comes.
In the evenings this week I've been working on free hand embroidery of my silk hand image. Here are some photos to show where that had gotten to (I've done more work since this but not taken more pictures):
I'm pleased with how this is coming along. I do so enjoy free hand surface stitchery - basically, the 'old fashioned' kind of embroidery my Grandma taught me as a small child. Pretty much what I do with crazy quilting, without the seams. :) The thumb area is mostly finished now and I'm contemplating how to proceed with the next finger length. I'm thinking of putting initials and dates inside the heart ... but my ideas will develop as I go along. I tend to 'gestate' the design as I proceed - I find that MUCH more entertaining than trying to make all the layout/design decisions up front. Less taxing, too!
When the S&T Zoom finished, I went out for a drive around my neighborhood in the sunshine. And ran into a big black billowing cloud over on Snowden River Parkway - avoided driving toward the area to see what was happening when two fire trucks roared past me on the road. When I got home, I hit the Google and discovered that there was a big fire at the Lincoln Technical Institute building a little farther up SRP than I drove. From the size and energy of the clouds I saw, it must have been a pretty big fire.
Tomorrow should be pretty quiet, though I do have to deliver those two baby quilts to the guild collecting volunteer. Otherwise, sewing is on the menu.
:) Linda
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