Friday, April 15, 2022

Slower Pace

After the intensity of working on many WIPs while on retreat, being at home again, with no projects urgently needing to be accomplished, it's been an easy week. 

I sewed up the end of a bag (made from donated fabric) for fabric snippets and threads. It's now a 38" X 48" pet bed for a local animal shelter. Another prepped bag, made from two large bath towels, is already hanging from the machine table waiting to be filled.

On Tuesday evening I took a virtual Sashiko 101 workshop with Claudia from Snuggly Monkey. She lived and worked in Japan for several years, so what she knows about this stitchery form is authentic. Since I don't own anything related to Sashiko, I purchased her beginner's kit that included a printed sampler, two skeins of Sashiko, two needles (long and short), and a palm thimble, all in a Snuggly Monkey zipper bag.

Claudia's a great instructor, but using that palm thimble is proving challenging.

It may be because my fingers are long (an attribute when playing the piano as I did), but I can't seem to get the middle finger to properly hold the needle and have the end of it set in the thimble dish. I've watched a couple YouTube videos too, but it's not easy to see how the middle finger is bent to hold the needle. Still, I'm not deterred! As with any new motor skill, it has to be practiced. I will do so!

After another trip to JoAnn's for more fusible, I am progressing on Seaglass quilt #2. I've gone through more scraps and stash, and put fusible on the back of these small pieces. 

Now to cut more seaglass shapes. 

Twenty-eight quilters in my Big Cypress Quilters chapter joined me to learn how to make thread catchers. These three that I've finished since the workshop was over, were the samples I used to explain various steps. 

I still get a kick out of twisting and turning to collapse and open.

What's interesting is how much different brands of 4" wood embroidery hoops vary in circumference. If you make one, keep in mind that while instructions say to sew a ½" side seam, in fact depending on the size of your 4" hoop, you may need to sew as much as a 1" seam!

Here's the link to the free PDF pattern, originally created by Red Hen Fabrics (now out of business). 

My friend, Patty, received the braided rag rug I made and sent her, and shared pictures of it in the front parlor of her Texas home.

It suits the spot well, doesn't it? She's happy with it, and I'm happy she's happy! 

Audio book listening has slowed as dramatically as I have slowed at creating. I'm listening to a book now and will have a recommendation in my next blog post. 

I hope each of you are pausing for reflection during this Christian Holy Week. Today, Good Friday, isn't the most pleasant day to celebrate because we're remembering Jesus's condemnation and crucifixion. 

Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed one?"

"I am," said Jesus.

The high priest tore his clothes, "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. "You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"

They all condemned him as worthy of death.  -Mark 14:61-64

On Easter Sunday we'll have a reason to have celebrate because the grave could not contain him! 

... they saw a young man dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

"Don't be alarmed," he said, "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here...  -Mark 16:5-8

He is risen indeed! Linda

16 comments:

  1. Linda, I feel so silly. I make pet beds for the cat shelter all the time and it never occurred to me to sew the bag and stuff as I go. I always use a large plastic bag and then stuff the bed with the contents! Ha! I love the thread caddy, will definitely check out the PDF. Have a blessed Easter

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  2. Pet beds seems such a wonderful idea, I should check with our local SPCA and see if they would be interested. I always have plenty of snippets and tiny scraps which go in the bin.

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  3. Glad you are home and got a lot done so you can relax a bit! That thread catcher is so cute, but the link doesn't work. (at least it didn't for me)

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    1. The link doesn't work for me either. It takes me to my own Google Drive folder.

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  4. Those little thread catchers are so cute. The PDF opened fine for me and I was able to download and save. Might have a couple of questions if I ever decide to make one. I'm guilty of saving a lot of projects I never get around to. Happy Easter to you Linda.

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  5. Interesting about the thimble for sashiko! Had no idea there was a special thimble, but nice you took the class to get familiar with it all. I really like the sampler!

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  6. Linda, I'm always delighted to see your braided rugs. I've wanted to make one ever since seeing your first one. I even tried to sign up for her zoom class once, but had to cancel because of health issues at the time. I know I have fabric scraps to make at least 20 of them if ever I learned how!! I'm like Anne who says she downloads and saves a lot of things, but doesn't always find time to make them. Your rugs are so pretty. Love every one of them when they are finished.

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  7. I made a thimble pad which works really well. It's a tad larger than what you're using. Easy to make...think it took all of 10 min! Here's my blog post:
    https://robbiespawprints.blogspot.com/2020/07/little-bit-of-everything.html

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  8. I love Robbie's DIY palm thimble, via Slow Fiber Studios!!! All your projects are beautiful--the rug-beautiful colors--looks so nice on her hearth!

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  9. Thanks for the Snuggly Monkey link, Linda, and best of luck on your sashiko adventure!

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  10. I'm not sure my poor arthritic fingers would cope with a thimble like that. But then again, I don't use a thimble for any sewing! The thread catchers are very cute. Thanks for the link.

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  11. I am constantly using my thread catcher. One of my quilting guild members gave us a step by step demo. She used a cut piece of a Pringles can instead of the embroidery hoop. It is as sturdy as can be and has held up well over many, many uses, as well as, a money saver.
    Thank you again for another inspiring post. I just might try a small version of your seaglass quilt.

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  12. Your rug really did turn out well! And I'm sure you'll be making quick progress with sashiko. It probably will work just fine with a regular thimble if it comes to that!

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  13. I would have a super hard time figuring out that thimble for sashiko. Are you getting the hang of it? and I'm definitely going to make a twisty thread catcher. :)

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  14. Thanks for the link to the thread catcher pattern. I'm trying to make one and am wondering if I did something wrong. I'm trying to sew the circle to the end of the tube, but the tube is larger in circumference than the cardboard circle section. How do you sew them together without having to make pleats?

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