Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Procrastination is about to end, sewing treasures and more crazies

I procrastinated all day yesterday and there was neither basting nor quilting. But I wasn't wasting time because I did manage to install a new printer however it took all afternoon. There was lots of frustration and I was close to tears more than once but in the end it was connected and I can now print to my heart's content. When faced with this type of challenge I often recall an old Star Trek episode when Dr. McCoy (aka Bones) was asked by Capt. Kirk to treat a silicon-based alien (it looked like a big heaving rock to me). His response was "Dammit Jim I'm a doctor not a bricklayer". When faced with IT problems I often think "I'm a quilter, not an IT specialist"!

Since there is no quilting to show how about a few sewing treasures that I've collected over the years?
 
 
So what are all of these things? The following item was picked up at a garage sale by a friend. He knew it was for sewing but wasn't sure what you do with it. It is a wooden sock darner. You can tell from all the nicks that it has been well used to mend may socks.
 
 
This next little item was found it a shop that sold tchotchkes. It is a little wooden needle case that would have been turned on a lathe.
 
 
The top come off and inside are some pins. Looked at the lovely threaded top and rim! Beautiful work.
  
The third treasure was picked up in the same shop and it is a French ivory button hook. French ivory is celluloid and it is a manmade material that was made to resemble ivory.
 
 The last treasure is a wooden stiletto that my brother turned for me on his lathe. In addition to being functional it is beautiful. It is made of curly maple (also called fiddle back) and it is loaded with beautiful iridescent figuring. It is a handy little tool with loads of uses from feeding points under a sewing machine needle to poking out corners!
 
I'll leave you with two more close-ups of some of my hand embroideries on my miniature crazy quilt. These little blocks are 3" square.
 
A tiny little frog

A pansy and a bumble bee
 
Right - time to get back to Lazy Punk.....let the basting begin!
 
Until I post again, happy sewing! 

2 comments:

  1. this miniature quilt is fab. love, love, love your bees! they've really turned into my fave embroideries by you :D and the pansy is beautiful, too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lia - I really should make time to finish it off. Aren't bees wonderful?

      Delete