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! 

Procrastination and craziness

I tested the backing fabric for Lazy Punk and the good news is that it does not have to be prewashed. Yahoo! The backing fabric is cut and ready to be stitched together. Once that is done I'll pin baste and then the quilting will begin. I think the pin basting is my least favourite activity but it is only because my sewing room is small and I have to pack things up and move furniture to be able to open up the table so that I can baste. I want to have the quilt finished by October 9th (YIKES) so I can take it for show and share at my quilt guild before I deliver it. So with the clock ticking what did I decide to do? Clean my computer desk. It is much tidier now!

I don't have any basting to share but I did receive a new book from Sew Sisters. They were having a special sale (29% off) so it was the perfect opportunity to purchase this book! There are lots of lovely decorative stitches in this book and it is very well illustrated. It will be a welcome addition to my collection of embroidery books!

I was thinking about what to test some of the stitches on and I remembered a little crazy quilt I started many years ago so I dug it out. It measures 9" x 12" so it is quite small.

There are lots of seams just screaming to be embellished so I may try out some of the stitches from Sue Spargo's book on this quilt. I've already embroidered a lot of little critters and plants and a few of the seams. Here are a couple of close-ups!

My initial, a little blue bird and carrots

 

A mushroom, grapes and hollyhocks

 

Enough procrastination - time to get to work on Lazy Punk. Well, maybe I will procrastinate just a little longer. There's a new printer that has been waiting to be hooked up for over a week now so maybe I should take care of that before I get to Lazy Punk!

Until I post again, happy sewing!