Sewing Thoughts - Hexagons and Hand Sewing

I eat, sleep, and breath hexagons. I've been working on a hexie charm quilt for a long time now and am on the home stretch. What that means is that I have about 6 months to go before I finish it! Thousands of 2-1/2" hexagons, none duplicated (unless by accident) have been a part of my life for a while now. Sheesh. Will it ever be done? And will I start another one? The answer to both questions is yes. It's what I do and I love having something to take with me to work on, especially now that I no longer have carpal tunnel!

Which brings me to thoughts on hand sewing. Over at SewDaily.com, there's a great blog entry about hand sewing.  I agree whole heartedly that hand sewing is a completely different "animal." I get into the zone when I have a needle and thread in hand with my thimble tight on my finger. I can take my time and plan, cut, sew, measure, re-measure, and get back to the cut and sew part over and over again.

Rose from SewDaily.com mentions that hand sewing is quiet. Maybe that's part of what I like. It's me an my needle. Anything else is superfluous. I tend to hand sew while watching TV when I'm at home. It's almost a diet aid as I never eat while I sew. You want that quilt done? Then there will be no kitchen raiding! That's not really quiet, but it's my time.

She also stresses portability. I've found that to be one of the most wonderful aspects of hand sewing. I always have a hexagon or Cathedral Window project going - they both use small pieces of fabric, they both require hand sewing, and they both have prep work that can be done before you travel and pack your sewing tote. For now, it's hexagons. Always hexagons.

On a side note, I did go dish towel crazy! I ended up making five of them. I did one with hot air balloon fabric, with leftover red/white/blue binding, with an open cutwork piece I got at a yard sale, the one on the dish towel blog entry, and another one I can't remember. CRS syndrome. It was a fun thing to do. I had an old towel and never began to think about how many dish towels it would make. I just sort of started cutting and sewing. Sometimes, you just gotta do something off-the-cuff like that.

Happy sewing. I'll be traveling for the next several days. I have my hexagons all packed and ready to go with my little portable sewing kit. I'm hooked/doomed/addicted - however you want to classify it.

Sewing again! Dish towel fun.

Two things:

First, it has been a while since I've been able to sew. I had a trigger finger and my carpal tunnel syndrome repaired. that meant that I had to hold off on doing any real sewing. I'm able to sew again and that makes me very happy.

Second, I need dish towels. Rather than run out and buy some, I decided to use an old bath towel that has seen better days. I cut out two pieces that were not damaged, serged the edges, and then tried to decide what to do. I had a smidgen of a cutter quilt left, so I cut out hearts and zig-zagged them onto the dish towel base. I try to make sure to sew over each old original seam; they're hand sewn and prone to come apart. Plus, these towels are going to be used and washed, so it's best to reinforce every seam I can.

I used a tight zig-zag stitch to applique the hearts in place and then applied Fray-Check for good measure.

I went through my leftover bias tape and found a length of red. I also zig-zagged that by machine and that was that.

Now I have a dish towel and one more blank ready to decorate. I have three more patchwork hearts, so I'll probably use those, but in a different arrangement somehow.

Lesson learned is that our bath towels are not dead when they're about ready to be retired. Take a look and see what you have. This was a quickie afternoon project, but you can make it as fancy or as simple as you like. The bottom line is that it's a true scrap project. I bought nothing. (I don't count the thread; I always have thread on hand and I wasn't as concerned about a 100% match for these.)

Now that I have a healed hand, I am finding I have a better than healed hand. I can hand sew again! In a very short while, I get to try embroidering again, and that makes me more than happy. I haven't embroidered for almost 30 years. And guess what? I have lots of old DMC floss, so I'll be scrap stitching then too!

A wondrous thought

It just dawned on me tonight that I may be able to hand embroider again after my hand heals. I had carpal tunnel and trigger finger surgery last Friday. I'm doing great, but it's amazing to me to think that it took me years to have this done. I have had symptoms of the dreaded carpal tunnel for 20 years, at least. It is 100% gone, even as I heal. It was gone when I came out from anesthesia. I hope to be cleared for sewing and scissors work next week when I get my stitches out. I am having withdrawal from my needle and thread!

P.S. Good thing I've never gotten rid of my basket of DMC floss!

Fun craft that can be adapted in many ways!

Over on Crafting A Green World, they have posted a really cool way to use old embroidery hoops to make Easter eggs. But guess what? You could do this with any hoop, any fabric, any embellishment, and have a really cool item to hang on your wall or give as a gift. I always see these hoops at yard sales and know I have a few of my own. I hooped embroidered pictures many years ago and had just about forgotten this method of crafting.

Image used by permission courtesy of  Crafting A Green World

Think of three round hoops with your favorite fabrics, quilt blocks (who says all blocks have to be made into pillows?), photo printed fabric, a button art piece, or just about anything, and hang them on the wall in a triangle or straight trio of art.

You may want to follow Crafting a Green World's blog. They have some amazing ideas that tickle the gray matter and make you think "I can do that!" Lots of their ideas have been jumping off points for me and get me thinking about a variety of ways to create. Have fun with it!

Oh, it is so time to sew!

I really, really need to sew. I have way too many ideas running around inside my head. I want to sew for my 18" dolls, for my great-niece (her dress is cut out and ready to rock and roll), for myself, for my home (I have a set of hand towels I'm working on that basically need to be sized/trimmed and edge finished), and just for fun.

I always have my hexagon quilt to work on. That's 100% hand sewing. i want to fire up the Bernina and get going!

I think my plan is to take advantage of my now semi-retired state. Sewing with Nancy used to tell us to make time to sew every day, even if it's only 15-20 minutes. I may not make it every day, but I'm going to shoot for a few days a week until I figure out my rhythm. My hand sewing has taught me patience; I do not need to finish everything lickety split! That should help with sewing in small spurts. My machine is set up (that's my machine in the picture) all the time and so is my ironing board. My in-progress pile has shrunken over the past months. I have no excuse. None. I need to just do it.

So, here's hoping I have more to share with you soon - how-to's, just stuff about what I'm sewing, pictures, or whatever. I finished Adam and Sandy's baby quilt. I'll take pictures of that in a day or so. It looks a lot like the progress photo, but now it's complete with hand made, bias ruffle binding. I could do a how-to of that, huh? Note to self: Do that!

Get to sewing everyone!

Scrap stitching - sort of - Handbag out of an old book!

I saw this link on Crafting for a Green World and thought some of you might enjoy giving it a try. You use fabric and an old book to make a purse. Fun idea, huh?

Hop over to Curbly and check out the tutorial.

Feel free to share your scrap stitching ideas for stuff!

New project added - gift tags

Years ago, I worked on a site called SewingWeb. I don't think it's still with us, but that's another story for another day. I did several projects when I had the site and am sharing one with you today. It's a simple way to use fabric, Wonder Under, and some string/yarn/ribbon that you have around the house.

Use this as a jumping off point. Let your imagination take hold and use the concept for greeting cards, embellished stationery, putting a new bit of artwork on a used greeting card, business cards, name tags or any other paper/fabric fusing you can think of.

Take a peek. It's gift tags!