Welcome to 2022

Here we go. It's February and time to welcome you all to 2022. Groundhog saw his shadow yesterday and predicts more winter. That, to me, means more time to sew. Here are a few things that I made as 2021 was making its exit. 

I had a lot of Minions fabric left over from mask making, and always have denim, so I made a lap quilt using fleece for the backing. 

Simple strip pieced placemats for Christmas. A great way to use some of my new and vintage Christmsa fabrics. 

I used some Christmas fabrics to make appliques and applied them to new hand/kitchen towels with Wonder Under and then machine zig-zag stitching. I gave a few as gifts and have plenty of towels left to make more. 

Recently, I dipped into my Peter Max fabric collection and made a few tote bags. The pink is bright and colorful, but... 

...this is always my favorite of the Max fabrics. My swim bag is made of this same fabric and I've been using it for a decade or so now. 

I made a monthly theme calendar for sewing for this year. Trying something new! January was tote bags and for February, it's Halloween sewing. Helps me stay focused. I still throw in garments or whatever I feel like, but the goal is to get certain theme-centered items done for Etsy. 

So, here we go - 2022!

Halloween is coming

Time to start sewing for the creeps and goblins. 

I decided to embellish some hand towels with brain fabric I keep around. I've made and posted about making tote bags and potholders in the past, but wanted to try something different. As I had recently decorated some hand towels and wash cloth for a redecorated bathroom, I went with that - hand towels (new towels, of course). It could double as a kitchen towel, but that's up to the user, right? 

I used a smaller brain pattern and did not quilt the folds this time. I machine appliquéd the brain and stitched on the accent piece. A friend commented on one of them, so she got one as a gift! I told her not to compliment my sewing unless she wanted one for herself. 

Also recently, I made another set of pumpkin placemats:

Then I cut up most of my Halloween fabric into 5" squares and sold them on eBay. I kept some of it for myself, of course, but it was time to let some of it go. I have yards and yards and yards and yards of it! You can't have enough fabric, right?

So, get your scissors out, go through your stash, and set your machine to whirring. Before you know it, it'll be Christmas and winter sewing time. 

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!