Sew I See!

I had planned to try to finish "Punkin' Patch" (a Bonnie Hunter pattern) by Halloween, since it is primarily an October quilt.  The pumpkin theme could carry right through Thanksgiving, but the grey and black backgrounds give it more of Halloween feel.  Despite good intentions, I had some trouble deciding how to quilt it, just didn't feel in the right mood for free-motion quilting for a while, and then lost a little time in the lead-up and aftermath of Hurricane Zeta.  (We only lost power for about 12 hours, this time, and there was no problem with shingles or falling trees in our yard or across the easement. The well did lose its prime again, though, so Donald had to pour gallons and gallons into a little pipe to get it working again. Fortunately, we had saved plenty of jugs for this very purpose.)   I did finish the quilting this morning, but decided against rushing to make and attach the binding.  It'll happen soon, and that's soon enough! Even though I ...

 I don't have anything finished to show, but I have  been crocheting more of the mini doilies.  I've kind of gotten into a rut, actually.  I've made one of the mini doily patterns twice, and another of them three times! ( 99 Little Doilies , by Patricia Kristoffersen.)  At this point, I decided it was time to stop crocheting the same pattern obsessively and start weaving in the ends.  Of course, since I'd been using remnants of thread, these mini doilies have more ends than usual.  Some of them have six ends; one has eight.  They begin to add up!  But at least the process has begun.  A good podcast should make it go more smoothly.   Here's a photo of the current "bowl of thread".   It's bulked up with the latest full-size doily (also in need of end-weaving, still) and the small remnant balls of thread that... remain.  (Back into the jar with you!  Your time hasn't come yet, poor things.  ...What?  ...

Last Tuesday, I decided it was time to apply the binding to my "Hunter's String Star" quilt.  I'd had the binding ready since before the hurricane, but... Well, I don't particularly enjoy applying bindings to quilts, so I put it off.  I enjoy the sense of accomplishment when the binding is finished, though, and when that's all that's left, it feels like it's hanging over my head, preventing me from fully focusing on other projects.  The time had come to just do it!   Looking through what I had in-stash that was red and of sufficient quantity, I settled on a semi-scrappy binding-- two fabrics of almost identical red, but with different prints.  Two prints isn't really a fully-fledged scrappy binding, but I think it's fine.  It's such a busy quilt that people probably won't notice the binding all that much, anyway. The binding went on smoothly; none of my seams fell at a corner-- purely good luck, since I didn't bother to eyeball it b...

One of the questions in the "self-interview" questionnaire I recently posted asked about the view from the sewing machine, and that reminded me that earlier this summer, I took a bunch of photos of my craft room, intending to share a craft room tour.  The tour never materialized, but the photos were still there, waiting.  So why not do that now? I enjoy taking a little peek into other people's creative spaces, as it seems that many people do.  If the room is immaculate and beautifully decorated, it inspires daydreams of possibilities.  If it's cleverly arranged or organized, I borrow and apply those ideas to my own room.  If it's full of personality and a little (or a lot!) messy, it makes me smile and reminds me that a little "creative clutter" is okay.  It's also just interesting to catch a glimpse of someone's happy place!   This is almost exactly how my room is currently laid out.  The only significant change I've made in the meantime was...