A Mini Finish & a few Quilting WIPs

Hello!


I'm linking to Amanda Jean's (Crazy Mom Quilts) Finish it Up Friday (where, for a few weeks, the link up will now be open until Sunday afternoon).


I wonder if anyone can help me! Somewhere I saw a link up party for "things you just had to drop everything for, to make that item", and I would have linked there too, but I'm afraid I can't remember where it was! I'm sure one of you will know, if you do, could you point me in the right direction please?

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Yippee! I have a Mini Finish!

The other day I fell down "the black hole" that is Pinterest ..... just for a change! Tee hee!

A friend had said she would like to do some embroidery, and that she had never done any before. Because I can't resist trying to help I looked at Pinterest, remembering seeing "Pins" that said something like "10 easy embroidery stitches for beginners". Of course I couldn't find even one such "Pin" now that I wanted to!

But while searching, something drew me to thread catchers ..... and then, I saw ..... Mini Thread Catchers (MTC)!

Oh, the excitement of it! Well, you know me ..... I love my "Mini" projects. And, that was it! Everything else went on hold.

I'd been meaning to make a MTC for some time, although I had tried to convince myself that I really didn't need one!

My Mini Thread Catcher (MTC)

When I read about the thread catchers that Jill had made, on her blog "Creating My Way to Success", they looked so dinky, I couldn't resist any longer, and set about gathering the materials to make a start. 

You can see the plastic I used here, with the finished
thread catcher, and a tassel I was making on Friday night

In case anyone fancies a go, here's a few notes on how I made mine (Jill has a tutorial link on her blog)

• I made a rim from the plastic - 5" long and used sticky tape to make it into a circle.
• Fabric - 5 1/2" x 5" (You need to measure your rim, and add 1/2" to the width for seam allowances. I used 2 scraps 5 1/2" x 2 1/2" and joined them together)
• Cardboard circles x 2 (I made my circles 1/16" smaller than the rim, but would advise 1/4" so the bottom will fold up into the rim)
• Fabric circles plus 1/4" seam allowance - stitched in the style of a yo-yo (or Sussex Puff) x 2
• Wadding same size as cardboard circles x 2

1. Start by turning 1/4" hem down, top and bottom of your main fabric.
2. Then make into a tube, by stitching the short sides together .... this is the fiddly bit! you will need to graduate your seam  ..... to make the bottom fit the cardboard circles.
3. Thread fabric through your rim and fold the top edge down to join the bottom edge.
4. Make a row of stitches, holding the top neatly around the rim.
5. Stitch around rim of fabric circle, as if making a yo-yo. Then layer your fabric circles, RS down, wadding, then card. Gather thread, and secure. Stitch both yo-yo's together, RS out.
6. Stitch yo-yo's to base, catching both inner and outer fabrics.

Et voila! Finito!

It seemed a good idea to be able to attach the MTC to my Mini Sewing Kit ..... so I've used a few old fashioned poppers!

And here's the thread catcher folded away!

This was another Friday evening stitching project, and although these stitches look large here they are actually quite teeny!

More poppers were needed here to hold the MTC closed

It will be much easier to use than storing my threads in my glasses case!

I will definitely be making more of these ..... Mum has already said that it is just what she needs to go with the pouch I made her!

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WIPS

Just prior to making the MTC I was tempted to start this little quilting project, for my handicraft group where we are making things with birds on using embroidery, crochet, appliqué, patchwork ..... whatever! Oh, and I meant to link to Tusal ..... that's why my thread jar is in the picture ..... but I keep missing the date! Sorry no time to add links here, I will talk about this again another day, with more detail.

I must work on this some more now I've finished the MTC!

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And my other WIP - "Laundry Day" quilt:

Here's me ..... quilting "In the Ditch"

For my non quilting friends - this means stitching as close to the edge of the folds as possible.

Wavy line quilting the road

I'm not sure how close to the edge to quilt .... on my experimental block (blogged about HERE) I stitched all round the block to keep all the layers together, then when I added the binding the needle kept wanting to slip off the block, making it very difficult stitch an exact 1/4"seam.

I've quilted the pathway too, but then had the dilemma..... should I be changing thread colours for the sky and the grass! Decisions, decisions!

I'm ready for the binding though! 

I've chosen 2.5" binding

I will finish this binding by machine stitch, and so I am using a slightly wider binding than I would normally ..... hoping to catch all the binding with the machine.

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And just look what I found yesterday!

He was just peeking at me!

Our cheeky little cat was sleeping tucked under our duvet, adjacent to DH's pillow! he obviously thought he'd found a very nice place to sleep!!!!! How cheeky is he, the little imp (the cat!). But don't worry I didn't tell him off .... I think he was feeling the cold after being out in the sunshine all morning. We were so relieved when DH finally found him, as we had been looking all over the house, and in the garden for ages! We were both very relieved to see him.

Sorry this was a bit long ..... I got quite carried away!

Have a great week, and stay safe everyone!

Hugs,

Barbara x