Handwork Central

Well, St. Pat's is passed and I switched out the wall hangings and other doo dad's for the Easter things.  I still want to grab a few things from the storage room but I am not running out there in my jammies.  A button fell off my Spring "In Seasons" quilt so I hauled out the hand stitching bag.  I need it anyway since I have binding to do on a couple items from my  recent Saturday post.

How do you store your hand quilting and hand applique items?  This cosmetic case works for me as I have space to stow some thread, a zipped pocket for the duck billed scissors and all manner of needles, as well as the sewing set that my pal Pam made for me years ago.  Another zipped but covered pocket.

I keep a few generic hair clips for holding the binding.  I know Clover makes some neat super dooper ones now that are tiny and supposedly make it easier to sew binding down by machine but they ARE pricey!  Like, put it on my Christmas or Birthday list, pricey. Or I'd rather spend money on fabric, pricey.  I had at one time a package of 100 of these but have from time to time given away a half dozen or so as that is really all you need as you work around the edge of piece you are binding---keep moving them up and away.

What I was really looking for was the desktop needle threader that Cher had given me years ago.  It was in that covered zipped up pocket as look, I still have the instructions on how to operate it.  I did not used to have much need for it as I did not struggle threading needles like I am now-----read:  I'm far sighted now where I used to be near sighted for most of my life.  I swear, I struggled with just regular thread and a normal sized needle the other day far longer than necessary.  I finally gave up and grabbed a different kind but it left larger holes than I wanted.  SIGH  I doubt that even a wire threader would have been on much use when you cannot even see that there IS an eye on the needle.  I drug out the magnifying glass DJ gave me for Christmas but did not have enough hands, LOL.   Do they make magnifying readers??   Let's hope that things go a little easier today.

I quilted up the cupcake wall hanging yesterday, made and applied the binding on the machine.  Not very ambitious yesterday.  That little piece and the fabric basket both need hand finishing as does my little ORT jar thread catcher, just along the outside of the thing.  My interior stitching looks horrid!!  Good thing it is on the inside and I can see that I was far too particular about stitching together the base sandwich, trying to bury the stitches and such.  I wondered too if you were supposed to gather the edge up in some manner before you tried to apply the smaller diameter base??

Upright---well, kinda upright!  The heart stuff is challenge fabric and yes, it is laying down on the job.  Oops!

 

Twisting it closed---not enough of the heart fabric so used the stuff from the sewing machine cover adventure in the interior.  Don't look at that mess on the base.  I'm going to fix it as best I can.

And closed or nearly so.  It looks kind of cool closed up.  The base fabric matches.

And sew it goes around here for the day.  I have a couple errands and paperwork that will slow down the creativity and we may be due for some more stormy weather.  The running errand part may have to wait for better weather.

Oh, you might remember me talking about my husband working so hard to remove the Chinese Privet in the back yard last month.  Here he is at the time, still working on the small volunteers that make this such an invasive plant.

When we went out to breakfast Saturday at a local fast food place near here with our house guests, our neighbors across the lane were there too.  Glynda is my hair dresser and Robert does concrete work professionally but is a jack of all trades too.  He is also the one with the equipment to pull that stump.  The guys were kidding about bartering services as Robert knew DJ had done that painting project with the cabinets.  Glynda had a painting project for the beauty shop and had enlisted Robert's help.  Good natured ribbing back and forth.

A few hours later, between the endloader and a borrowed excavator that thing is gone!  DJ spent a good bit of time yesterday removing small roots and the little stubborn volunteers beating them with an ax down on his hands and knees.    He has it raked and the dirt clods broke up as best he could so he can put down some grass seed.  Soon he should be able to get the mower back there which was his main objective.  While the flowers were pretty on that huge bush in the spring, the scent would plug up your sinuses in no time!  Here it was two years ago and trust me, it had gotten way bigger than that!!  Good riddance.

Shower, get dressed and get this day really rolling----------