Still Sewing Not Sketching

Large square coasters and:

Fabric Buckets or Baskets!! 

 So easy to learn from video tutorials by

Jean Truelove 

(she offers quality instruction

plus entertainment, 

she is full of personality!)

And Treasurie. 

(she offers a quick & clear tutorial,

excellent to refer back to as often as one needs.

...which is often, in my case...)

Use them as pretty containers, make as gifts...

They remind me of Origami, going from a flat

material to a 3D object. 

Isn't it magical, what humans come up with! 

Still sewing not sketching.

It's all good.

(Except the part about having the moth rash 

& fly bites.)

Remedy: Stay in & sew!

Still Quilting (#3 in a series)

Still working on the little quilt rather than sketching...

The current stage: 9 blocks ready to join...
I need the sticky notes to remember the layout.

Border to be added and a backing...
Maybe some embroidery....probably not sashing...

Preceding stages: I love the evolution!

My sewing room work space has been evolving.
An "office" corner with my card table from high school!

The day bed for laying out work, a drying rack for fabric.
The little, foldable plastic white table cost $10.
I'll be able to carry it with me 
when Sketchbook Wandering!

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying being a plant 
nurturer/grower,
indoors and out. 
Not a Gardener, not a Quilter, 
but being Homebound (mostly)
makes me an Enjoyer 
of these things!

The next project has already begun,
it happened on its own with leftover squares. 
I'm still using up what I've learned is called
my "stash." My fabric scraps from before.
Again, I'm grateful to You Tube sewing & quilt instructions.
And for tips & inspiration from my friend Beth at
Sew Sew Art. Click here for her blog.
Click right here for the YouTube video that 
inspired the "Crazy Log Cabin" style.

...But I am quilting... (2nd in a series)

I am not a quilter, but I am quilting!

Yesterday.

Two days ago.

 

Today:

Blocks are increasing, loose fabric decreasing...

The design is being laid out, forming itself.

In between sewing, I am learning to quilt

with some great YouTube teachers.

Thank you, teachers.

I still don't know what it will look like in the end

but it does look somewhat how I imagined it!

Don't know many blocks I will make.

Or how big it will be.

Maybe a tablecloth...

I am making fewer mistakes now. 

Developing a rhythm. 

I am glad I didn't quit. 

At one point I thought

I'd just make a bunch of separate hot pads.

But I think I've gone too far to not make a quilt

of some sort.

A box holds scraps from quiltfor a next project...

Can't wait to see what it will be!

It was the masks that got the whole thing going.

If I have to wear them, they might as well be colorful

and match my outfit!

"I Am Not a Quilter"...

I took out my old fabric scraps & sewing machine!

They'd been in a closet for 8 years.

A well meaning friend, who saw my frustration with

stitching, taking out stitches,

stitching, taking out stitches,

stitching, taking out stitches,

swear, swear, swear,

suggested, "Maybe you are just not a quilter."

I am also not a dancer.

 I am slower at learning moves

than other people. 

Quilting & Zumba dance have cognitive steps

that are hard for my type of brain.

But they also offer me a flow of movement

and joyful expression. I love them!

(I am also not a writer, 

it takes me a long time...

And yet, I love it too.)

A saying on my bulletin board:

"The harder you work for something,

The greater you'll feel when you achieve it."

So why am I sewing?

• I love going from chaos to order.

• I love spending hours with the fabrics, 

touching them, 

arranging & re-arranging them.

• Soaking in 

the colors, the colors, the colors!

• By experiencing the process,

I see & understand 

others' quilts with more depth.

I love the tools. 

Recently I even bought a few new ones 

at our local sewing/art shop, 

Fiddleheads, curbside.

I love the way sewing connects me with my dear mother,

who helped me to learn to sew.

And who loved sewing clothes for me.

And with my peer group women friends.

And with the memories of my jr. high girl friends 

when we were first learning to sew. 

It was a happy time of camaraderie in Home Arts classes.

Do schools still teach Home Arts?

I love that I can sew gifts for friends. 

The above "hot pad", 

with my first time using interfacing,

was a gift to a friend using colors I know she loves.

I have even made some masks for friends,

in "their colors".

This staying home time has given me

the gift of Home Arts.

And the gift of time to be as slow 

as I need to be.