Sunday, March 4, 2018

Stitch Along in March

I couldn't do it. I just couldn't bring myself to work on the Hobbit caravan since teasing you with it during our last check-in.


Well, I guess that's not entirely true. I did finish using that strand of yellow to reinforce the outline of what will be the front door of the trailer. But no more, even though I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do. In my defense, we had a new sliding glass door installed this week. I think the fumes from the sealant affected me more than we expected it to. Plus there were recovery times from the  shopping I did for upholstery fabric (see previous post).

While I wasn't able to face the Hobbit travel trailer I did manage to do some other stitching. Specifically, I started a new set of pillowcases and embroidered a bit more on the set I already had in progress. This is the new set:


And here's one of the pair I've had on the go for a couple of months now.


I'm not convinced my treatment of the center of the daisy was the best choice but I'm not about to take it out, at least not yet. I did buttonhole stitch in the centers of the flowers in the newer pillowcase and quite like the way they look. The middle of the daisy is significantly larger however, so I was reluctant to use buttonhole there. I may yet remove the threads I've laid and replace them. The buttonhole stitches on some of the leaves were my own idea too. I enjoy tweaking mass produced designs to make them my own. 😊

I've also spent time and energy looking for a better way to keep my embroidery projects clean and organized. I seem to be perfectly comfortable with storing patchwork blocks in various plastic bags but when it came to the growing number of embroidery projects I found I wanted something more substantial for them. (I'm beginning to think I suffer from Stitcher's ADD more than I ever have the quilter's version!) So far this is what I've come up with:


The tool box in the foreground is not ideal but it's acceptable. I ordered it online with another set of plastic boxes that stack and snap together. They turned out to be too small for my purposes. Currently the tool box holds my various sampler projects. The other two boxes each contain one set of pillowcases in progress. I found those at Office Depot here in town. The pillowcases have to be folded up pretty small to fit but they do fit, and since they will be laundered when they're finished I figure any creases will relax then. They are poly-cotton blends so they shouldn't hang onto creases or wrinkles the way pure cotton would anyway.

I have a couple of other, larger, plastic boxes or totes for bulkier projects and raw materials (blank dish towels and the like). My hand-dyed flosses are currently in a lovely scrapbooking box with a carry handle. It's big enough to hold 12" quilt blocks should I ever decide to move the floss out. I found a way to keep the various transfer patterns all in one place too. I may not be a neat freak but I do like to have things organized! 😉

In case you haven't been around to see what all the other stitchers in this group are working on (I think I'm the last in the world-wide time zones) you can click on their names below and be taken to their blogs. I promise you some great eye candy and maybe even a little inspiration!


10 comments:

  1. awwwww I was hoping for more progress on the hobbit caravan ^^

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  2. I have all my things organised in plastic stackable boxes which is exactly how I like it. Mine are the Really Useful Boxes brand and you can get virtually any size and shape online. You've done some lovely embroidery as well as reorganising :-)

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  3. I think reorganising sewing supplies is one of my least favourite things to do, so bravo on tackling the job. I'm sorry the hobbit van isn't inspiring you, hopefully we'll see more of it another time :-)

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  4. Those boxes look very handy! My thread is in DH's grandmother's sewing basket, and my fabrics are is drawer with the rest of my stash. Not the best, so you have given me some ideas! New pillowcases are such a delight! Yours are beautiful.😄

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  5. I love plastic boxes in all sizes!!! I have a lot of them for my projects! I also have bags, baskets and tin boxes, everyone filled with ongoing projects and scraps and embroidery yarn and so on. Love the pillowcases!!

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  6. Such a shame the hobbit didn’t inspire this time, but the pillowcases are lovely. Those boxes look very useful for storing your current projects. I tend to keep everin bags, but that isn’t always satisfactory!

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  7. I love your stitching boxes -- I have been resorting to some archival photo boxes, but I can't see in and, well, out of sight, out of mind! And -- WOW -- I am drooling over your quilt stash. I definitely need to get more organized!

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  8. Your projects look great. It's hard to come up with the right storage sometimes.

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  9. Your quilt stash looks like the sort of thing you'd see in a shop :)
    I'm trying to move away from plastic at the moment where I can but there really doesn't seem to be such a practical alternative for storage than these stacking, see-through boxes does there?

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  10. I do love some nice storage boxes. I have most of my crafting supplies organised in plastic ones so I can see into them.
    Shame there's no hobbit caravan progress as I do love hobbits, but the pillow cases are lovely :)

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