End of the Drought?

 It's the first official day of Autumn here. We've had sporadic days of cooler temperatures and a few days of rain over the last  couple of weeks. There have also been days of summer sunshine and heat. We may still get some pretty autumnal days that don't require jackets or rain gear but it feels like we've finally turned the corner. I also feel like I've turned a corner - for the time being at least. At the moment I feel like myself again, not affected by heat or toxins or hormone imbalance. I've come to cherish times like this. Perhaps because I finally feel so good I have felt like doing some patchwork again. The sewing drought might be at an end. I hesitate to go out too far on that limb but welcome the enthusiasm that is seeping back in. It has been very uncomfortable to be so disinterested in sewing for future quilt making. 

These are little 4" blocks made from 1.5" scrap patches. I don't know yet what I might do with them. They could become stars or part of any number of other larger blocks. For now I'm happy just to have made them. I have a pile of batik scrap patches waiting to be assembled into Shoo-fly and/or Barn Door blocks but I'm holding myself back from sewing them up so they will be available to use between seams later on. I have one major project I could start work on... prototype blocks for it anyway. I've offered to make a quilt for a young lady but her color choices are in direct opposition to my personal preferences and the bulk of my stash. That may not be the best way to come back from the drought.

For what it's worth, I've been engaged in what's being referred to as slow stitching of late. This is separate from the weekly prompts for the #52tags project but of a similar nature.

As I understand it, slow stitching began as a form of relaxation or meditation process. Just running stitches on fabric. Now it seems to encompass basic embroidery stitches as well. Hand sewing for pleasure and creativity but not necessarily to a pattern or for an end product. I don't especially enjoy doing the running stitch, I suspect because of my perfectionist tendencies. I'd rather do back stitch. I've been using 4" squares of leftover batting and odd scraps of fabric to practice and play with stitches and composition. It's also an exercise in overcoming those perfectionist tendencies. The fabrics are all raw edge, sometimes butted up against each other, sometimes overlapping. It feels to me like a remedial course in hand sewing. Some of us have to grow downwards I guess. 😉 

Scrap Happy in September

We have another opportunity to share what we've done with our scrap materials courtesy of Kate and Gun (links at the bottom of this post). My scraps are still fabric but not everyone in the link list plays with fabric scraps. We have a new participant this month too, Jule. Welcome! 

I found a handful of quilt blocks I made out of scraps months ago. There hasn't been much in the way of quilt making going on since then but let me at least share those with you:

I've carried on using my tiniest scraps since our last Scrap Happy meet up, making textile tags that finish at about 2" wide and 4" long. This first one began with a whole piece of the word search print. Under the button are scraps of another print and sari ribbon.

Essentially I'm doing raw edge applique when I'm sewing my scraps of fabric down onto a bit of cotton batting. Sometimes embroidery stitching is enough to secure the raw edges, sometimes I feel moved to cover them with a strip of rick rack or lace.

I was feeling good and went nuts with the embellishments on this tag. It was fun! It took a couple of days to audition various bits and pieces but I'm very happy with the results. 

Below is a tag I made for a swap. There were three prompts for the swap: to use layers, include a trim of some kind, and a butterfly. I cut the corner off a vintage tray cloth (thus recycling something that wasn't being used for it's original purpose) to use as a layer and a pocket. I think the trim and the butterfly are obvious.

 

 

 I created a tiny tag to go into the pocket. It also helps to make the pocket stand out visually.

 These itty bitty slow stitch projects seem to be just the thing for me lately. I like the small size, the use of otherwise seemingly useless scraps, and being able to work intuitively. It feels like quilt making will be taking a back seat for a while yet. What do you have lying around that you could turn into something pretty or useful? 😁

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn,
Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear,
Carol, Preeti, Edith, Debbierose,

and Jule!

Checking In

 Just so you know I haven't checked out altogether. We're about a week away from Scrap Happy Day (on the 15th) and my last post was for Scrap Happy Day last month. I have done almost nothing in terms of quilt making since then. Completed the binding on the quilt I'm calling Sticks and Stumps...

But I haven't laundered or photographed it yet. (I just bound it with more of the sashing/border print.) 

I have been doing a little bit of needlework, keeping up with the #52tagshannemade project. Without going back to where I left off with that project, these are the most recent ATC's I've made in response to the weekly prompts.

Week 32, lazy daisy stitch

Our area was thirsty for rain during week 32 so I stitched my hope for the heavens to water the flowers.

The originator of #52tagshanndmade is Anne Brooke. She lives in the UK where I gather they are fond of stringing bunting on various occasions. The prompt for week 33 was "flags."

Week 33, flags

I tried to stitch a windy background for my flags. The flags are loose on the vertical string. There's not really an official casing but the stitching I did on the flags creates the same effect.

Most folks are fond of a cup of tea or coffee (or two or three!) during the course of a day so for week 34 Anne had us make ourselves a cup or mug. She used raw edge applique. I chose to simply stitch around an image I found in a print I had on hand and add some embellishments.

Week 34, a cup or mug

 An awful lot of us textile people tend to hoard fabrics and things we love and are reluctant to cut into or use. The challenge for last week was to cut into a precious fabric for our tag and decorate it with three buttons.

Week 35, a precious fabric and 3 buttons

It took me a surprisingly long time to identify a precious fabric. I have silks and velvets that others would consider precious but I couldn't face messing with them. In the end I pulled out a hand dyed cotton from long, long ago and cut a 2.5" x 3.5" rectangle from it. Then I also cut the corner off of a vintage tea tray cloth and layered that on top of the cotton. Cutting up vintage linens is a brave new step for me, it was hard to do. I used some of the painted perle cotton thread I'm so in love with to tack the sheer tray cloth in place. I did not stitch on the cotton except to secure the perimeter. I chose three of my favorite antique mother of pearl buttons to showcase on this ATC. 

It's been a difficult month for me what with all the setbacks caused by poor air quality, heat, and disturbed sleep. Luna, our little dog, has been suffering from seizures this year. I strongly suspect the flea treatment we had her on as the cause. She is getting older too. They were happening about every 21 days until recently. For some reason she had two within ten days. They come on suddenly, so there's no preparing for them ahead of time really. Inevitably I have a mess to clean up afterward as she loses control of her bladder. When she recovers it's like she's had a hit of adrenaline. At four in the morning I'm in no mood to cater to her increased energy. I keep hoping the effects of the flea treatment will wear off but I'm afraid this has become the status quo. She seems to have lost her hearing to a great extent, and some vision as well. She has not lost track of her meal and treat schedule though!