Small Finishes

 Apparently the potholders I made for family members almost 20 years ago need to be replaced. It's good to know they've been used and have held up for so long! It was my SIL who made the first request. I whipped up a pair for her last month or so and sent them off. It doesn't appear that I took pictures of them however. It was that effort that prompted me to make potholders for the fundraising auction for the Disabled Artists Foundation in November. Just this morning our daughter told the tale of her set of potholders. Still in use, but crusty and stained from use. So I made a new set for her:

She's still a fan of frogs, just as she was 18 years ago when I made the first pair for her. 

 I think my first efforts were foundation pieced onto batting, and typically crazy patch. Now I find it easier to just cut the strips to piece the top. There's a piece of batting under the front and the whole cloth back, and one layer of the heat reflective material in the very middle. I used a decorative stitch to secure the layers this time. Not pristine, but sturdy. The pseudo feather stitch fills the white space better than simple straight stitching would have done. 

The other small finish I have to share is another needlepoint coin/credit card case.

 This one began as a blank canvas and the patterning is my own design. I truly thought I'd found the center point accurately before I began stitching. Oh well, can't win 'em all!

Four Plus One

After the interruption on Scrap Happy Day I managed to create parts for four sets of potholders.

Here they are a few days later...

Winter

Thanksgiving/Harvest/Autumn

Christmas Pigs and Gnomes

Puppies

 

And a fifth set!

Fizzy

 These are on their way to the Disabled Artists Foundation Inc. (dAFi) for the November fundraising auction. The auctions are held online, via YouTube, on the second Saturday of each month. The proceeds make it possible to send art making supplies to folks who benefit from creative endeavors but are not able to purchase supplies for themselves. Some of the artists make and donate items back to the organization for future fund raising. It feels good to be able to make things that benefit others one way or another. 😊

Not So Scrap Happy Day

 I have been in the land of fiction most of this week, even though I knew Scrap Happy Day was looming. I wanted to sew, I just couldn't make myself do anything. The lingering effects of exposure to toxins. I did get a few scrap blocks made up for the Parts Department since my last blog post.

This morning I finally felt like sewing again and started two log cabin style blocks intended to end up as potholders.

All but the final two strips along the top and bottom to complete the blocks. At this point Luna had a seizure. She's been on an anti-seizure medication for not quite a month. Apparently it's not a high enough dose. She will be seeing the vet this very day to look into that. Meanwhile, I've had to stop to clean up the carpet and see to her recovery. Things will get better one of these days. In the meantime, here's the link list for others who are putting their scraps to good purpose or just have interesting blogs for you to peruse.

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

New Month, New Blocks

Scraps are a good place to dip one's toe back in the water of patchwork. Familiar blocks don't require a lot of mental energy either. While we've had rain to clear the air, folks have begun to use their fireplaces and wood stoves again thus polluting the air once more. Makes it hard for me to go out at all and maintain any ability to be creative. I have been cutting some scraps into strips and patches and piecing more of the simple blocks that make up such a large part of my Parts Department.

Most of these are 6" or 8" finished. There's one 9" Shoo-fly block in the set. I began with these two other 9" Shoo-fly blocks:

 Then I pieced up little 4" postage stamp blocks from patches already on hand.

Some of them have become stars.

I don't have any plans for a specific project in which to use these (or any other!) blocks. There are a lot more scraps to be dealt with, to say nothing of the other fabric in my stash. Guess I'll just keep on making blocks until health and inspiration can work in tandem once again. 😊