Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Necessity can be the mother of invention!

Hi! First, Hercules had to say hello and get himself in the picture. He is pawing my recycle/reuse item!!! Its actually a draftsmans' pellet bag, its used for anchoring large pieces of paper.
I was wanting to make a scrap/thread catcher bag/pincushion but didn't want to go and buy a big bag of playsand just to make one bag/pincushion. I started looking around the house for something else I could use but nothing came up heavy enough to use in the pincushion. Then I remembered Jim had given me two of the pellet weights to use when I was cutting out patterns but I never liked using them. So now at least one of them was getting a new life! The weight along with stuffing made a pretty good pincushion.
My second "neat" idea was to use some of the fusible Thermoweb plastic on the lining of the scrap bag. I'm hoping that it will make removing the bits of thread from the bag, a little easier. Threads have a tendency to stick to fabric, making them hard to remove.
Third thing I had to come up with was a substitue to keep the scrap/pincushion bag open, most of the instructions for the bags suggested using something stiff in the seamcasing at the top of the bag to keep it open so threads would easily fall into the bag. I didn't have anything stiff!!! So I used elastic; by the time I threaded the elastic through the casing and along with fusible plastic; the bag has enough stiffness to stay open.
I love my scrapbag/pincushion. Its amazing when you're quilting how many bits and pieces of thread that seem to find their way to the floor, and they're almost impossible to sweep up off the carpet. Maybe the bag will help some!!! Hugs, Chris



Thursday, April 9, 2009

A Few of My Favorite Things

Hi! The wall hanging is finished! Its taken almost two years, other projects always seemed to keep this one to the background. After I finished the Easter runner, I decided to finish the quilt before starting on anything else.
I had alot of fun working on this sampler quilt, different block and fabrics made working on it more interesting. Now I know why BOM are so popular. The birdhouse block at the upper left corner matches the birdhouse runner posted Jan 28,'09. Because the kitchen table is right in front of the fireplace, wanted the runner and quilt look good together. So many of the same fabrics are used on both.
When the house was remodeled, the chimmey was removed but the fireplace along with the rocks were left in place; so its a safe place to hang a quilt, the fireplace hasn't been used in years. I wish we had room for a mantel but that's okay, I got the quilt in its place.
Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend. Hugs, Chris