A Colorful Thread: September 2019
Weaving together my life as a maker and other spheres of life.
Best of Stitched in Color
On My Mind
Experimenting:: with a Sewline glue pen for EPP basting. I tried one before, ages ago, but thought I should give it another try since many people love glue basting. To make sure the papers are easy to remove later on, I glue basted the fabric corners together, but did not glue directly onto the paper. I even used an iron to press shapes after basting and tried to stitch up this Ice Cream Soda block straight away.
No luck! As I was stitching the diamond and kite shapes, some of them popped open. I added thread here and there as needed, and then decided to thread baste the outer half-hexagon shapes. Hmm…. Next experiment = glue basting right to the paper.
Reading:: I’m currently reading Love and Other Consolation Prizes: A Novel by Jamie Ford. It’s a bit of historical fiction set at the turn of the 20th century about a Chinese immigrant orphan. This is my favorite way to learn about times past. One of the themes in the book is that our best and worst life moments are often connected. I wonder if that rings true for you?
Anticipating:: Attending the Double Dutch quilt meeting! I have known some of the ladies in the Double Dutch group since I first started sewing. We met via Flickr and the active blogosphere around 2011. As the years went by, we kept in touch via do. Good Stitches and my online classes and now through Instagram. This Flickr photo (and my comment on it) says it all. It’s absolutely surreal that I’ll be meeting these ladies in person next weekend, when I travel to Leiden for their semi-annual sew-in. Can’t wait!
Following:: Cat of @TinCatSew. I met Cat through the Tales of Cloth book tour for The Seedlings Quilt. She has a great eye for color and such a pretty Instagram stream. And look what she finished this weekend! Her scrappy Kingfisher quilt top is gorgeous. Can’t wait to see it all finished soon.
p.s. If you’d like to make a Kingfisher quilt, you can find the complete (free!) series of instructions right here.
Tomorrow is a big day because Elora starts preschool. We’ve read pictures books about preschool, role-played and even visited the school twice to meet her teachers and the children. I think we’ve done everything we can to prepare, but I am pretty sure the transition is going to be rocky. My sweet Rora is very in touch with her feelings. She’s told me she will cry when mama leaves, but she wants to go. She is excited about getting to play and make new friends. Isn’t that life - give and take, plusses and minuses all mixed up in an ever-changing story. It never ceases to surprise us.
xoxo,
Rachel Hauser