My mother and I went to a local quilt shop and purchased the materials to make a paper-pieced pillow wrap. My mother has been very excited about paper piecing lately and she had a new technique she was trying- no-tear paper piecing using freezer paper. Last night we watched this video and got to work sewing the pieces together, and it was SO EASY! I absolutely love it! I cooked through the entire center block in about two hours last night (and that was with repeated video viewings to check technique, plus some confusion in the cutting of the fabric) and then today I put on the backing and facing pieces, sewed on the ribbon, and had this:
After I finished this pillow wrap today I was so excited and inspired that I sat down to the sewing machine again and finished putting in the main block pieces in the wall quilt that I've been slaving over for more than two years now. All that is left is the borders and then sandwiching, quilting, and binding. It's pretty messy looking (that's an understatement- I made several mistakes along the way) but I'm determined to finish it and to learn as much from it as possible in the process. I plan to get the borders on and then take the batting and backing home for Easter so my mother can help me get it basted. Then I plan to hand-quilt it on a hoop. I used to do a lot of hand-quilting when I was a little girl to help out at my mother's craft store, and I remember enjoying it immensely, so I hope this will be a good experience and not tarnish the memories of my youth.
Then I went back upstairs and got some housework done and read a novel for a bit, but I couldn't stop thinking about sewing, so once I had dinner in the oven I went back downstairs and started a different project. Friday I purchased a jelly roll at a JoAnn's Fabrics because I thought that I could try making a jelly roll quilt, or at least just practice sewing by sewing all the strips together. It's a beautiful pack of green batik prints. So I laid them out on my sewing table in a pattern that looked nice to me and started sewing them up! I only got three done before I had to go check on dinner, but progress has been made.
After dinner I settled down to a couple different projects. I did all the stitching of my felt appliqué mug cozy and then glued on one of the two velcro pieces that will become the closure. I'll get the other piece glued on tomorrow, and then I should be able to post pictures by Wednesday if I can find the time.
Once I was done with that I pulled out some knitting needles and a ball of yarn and set to work practicing continental knitting. I am typically a thrower, also called English style knitting, where you use your right hand to control the yarn. However, I have been having right wrist problems, so I thought I would try to learn to knit continental, also called picking, where you use your left hand. There is a lot less right hand motion, which I know will be good for me, but trying to learn a new style is so frustrating! I felt like the first time I ever had needles placed in my hands. I'm having a hard time getting used to tensioning the yarn. It just feels weird! I'm just knitting a practice piece in garter stitch (knit every row) until I get comfortable with the knit stitch, and then I'll start practicing the purl stitch. I hope I can get used to it.
This week is a busy week in the FuzzyDorff household, but I will be taking my plastic-canvas-needlepoint coasters with me to work to stitch during breaks this whole week, so I'll at least be getting a bit done in the next few days. I also have a cross-stitch kit in my craft basket in the living room, so I'll hopefully get a start on that later this week.
This blog is making me so much more excited about my crafts! I keep thinking, "Oo, I can't wait to write about this in the blog," or "Oh, I have to take a picture of this for the blog." I hope you are all enjoying it so far! Please feel free to comment on anything. Want to see pictures of a specific project that I mentioned in this post? Want me to try out a different craft? Let me know in the comments, or you can always email me at fuzzydorff@gmail.com.
Happy crafting!
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