November Banner

 

From now until Advent.  Once again, I wasn't happy with how this looked, not enough contrast, but people seemed to like it so I probably won't do any adjustments.

November 1, and that feels exciting.  Trick or Treat was like usual - maybe six little ones.  A group of six older kids walked on by - were my eight steps too daunting?  Hey, guys, I had the good candy!

I'm planning on using this week's warm weather to finish my yard work.  It's that almost magical time of year when we have warm temperatures prior to the final cool down.

How can this be?  Maybe ten days ago I was tearing some foil from the roll when I got a "foil" cut from the edge of the roll.  Like a paper cut.  It kept hurting and I realized that there was a tiny foil splinter in my finger.  Just so happens that I have lots of needles that can be used for splinter extraction.

Why do we use needles and not pins for splinters?  Are they slimmer?  And is it really necessary to sterilize the needle with the flame from a match?

Pastoral Stole

 

This is Pastor Appreciation Month and I was asked to make this stole for the Cincinnati Mennonite pastor.

What I learned:  ecclesiastical sewing is a whole different ball game, or at least the pattern I used went together differently than I'm used to.  I ended up finishing it my way and the result was ok.  Not perfect, but ok.  The lining is light blue, a lucky accident when I didn't have enough white for the lining.  The end is finished with a light blue ribbon, making it a whole lot easier finish than the way the pattern was written.

I was grateful that I made it with cotton since silk would have been more difficult by far.  Our pastor won't wear it at church but at events that may be outdoors, making silk impractical for the elements.

I've started cleaning up the garden beds for fall, including cutting back the ornamental grasses.  I understand the value of leaving the grasses in the beds all winter, but that just makes it too hard for me in the spring when the grasses have dried.  Whatever I can do now makes for an easier spring.  I may feel differently about that tomorrow when the high will be 23 degrees lower than today's high.  

Communion Worship Banner

This is the result of the second try for a communion banner.  The first one just had the background plus the beige strips with the embroidery.  It didn't look right.  I'm not 100% pleased with this second try either, but with the added fabric it is better.  Maybe next time it's used I'll add a little something more.

It's been a month since I've posted, and I can't really tell you where the time went.  I haven't been traveling.  I haven't been sick.  I had three doctor/dentist visits in September, all with good results, except that my doctor phobia is getting worse.  I've felt boring.

I finished a second comforter top to be knotted next month.  Enjoyed altering Aaron's pants for the Homecoming Dance.  Made a few more Bitsy Boxes.  Hemmed some jeans.

I had the best surprise this morning - I looked at a suede jacket that needed the sleeve hems shortened.  I thought that for today I'd just see if there was a slit in the sleeve lining to turn it inside out.  And there was no lining, just a light backing to the suede.  My job was suddenly a lot easier.

I'm also working on something that's out of my comfort zone - you should be seeing that next week.

 

Not My Favorite

 

Not my favorite worship banner, but still fun to make.  For a short series called "The Beauty of Peace."  All three fabrics were given to me, from two people.  And I'm sure this banner will be cut up for something new later.

Now that the banner is hung, I'm relaxing with a Madtree Pumpcan, a seasonal beer.  I'm not really a fan of all things pumpkin spice, but I can make an exception for this.

My daughter had escaped Covid for all this time but it caught up to her now.  No family birthday party for Aaron this weekend.  I dropped off his gift, and an un-birthday gift for Nora, on the front porch.  Along with some dinner and ice cream and a package of Covid tests for follow up.

Eight Bags

 

At a local quilt shop I found a wonderful Lori Holt panel for making zippered bags.  Pretty Lori Holt matching zippers sold separately.  Add your own lining fabric and batting.

I watched Lori's excellent tutorial and set about making bags.  They are as pretty as I hoped.  Eight bags later, I can make them fairly  quickly.

It's a good thing I'm getting good at them because I ordered another panel and more zippers.  My quilt shop had sold out of them, the clerk said that things like this sell out quickly.  I found more on etsy. 

I have hopes of making this other set, then moving on to sewing a few more with my own fabric.  The goose is beginning to fatten up, you all.  One of my goals for this year was to have hand made things ready for Christmas giving. 

Thread Change

 

It comes as a surprises to no one that I use a lot of thread.  For years I've been primarily using a quality thread and been very happy.

Recently I decided to switch to Aurifil thread in my primary machine.  Who knows why, maybe because I use it for quilting and often use it in my smaller machines.  And my machine is in love.  The sound it makes is totally different, so smooth.

This is a good thing, because the cone I bought has 6452 yards.  I'm projecting that I'll use it up by March.  Approximately $38 worth of thread.

For today I'm mindless sewing strips together for my next comforter.  Enjoying the sound of the machine.

Here's my public service announcement:  if you have old threads from your grandmother or threads on wooden spools or polyester threads on styrofoam spools, enjoy looking at them and thinking about old times but don't use them in your sewing machine.  Thread ages, just like us.  Your machine will thank you for keeping those old threads away from it.

Comforter Top

 

The comforter I just finished piecing.  To be knotted with crochet thread for Mennonite Central Committee.  It's pretty improvisational, but there are a few unifying things.  There are alternating solid and print blocks, each row has three white blocks, and most rows have a pieced block.

I have all my strips pieced together for the next one, which may work out well or may not.  We'll see.

Here's the kind of thing I like to puzzle over.  I needed a bottle of vitamin D supplements.  They were $9.99 for 100 or $12.99 for 400, so of course I got 400.  (I realize it is privilege to be able to do that.)  And then they were buy one, get one, so now I have 800.

Now for the real puzzling:  What will my life look like by the time I need to order more?  What will I look like?