A Day of Stitching

It took me a full day of stitching (interspersed by puppy care, walking, attention, and meals, stretching, trips to the loo etc.) to sew the hidden quilt backing fabric to my canvas bag foundation. Since this is a slow stitch project that's fine -- I'm not in any particular hurry -- and it's a rare luxury for me to have an entire day to devote to my textile art.

For the quilting I followed the original stitch lines from the hidden quilt. I like doing things like that as an homage from me to the maker. The part that took the longest to sew was the fragile ragged edge side. That was pretty delicate work; I really felt the age of the fabric as I stitched. It was pretty thrilling for me, too. Every time I work with very old fabric I feel privileged.

I managed to get the little original boro patchwork right in the center of one side, too. Stay tuned to see my progress.

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Better than Fried

I cut some chives from the kitchen garden to make garlic-chive baked fries for dinner. This is a great side dish for veggie burgers. Click here for the recipe from Taste of Home.com.

Stuff

After finding this Caron one pound skein of lovely peach yarn in my thrifted lot I raided my stash for two cakes of Mandala in Pegasus, which matches it perfectly. For practice and hand therapy I'm going to make another Worth Street Afghan with this free pattern , but this time I'll use the yarn that was recommended for it plus the one pound skein. I'm not quite ready to do the vintage/recycled linen quilt I had planned (still a bit too nervous about the idea), so I'm going to use some color therapy and make a quilt from these thrifted green fat quarters. I considered doing another Yellow Brick road patchwork pattern, but I might go with a split rail fence like this one.

Make It Yourself

As we head into December, here are ten ideas for easy handmade gifts: Cookie Exchange: If you live close to your friends invite them over for a cookie exchange. Basically everyone bakes a set amount of their favorite cookies, and these are exchanged at the gathering by lottery, sharing a little from each batch with everyone, or however you want to do it. You can also exchange recipes, too. My neighbor did this once and it was wonderful. Favorite Recipe Cookbook : For my favorite person I found a copy of my favorite cookbook from a vintage bookseller (yes, I am that old) and went through it making notes on all the recipes I used, how I tweaked them, etc. Ornament: There are probably a million free tutorials on how to make your own holiday ornaments, so do some research online. I like to make hanging pomanders , which smell heavenly and are biodegradable after the holidays. Mug Rugs: If you sew, making up a set of mug rugs is simple and easy; I add these every year to my ...

Rayen

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