I had a chance to visit  the Morris Museum in NJ and was wandering around their extensive collection of vintage music boxes and automatons when I discovered these two musical sewing boxes. You can see the gorgeous sewing tools in the open one, but the information on the closed one said that it contained scissors, a thimble, a needle, and an EAR SPOON for collecting earwax to rub on the thread to make it go through the eye of the needle easier! (There was also a quilt exhibit, but, honestly, this trumped that in my mind.)

I love the beautiful golden tools.  Wonder what the bottle is for.  Medicinal spirits??

 

I so wanted to be able to open this to see the earwax spoon!

The Christmas house mini is finally finished.  I think it's cheerful and hope that lots of people try to win it in the upcoming raffle at our guild quilt show.  Since I just finished it, I am very aware of its imperfections.  Looking at the photo, I see that it isn't square.  How can that be??  I squared it just before I added the binding, and carefully stitched the binding on with a quarter inch seam.  I think I'll have to fool with it a bit more.  Darn!

I've been doing some planning and sample-making for a quilt workshop at the Bethlehem (PA) Area Public Library on November 1.  The program coordinator asked for a gift-making workshop for adults.  She has a few others for other Saturdays in November, including jewelry making.  I needed something that could be made completely by hand in two hours and given as a gift.  I may have participants who've never sewed before.  I decided on a mat for a candle or mug.  Here are my two samples.

 

The first uses Christmasy fabrics.  It is quilted simply with a button sewn in the center.  This serves two purposes: 1) To make a quick finish for those who have had enough and want to take home a finished product; and 2) To have a quick fix for covering wonky matches at the center point.  The second can be used year-round and includes hand quilting.  If anyone is having fun with the stitching and wants to do some decorative stitching at home.  I'll give a mini-lesson on hand quilting and send them home with a needle and thread.

I chose the half-square triangles because they allow for some design work.  I'll precut dozens of triangles, and each participant can use anywhere from two to eight fabrics.  I've made these cardboard pieces to show the different ways that the four squares can be placed.

How this goes will very much depend on who signs up.  We will take up to fifteen participants.  The program coordinator is a lapsed quilter and will stay to help.  I've also lined up two young women who are new to quilting to help with knots, both making them and untangling them, as well as answering questions and helping participants to use the rotary cutter to make the backing squares.

I'll take some photos of the event and post them here in November.  It's my first time teaching quilting to adults.  I've done a bit with kids, who are either very precise or wildly wonky and either stick with it or wander off.  Adults may be more easily frustrated or unhappy with their work.  I'll let you know.

Last weekend I went to Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA.  I couldn't believe the number of hand-quilted pieces in the show!  It's a small show, very juried, so each quilt is quite wonderful.  I spent an afternoon looking at the quilts and then went back for a few hours two days later to see them all again.

This mini (12"x12") won a blue ribbon.  Even standing in front of it, I couldn't get my head around the size of the work.  I left a little piece of the sign in the picture to give some size perspective.

My favorite quilt there was this gorgeous flower medallion - all hand appliqued and hand quilted.  There was some dimensional work on it, and I especially loved the lily of the valley.  I know that I will use this technique someday.

I took two classes: one called Happy Villages with Karen Eckmeier.  It was very freeing.  She is a clear teacher who also allows tremendous freedom.  Here are all of the things that I NEVER do that I'm doing in this quilt - not planning ahead, gluing, adding whimsical touches, using tulle, having raw edges.  Fun!  You can see that it is just halfway finished, but it will have to sit on the pile for a while, since I have work to do for the show in October.

The other class was in longarm quilting.  It was way over my head.  There were few students, and they were all quite experienced.  For a while, I tried to fake it, but then I decided to see what I could learn on my actual level.  It was a class on filling small spaces, and the two simple techniques I improved were echoing and making the same design to the right and left.  It turned out to be very useful.

Can you believe that I agreed to teach a little workshop at a local library in November?  It will be a two-hour Saturday program as part of their Homemade Holiday Gifts series.  I'm working on some samples that can be made by beginners, by hand, in two hours.  Don't know if this is possible.  I'll post my samples next time.