Sewing for Music

This was Bill from Canada's idea. Bill is tenor in our community choir. Alex and I both sing in the choir. Well, Alex sings, and I am learning :)
Choirs don't use music stands like other musicians. Sometimes it can be challenging to hold all your music. Bill made a super sewing project that solves all that. Really!
Are you ready to see it?

 

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Ta-Da!

Bills genius idea is to sew an elastic handle on your music binder!

 

 

• I used 7" of one-inch-wide plain old braided elastic. I'm wishing I would have used 9".
• Tape elastic in place 1/3 of the way from top of binder. Make sure you can close the binder without stretching the elastic.
• Machine tack ends of elastic in place. Use any old needle that you are ready to throw out. I used darning foot and covered feed dogs.
• Bill was right, you must hand turn your machine. Not that it's not strong enough to sew on the binder, but the thread keeps breaking unless you hand turn.

You never know where you'll meet new sewing friends! And I'm always pleasantly surprised when the defi de jour is solved with stitches:)  ---Mom

Scrappy Summertime Shoes

Now I know why I keep that big basket of strips; perfect stash for
 Rag Garland flip-flops upcycle, plus an ideal birthday present for our 9 year old neighbor, Kala.

The unique feature in our flip-flop creation are these butterfly button/charms by Jennifer Heymen (from the bead section in Micahels). Here's how easy it all was:

shoes + charms + strips (3/4" thru 1-1/2" wide) = FUN!

1. Loop strips around flip-flop straps (just like a rag garland), then tie in a not for added wearability. Easiest to work from center outward.
2. Trim ends of strips to 2" long or less (so you can't trip on them).
3. Hand-tack charm at center.
4. Ta-Done! Go outside and enjoy:)

Quilting Bee Show

Faye stitched this; a whole town paper pieced.

All original blocks, and some historic photos. You can see it is on the loom for Quilting Bee to hand finish.

I especially like the tree trunk...

...and the stained glass in this church window. Sew many tiny pieces!

And I love to see all the very different types of quilts that come thru the museum quilting bee

Faye says computer fabric printing packs have too much polyester, so distort historic photo prints. She recommends making your own toner fabric with wax paper and a bottle of something from Singer.

Here are details from a few more treasures at the museum Quilt Show:

 

 

 

 

Quilter Kathy MacCleary

I was sew fortunate to spend Saturday morning at the Museum visiting with Kathy MacCleary and her amazing tiny stitches.

Hand quilting!

 

 Red & white thread for r/w EPP.

 

 Tiny Drunkards Path (nearly - corner to corner pieces) baby quilt.

 

  Kathy's signature continuous Rosette hand-quilting shows well in this baby quilt pic.

 

 

I put Nanette's button ring in the picture so you can see these tiny hexies really are 1".

 

 I think this one is my favorite: Broderie Perse with hexie flower "rain." And rare machine stitching here. [Bad picture, sorry.]

 

Or this one! Kathy says finishing this quilt helped her recover from a stroke.

[If Blogger would let me add a caption, it would say, "Kathy MacCleary w/ homespun masterpiece."]

Kathy matched all the naps in every tiny plaid and gingham!!!  

Hand quilted - oh yes, she did!

 

Even the "T"s are matched!

Kathy says, "When your first quilt is Cathedral Window, everything else seems easy."

And here are some of Kathy's new adventures in fiber arts:

Can you see the doll sized chatelaine with scissors and spool? Cute hairy legs, too:)

[Sorry, Blogger won't let me enlarge pics todays.]

 



Turquoise wrapped with copper wire and beads.

 

Yes, that is the moon you see :)

 

 

 

 Kathy has made sew many amazing quilts!

 

 

Kathy, thank you for sharing!

And thank YOU for reading :)