It's either seven months early or many years late. I finally finished the Bucilla applique kit, "Cookies and Candy Wreath".
Although it's ready in plenty of time for Christmas 2020, I actually purchased the kit on sale many, many years ago and didn't work on it until I came across it when I was cleaning and organizing my weaving room and decided --
--- that it was now or never! I would either get it made or give it away.
I chose to make it and I'm glad I did. It's quite cute and it was fun to make.
And then I was hit with the very vague direction to "fasten to the wreath as shown in the photo". No how to at all. I'll be back tomorrow with the finished wreath to show you how that came out.
She was created during another 3 morning coffee periods. Today I started on a heart shaped cookie with a ridiculous number of individually applied stripes, each with the addition of a sequin and a bead. I'll get a photo up of that when it is completed -- but don't hold your breath. It will be a while!
I have a love/hate relationship with the Internet. Sometimes it seems to be the biggest time thief ever, hours from one's day missing and little to show for it. Let's face it, none of us are getting any younger! Knowing that, I like to make every moment count, and time spent chasing useless Facebook side links is not what I want to see when I look back on the moments of my life!
On the other hand, the Internet can be a wonderful, handy, economical teacher, accessible at any hour of any day, and right when you need it. For instance, when I decided to use circles as design elements on the back of my denim Boro/Sashiko vest, I realized I had barely any experience with applique, and no experience at all with how to get a really nice, smooth edge on a circular applique.
Enter the Internet wonder world of YouTube instructional videos. Pretty much anything you want to learn can be found on YouTube videos. Not just one instructor or method, but many to choose from. I watched several and finally decided that the one I've embedded here would be the one I used. It seemed to be just the right fit for me. It appealed to the perfectionist in me and yet skipped the tedious hand gathering stitches of some of the other methods.
The loose pile of circles pictured above was a photo taken several days ago. I've now selected the ones I'm going to use, have appliqued them to the centre back panel, and I'm well on my way to stitching the background in a Sashiko inspired manner. More photos of that when that section is complete.
This is Olive Blazer, the bear with a past life. She comes with a bit of a story.
Olive's story begins many years ago when I ordered my husband a tweed blazer for Christmas. When the item arrived in the store the salesperson phoned our home and asked to speak with Olive Blazer. There was a confused pause at both ends of the phone until simultaneously both the salesperson and myself realized the woman's mistake. She was reading from the wrong line on the phone list. The ITEM was an olive coloured blazer. The person to speak to was the name next to it of course. The family has laughed over that one for years.
As far as I know this is the only item of clothing my husband has ever had that actually has a name.
With a family story like that behind it I just couldn't send this blazer off to a charity shop when it grew hopelessly out of style. No, Olive Blazer had to live on. I found a sewing pattern that worked with the narrow pieces I had available once I deconstructed the jacket.
The wool blend tweed was used for the exterior of the bear. Portions of the shoulder pads created the contoured stuffing for the ears, and the lining and a button from the blazer were used for the collar of her little jacket. Olive's eyes were scrounged from the family heirloom button jar.
The outside of her fancy tweed jacket is made of a remnant from our living room drapes and its lining is cut from a poly/cotton bathroom curtain. The embellishment on her jacket was done with scraps of felt, embroidery floss and a few beads I had in my stash. The only things I had to buy to bring Olive Blazer to life were the pattern and the stuffing.
When I spin I'm careful to sit in a chair that allows me to maintain a comfortable posture. If I don't, I pay for it later with back pain and migraines. When I first started spinning I bought a wooden chair and refinished it. It's still a good chair for spinning, but I have found it heavy and awkward to take along to the guild's weekly spin-ins. I've been searching for a lightweight, comfortable folding chair.
I found a plain, upholstered folding chair, the kind you can buy at most department stores. It was boring, but it was comfortable.
