Little Things

     I love little things that make my job easier. And I always learn something at a workshop that I can apply to what I am doing. This little scissors is perfect for ripping out tight seams. It's actually a suture scissors.  I bought one from Deb Kurasik at my workshop on Wednesday. The stitch length she recommended for paper piecing was 1.5-tiny -so ripping out was not fun. They really helped .

    

     Also, I remembered some table extensions that we had used in a fabric dyeing class last spring that put the table at just the right heighth for working in a standing position. When I asked Betsy, my friend who is in charge of organizing the programs where they came from she smiled and went and got me a set of four from the closet.

 PVC tubing that had been cut! This thirty dollar table is now the perfect heighth  for cutting and standing. And I thought it was another gadget to be purchased. Why don't I think of things like that? (yes, it's ready for binding :)

     I must move with my day. I am Mr. mom this weekend-dad and mom rolled into one as Marc is skiing in VT with his friends. I am tempted to begin something with this beautiful blue linen I dyed this summer, velvet and a drawer full of silk scraps I pick up along my way. I have a show I entered and must have a piece for in three weeks. Fun-remind me I feel no pressure!

Happy Sewing ,my friends!

My Favorite Tools

     I seem to be having a hard time getting consistent studio time in this past week. Just took my daughter back to college so maybe I'll be able to settle in this week yet.

    As I was cleaning up yesterday, I noticed a few things around my studio that I couldn't part with-not that I couldn't part with but that I would miss if it was misplaced or lost. They just make me happy to work with. The first is my felted bowl. It is so soft and keeps all my thread and bobbins contained.

      I reach for it in the exact same place on my sewing desk and if it's not there when I reach for something, I have to re-arrange so it's right. I know you know what I mean. Don't you have something like that in your workspace?

     The second is my antique caddy. It's full of canning jars and everything there has it's space too-straight pins, safety pins, pin cushion and major catch-all space. Believe me when I say that I am not neat when I sew. Organized, yes but neat, no. Which is why I was cleaning up last night!

    And my last treasures are my thimbles-each beautiful in their own way.

     They are all low tech items. Old and some even antique, I suppose. But treasured. And with all the mess and all the stuff, this is what I needed in the end to get me started today!

Happy Sewing, my friends.