While Richard and I were traipsing around the western states, I needed to keep myself busy. When I get bored, I come up with ridiculous ideas, which often get me into trouble. At the very least I share my ideas. Not a good idea. |
| The original bird from Preeti |
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| Close up to see the embroidery |
Knowing this, I packed some handwork. One of the items I carried with me is the little bird quilt that I started when Preeti (Sew Preeti Quilts) sent a left over bird from her "He Tweeted She Tweeted" quilt. It was such a generous gift that immediately made me think of love birds. So I made a second bird to face the first and connected them. When I began quilting, I simply stitched in the ditch to outline the birds. Then I "finished" the edges of the quilt with a zigzag seam so it wouldn't fray.
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| My addition |
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| Close up of their heads and faces. Both have a little cap--how about the feathers in one cap? |
That's where I stopped. My idea was that I would continue the quilting, including some thread painting, while we were traveling. Luckily, I decided before we left that some embroidery thread would do the trick, and I didn't need to pack some machine embroidery thread.
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| The back using the feather fabric that Preeti included in the gift. The little white stick is actually part of a broken plastic clothes hanger. |
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The back pocket holds a cross stitch that I started many years ago. I got halfway through the piece and found myself so lost that I abandoned it. I suppose I have so much work invested that I can't toss it.
Of course, having a nice little organizer doesn't mean that you're organized. Every time I wanted to work, I had to pull every skein out to find a color. I decided enough of that. Yesterday I started cutting cardboard into mini-spools. While watching TV, I wrapped about 25 spools with thread.
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| Still a few skeins of thread to wrap |
Today I cut more spools for the embroidery thread and some longer ones for the crewel thread. Digging through my stash, I found just enough rings so that I could sort colors. Now all of the blues are on one ring. I did the same with red, yellow/orange, green, purple, and neutrals. One ring will hold all of the crewel thread and another holds empty cardboard spools.
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| Much better! |
Honestly, I don't embroider very often, but I also dislike disorder and am hopeful I'll be more likely to pick up my needle now knowing that I'll be able to get to work quickly and easily. If nothing else, the embroidery stuff looks much neater.
Do you see what you started, Preeti? Talk about inspiration and motivation! That one little bird took me from quilting to embroidery to organizing. And the best part? I enjoyed every moment! Thank you again so much~
Lots of Linkups!
Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or not Friday)
