Always check the crime scene

I couldn't resist the pack of large beautiful berries on the store shelf, while chocolate covered triangular shapes of soft red sweetness danced in my head. 

 

So while Mark was at the Italian Home picking golf teams, I melted the chocolate and planned on dipping.  He wouldn't know how many were in the pack and how many were missing.  It was a golden opportunity.  I've gained a few more pounds and am embarrassed to let someone see what a piggy I am.

The chocolate melted but not fluid enough to dip or coat. As I continued trying different pans, and melting methods, I couldn't resist taking a spoon and smearing the thick chocolate on, just to get started, do a test, be a pig.  Maybe I overheated the chocolate this time but since it didn't burn my lips, I thought the temp was good.  Simmering water exploded when I set in a stainless pan with uncooperative chocolate, but I trudged on, all while "testing".  Little by little, my clean strawberries lined up for dipping were disappearing as was the chocolate. How could that be?  It's not the right consistency yet and it's almost gone with only three strawberries left!  How was this happening?  I finally gave up when the little bit left was too hard to spread.  Whether the chocolate would have hardened on the berry is unknown since they never had the chance.  I knew that it was dripping as I tested them because my fleece jacket had chocolate streaks from the loose but thick brown sweetness.  More time passed than expected so I started cleaning up the mess before he returned.  Threw my stained jacket in the wash and left a few bare strawberries on the counter. When he walked in, I knew something was wrong. 

"What were you doing?" 
"Well I tried to dip a few strawberries but it didn't work." 
"It didn't?" 
"Nope. I couldn't dip them, couldn't get the consistency right."
"So you didn't make any?"
"No."
"Have you been in the bathroom recently?"
"What?  Why would you ask me that?"
"Look down at your top."
"Oh.  It must have splattered when I was cleaning up."
"Really?"
"The bathroom."

Busted......

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Linen strips

How's everyone doing?  It's March.  Pretty soon the flowers will be popping and gardens will be planned.

Karen chose The Stitching Post in Baltimore for her gift certificate and they are having a "make your own sale day" sale the 17th - 26th for 20% off, in case any of you are close by. 

 

I'm doing a little finishing work to pieces that have been (lost) recently discovered.  I love this tiny sampler and used the same blue backing as the last project.  Whenever I trim linen I save these strips to use the threads for mending or seaming and sometimes for hangers.  Comes in handy if the linen color is odd and nothing else looks right. 

 

 Since I like more primitive style, I just fringe the edges on each side, or fold and run a machine stitch.  Then I fray to that line. 

 

 

 

 

Running my nail along the fringe makes it a little wonky and steaming or dampening helps if needed.  Instant matching hanger.

I forgot to add it when I was seaming this little ornament so I hand sewed the hanger to the back.  In a way, that's better because I can easily remove it for a change. 

 

It was a little too long for this cubby box so I hooked it on the bottom of the nail, hung the box, and then flipped it over.  Why not shorten it?  Since it's not in the seam it would be an easy fix, but I'm lazy.

We had a sad situation this past weekend.  My nephew's son Matt is a volunteer firefighter.  He responded to an accident within a mile from his home, could not get a pulse from the trapped passenger whose position hid his face.  He moved on to help the other three occupants while the ambulance removed the body.  Later, he found out it was his friend since grade school and he's devastated.  They shared a special bond and helped each other through tough times. The young man's mother shoved him off to an abusive grandfather for many years, yet he never drank, did drugs, got into trouble.  He was more sad than bitter, and grew into a caring and responsible young man whose life was cut short at 22.  Now she is trying to hold his lifeless body in the casket, crying hysterically, but it's too late. 
If you need to tell someone you are sorry, have regrets, love them... do it.

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Goodbye February

Usually winter moves very slowly for me, but this time it seems to be buzzing along.  All the projects I had planned to do never materialized and now I'm upset with myself for procrastinating once again.  I wasn't like this years ago but am now shoulders deep and totally stuck in that mud.  First year of husband's retirement and he is not one to change things for the sake of change.  Repairs are different.  But I hesitate to get involved with remodeling when the first word would be "why? ... What's wrong with the way it is?  It looks nice!".  When he was at work I could rip off drywall and there would be no choice but to proceed. 

 

Thanks for the suggestions on the gloves.  I don't remember ever seeing mom wear them but I am saving a few pair out of the batch.  The others will sit in my sewing room until I decide to work on them and who knows when that will be.
 

Another project....hmmm.  Here I go again.  What's stuck in my head is a lion from an antique wallet (John Storrs) that Ann brought to my attention.  I may just try the over one tent stitch in an effort to replicate him.

 

I wonder how that will go.  I don't think it would be as nice if done in cross stitch. 

 

The Nostalgic Needle's bags are on my mind too but I'm not ready yet.

 

After searching for a stitcher's journal and finding none, I decided to make my own.  Once the supplies come, I will lay out a print for the pages and see how it works. There are lots of beautiful blank journals available, but I want printed pages and dividers, not a bound notebook with no options.

 

Hope your week starts good and gets even better.

 

Sale starts today on boxes if anyone is interested.

 

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Mom's gloves

What do you do with the old white cotton gloves that our moms and grandmothers wore?  Personally, I love the look of that old style but can't get my swollen joints into them.  All are very substantial yet soft cotton.  I've already used her fancy hankies for sachets and envelopes, these items have limited fabric. So what can I do with them?  I think a heart shape would work out nicely for some of the glove designs.  Filling would be minimal since the hearts will be very small, maybe just a lining of cotton fleece layers.  Or maybe cut the backs into squares and sew into a pieced pouch or little pillow.  More likely, I'll put them back into the bag with her doilies and they will be hidden as they have been.  I'm all talk and no action.

 

The March box offer is Virginie Cochepin, sale starts March 1, photos on Sampler Box page.

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Envelope revisited

Ciao!  Spring's 'a coming. 
How you doing?  Want to be bored again?  I showed this envelope method a few years ago, doing it again for the few emails from those that missed it. 
(note to no-reply Lisa B. - the sampler is ABCD 1817 from Scarlet Letter)
When cutting the backing fabric I add about 3"extra to the length.  Cut that piece in half and fold over/press a hem either sewing or fusing to finish.  Overlap these hems to create an envelope. This time, I machine basted the flap closed before sewing the backing to the front.  Better!  Removing the stitches is very easy and it holds the fabric in position, no moving or slipping, creating a perfect close.  I overlapped the flaps a little too much, it's not necessary.  Instead of hemming the edges I use the fusible hemming tape, but don't have it in the very edge of the fold in case I want to use a decorative stitch on it.  The tape makes it harder for the needle to glide.  For some reason, my corners are always bigger.  Looking at the piece, the sewing line is perfectly square, I use the machine's guide, but they still stick out further than the edges.  Very easy to turn inside out and run a few more stitches to pull them in which I did.  After pressing the seams open, I turned the tucked side (bottom side) out to stuff, then turned the top side and finished filling.  Steamed the filling to densify (yes it's a word), and I can sew a button, decorative stitch, add trim, or safety pin the back flap.  The trick to a crisp finish is to make sure the flap is not allowed to open, even slightly.  Pull it to where the fabric would be as originally basted, so it is perfectly straight across.  Easy peasy.  Here's the boring photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Steamed and ready to secure the flap so it doesn't gap.

 

I have a hemostat or forceps that come in handy for filling corners.  You can grab a bit of stuffing and then clamp shut to hold it, push into corner, then unlock the clamp and pull out.  The nose end isn't sharp and can be used to pack the corners too.  Easy way to add a little to those pesky corners on small projects.

 

Too many photos! 

Just wanted to share my easy way to do smalls without the hassle of blind stitching or gluing them shut.  Easy to reopen too, when you forget to add the hanger as I did. 

 

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Winner winner

Not only will one of you become a winner, I am too.  Because of all of you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Ann saw that I was having another giveaway, she thought it would be nice to make me a recipient too.  Nice is putting it mildly.  I received this in the mail the morning after the big tax check was written.  I've wanted this book for a while but would never think about it at the right time to search Ebay.  So thrilled and hoping this book will create some enthusiasm for my slump.  The fabric is fabulous, love that shade of blue, used it on the back of the latest project.  But the chocolate.  Oh my.  I am such a pig, really.  It's gone.  Who can consume a 12 oz box of chocolate covered (heavily!) potato chips and a bag of covered pretzels in two days?   Me.  Thank you so much Ann for being a friend and making me feel so special. 

 

And now for the winner.  Including the emails I received, there were 123 entries. 
After scrambling the names, Kathy R's number was drawn.  Please contact me Kathy before Saturday evening and let me know where you would like your GC.

Thanks to everyone for participating in this anniversary giveaway.  And welcome to new followers, or maybe you always were until Google cut you off! 
Received a few emails about the envelope and will post photos of that finish tomorrow. 
Thanks again everyone.  You've encouraged my stitching, gave advice, included me in your projects, helped with my decisions, listened to my rants, and contributed much joy to these five years.

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