Hello Stitching friends…
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| Not much progress in July |
I
do not appear to have much stitching news to share this past week or
so. I, like so many Australian stitchers have been putting my time into
sewing cloth masks for family and friends. I am fortunate in that I do
not need to run a cottage industry to gather spare coins to pay my
bills. My household is still employed and the Covid crisis has not
impacted us greatly. For this I am thankful and I know there are a lot
of people out there who are doing it tough.
I
recently celebrated 15 year work anniversary. I have been a contractor
at the same site since 2005. I was gifted some (amazing) chocolates
and two bunches of flowers, one from my employers and one from the
business I have worked with for such a long time. Work practices have
changed substantially since I first started as a junior with an
accountancy firm in 1981. Few people seem to want to hold onto a job
for more than 5 years, leaving to acquire more experience with multiple
companies. I just have a talent at longevity and am good at the role I
currently hold. Along with the flowers was a very lovely bonus gift
card. I have put the $$ to good use and have ordered the final
components for my sewing nook 
I
love my little vintage laminex dining table – it seats 4, but has
extending panels to seat 6 comfortably, and was perfect for my little
flat when I moved in 8 years ago. It moved with me to this house, and
as I did not intend to need a dining table, designated my little table
to my sewing area as a cutting table. Now most of you quilters will
know that a dining table is not the best surface to stand at for any
length of time cutting fabric. This little table has made-do for the
past 3 years, however when I decided at the beginning of this year to
organise my life – I put a lot of thought into replacing this table. I
looked at work benches at both IKEA and Bunnings, as they were the right
height – but golly they were industrial in finish and just not quite
right. Lo and behold, in OfficeWorks I discovered a manual high-low or
sit-stand desk. It is the right length and perfect depth to hold my
cutting mat. I can still store my fabric tubs underneath it. The hole
cut into the edge for computers is perfect for the ironing power cord to
feed through neatly. I can fit a small pressing station to the side of
it, leaving plenty of cutting surface – best of all, I will be able to
set the height correctly so a tired back will be a thing of the past.
To round out the purchase, I have ordered a new ergonomic chair to
replace my current chair which will sink down at the most inconvenient
times.
I
have also ordered a pressing mat – to make the pressing station, so my
ancient concave ironing board can hide back in the cupboard waiting for
me to iron clothes… I’ve been making do with an old towel folded and
covered with a linen tea-towel as a mini pressing mat, but am looking
forward to trying out something a bit more professional. I’ll give an
honest review, once I’ve used it for a short while.
I
have been able to make a few more ¾” hexies and am loving my little
project box. There is no plan yet just what to do with these, but I’ll
keep making them. Not sure if I’ll use these as the centre of
grandmother’s garden flowers or as the outside petals, keeping one
central colour. It all depends on how many I make and just what colours
I have when I’m ready to stitch them together. Or they might become
something else….. I used to be indecisive, but now I’m not sure…
I
am proud of myself this weekend, for putting some serious time in and
working on my online Scout Training. I’d been putting it off for
months, but set myself this weekend to work on it in earnest. I still
have some hours left to work on this, but have broken the back of the
training. Once completed - I should have earned my Wood Beads as a Leader of Adults
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| ready to sail! |
Checking
my stitching rotation – this week I will bring out Shores of Hawk Run
Hollow. I’m up to stitching blocks 6 and 7 – the sailing ship in the
middle. This has been a long time WIP – as most of the projects I’ve
been working on this year.
As
a result of my recent fit of tidy – sorting through my specialty floss I
do have another alternate WIP – this scrap of fabric fits three of
these hearts nicely. I am using Colour Streams silks and am enjoying
the process. I’ll adjust the patterns to suit myself as I go along. I
do know I have a wide range of beads in my stash to choose from This
will most probably end up this life as a pillow.
I
hope you have enjoyed your visit with me today. Whether you have
dropped in though Bloglovin’ or through your reading pane on Blogger –
or even followed one of my unashamed links on various forums – please
leave a comment – introduce yourself. Please leave a link to your own
blog – are you a quilter, a stitcher, an organising guru? What is your
passion? Let us get this blogging community a little tighter and get to
know one another… I leave you today with a closeup of my lovely flowers - a bottlebrush and a sea holly in particular
