Wonky hand sewing and other things...

Where has the time gone? Busy weekends mean more jobs to be done on Mondays (meal planning, baking, groceries etc. time eaten up running around doing all the small tasks which seem to accumulate over a week or two, and suddenly all have to be done at once) which results in little or no sewing time. Plus this week, having survived most of winter unscathed, the current headachey-cold-bug which is doing the rounds, took a detour and stopped over at our house. First my H, then me, now Tiger Boy is sniffing and sneezing, and the Jedi Teen left for school this morning grumbling " I have a headache and think I am getting your cold, thanks very much".

So... Not much craft/ sewing happening lately. Well, a little bit of wonky hand sewing/ sort-of - embroidery finished off last night. I knew I was feeling better when I felt like I just had to do some craft of some sort, and NOW and whilst watching TV. Have you noticed craft is like that? Sometimes I don't do anything for AGES - especially after a big mistake or mess up. I walk away disheartened, then lose my sewing mojo for weeks on end, everything seems to go wrong, I lose my touch.
It happened a couple of times last year. But this year seems better. Maybe it is because I have "retired" from school fundraising events after the exhausting and soul destroying school fete; now I am trying to concentrate on sewing for me. Maybe it is because I have mastered the overlocker ( of course having said that, I' m sure to get tangled up next time I get it out!); and sewing t shirt tops are such a quick, easy and satisfying thing to make. Maybe I am more determined, and less fussy. Having read somewhere in a sewing book about the "3 foot rule" helped with that! Maybe because I am trying new things, and mixing up machine sewing with knitting, making necklaces & trying other small craft projects ( yet to get the weaving loom out, but thinking about it!). Now I feel so much " better" when I find some sewing/ crafting time, even a small project is quite satisfying. And if I haven't done anything for a while ie. a few days, I just have to do something, make something, no matter how small!
Which is how I came to make these-


Not very big, not very straight... Just squares of felt, about 7cm square, enclosing 2 trailer washers, to use as fabric/ pattern weights. Small, portable, easy to store. I went to Bunnings and asked for the biggest washers in the store! The sales attendant asked if I needed them for plumbing or a car - I said " not for anything at all like that!", but thought I might just confuse him too much if I tried to explain what I was going to use them for!
Inspired by this book from the library, although I had borrowed and returned it ages ago, and had to borrow it again this week to get some new ideas.



And having learnt from TigerBoy how quick and easy it is to look up, find and reserve a book, I picked this up from the library at lunchtime...and finished it later in the afternoon! Brilliant, wonderful, perfect...I loved "The Graveyard Book" too, I think I need to log on to the library and reserve some more...