Sewing On The Go

How many of you sew while a passenger in a car (or train or plane)?  I found a wonderful idea to facilitate that activity here at the SewManyWays blog.  Check it out.  Karen has so many good ideas on her blog.

It starts out with a kitchen sink sponge holder that attaches to the inside of a sink with suction cups.  In this case, I've attached it to the car window.  (I must add that this works fine, as long as you don't try to roll down the window!)  This receptacle holds many of my sewing necessaries.

A small pin cushion is simply stitched onto the holder through the holes in the plastic.

A fold-up scissors is on a lengthy ribbon for easy use.  When I'm not using it I just place it inside the plastic container.

I think the pink "tape measure" ribbon works perfectly here.  It is just attached with hot glue.  It's only for decoration.  You can also see that the thread comes right out through one of the holes in the container.  I just pull and cut off the length I need.

Below is a top view of the little container, showing how my spool of thread and needle threader/cutter fit inside.  I usually put my little blue Thread Heaven box in here, too.  Or it could be filled with English Paper Piecing papers and fabric squares.  Or thread and a  little cup holding safety pins or clips when sewing down a binding, label, or sleeve.

I should add that this small scissors (and the whole package) passed through airport security with no problem.

Christmas Ornaments from Shiny Happy World

Last fall I saw in Shiny Happy World's newsletter that they were offering patterns for Christmas tree ornaments.  I love making my own ornaments, so I paid the (reasonable) fee to begin receiving the patterns.  Every week a new pattern came in my email box.  I also bought her kit of felt sheets, as I didn't have very many myself.  

I thought maybe I could keep up with one small pattern each week!

I really don't remember in what order the patterns came.  I thought this little birdie was quite pretty.  Look at the lovely embroidery.

This cute little present is actually open in at the top, so it could be used to hold a gift card.  The instructions said to do a running stitch around the edges for all the ornaments, but sometimes I used a blanket stitch instead.

When Wendy (the owner of Shiny Happy World) sent me the snowman pattern, I decided to make a snow woman to keep him company.  It was easy to just alter the pattern a little bit.

There were a few non-Christmasy ornaments, as well!  I think the dinosaur is cute, and an interesting change of pace.

There has to be a Santa, doesn't there.  I should have made a Mrs. Claus for him.  That will be one to make for next year!

Here are a couple of the non-traditional ornaments.  I bought some black felt and customized this ornament to reflect my own black cats.

This cute little matryoshka doll ornament was quite a bit more work, but she is worth it, I think.

I can definitely see myself making more of these next year--for my tree and for others' trees, too.

Hexies Are Everywhere!

Hexies (as in English Paper Piecing) are becoming more and more popular.  I keep seeing articles about EPP in magazines, photos on the internet, and it seems more and more people are using this method of piecing.

I recently saw a very nice hexagon pattern in an unlikely place.  At a LuluLemon store opening in a mall near me!

Hexagons really are popping up everywhere!