You Know You're A Quilter When . . .

. . . a trip is coming up, and you spend more time planning and preparing projects to take with you, than you do actually planning and packing your clothes.

Recently MisterStitches and I went on a road trip to Arizona for the Giants spring training.  That means two fairly full days of driving on very straight roads.  

Each way.  

Coming and going.  

That means lots of time for hand sewing.  And I really did spend more time and energy on my sewing projects than I did on my regular packing!

The first thing I got ready was an embroidery project.  This one is a secret for now, but I will say that it's for someone in my Stitches family.  I had to buy the object to be embroidered, interface it, then draw on the design with my iron-off pen before we started the trip.

Then I assembled my English paper piecing project.  Which includes the fabric, cardboard pieces, thread, and my needle threader.

Now both projects are stacked on the bed ready to go.

I also have a small quilted wall hanging that only needs its hanging sleeve attached.  I included matching thread and needle pack, plus the label that needs to be attached, too.

So the orange quilt gets added to the pile of sewing projects.  That's the good thing about driving in a car versus flying.  Space isn't an issue, so I can take along as much as I need to.

Now comes the big quilt.  This one is not a super large quilt, probably a large throw size.  As you can see, it needs the binding sewn down, and also the hanging sleeve sewn down.

And so the blue quilt goes on the pile.  Just about ready to go.

And in case I run out of projects (I'm worried that this might not take me as many hours as we will be spending in the car), I throw in the baby afghan I am currently crocheting.

Now I think my stack is complete!  I'll let you know how many projects I finished.

Not-Sure-What-To-Call-These

I'm not sure what to call these little things.  They are to hold thread ends while you are hand-sewing.  Can anyone help me out here?  Maybe just thread holders?

I've made a few before, and a couple weeks ago I whipped up several to give to my friends in my Tuesday  sewing group.  As you can guess, they are very easy to make.  Simply a piece of batting, and a piece of fabric, sewn down the middle, pinked around the edges, and you're done.  I really like using one of these, especially when I am sewing in the car.  Threads stick to the inside batting really well, and wait there till you can throw the threads away.  Of course, pins can be stored inside as well.

And when you use Harmony Art organic fabric for the outside, they are especially nice.  This print is called Whispering Grass.