Sewing in cool comfort

I’m from the north, but I’m here in Southwest Missouri. It’s hot and humid these days, and I typically hide indoors most of the summer. Excellent choice for someone whose hobbies include quilting and sewing!

I got a couple things done in the sewing room today. Two pages of the mystery quilt were waiting to be completed, so I got busy. This involved cutting some rectangles, sewing some 4-patch blocks, and some half-square triangles. I’ve decided to keep the parts of this particular quilt in a shoe box and set it on a shelf when I’m not working on it, so I have more clear space on my cutting table for other projects.

I was going to make some book purses next, but while I was looking through some of my notions, I came across my gold crochet thread. I found a large-eye needle, threaded it from the back of the toe design on the pillow front that I made for my stepdaughter, and used monofilament thread to zigzag over the gold. Instant toe rings! I made one as a triple-wide band, using a multiple stitch zigzag, and  one double-wide, and one toe has two thin rings.

I’ll have to work on book purses another day. My stepdaughter has offered to sell them in her boutique in KC, so I need to work up an inventory now.

Day 18 of 50-Day Challenge

So distractable….

Yes, I’m distractible. I know this, hence the name Quilt In Progress. I dearly love to begin a new project, but finishing is a problem for me sometimes.

I know I could have been making book purses today, or working on the Christmas table runners, or working on the strings quilt, or one of several other projects, but I got a great idea.

My stepdaughter owns a small business, custom fitted toe rings. She sits on the floor at a person’s feet and finds a whole circle toe ring that fits just right and looks great for her customers. I asked whether she would like a pillow to sit on and she replied enthusiastically.

I know her colors in her booth are wild and funky, so I started looking at the fabrics I have on hand. I’d need a flesh color to make foot appliques from, also.

First I found this flesh-colored fuzzy flannel. I knew it was too thin and too flimsy to make appliques from, so I ironed the fusible interfacing to the back side. I looked around for a pillow fabric and found this.

After giving it a second thought, I decided it wouldn’t be the right thing to use. Too stretchy, might pick up every bit of dust and dirt from the floor, etc. Back to the stash!

Just right! Cotton, even though it has a white background it’ll be just perfect. I’m making it as a pillow case so she can remove it and wash it periodically. I made it with a backing layer of white cotton, for strength, durability, and to make the bright flowers POP!

I found that I had some embroidery thread that matches the colors in the flowers. Great! Accent stitching will be in neon green and orange.

Then I changed my mind about the fuzzy peachy flannel. I found a discarded  shirt that looked a lot like a tanned foot color, and started cutting away. I also ironed fusible interfacing to the back of this fabric, drew around the outline I wanted, stitched with a multiple stitch zigzag and cut close to the stitching.

Hmmm, now the foot really needs a pedicure. In fact, two feet, full pedicure. I used my machine’s satin stitch, the neon orange embroidery thread, lowered the feed dogs, added a darning foot (hopping foot, free-motion foot) to the machine and held on tight. Instant pedicure! Click the picture to zoom in, you’ve got to see the nail polish.

So, here are the feet pinned on the pillow front. Next, I used the satin stitch again, but with a light colored thread and using the feed dogs and a zigzag foot. It seemed to take forever, but I wanted to do it right the first and only time. Once that was complete, all I had to do was measure the pillow form, sew up the side seams, and insert the pillow form.

It’s now complete, and I am so very pleased with it! Look for it at a KC area event or shopping center, and say hello to my stepdaughter. In fact, buy a few toe rings!