I walked into my sewing room determined to make something this evening and the result was homes for two of my difficult to store tools. My niddy-noddy and my swift* tend to float around the sewing room occupying random bits of shelving or the tops of piles until they swivel around and fall off, generally taking other things down in the process. There is space to store them in the closet but that makes them to difficult to get at when I want them. In a flash of realization that made me feel particularly brilliant I discovered a solution to my problem: These items are not meant to be stored on shelves; vertical storage is the way to go.

A couple of largish scraps, some ribbon and a few seams later I have a pair of bags to hold my niddy-noddy and swift out of the way but easy to reach. The red fabric (with the teeny hearts) is left over from a dress I made for a friend a few years ago. The striped fabric came from my grandmother's house when I saw her last April. I think it is ticking. I'm pretty sure I remember some bed skirts or pillows made out of it when I was little anyway. It is a bit heavier and feels very satisfying. I think the print is really pretty and old fashioned but still fresh. This seems like a bit of a mundane project for a special fabric but I like that I'll be able to see it whenever I'm in my sewing room now.

*The pegs for my swift live very happily in the same box as my ball winder.

 

A little while ago one of Rob's grandmothers moved from her house to an apartment. She'd been in her house for a long time. She had a lot of stuff that just wasn't going to fit in the apartment so she started to prune down and giveaway things she didn't really need any more. She knew I liked to sew. She offered me her serger.

I think it is one of the most fantastic gifts I've ever received. Rob's parent's brought it back from their trip south for Thanksgiving. Along with the serger Shirley had included a bunch of thread, six books (including the machine manual which has some hand-written notes it it - love that), three vintage table cloths (one with a story attached) and a couple of pieces of woodwork.

So far the machine has made its way to my sewing room but I haven't taken the time to try and thread it. I have a feeling that Shirley's notes about the tension settings she used most are going to be very helpful. I'll have to tackle the threading soon - I've got a cardigan cut out that I'd really like to wear and a couple of other projects that will go really quickly with a serger. I think a new (pretty) machine cover should be among them.

Last night our power was out ... twice ... for about half an hour each time. I was going to blog but that wasn't going to work so I looked around for something crafty to do instead. I ended up at my spinning wheel and got a nice chunk of spinning done. I hope to finish off that project and share it soon. While I was spinning I was thinking about crochet. In particular I was thinking about the crochet stone pattern published on the Purl Bee a few days ago.


Of course while the power was out all I could do was think but by the time it came back on I'd remembered where my balls of purl cotton were, found my tiny crochet hook and decided which of my sewing weights* would look best covered in crochet. I plunked myself and my supplies down at my desk and pulled up the pattern. Unfortunately my camera battery died so I wasn't able to take any in progress pictures (but at least the power was on so I was able to charge it up).


I love how quickly crochet goes. Even with a few mistakes to frog back and redo I was showing my finished stone to Rob only a little while later. I love the way it turned out and it makes a special stone even more lovely.

*My sewing weights are a collection of ocean smoothed stones from the beach in front of my great-grandmother's house. I use them all the time for holding down patterns and fabric. They live in a small basket in my sewing room.