Final Finishes for 2015

Yesterday one of my friends came over for a day of stitching.  I'm currently on our Christmas break from work, but Mick is still hard at it.  The perfect opportunity to play.

Anne arrived with two large embroidery hoops and a plan.

Thinking of my new sewing room, which will become a reality in the next few months, I found a couple of fat quarters in the stash, and before long we had made a very handy pocket to hang on the wall. I'm rather happy with the result. I may just have to add a little something to the top to break it up.  Maybe an origami butterfly, methinks.

As the hoops took less time than we anticipated, we looked for another project and came up with a Goody Goody Binding Kit which has been making several appearances around blogland.  A bit more work in this one, but not difficult at all.  Anne used the same fabrics as for her hoop and I dived into my fabric drawers and came up with some fabric scraps, this time from a quillow I had made way back when - like in 2008.  It is the second bottom photo in the link, one of the first projects I ever blogged about.  The scraps were just the right size for what I needed with a few extra fabrics added.

I'm so pleased with the look of this. However, when I bind a quilt my tools of choice are needle, thread, scissors and one pin.  I don't actually use any clips.

Now, that doesn't mean it won't get used.  Oh no.  I have a plan......

An English Paper Piecing Kit. That WILL be handy.  A nice zippered section for the individual little bits and pieces - yes I do use binding clips here - and the bigger pocket for finished sections.  Maybe I'd better use it and finish the table mat in time for Nundle in only a couple of months time.

The pattern was very easy to follow.  Just a couple of observations - the fabric ties could have been quite a bit longer than the pattern says, as there isn't enough length to tie a bow, and the fabric strip on the inside for holding cotton reels is too thick for a Gutermann reel, which is what I mainly use.  Looking closely at the pattern, they show Aurifil thread, which appears to have a larger hole in the centre of the reel.  I think I will carefully remove the fabric strip and replace it with narrow ribbon to tie in the middle. Also, I changed the shape of the scissor keep.  That was just for speed. I would certainly make it again. It is a great project.

I don't have a photo of Anne's projects, as we didn't finish off the back of our hoops or stitch the bindings on our Binding Kits until last night, after she had gone home.  Anne used bright, bold, large scale prints, while my projects were ditsy.  It is amazing how different the same projects look with different fabrics. They both looked great. A rather interesting exercise.

We were both really pleased with what we achieved on the day.  Now we will have to plan another get together some time.