The Big Tidy Up

One small task I accomplished today was the tidying up of my craft supply cupboard (not to be confused with my fabric cupboard, twice as large and currently in need of a serious overhaul/refolding session).

Along the way I (re)discovered a few things, including a number of quilt works-in-progress, but also a pack of vintage nursery rhyme embroidery transfers and a "Mary and Her Lamb" I must have embroidered well over a year or so ago.  What was once forgotten at the back of the cupboard will now, with just a little more work, make a nice big pillow for Frida's bed.

I also reaffirmed the fact that I have a lot of garment patterns -- some that I'm not sure about (at one point last year I gravitated towards retro dress patterns with high necklines, but these do not suit me!), and others that I would really like to make.  I had the very pleasant surprise of a Lisette blouse -- still a bit high in the neckline, but not too bad -- on which I had practiced my FBA, and which I had left 5/6 complete last summer.

It fits quite well and all I have to do is set in the short sleeves and hem!  Yay! My wardrobe needs a boost, so I'm definitely going to finish this and try to put a little time into summer clothes.  I have the fabric, I have the patterns, I think I'm starting to figure out how to adjust patterns to fit (relatively well), in about a month I'll have some time -- there's nothing to lose.

In the spirit of use-it-or-lose-it, I decided to revive a Farmer's Wife block I had marked as "reject" because of the fabric choices; looking at it again, I think it's just fine.  In fact, I quite like it.  So back into circulation it goes, block 94, Tall Pine Tree:

block 94, Tall Pine Tree

And I have a couple of other FW blocks to add to the stack:

block 63, Ozark Maple Leaf

block 47, Homemaker

And finally, I have a new obsession -- with handquilting, thanks in large part to Carolanne's "whole cloth" quilting class which started yesterday at the workroom.

I traced quilting designs onto two pieces of fabric yesterday, including one soft, earthy yellow I dyed during the natural dyeing "camp" I took at the workroom last August.  I went a little nuts last night, and stitched the whole thing with a beautiful Valdani 30wt variegated thread.

You can get a much better sense of the yellow colour of the naturally-dyed cotton here.  I used plain muslin for the back, since this will be a pillow.

My stitches improved a lot in the course of the day!

Now I am really excited to tackle something more ambitious.  Have you made any discoveries lately?

p.s. The title of this post is for the benefit of my parents, who bought this book for a little dark-haired girl with a very messy room. I know they'll remember it!