marymarcotte.com

Tag: hand sewing

  • Summer, Slow-stitching, and Smart Grandies

    A bit of slow-stitching while school is wrapping up for summer, The last of the grandies are finishing this week. It’s looking like we’ll be babysitting two of the smallest ones. Of course, they are six and seven, so the duties should be light.

    Two are finishing eigth grade and one is right behind them. They’ve had award ceremonies and graduations and all the end-of-year parties. Richard and I have missed every event, unfortunately. His mom had a stroke a couple of weeks ago and it seems relatively serious. After a two week stay in the hospital, she was discharged to a nursing home and is on hospice care. We’ve suspended her cancer treatments and begun the final process of life.

    All of this waiting, for therapy, for doctors appointments, for hospital staff and so on, has given ample opportunity to do a little slow stitching. And slow it has been. I put together this little rosary purse using only a needle and thread. I even sewed the zipper in by hand. Why not? I discovered a few things about myself. I can be quiet if I’m busy enough. I make really small, strong stitches. And I enjoy embroidery more than I remember. However, I’m not very good at it.

    This rosary bag is half of a piece that I threw together after watching a few videos with Ellie of Petal Plum and perhaps my favorite Sarah from sarahhomfray.com. The piece is as simple as possible because I didn’t want to have to do much thinking. I know. Just sit and stitch. Set things down in a moment’s notice. Carry it all in a small bag. Simple.

    The colorful bag is the second one that I’ve made using some of my slow-stitching pieces. I learned a few things on this first, lacey one about putting it all together. And I like the drawstring closure. So maybe I’ll go back to that for the next one. I have two pieces big enough to make bags now. One of the old lace and one of the new, bright fabrics. I can’t decide which I like more. What do you think?

  • Let’s “boro” together: more jacket slow-stitching

    I’ve been sick with a sinus infection that has knocked me to my knees. I’ve done three things? sleep, sit, stitch. Not a bad combination, but really, it’s probably getting time to move. I do have good news though. My boro jacket stitching is coming along. Hours of stitching can really add up. I think this is where I was on my last report: straight lines with a few kooky stitches. Then I decided to change thread color, which you can’t even tell is different in this photo. The wavy “watery” lines are the palest of blue-greens. It was just a whim, very improvish of me. This piece is complete. I had just sewn up two additional pieces before I got sick. Thank goodness!
    This one is completely different from the first, I guess I was thinking clouds. I got this far and decided I wanted to do something different, again. So I picked up what is now the third piece. Circles, flowers, wonkies. That’s what Milly named the shapes. Wonkies does seem to fit, so we’re running with it. But they definitely need some more work.
    And after a few hours, I got to here. Can you see that I’ve decided to start introducing a few neutrals? One reason was to cover the stem of that flower on the left. I don’t even know why.
    And here we are on piece 3. More of the same. In other words, lots of wonkies. I can’t figure out why I can’t get things to be symmetrical, but I figure if I add enough wonkies, they will look like they are supposed to be that way.
    I still have these two pieces to finish and at least another two or three to do. Then let’s remember that it’s supposed to be reversible, so the neutral side is waiting. Hmm, maybe my wonkies will find symmetry by the time I get to the end. I’m not so sure it matters. Most of the boro jackets I’ve seen online are far from symmetrical, which is one reason they are so charming and popular. These are a couple of really interesting patterns that I think I may have to try. Don’t the textures look yummy?!

    Thanks for visiting. Have a wonderful week!