My current handwork project

At Christmastime, my Bible study group had an ornament exchange ... being me, I couldn't just buy an ornament, I had to stitch one up. So, the morning of the exchange (do you see a pattern here?), I pulled out my fabric and DMC floss, dug out the lightbox, traced a button tree pattern I've had in a binder for who knows how long and got started. By working on it throughout the day (including over an hour of uninterrupted time during dance class ... yay for dance classes!), I finished it with about an hour to spare. But did I take a picture of it during that hour? No. And I'm still kicking myself for that ... it turned out so darn cute!

So, what does that have to do with anything? Well, it reminded me how much I enjoy embroidery. So I proceeded to make ... er, start some more ornaments for myself, using some redwork designs found in said binder. However, I didn't rush these like I did the button tree, so they aren't complete ... maybe Christmas morning 2009 I'll finish 'em up (or maybe even earlier, like Christmas Eve). But I'll give you a peek:Then a couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon Bunny Hill Designs. They currently have a free BOM (Block of the Month for you non-quilters) called "A Tisket, A Tasket, Twelve Months of Baskets". I'm usually not into BOMs, but they are showing the blocks in both applique and redwork, and, you guessed it, the redwork got to me. I immediately printed out the available months (January through April) and got started. I pulled a bunch of WOW (white-on-white) fabrics, cut 12 backgrounds, traced out the four designs, drove to Hobby Lobby to get the right red (because the 5 reds I do have weren't right!), and started sewing. Okay, okay, so I didn't do all this within five minutes of printing ... I had to wait a couple days until I went to the post office because Hobby Lobby is two doors down. While I was there, I also got some lightweight fusible interfacing ... I've never tried it before, but the patterns suggested it so I thought I'd give it a go. Boy, is this stuff cool! It's so lightweight that I can barely tell it's there, but it really helps prevent puckering. Plus if there needs to be any trailing between stitch areas, it doesn't show through the front. I'm hooked!

I've done January and March (I skipped February because the fusible interfacing wasn't completely fused, so I waited until the next time I had my iron on and got it fused properly ... it's in progress now):









Anyone care to join me? It's free!