Cat's Crafty Corner: Sewing the Day Away

Well almost all sewing. I am still knitting, and doing embroidery and making jewelry.

I have many favorite blogs that I love to visit, and one that I love going to is Junie Moon. She does so many wonderful crafty things. She either has tutorials or links to the sites that had the tutorials. One of the things she made was a key ring and I knew immediately I had to make it. A while back I had noticed Hobby Lobby had some charms of the tree of life, and I so love that symbol I had to get a few, but did not know what I was going to use them for, this project was perfect.

To me it has so many meanings, the circle of life, renewal, the connection to every one and thing. As a German I loved all the mythology that came out of that region and Yggdrasil is mentioned many times in Norse mythology, and early Germanic tribes held trees to be very sacred. For some reason I feel a strong connection to Ireland and my dear hubby (DH) is Irish. Ireland also uses the Tree of Life symbol and also has many meanings, some the same as mine. After the death of my great-aunt I now finally feel that I can move on, I feel as if I am renewing my life and it is in thanks to the many connections I have in real life; family, friends, Hospice, and in my Internet life, especially the many blogger friends I have. Even though some do not know me, but going to the sites and seeing how life continues on made me realize that I need to do the same. So this key ring is my sign of renewal and interconnections.

The trees aren't exactly what I like for the tree of life but they still represent it very well. I love the ones where the branches reach high towards heaven but yet are intertwined with the roots that go deep down into the earth.

The little tag on the end I found yesterday at Hobby Lobby and says believe. I must continue to believe everyday that I can continue. The glass leaf was also found yesterday and I thought it helped to represent the tree and cycle of life.

I did make hubster one but I think he already pocketed it, as I couldn't find it this morning to take pictures of.

Now for the sewing. Last week I picked up some waffle material to make dish towels, napkins and dishcloths. Unfortunately I didn't have enough to make napkins and the dishcloths were small. I bought other towel material a few years back but this was different, the weave was looser and I am not sure I really enjoyed sewing on it.

The top towel was my first and I used it to play with different stitches to see what it and my sewing machine liked & disliked. It did not like doing decorative stitches, the weave is way to loose. Also the loose weave made the ends fray very fast.

I took some fat quarters and cut two squares, two rectangles and the butterfly square, sewed them into a strip, hemmed with a basting stitch and sewed it onto the material. I sewed as close to the edge as possible and removed the basting stitch. On the dishtowels I tried a few different edge stitches to see what would work best with the fraying edge. I didn't want to hem as they were small already.

The "cheater" curtains I bought at Zooks, a while back when vacaing in Pa with my Mom, Dad, sister and her family. I bought some more when DH and I went to Amish country after my great-aunt's funeral last August, but haven't made them yet. **oh I just had an idea, I've been wondering what I was going to do with some lace sheer fabric I bought on clearance but not enough to make a full set of curtains for two windows, I think I'll combine the two in order to make a set** I sooo love that store in Intercourse PA, it is where the local Amish and Mennonite's shop and they have such wonderful fabrics. In the back of the store is another smaller store where you can pick up already made Amish/Mennonite clothing, housewares, and notions. Next time I need to pick up some petticoats. Oh I call these cheater curtains because all that is needed is to hem the sides and they have many patterns and beautiful color work.