Utilitarian sewing

while I most enjoy sewing where I'm creating some new and possibly complex project, there are other kinds of stitching that must get done from time to time

this project, for example

this orange athletic bag is actually older than my daughter as it was from a group the DH was a coach for before she was born -- she uses it to take her stuff to the gym

the zipper had started to come away from the fabric because the stitching was coming apart, and the white piping around the ends was originally a plastic that had hardened and cracked over the years of being used and washed

yesterday I took the ends out of the bag, restitched the zipper, made new cloth cording and reassembled the bag -- good as new

I'll be sending her a big squishy so she can have this for the gym again


and then there was this project

on the right hand side is what was left of a pillow case for one of the little round pillows the DH uses

that case was made a few years ago out of a piece of a flannel sheet that had developed other holes (grandma taught me not to waste!)

there on the left is the new case I made for the pillow yesterday --- I had picked up this fabric somewhere on a sale just because I liked the colors

it's a good sturdy cotton, so I'm hoping this case will last a while too

every now and then it's good to show one of my bead projects in its intended use

yesterday I added the orange barrette to my Etsy store, but here it is in my hair

cool

I'm looking forward to making some more of these as little quick projects between larger things

sort of like the little scoop of sorbet between courses at a fancy many course gourmet meal

(obviously this one was orange/tangerine sorbet!)



yesterday afternoon I did the paperwork and set up two new bead projects

this is one of them, and you can see here that I've already started working on the beading

once again I'm using those recycled seed and bugle beads that my mother gave me to create another Tribute to Gees Bend bracelet

this one is all shades of blue with the occasional red-orange -- this is a blue jean quilt

the other project that has been all set up is the orange crystals --- I'll start working on that one soon

I'm within a day or two of having the quilting of the Summer Memories quilt finished, and the top for the Autumn challenge is moving right along too

tonight is my local quilt guild meeting --- we're celebrating our 25th birthday as a guild -- and we'll be talking about creating quilts for the many folks in our community that lost their homes in the Waldo Canyon Fire -- there is much to do

time to get to it