Tuesday 8 February 2022

Scrappy Hand Stitched Needle Book

Thank you all for the interest in items from the last post. Answers to the questions I received...

January's cake: Daughter Beth made Rock Recipe's Orange Velvet Cake With Buttercream Frosting and the recipe is at that link. She says she has made almost all of Barry's Velvet cakes and they all turned out well...we've eaten quite a few of them and can certainly agree!

Her colourful wall is made of water coloured with food colouring and frozen. She used this sort of brick sized plastic container to freeze the water.

And here is the CBC video of the|Saskatoon woman, Laura, making her wall that inspired Beth to make one.

Squirrel Alert!

I got a little sidetracked this weekend with stitching a little needlebook for my Floral Motif Sampler project.
 I don't have a needleminder( Stitched Modern has this little article on how to use these newfangled things) and decided I needed to get a consistent way to deal with needles- instead of stabbing them through the corner of my fabric!.
 I looked at loads of needlebooks and settled on Susie's here as my main inspiration.  Of course, mine would be very scrappy which is definitely the way I roll. 
 I gathered as many little neutral bits that I could sew onto an old piece of fabric approximately 5 x 6.
I used just enough glue to hold them in place while I ran running stitches, Kantha style, through them to hold in place.  
Deciding on a little motif for the cover was really fun. Because this one will house the needles for a flower project, I figured something flowery would be appropriate.
 I dug to the bottom of my scrap bags to pull out the tiniest bits to put to use for the petals. Hmmm, I think I like the larger number of petals arranged randomly like above better than the way they are below. 
Still TO DO... add a few more stitches to pin down those petals and also add the flannel pages; then it will be finished and put to use. It was so pleasurable to sew something that didn't involve following closely a pattern for a change. 

I enjoyed this video about which Ikea items would work well in a sewing room. As you can guess, there are quite a lot as Ikea is known for its emphasis on organization for the home.

I'm interested in this because, as much as I work at organizing my sewing space, it never quite suits me. That is definitely an ongoing issue for me.
 Hope your week is off to a great start! 

24 comments :

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Your needlebook is wonderful. I have a couple different ones but I never use them - instead I have three pincushions that I *try* to keep designated/sorted as to needle sizes. It's an ongoing battle to keep myself organized. I also have a commercial needle book that has pages labeled for each of the different types of needles. I keep my never-used needles in there and when I break (or more often lose!) a needle I know where to get a new one.

Nancy J said...

The wall, how innovative, and to think it's cold enough to freeze the blocks outside. I did see, ages ago, a friend in Alaska make candle buckets in a similar way. Ikea, down here we do have some stores stocking the items, but it's very expensive, guess shipping contributes as well.Needlecases, I have a felt on a daughter made for me, probably in about 1975 or so!!!

Sherrie said...

Hi Jocelyn,
Love your needle book. I've thought of making several of these...at the moment I have all my needles and pins stuck in a pin cushion. I try to keep them separated but it doesn't always work. I'll have to try and make me a few of these needle books. The little squirrel is cute. He looks like he's got lots of fur to keep him warm. Have a great day!

Robin said...

I love that wall. Everyone needs a few bright colors to look at during the winter. I would make one in a flash if temps were cold enough to keep things frozen around here. Looking at that wall just makes me happy. Cute little needle case. I keep mine in a long narrow pin cushion that a friend gave me.

Jenny said...

Many thanks for link about building the ice wall, very informative. I didn't quite understand what your daughter had created in your previous blog, so this was great. I had to smile when the lady said it is so much easier to do in minus 40 degrees! That type of temperature is so hard for me to imagine.

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I was thinking that is a lot of blocks to put in the freezer and then remembered you don't have to do that up there!! LOL it is really interesting and I bet her son loved it.
Love cake and your daughter must be a good baker they always look so good

Jackie said...

What a lovely needlebook. I am of the stick the needle in the corner of the fabric group.

Isn't that wall amazing. How nice that your daughter decided to build one as well.

God bless.

Brian's Home Blog said...

That really is a cool wall and that squirrel is cute too. Looks like some fabric fun coming up!

Cheree @ The Morning Latte said...

My sewing desk and stash cabinet are both from IKEA and I love them! If my room was bigger, I'd fit more IKEA items in there, too! I'll have to watch that video. Thanks for sharing!

Nancy said...

Your needle book looks fun to make. I love the background fabrics you used.
I was curious about those colored blocks. What great idea.
There were black squirrels where I attended college. I understand they are more aggressive than the others. Do you find that to be the case with this little guy?
Whenever I go to Ikea I always admire the storage options they have.
Thanks for sharing!

miekequilt said...

I really like your work. It is nice to use the technique for a little quilt. Thanks for sharing.

Home Sewn By Us said...

Hi Jocelyn! That colorful wall is so very cool. How ironic that I shared a similar idea last Thursday. It was an igloo but the colorful idea remains the same. Thanks so much for the cake link!! Boy, that website looks like it might be trouble with a lot to offer. YUM! Quilt and sewing organization is truly a neverending task, I think. {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne

Linda said...

Jocelyn your needle minder is darling! What fun to be so creative and use pretty fabrics and stitches. Sometimes I think those little projects are more fun that quilts! I enjoyed the video about Ikea storage. Would you believe we haven't been to an Ikea for over 20 years? I do see Ikea pieces on our Marketplace from time to time, and I need to check again, because she has some great tips on storage.
Thank you for linking up with To Do Tuesday! :)

Jenn Jilks said...

This is fun!
I could never do any good work. I stabbed myself hemming pants today. What a mess!
I have zero patience, too.

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting said...

Neat colorful ice wall!!! Fun that your daughter made one, also!!! Cute needle minder project! I enjoyed watching the IKEA vid, too!

andy's colours said...

Hi Jocelyn,
These are such lovely pictures of the snow! But my, it must be soooooo cold to be able to built and ice block wall. What a great idea! Something we could never do here in northern Germany - if ever the temperatures get low enough, it wouldn't last long enough to make it worth while. And I've never seen such a dark coloured squirrel! Ours are red/brown and in England grey. Yours seems almost black. Love your stitching, too. And Ikea - half our furniture is actually from there. The older stuff more lasting than the newer stuff. They seem to be using less wood - good for the trees - and using cardboard for the "filling" between two thin layers. Not good for moving house, though. I've seen many sewing people use Ikea products for their sewing room, though, and am sure everyone could find their appropriate solution there.
Regards
Andrea

JOY @ http://joysjotsshots.blogspot.com/ said...

I see you like to play with scraps as much as I do. Beautiful needle book.

audrey said...

Oh my, I just love your needlepatch book! So lovely!:)

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

I love your needlebook project! It's so fun to just decide you need something like that and then to make it happen. I made a needle book similar to yours a few years ago and find it really useful! The cakes your daughter look and sound delicious!

PaintedThread said...

What a cute squirrel! Looks like fun projects.

The Joyful Quilter said...

What a great handwork project, Jocelyn! Organization alludes me, as well. I saw that video, too. Sad to say, no progress was made in my studio. :o((

Michele McLaughlin said...

Great needlepoint book! Love it! We don't have black squirrels in our neighborhood and I loved seeing yours! Thanks for letting us know about the pretty wall your daughter made! Karen Brown (just get it done quilts) has been doing a lot of videos on quilt rooms lately. Have a great day!

Donna said...

I have a couple needle books I got as favors at retreat and Guild. I use them all the time. I love that you made yours original.

Jennifer Fulton Inquiring Quilter said...

Such a cute little needle book! And so useful too. Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.