10 Minutes in the Sewing Room

Quick and Easy Sewing

Often I want to sew but I am just too tired or I can't find a big enough time slot.  Sometimes all I can find is 10 minutes in my day - not enough time to start anything major but enough time to escape to the sewing room.  Here are a few of my favourite '10-minute' tasks for those moments when time is too brief but the desire is strong.

1.         I wind bobbins. I have my favourite colours and I wind a bobbin or two of each. 

2.         I tidy up part of my fabric collection.  I don’t attempt to tidy the whole lot – just one colour or one fabric range.  

My CD rack ALWAYS need a tidy!

3.         I sort some scraps.  First I toss those itsy-bitsy pieces and then I sort my scraps according to size or colour or both. Just a few at a time - it feels so good.

4.         I sharpen my pencils – whether they are chalk, lead or colouring pencils.

5.         I clean my feed dogs.  I slip off the footplate and dust those dogs with a small brush.  My machine runs better because of it.

6.         I wipe down my sewing desk, any shelves and the casing of my sewing machine. 

7.         I pick five fabrics that go well together and put them aside, ready for my next project.

8.         I buy supplies on-line.  This is the time when I replace worn out scissors, seam rippers, pads, marker pens, purchase general batting, white cotton and printing ink.  Anything that I use regularly.

9.         Sometimes I have enough time to make something really, really, quick and simple.  Check out the 'Across the Pond' tab above and 'Tutorials and Freebies' for some good little patterns.

Coasters are very quick to make.  This one is from my Hobby & Fun Book.

10.       I wander the boards of Pinterest.  My fail-safe search term is to enter anything preceded with ‘fabric’ in the search box.  It could be ‘fabric patchwork blocks’ or ‘fabric key rings’, ‘fabric table runner’, ‘fabric pincushion’, ‘fabric houses’, 'fabric Easter' – the choice is endless.  I then pin any I like onto a board entitled ‘Fabric Eye Candy’.  (Be warned this task can grow and spread like a rash and before you know where you are you've spent 30 minutes and the dinner is burned - again!)

Visit The Patchsmith's Pinterest board.

11.       I connect with my quilting tribe.  I leave a comment, ‘like’ a photo or write a very short blog.  Connecting with other quilters has led me to make many wonderful friends around the world. (p.s. 'quilting tribe' to me is anybody, anywhere who sews, stitches, quilts or creates)

12.       I plan a quilting trip.  This could be to an upcoming exhibition, quilting class or to a much-loved quilt shop.  It could even be meeting up with a quilting friend (they are the best times).   

So there you have it - snatched moments from the Patchsmith's day.  What do you do when you can only carve out a short amount of time for yourself?

Sleepless Stitching

A couple of nights back I woke in the early hours of the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep.  So I reached for needle and thread as I often do when I cannot sleep.

I doodled quilted a rectangle of pale blue polka dot fabric (doodle quilting is where you doodle on fabric and then stitch over the doodles).

As I stitched my mind kept returning to the Amish saying “busy hands, happy heart”.  

The following morning I turned an hour of sleeplessness into a reversible seat belt cover using Crafty Mummy’s free tutorial.  

What do you do when you can't sleep?

A New Princess

What wonderful news ..... England has a new princess.

New Baby Mug Rug

Welcome 

Princess Charlotte, Elizabeth, Diana.