One more day left

[wiseheart]

On this penultimate day of my summer holidays I gave the needle book a try. I cut out the two layers of the cover and the three double pages, applied some felt flowers onto the outer cover (though it is still far from finished) and added a pocket with some birdie applications to one of the middle pages.

I guess it will take me at least a week to finish it, especially as I won't have so much peaceful time to craft when work restarts. But it is an interesting project. Of course, those YouTubers have all those fancy tools, like die cut machines into which you slide a piece of felt and a perfect square with pre-punched holes for the individual stitches comes out on the other side. It is easy to get things done that way.

I have to do everything free hand, and my inability to cut straight lines makes things even more complicated. Perhaps I'll invest into a small rollblade cutter eventually. OTOH, I usually need to cut out curved shapes for my felt work, so it probably wouldn't be necessary. We'll see.

It's still disgustingly hot here. We had a quick, heavy rainfall today - with blinding sunshine at the same time, so it didn't do anything to cool down the air. It just made everything humid like whoa. Mum and I haven't left the house since Sunday and we aren't planning to do so tomorrow, either. *sigh*

Comments

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

I so envy how crafty you are. I can't sew a lick or cut a straight line to save my soul.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I started my crafty phase fairly late, to be honest; around the age of 30. And I still can't cut a straight line. *g*

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you tried something different for your last little burst of summer fun. Rain... sigh... I'm so ready for some here.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'm really looking forward to finishing this needle book, only to see how it turns out. I like trying out new things. Doing the same all over again becomes dull very quickly as I found out when I had to saw 48 identical Christmas elves for two different advent calendars. *g*

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I did a quilt like that once. The same design over and over - ugh!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, I used a trick early on. First, I cut out all the necessary parts and put them into different boxes. Then I made the first step - like sewing on the eyes - on all 48 elves. Then the noses. Then the mouths (they even had visible tongues, so it was a real pain). Then the hats. And so on. It gave me the feeling of accomplishment every time I finished a particular step - one I wouldn't have got, had I sew one elf a time completely.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

I did the same thing, but it was just appliqueing the same design again and again. I had ten 'little grass shacks' and ten palm trees to put together... It got old after a while.

Tongues? Ye gods, talk about detail. It's like my quilting with the fish eyeballs.

[mirasaui.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure you truly realize how creative you are. Between teaching, singing, writing Fanfiction (in myriad different Fandoms AND languages), writing original fiction (in many languages and I am sure, genres), crafting, sewing, baking, cooking, master at all and who knows what else, awe-inspiring!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Awww, shucks, you shouldn't make me blush! Besides, I haven't written original fic for decades, literally, and - save for two occasions - mostly just in Hungarian. But yeah, I like to spend my time with useful things, and creating beauty in this often so ugly word is something I do consider useful.