Newest “Bizzy” thing

Most of you know that I have difficulty breathing when the pollen level is up, when the wind is blowing dust around and especially on the 4th and New Years Eve due to fireworks. During the times when I know the air quality is going to cause me problems I lock myself in my tiny bedroom with all the windows and the door closed up tight. I turn on my two air purifiers and try to stay busy until I can come out again.

If crocheting wasn’t so hard on my wrists I’d probably do that since I do enjoy it so much. I do embroider, play my ukulele,guitar, mandolin or keyboard, read, search the internet for future class project ideas and lots more. It all depends on what supplies I have available and the mood I’m in.

Yesterday I decided to start a new English paper piecing project. It’s been a very long time since I’ve done any English paper piecing so I’m looking forward to the hand work. It’s perfect for doing in my bedroom because the supplies don’t take up much space and are so easily tucked away. I keep everything in a small box I made years ago.

The last quilt I made using English paper piecing I gave away without taking any pictures. It was just a small quilt but I do wish I’d remembered to document it.

Since I’m starting a new one I’ve decided to take pictures along the way.

Ready formed templates can be purchased in all sizes and shapes but I make my own. It takes a little time but it’s much cheaper and I enjoy it. Because of card making and scrapbooking I always have scraps of card stock I can use.

I use old, old thread of a highly contrasting color for the basting. It’s a great way to use up that old thread that has gotten a bit weaker and the high contrast color makes it easy to see when I’m ready to pull out the basting. I do the same thing when I hand baste quilt sandwiches together. Most people use quilting safety pins for that but I like hand basting better.

Many times my supplies for drawing, card design, sewing etc all get used back and forth in the different crafting projects. In addition to using scrap card stock I put the four little holes in the templates that I’ve cut out using my We-R-Memory keepers crop-a-dial that is a card making/scrapbooking tool. It’s perfect because I can go through many templates at once the the holes are smaller than using a regular hole punch. Small is good because I use them to run the pins through to hold the fabric in place while I’m hand basting.