It's Been a Long Week

It seems like forever since I last posted... 12 days actually.   Firstly I had a very busy week, long hours and too dog-tired to put a sentence together in the evenings.   Then when I finally did have the time to post mid-week BLOGGER decided to go AWOL!!!   At first I thought it was me and my computer, but my dear nerdy computer friend checked things out and all was fine my end, so that meant there was trouble at the other end LOL!!!

Anyway this morning all is back where it should be, whew!   you don't realise how much we have come to depend on this cyber thingy!   We have embraced this communication so well that when things go awry, boy! do we feel cheated!!!  I mean.....how dare they....LOL!!!

I did enjoy the latest Barbara Brackman BOW, and yes I used purple again, one of my favourite colours!!!

There is one tiny glitch in this block!  I must have taken my eye off the ball for a moment and now it sticks out like rabbits ears (to me anyway!), but I will leave it as it is, wasn't too happy with myself, but I will try and live with it!!

This week also saw Needle Cases arriving at their new homes.   Kathy Tracy's yahoo group SmallQuiltTalk hosted a Needle Case swap.   We could use Kathy's designs or any other design we liked, some people created their own!

We were assigned swap partners, we provided some clues as to the colours we liked and then we went for it.   My swap partner lives in North Carolina.   Donna and I agreed to post our Needle Cases on the same day so we would get them hopefully within a day of each other.   The postal services did their job and I got mine on Thursday.   Donna got hers on Friday (Australian time). 

I love the deep mustard print Donna used on the cover of the Needle Case.   This is one of the Needle Cases featured in Kathy's book "Remembering Adelia".  

Needle Cases were made for and by the Civil War soldiers to carry items needed to make quick repairs to their clothing.   Donna also included some beautiful Clover needles.   Always a handy extra!!

I decided to make my own design of Needle Case.  I had items I wanted to include in the N/C, so I worked around that to determine the style.

Donna stated she liked brick red or plum so that determined the covering fabric.

I had a bit of play around with a calico prototype to work out my measurements and where I wanted to place pockets and compartments for the items I had.

The bulgy compartment on the right in the picture contains a couple of spools of cotton thread.   The 100% wool flap for pins and needles was made and hand-dyed by a local lady.

I had such fun playing with ribbon, trim (hand-dyed) and buttons. It was a very satisfying project and really made me use my brain.   The days I made this was in a week of relentless pouring rain, it was so nice to be cosy'd up in my sewing room putting this together.

Donna likes it, so that makes it all worth it!!!!

Some of the girls on Kathy's group have asked for the pattern.   I didn't take photos of the construction process, silly me! so I will probably make another one and do a tutorial sometime and post it!

My Father had a small Needle Case I used to love to play with when I was a child.   I have no idea where he got it from or how old it is, but I was always fascinated with it.   It is made of plastic, in the shape of an egg and it was made by Singer.  My Mother never sewed (she was a knitter).  I've inherited my love of sewing from my Grandmother!

I am fortunate enough to have it.   I found it again when I last visited my parents home and was having a delve around in his box of  bits and pieces.   I found a little glass egg-cup to use as a holder, although the Sewing Egg is about the size of a Ducks egg.

It unscrews in the middle and contains several small spools you can put cotton thread on, some needles that fit into a small hollow tube in the middle (with a small lid) and 2 thimbles, one has 'Singer' printed on the bottom of it.  I used to love playing with this and am sure my small fingers wound some of the cotton thread that is still there today (it looks like the clumsy attempts of a child)! 

I really treasure this small and unusual item, I know my Father loved it too, and looked after it.   I will be it's keeper until I pass it on to another family member who will treasure it also.

We are really experiencing the chills of Autumn and I know that Winter is waiting impatiently to breathe it's icy breathe upon us!  In some of the southern districts of Australia snow has been brazen enough to show itself......too early, way to early, we're not even half way through May yet!!!!  I think it will be a very cold winter this year.   The Liquid Amber tree in my backyard has already dropped a lot of its leafy coat!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and lots of sewing time!!!

Merilyn