Sewing Charms

Despite a busy month at work and striving to make progress on my "totem" project, I couldn't resist joining another charm swap! The theme of this one is sewing - anything that pertains to sewing, including fabric, button, snaps, zippers, safety pins, bobbins, spools etc. It was impossible to pass up! Today I ended up spending most of the day in bed with a head cold (my colleagues at the library were gracious enough to step up and fill in for me) and, being without a good book lately, I had to keep busy in bed somehow! I quickly fused this colorful tweed onto some Timtex and stitched a simple grid over it with the machine. I cut the squares apart, then hand stitched a button on both sides and did a quick whip stitch around the edges. As long as I was hand sewing, I opted to stitch on a jump ring, rather than put in eyelets. They're colorful and fun! I like the way they look all together, springy and bright. I've already completed 14 of the 21 needed, but I needed to rest my hand; My thumb and index finger are getting sore from pulling the needle through the thickness of the Timtex.

While that project is nearly finished, my totem has been languishing on my worktable downstairs. We were away last weekend visiting with family (my sister celebrated a Big Birthday - see a picture of it here) so the focus of my time and energy was elsewhere. I did manage to cut out some fish and pin them onto the sparkle tulle, but I haven't even started on the jellyfish. Maybe this weekend.
Now I'm back to bed for some more rest. Maybe I'll pull out my copy of "The Secret Garden." It's uplifting to read any time of year, but always seems especially pertinent in the spring.