Applique Every Moment

....so blogging again, at least trying to....and I thought, why not talk about how I make my applique more accessible to the various spots of free time I find sprinkled throughout my day.

Currently, I am carrying around block #3 of Jan Patek's Jubilee quilt
(of www.JanPatekquilts.com). You can see me posing here with block #1 and I thought I'd only do that one, but I just love the easy folk-si-ness of this block, and I couldn't resist doing block #2, and then I got even more addicted to it, and decided, I am going to do the whole dang thing.

Of course, I have chosen some really vivid fabrics, and they're eclectic, seeming as though they wouldn't be friends or cousins, but they just love each other on that black background. In order to get in as much stitching as possible, I have realized that I need to have as few items that I carry as possible. I have it down to a science.

I carry only a few items in my purse that pertain to a given project: the current block, my Needle Keeper, and lately, my reading glasses. In my Needle Keeper, I have gotten myself down to 6 threads that will usually match almost any block I need, but I customize them for each block, I keep a plethora of needles that I pre-thread often, pins, a Clover needle-threader thing-a-ma-bob, and a small pair of scissors. That does the trick. At any moment, I can just pull out that block and start sewing within one minute's time. It has become worth it even if I only have 10 minutes to spend. Those 10-20 minute increments add up and eventually equal hours.

And we all know that oft-quoted and trite but true idiom, "Every moment counts!"

~anna in md