WOYWW: Five Things Edition

Maybe it’s cheating for What’s on Your Worktable Wednesday, but I am going to show you five things that are going on right now instead of a photo of my desk (which looks almost exactly like it did last week!).

1. Soon after my mom bought me my first sewing machine, I bought the book Stitch by Stitch:  Learning to Sew One Project at a Time by Deborah Moebes.  I love the author’s enthusiasm for sharing her love of sewing with her readers, and how she begins with a few small mini-projects for newbies to get their feet wet (so to speak). I completed a stitch sampler to familiarize myself with all of the different stitches my machine can do, as well as to get some experience with changing stitch lengths and widths. I was so excited about the project that it wasn’t until I went to photograph my sampler yesterday morning that I noticed how my thread tension is way too tight, and my fabric is all bunched up! I had fun “playing” with the stitches, though.

2. I finished the four postcards I will be sending out as part of Danielle’s postcard swap over at A Love Affair with Paper.

As I mentioned in last week's post, I used sewn strips paper, and sewed on a round magazine/catalog picture and handwritten word/phrase to each. There are lots of edges with potential to catch in the mail system; I am hoping they will arrive intact! I think that’s all part of the excitement of sending handmade greetings.

3. Another project I used my sewing machine for was my Mother’s Day card for my mom.

I cut a template for the butterfly, then used it to cut many more butterflies from the pages of a discarded book. I sewed these onto a card (three on top of each other, so I could bend their wings up for dimension), using an orange thread to mark the path of their flight I also sewed on some matching seam binding from my grandmother’s stash.

4. I am very excited about Mother’s Day gift, compliments of my husband: a Pogo printer! This little machine connects to my camera or my camera phone, and prints a little adhesive 2x3 photo. So far I’ve only tried a single image, but I think it’s going to be fun to play around with to stick pictures in my art journal, and on letters and envelopes.

5. A little while ago I entered a giveaway over at Mrs. Pao’s Mumblings blog, and won a beautiful necklace handcrafted by Samantha Osborne. She mailed it to me along with a delicious bar of chocolate—BONUS!

I was going to post a photo of myself wearing the necklace, but until I get this hair of mine done, no one gets to see a picture of me!!

You can check out Samantha’s work at http://www.fishingforpearls.com/.

I also received another postcard from Hanna’s swap, this time from Michelle in California. Unfortunately, the front of the card got separated from the back on its way to my house! So, I did not get to enjoy her artwork, but I thank her for participating in the swap anyway. Her blog can be found at giveagirlafig.blogspot.com.

What’s going on in YOUR workspace this Wednesday?