In Stitches

 

My main New Year's resolution was to have fun, especially with my sewing.  I also wanted to do more handwork and try to get my fingers working better.  Even if my fingers are clumsy sometimes, the handwork has been a real blast!

I love doing this kind of work while we are watching the Phillies.  The sewing relaxes me and thanks goodness because our team has more ups and downs than a roller coaster.  

Vintage Dorney Park postcard.  On a side note:  the amusement park is near where we live and it was also featured in the old movie, "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows."

Okay enough digressions...

Anyway, the thing I love sewing the most these days are these Quilt As You Go Hexagons.  I showed you the first one I made a few months ago.

But piecing the hexies together was a bit of a problem.  I used the ladder stitch for the piece above.

But my problem was that the stitches became loose in some areas and I had to go back and rework a few of the stitches.

Then I watched a video where Karen Brown (Just Get It Done Quilts) interviewed Emma Jones from Vintage Sewing Box.   You can see the interview here.  They discussed EPP and both said they found the ladder stitch problematic and used the whip stitch instead.

So I tried that for my next two pieces.

But I didn't like that method either.  So this week I went back to the ladder stitch but then searched YouTube for a different stitch and I found one!  I found it on the Daisy And Grace YouTube channel.  I use that company's templates for these.  It turned out that Nicola uses a different stitch that is sort of a ladder/whip/back stitch creation.  You can see her video here.  

This is my new favorite method and it seems to be working better for me (show you the finished piece when it is done).

I have lots of floral scraps and I am hoping to use up a lot of them to make these little table toppers for friends and family.

Anyway, that's it for today!

Have a great day!