Tiny Trinkets

Last May during the bi-monthly meeting of CyberPointers, an online Yahoo group for stitchers, we had a stitch-along project called Petit Trianon, a Tiny Trinkets project.

At the time of the stitch-along I had received neither the threads nor fabric with which to do this. So the instructions sat in my drawer of UFO's. Finally the threads came - way too late and at a time that I was extremely busy. So still it sat.

Skip ahead to Peace Corps' assignment in Colombia. My mother sends me a piece of wonderful fabric for this project. It finally arrives. Can a chest cold/bronchitis be fortuitous? In this instance it can ...
I can lay around, not worrying about meetings, plans, activities, and what have you as a volunteer. Instead I can work on some things around the house. And this is the first project that came to mind. The fibers were wonderful as I plied them with my fingers. I itched to start.

As I am still in the newbie phase of blogging as I go, on projects, I cleanly forgot to take a photo of the wonderful fibers to be used. Can I add a photo of them once I have finished? Why not? I added one fiber - a patina that shimmers and changes in the light.

A finished product a mere few hours later:

     truly a garden of color.

  

And guess what, I even have enough fibers to complete a second one. I must admit though, those "Brazilian threads" are a B***** to work with in order to keep them tight and even. Still, not too bad an attempt for the first time using them.

The question remains what to do with this now. Wouldn't it make a wonderful Birthday card for my mother? I could add some quilting and make a postcard or I could make an actual card. That remains to be see as it won't be fully completed until I get back home. But what fun!

The next "stitch-along" that I am planning on doing, is an EGA one, a Hallowe'en stand-up card. Brilliant fibers and quick stitching, I am sure. Now hopefully the fibers that I don't have in the RV will "come to mama" in time. In the meantime, now I will go to finishing my bag.

Oh, and did I mention ...

And did I mention that I finally finished the free-standing Santa of the Christmas Blocks series?

I down, only 2 more to go to finish the series. See them at:
http://travelinduo.net/crafts/needlepoint/InProgress/xmasblcks.index.html

I have had an idea brewing and floating around in my head about a type of bag that sounds intriguing. More to come on that later. My carry-on bag that awaits my finishing in the US would be an ideal one to adapt to my idea. We shall see. Keep tuned.

Something personal ...

...most of my time is centered around doing samples and putting together classroom ideas, for both adults and children, I try to find some time every now and then to actually do something that I want, or need in the case of now.

I need to eliminate a very smelly backpack to go on the plane when I leave here. The pack will NOT go with me. No wonder locals think that Americans smell - their infamous packs are what smell, and some are even "higher" than  mine is currently. It has served me all, carrying supplies, water, chilly willies, sports towels and food but the time has definitely come to retire it. So, now I need a small bag to carry miscellaneous items onto the bus and then the plane in a couple of weeks. I decided to use up the fabric that I purchased and brought here for projects and make a hobo bag, but a small one that will get conversations going.

You start with strips that are then made into squares. These, in turn, are sewn into a patterned or random selection for working on the bias. Then make a sandwich and quilt as desired.

  

Next up is placing the desired pockets inside and any other straps for keys and such.  The sewing together on the sides comes next.

 

 

And this is as far as I have gotten. Now for hand sewing the top binding, making and sewing on straps, figure out away to close the inside pocket (really need a snap, but gee, where can I find one of those today?), and sew on the outside closure button. Then, voila, finished in time for our departure.

Continue to be humbled ...

This last Thursday, once again I found myself humbled. Three more fabulous bags came in for the women. The tumbling out of all the threads was amazing, to say the least. Sorting and bagging will be the order of the day for this coming week.

I will also be busy finding them patterns to practice their newly found skills with these wonderful threads.

As I indicated in the last post, they will be thrilled, but first how to equally distribute these wonderful gifts. I have worked hard to get the women into a mode of willingly sharing their ideas and patterns. Not so their supplies. Not even an inch of thread will they distribute to another. They are simply to hard to come by and so very expensive here. in fact, most of the fancy fibers are simply not available. I am sure that I would find a supply if I went to Bogatá and spent a lot of time visiting various shops. That I don't have time for! So, what I have decided to do is to get gift bags, split all the fabrics equally, then, one-by-one drop supplies into the bags. I will also add in all my threads that I brought (I can replenish once back home) I will then hand them out in random order, supplies not being seen, to the women at my last day - a day when they are actually giving me a despedida (going away party) which means, a wonderful meal of arroz con pescado (rice with fish), ensalada papa (potato salad), cake and soda. This is the usual party fare here. What a surprise for them, to be handed a gift themselves. There will also be a drawing for items that I received from a friend in the USA as well as a numbered drawing where they will get to pick, in order of their number, something from the supplies that I have left from all the classes. What better way to get downsize, readying to pack and leave? I will get lots of photos.

Many heartfelt thanks go out to our most benevolent donor. She will live in the hearts of these women for years to come.

Humbled and proud ...

A few weeks ago I joined an online BOM quilting group through Craftsy.com. What I hoped to learn were new techniques but at my own pace. The BOM is a free one: one, I am sure, to expose and entice you to others that you pay for. Judging by the comments from the group, the following is quit large. I made my introductory comment, which included a general statement about how hard it is to get 100% cotton here in Barranquilla. The next thing that I knew I had offers from a couple of members to share some fat quarters (FQ) with me. I am constantly humbled by the generosity that is found, and from strangers at that.

Thinking nothing further, on Friday last I went to the mailbox and wow, there was a large envelope waiting for me. It was indeed, a gift of FQ’s. I was in tears.

aren't they beautiful?

But then another surprise awaited me in the same manner. There were also 3 more envelopes waiting for me, these much heavier.   But first a little history: I have been teaching various manualidades (skills) to the women in my Damas de Casa group here in Colombia. Once a week we all come together, chatting, exchanging and generally having a good time. I started them a book of patterns to get used to the idea of working as a group and sharing without concerns about “this is mine and she can’t have it because she might do better with it than me!” These women collectively have a great variety of skills – they just needed to be shown through example, that they can share these skills and teach others. Each week when we get together, I try to bring new patterns that I find online (free for download only) for their book and for them to try. Oddly enough they all wanted to learn to cross-stitch. This was one week’s topic. Patterns flowed and then books that were old and well fingered started coming out. They were sharing! Another thing that they wanted to learn was a technique called Bordado Español. I didn’t know how to do this myself. I tried and tried to find patterns. Finally I asked a friend from Panama if she could teach me the next trip I made. Well she did but I still didn’t have patterns, only a sampler that she did as she was learning and subsequently copied for me to learn from. I finally found some very basic ideas called Chicken Scratch online. On a online group that I belong to, I then wrote asking if anyone had more elaborate patterns that they would be willing to share, and told my reason for the request. One of the ladies in the group who is a designer, wrote and asked me if she could donate a few supplies to the women. In her opinion, people like this do such fabulous work, if only given a chance. Of course, I agreed again thinking I would deal with it should it occur. And yes, these 3 envelopes were filled to the brim with supplies and fabric for them. These women are going to be ecstatic when they see this.

And I found 3 magazines on Bordado Español while visiting Medellín which I purchased and will put into the women's shared book of patterns. Life is good!

Another designer sent me a design pattern and gave permission to use it for a class. This will be the last class of my service here in Colombia.

We are so humbled and yes, lucky, to belong to a world where people think of others and give freely. I can only hope that the women, when I explain these things to them, will learn and in turn, repeat a kindness.

As for the BOM, well I finished January's blocks yesterday, using left-over fabric from another project. These are slash and sew blocks that are surprisingly simple to make. You start with a square and slash and sew ins trips to eventually make a pattern, or even just random fractures. (I found a blog where someone didn't like a quilt that she had pieced so she randomly slashed it and sewed in strips for a fractured window effect. Beautiful)You make them bigger than your finished block and then trim to size. What could be simpler? 

  I even tried a little liberated cutting, but somehow these always seem to be straight. So I purposely thought of cutting and ended up with a smooth curve. Go figure! I will have to concentrate on this more heavily. :)

 

Tomorrow, crochet! Man am I touring the world of crafting. Today, however, samples to be made!