Pins and Needles

It comes as a bit of a surprise to me that I enjoy hand sewing. I used to absolutely hate to do it, but now I look forward to it. I'm not marvelous at it, but I have gotten better. I look forward to shutting off the sewing machine, and then curling up on the couch with my paper piecing projects. I'm still not at the level of my grandma who hand pieces and hand quilts all of her huge quilts, but there's something therapeutic about joining together all those colorful little shapes, that's for sure.

As I've mentioned before, this time around I decided to buy needles and thread recommended for paper piecing. Retro Bee has hung her head in shame at being so stubborn and thinking needles and thread are just needles and thread, because they're really not. I bought some milliner's needles as they're long and thin, but they came in this little plastic tube that makes me cringe every time I open it as I feel like they're all just going to pop out and go everywhere, and then the dog's paw will find one and everyone will yell at me but the vet who will be pleased to receive payment for what would probably be a hefty needle-removal bill...

You know what's funny? At work my boss will tell my co-workers to give me their documents to edit as I make everything more clear and concise, apparently. But he obviously doesn't know how I go on for three paragraphs here to say that I made myself a needle book. Theeeere it is, there's the point you were waiting for me to arrive at. I made a needle book.

I used the alphabet function on my machine to sew up this cute little label to pop on that cute little composition book fabric, to make a cute book...book.

The stitching is by no means perfect on any part of this but I don't care. It's so teeny and cute that it cancels out all the hiccups. If I had thought ahead for two seconds I'd have put a little strip of black fabric where the spine of the book is. This fabric is from a few years ago, and I think I may have gotten one of the last pieces in existence on Etsy.

I used some of my large text fabric for the inside to finish off that school vibe--

I only put in one layer of felt as it's real wool felt and a bit thicker and stiffer than the regular acrylic stuff. I originally had two layers, but I couldn't get the book to close no matter how much I pressed the fold (think sitting on a stuffed suitcase). I eyeballed the size of this as I went along, but I did use some bits from this tutorial for the inside layer so I wouldn't have to tuck in any raw edges anywhere. There's also some thin cardboard in there to give it more of a bookish feel.

So now my needles have a home. This dinky little thing that took me maybe half an hour to make is one of my favorite little makes. I think it's because I love things in miniature...