Handwork Happiness

I COME FROM A LONG LINE OF CREATORS. Handwork Happiness was a pleasure to work on. I truly enjoy handwork and always have a project in progress, whether it’s embroidery, English paper piecing, hand appliqué, or hand quilting. I come from a long line of creators. My mother made a lot of the clothing for our family of seven and found time to also do embroidery, oil painting, knitting, cross-stitch, and quilting. Her mother and aunt also were lifelong crafters and quilters. I can remember begging my mom to teach me to sew at a very young age. She wasn’t ready to let me use her machine yet, so to appease me, Santa brought me a toy sewing machine when I was 7. I used Mom’s fabric scraps to make clothes for my…

Self-care. Wellness. Mindfulness. Theses are twenty-first century buzzwords that have gained importance as our amount of screen time, work hours, and speed of life increases. We live in a rushed society—everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere or move on to the next thing. We are expected to multitask, to always be available via our electronic devices. They are an integral, and important, part of our lives, but the pressure of being constantly connected to them can be harmful to our well-being. The result is often added stress and anxiety, fatigue, and exhaustion. In a 2019 Harris Poll survey, 50% of women said they often don’t feel present in their daily interactions with people. And 60% acknowledged that the less time they spend on their own well-being, the less they…

Supplies 1 / CLIPS Mini clips, such as Clover Wonder Clips, hold multiple layers together. 2 / FINGERTIP STILETTO Secures fabric edges in place while pressing glue-basted templates. 3 / THREAD SNIPS Sharp scissors that are easy to take along with your project for cutting threads. 4 / SMALL ROTARY CUTTER The smaller blade works well for trimming small fabric pieces around template shapes. 5 / GLUE STICK Use a water-soluble glue stick to temporarily adhere fabric to paper pieces in lieu of thread basting. 6 / THREAD A fine-weight thread in a neutral color blends nicely when stitching pieces together. 7 / NEEDLES Size 10 or 11 straw needles leave very small holes in the fabric. 8 / PRECUT PAPERS Purchase precut paper templates, or cut your own using a die-cutting tool or paper punch to reduce your prep time. 9 / MINI CUTTING MAT Handy for…

FINISHED TABLE MAT: 18¾" at widest point Materials Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Fabrics are from the Mémoire à Paris collection for Lecien (lecienfabrics.com). □ 9×21" piece (fat eighth) tan linen (embroidery foundation)□ 16 precut 5" squares or ½ yard total assorted florals (hexagons)□ 24"-square backing fabric□ 24"-square batting□ 9×21" piece lightweight fusible interfacing□ Water-soluble marking pen□ Embroidery hoop□ Embroidery needle□ Variegated embroidery floss: green, pink, yellow, lavender, blue□ Sturdy paper EMBROIDER MOTIFS Full-Size Embroidery Patterns are on Pattern Sheet 1. Refer to photos, above and page 8, for color placement. Refer to “Embroidery Stitches” on page 94 for stitch instructions. Use three strands of embroidery floss for all stitches. 1 Following manufacturer’s instructions, center and press interfacing 9×21" rectangle, fusible side down, on wrong side of tan linen 9×21"…

FINISHED QUILT: 87×94" Materials Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. □ 10 yards total assorted prints (jewel and triangle pieces)□ 6½ yards solid lavender (jewel, hexagon, diamond, and triangle pieces)□ 2¾ yards solid peach (hexagon pieces, border)□ 8 yards backing fabric□ 95×102" batting□ Sturdy paper MAKE TEMPLATES Patterns are on Pattern Sheet 1. You will need a paper template for each jewel, hexagon, diamond, and triangle piece in the quilt. Trace each pattern onto sturdy paper as follows: 2,210 jewels, 36 triangles, 365 hexagons, and 1,157 diamonds. Carefully and accurately cut out paper templates on traced lines. CUT FABRICS Cut pieces in the following order. To cut pattern pieces, place a paper template on wrong side of fabric. Cut fabric to match the shape, adding a ⅜" seam allowance to each edge…

THREAD BASTING Pros: Easy to remove papers; don’t need special tools Cons: Time-consuming 1. Pin a paper template to wrong side of a fabric piece. Cut the fabric to match the shape, adding a ⅜" seam allowance to all edges. 2. Fold seam allowance over one template edge. Hand-stitch fabric in place using a long stitch, but do not stitch through paper. Finger-press. 3. Fold next seam allowance over template, take a stitch to tack down corner, and then continue folding and basting remaining edges to make a basted shape. Remove pin; do not remove paper. GLUE BASTING Pros: Fast—a time saver! Cons: May leave residue; glue can dry out 1. Center a paper template on the wrong side of the fabric piece. Trim the fabric to match the shape, adding a ⅜" seam allowance to all edges. Place…