This has been the week for mail which meant lots of new ideas for sewing or embroidering. I received my copies of Designs in Machine Embroidery, Creative Machine Embroidery, and my package of Creative Expressions with Jenny Haskins for resale in our store (I get to keep one copy for myself). Yet again, so many ideas and so little time. Plus our big library had it’s Friends of the Library sale where I got a lot more craft books and magazines. I need a couple of more lives to do all the projects that I would like to do. This why I sometimes get behind in blogging, I have way too many projects to do.

My latest personal project was making tassels out of pearl cotton to hang from some light fixtures in the house we are hoping to move into by Christmas. I’d never made tassels before, but it was a fun project except when the cotton got tangled up. I used about 10 different but coordinating colors to match some fabric that we will be using in the living room. The fabric we got was $10 at a yard sale for about 6 yards of great upholstery fabric and the pearl cotton was 80% off at our JoAnn’s Fabric store that has just gone out of business. I’m going to miss that store—I’ve shopped there for almost 30 years. All in all, the tassel project was an inexpensive one, yet it will add richness to the room.

In the latest Designs in Machine Embroidery, they have a great article on embroidering on blue jeans, including how to get around the pocket problem. Especially if you have a young girl or teenager in your life, you would appreciate the advice in this article. In the Creative Machine Embroidery magazine, they have all their usual great articles, but one really jumped out at me. It was about embroidering fabric to make unique piping. I probably wouldn’t use the idea for a huge project, but for something small like a pillow or one-of-a-kind purse it is a terrific idea. Creative Expressions with Jenny Haskins #11 is another great magazine with a special feature this month. The cover project, a topiary wall hanging, has not only the instructions for making the project, but a link to the FREE embroidery designs for making the project which makes this magazine an extra value! We only have 5 available in our store and you can get them by clicking here. We still have one copy left of Creative Expressions #10 as of this writing that you can purchase by clicking here.