#SEWALITTLEHAPPINESSEVERDAY ~ Prep and Ideas

    

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments both here on the blog, Facebook and Instagram re the #sewalittlehappinesseverday project.   I am so delighted that so many of you want to join in...the more the merrier!  If you're wondering what I am talking about, take a peek at my last post HERE.

At home, the kids both finish school today indefinitely, so homeschooling begins from Monday....Poppy has a work book and /or an assignments for each of her subjects, but we're waiting to hear what this will mean for Jamie, regarding his GCSE results.  Much to his delight, Maths and English, plus we'll start prepping for his 6th form course will happen what ever.  I have decided to also introduce Domestic Science back into the curriculum, so we have seeds for planting, we'll be doing cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing and of course sewing.  I will have two domestic whizzes by the end of this!  

In the meanwhile, we are continuing to post all orders and our Block of the Month parcels, but from Monday, rather than daily, I will go to the post office every couple of days or so to reduce my social contact, as per the guidelines.

I've also been prepping both mine and mums #sewalittlehappinesseveryday grids.   We have both chosen linen for our backgrounds, but you could use a quilting weight cotton or as I was discussing earlier on Instagram, an old pillowcase...it  might be worth considering if the fabric you are using is of a lighter weight, maybe fusing some interfacing to it, to stabilise it.

EDITED TO ADD: Unfortunately we do not sell the linen, but something very similar and widely available is Essex Linen by Robert Kaufman.  The colours 'natural' and 'flax' are very similar to the colour I'm using and for a more off white shade and what mum is using is 'Champagne' which is lovely.

I found using my quilting ruler to be of great assistance, the lines printed on the ruler really did help keep my grids square.  In terms of pens, I used a water soluble Chacopen by Clover.  If you feel tempted to use a Frixion Pen, just bear in mind that heat will make the lines disappear and unless you intend on sewing directly on top them, they can leave a shadow line or even reappear if the fabric gets cold.

Sorry for the rather poor photo's showing the grid..it proved to be quite difficult to get a good shot of it once drawn!

In terms of the grid itself, Mum, who is going to be sewing vintage buttons on to hers, is going to back her grid immediately with interfacing and wadding and will quilt hers before adding the buttons. I'm however undecided at the moment, whether I'm going to embroider the lines of the grid now or use them as my quilting lines once I've filled all the blocks....I'm pondering..I'll let you know!!  Both of us will be using Aurifil 12wt for the quilting.

I've been gathering supplies for my blocks, I've decided upon a gentle red, beige and blue colour scheme for the fabrics, which I'll use for the applique and EPP blocks and the same range of colours for the threads, but I've also added in some mossy greens, mustard and custard yellow for the leaves, stems and centres of the flowers that I intend on adding.  The floral tin in my photo, has some of my favourite vintage mother of pearl buttons in..it will be lovely to showcase some of these.  I will also be adding some pretty lace, some of which was my great grandmothers!

I completed my first block last night and added the text 'sew a little happiness everyday', which as promised last time, you can download and print at home HERE.  I also included some additional ideas for your embroideries and appliques on the sheet, which I hope may be helpful to you.  For the larger of the two hearts, I thought this could be used as both an applique template, but also for embroidery, imagine the heart filled with French Knots, Satin Stitch or other pretty stitches...there will be lots of hearts on my sampler I am sure!  You could something similar with a circle or star.... any shape in fact.  I'm also planning on adding key words to mine that will record how I'm feeling, what I'm experiencing and what I'm seeing during this unusual period of time that we find ourselves in.  I'll keep sharing my blocks with you and I can not wait to see your samplers develop!  Please remember to keep using the hashtag:

#sewalittlehappinesseveryday

so we can all follow and see each others samplers and be inspired.  Please also spread the word, so that more people can find out about and join in with the project.

Wishing you all good health and happy stitches,

Sarah xo