I hadn’t heard of a stitching pillow before but they are meant to be held on your knee while you are hand stitching. This helps prevent problems with your shoulder and neck as it raises your project closer to your eyes.

Before Christmas this project was making the rounds at the Guild’s Tuesday sewing sessions. I immediately wanted one for myself and one for Stacia and Deloise. But with Christmas so close at hand I realized I wouldn’t have time to make it as a Christmas gift so I delayed.

I found the pattern online (Quilt Roadies) and I immediately loved the presenter. I made mine first and had a few issues but adjusted my notes and the other two worked out well. I had three panels of sewing-related fabric and I used that as backing. The panels had originally been purchased for another project but those projects were also meant for Stacia and Deloise so it all worked out.

I’ve used mine a few times and it is easy to work with. I haven’t used it enough to know if it helps my neck and shoulders but it is very handy to hold my needle while I change threads. No more dropping it on the floor, losing it down the side of the chair or setting it somewhere that I can’t find it again.

Although it doesn’t show in the photo, each pillow has a handle attached so it is easy to move from one location to another when you are holding a handful of other necessities.

January 17, 2024

You can see from the title I hope to have more Community Quilts done throughout the year. I know I have at least two that are waiting in the wings that need to be completed, sandwiched and quilted.

I don’t know who pieced this particular top. At our last Community Quilt weekend I took four tops that I hoped to have sandwiched. They weren’t doing any sandwiching at this particular time so the tops were added to the pile. I felt guilty leaving so many so I brought this one home for quilting.

I’m particular about which quilts I bring home as I only do straight-line quilting and I feel it should be a top where that method will look okay. In hindsight I probably should have done a bit more quilting in the border but done is done!

I was lucky to find a fabric in the Community Quilt bins to use as binding.

January’s project from Little Handfuls of Scraps was not my favourite when I looked through the book. But I’m doing the patterns alphabetically and this one was next in line.

I was pleased that I had enough strips from a neutral-coloured jelly roll to use as the background. There was a lot of tracing, cutting and bonding to do but it really wasn’t difficult.

I originally thought I would machine appliqué the pieces but by the time they were all cut and placed on the background I realized that would be a daunting task for such a small project. I used the mattress stitch on my quilting machine and I’m very happy with how it turned out.

Now that it is done and hung, I think, so far, this is my favourite project from the book.