A Stitch in Time

At the beginning of the year, I resolved to make a journal quilt each month, and to make a postcard sized companion piece to send to my good friend, Gay, in North Carolina. My January journal quilt was made from selvedge scraps and expressed my sentiments about my stash and how big it had grown - it also featured a dear little miniature Olfa rotary cutting pin. I only had one of those, so had to decide what to use on the companion piece for Gay.


Well I had a little treasure I wanted to use. I bought this little needle case on Ebay. It opens up to reveal a row of needles - very sweet.

Trouble is it just didn't fit with the rather modern looking journal quilt. After considerable dithering, I came to the conclusion that I needed to make a more old fashioned looking piece to reflect the vintage of the little treasure - so I turned to crazy patchwork and a suitable, more classic phrase. I had planned on tucking the little case into a pocket just below the piece with the text on, but that didn't work, as it stuck out too far and obscured the text. I dithered endlessley, and eventually decided to start again - but I just didn't want to leave the piece, as I liked it, so decided to push ahead - I just needed to figure out how to get it to hold the needlecase.



So, I decided to put it on the back. But then I had to figure out how to attach it. I decided on a little envelope - it was a toss up between lutradur and sheer heaven - but I went for the latter. It looked a bit raw in its natural state, so I gave it a spritz with Moonshadow Mist, then attached it by making holes with my trusty Japanese screw punch (which I bought, before they doubled in price!) and stitched it with some perle cotton.
Voila!!
I was going to wait until Gay got this in the mail to post, but a) I suspect she is beginning to think I was never going to get to finish it, and b) she complains I don't post to my blog often enough - well I have to have something to post don't I? So here it is!! Miss you - wish you were closer so we could have our play days together.