A Message from Our Resident Pastry Chef

When I got home today, there was a cryptic note on the counter, written in Tiny's hand. It read,

"Eat cookies!"

I looked around. No cookies. It is an interesting injunction, though. Would make a nice start on a To Do List. Or perhaps as an insult: "Eat warm cookies, you imperialist dog!" You know, if people used this kind of epithet, the world would be quite a different place.

Now, on to the needlework! I finished the top (below) and back (not pictured) for "Star in the East." It's a prayer quilt for Pat. She's undergoing treatment for metastasized cancer. If it's in your practice to pray, please pray for healing, pain relief, strength to endure, and comfort & encouragement.

And now for something completely different...

A new Photo Tutorial: The Magical Magnetic Pincushion

It has been brought to my attention that I use a technique when sewing that is unusual, but time-saving. I use a magnetic pincushion and position it behind the pass-through arm of the sewing machine. This one is red. You can just see it in the picture.

As I'm sewing, I pull out the pin just before it goes under the foot (sewing over pins leads to bent needles!) using my middle finger by the advent of spreading my fingers out (Jazz hands!)Then I flick it toward the pincushion, which (usually) catches it. All this time, I barely slow down in my sewing.I don't worry about those pins that miss the pincushion. Later, I will flip over the pincushion and hover it over them and they'll just leap right on. Then I can put the pincushion back in place.

I keep another magnetic pincushion in the place where I'm doing my pinning. (That one's purple and camera-shy.) When that one starts to look empty, I switch them out, moving the purple to the back of the sewing machine and the red to the pinning area.

I'm not sure if I figured this out myself or someone showed me. If it was you, thanks!