An All Sorts day.

Cindy over at Cindy's Stitch In Time wrote a post about tidying up her box of ric rac. I've already got my ric rac neatly wound around cardboard in one box, and my laces neatly wrapped around cardboard in another box. I had decided today was the day to mess around with fabric scraps and trims, but when I looked in the box and saw this tangle, I decided to sort that out first. I keep cereal cartons and flatten them out - they come in handy for all kinds of stuff. So I cut strips of cardboard... ...and wound my ribbons etc. around each strip. Doesn't that look better? Much more manageable anyway.
I borrowed four craft books from our local library two months ago, and they are due back this week. I had heaps of projects marked to try, and have done a few, but am running out of time. So today I thought I would do this one. It involves pinning random scraps of fabric onto a foundation piece of material, and machine-sewing them on. The next step is to sew ribbons and other trims down the length of the whole piece, thus making a kind of patchwork that can be used for...well, anything you like! I'll be finishing these off tomorrow and will post pics of them hopefully tomorrow night.
Remember this patchwork mat that I made a few months ago? It has been lying around in my UFO basket, and as I had the sewing machine out today I decided to finish it. My old Singer does not have extra bits to do proper quilting, but this is only three thin layers, so I just started at one corner and zig-zagged across it until I couldn't go any further, and much to my astonishment, it looked okay! (to me). I'd used a piece of gingham for the back, and it looks all right too. I used commercial bias binding to finish it off, but don't look too closely, it is a bit messy. What the heck - it's done!