This and That

I finished several projects recently and I thought I didn't have much to work on... and then several things popped up. Isn't that always the way? It's a good thing.

Check out this fun new way of combining stitching and social media. My friend -- and big idea girl -- Ricë Freeman Zachary, came up with the concept of a twitter Stitch Lounge. On the first Wednesday of every month at 10 pm EST various people gather their hand sewing projects and their laptops or mobile phones and begin "live tweeting" together with the hashtag #stitchlounge.

I was hemming a skirt I just made. Here you can see the skirt and my laptop on the coffee table.

I was using tweetchat which let me see the whole thread of conversations with the #stitchlounge. It was fun.. like a virtual quilting bee or knitting circle. Melanie Testa joined in and we talked about everything from thimbles to fabric selection. I was planning to do some sewing that evening anyway... hanging out with my friends enhanced the project so much.

As I was thinking about my sketching project for The Sketchbook Challenge, I hardly knew which book to grab. I've got a whole shelf of sketchbooks. Nikki gave me the beaded one on the top. Kathy made the one peeking out from the bottom with the blue stitched trim. (Or was it Sarah, now I'm not sure.) I'm sure one of Kate's recycled Readers Digest books is in there too.

Here's another sketchbook with drawings of various window styles and a couple of pieces from a new project I'm working on.

This particular project is creeping along. I have a vision but there are several steps to be taken before it's finished and I'm not sure exactly what to do next or how to do it. But I'm enjoying the challenge.