Trying to organize my projects (and actually finish some of them) finds me grouping them into categories: short-term, long-term, simple and involved. Some of the simple projects are great when I am indecisive or tired, and don’t have the energy to think through multiple steps. Last weekend the 14 napkins were the right project – double hemming them took some time but not much thought, and I caught up on some longer podcasts without falling asleep.

One short-term project that is on the list now is not a simple one: designing a dust cover for a specific piece of shop equipment. It is an odd shape, and I’ve drawn the side pattern with the unusual silhouette, but the construction is giving me pause. It won’t be moved a lot, but the shape has a couple of strain points, and I am contemplating whether putting a seam at those points will strengthen them, or if just using some kind of reinforcement is better. A strip of twill tape might be enough, but it might work best inside, so it doesn’t become a ridge that collects dust. There is also a request to put elastic at the corners to help hold it in place, and that will either need to be sewn on the inside or placed inside the hem/casing, which would be tricky to keep flat when hemming. If my stash includes sew-through elastic, adding it after the hem would be easier.


Two long-term quilt projects are moving along little by little. A big part – the quilting – of one happened last week when my scheduled work was finished early. Yesterday the binding was pieced and pressed. The other quilt needs sashing and borders cut and sewn on, the backing pieced, and then it goes into the queue for the next available quilting slot.

I was able to get into an American Sewing Guild retreat at the end of March, and yesterday I spent an hour or so cutting out pillowcases for Ronald McDonald House, which is the ASG’s national project this year. The fabrics I chose were directional, and they had to be cut in two pieces rather than just WOF, so the prints would not be sideways on the pillowcases. I had a border print with bear cubs leftover from a block swap, and four yards of a cheerful country landscape with farmhouses and cows. I have a couple more projects in mind for the retreat, both simple and complicated.