The making of a needle book, a Make Nine finish

When I rediscovered English paper piecing [EPP] during the 2020 pandemic lockdown, I was following several EPPers and EPP stitch-alongs on Instagram. In addition to the brilliant tips and cleverly pieced projects found in the posts, I was in awe of the beautiful, handmade needle books I discovered. A needle book was swiftly added to my Project Wish List. 

Assembling a needle book.

My needle book: gathering materials and requirements

Excited to get a new needle book underway, I decided to source materials from the stash for this project. Gathering various fabric bits—a pile of 3/4" hexies from an EPP online sew-along, fabric samples and leftovers, orphan EPP pieces and a package of felted wool charms—I set off to cobble together my own needle book.

The size of the needle book was dictated by the pieced patchwork of 3/4" hexies. This piece was used on the book's outside cover.

A patchwork piece of 3/4 inch hexagons for the outside cover of the book.
The Husky dog is from Best in Show from PBS Fabrics.

Book pages were made from favorite fabric scraps from several fabric companies I rep. Wool charm squares were attached to book pages for various needles and pins it would store.

Wool felt hand stitched on yarn-dyed woven from Diamond Textiles.

Wool felt charm squares for needles and pins.
Squares are hand stitched on cotton fabrics.

Orphan diamonds from an unfinished EPP block were perfect for pockets.

Appliqued pockets from orphan EPP star. Fabrics from M&S Textiles.

A zippered pocket was a handy addition.

Zippered pocket on the inside cover. The floral is a digital print from P&B Textiles.
The background fabric is from a collection from Art Gallery Fabrics.

Book assembly and finishing

I debated whether to nest the folios into a single signature vs. to bind them separately. Referencing a bookbinding book, I decided to sew them to the cover as individual signatures.

Sewing the signatures to the cover.

The other dilemma was how to close the book. I tried several configurations and options but the final outcome was a button-and-loop closure.  A seam in the cover was unpicked to insert a knit fabric button loop.

A knit fabric button loop created the closure.

With the signatures stitched to the cover, it was time to appliqué the hexagon patchwork to the outside cover. Sewing on the button was the final detail.

Appliqueing the hexagon patchwork to the cover.

A Make Nine 2021 finish

Here is the finished needle book. Another Make Nine 2021 finish! This project fulfills my "Wild Card" prompt. I like the fussy-cut image of the Husky on the front as it reminds me of our Yuki dog... making it extra special.

Completed Needle Book. A #makenine project for 2021.

Great progress, I must admit. Six of my 2021 Make Nine projects are now complete. I'm feeling pretty confident that the goal will be met this year.

Make Nine 2021 progress grid. 6 of 9 projects complete.

Completing The 100 Day Project: my thoughts and observations

Back in January, I committed to participating in The 100 Day Project. It started January 31, 2021. The 100th day was May 10. Here are the results of showing up every day for 100 days: 

243 three-quarter inch, selective-cut, English paper pieced hexagons.

243 hexagons for The 100 Day Project 2021.

My thoughts about The 100 Day Project

It takes commitment to "show up every day" for 100 days! This was precisely the point of Michael Beirut's assignment to his graphic design grad students. Through this project, I discovered I had just enough stubborn tenacity and focus to see it through. Here are my thoughts...

• The 100 Day Project does take commitment, but it is rewarding.
• It is about the process, not necessarily about the results. You often have to make bad art before the good stuff surfaces. It's about the practice of making.
• I began to look at fabric in a different way. Searching for small motifs to selectively cut, or larger motifs that could be partially cut or subcut for an interesting pattern.

Selective cutting partial motifs.

• I learned to notice the color value of fabrics, especially when laying out the hexies all together.
• I liked the frugality and recycling aspect of using small fabric pieces, swatches and especially trimmings from other projects. 
• At first, I thought I'd do much more glue basting on these EPP hexagons. I found myself enjoying the thread basting and did handwork for most of these, especially the last 25-30 days.
• It's OK to switch gears! I also thought I'd do just one hexie a day and have 100 at the end of the project. That was a self-imposed rule up front which I abandoned early on. Glad I did.
• It got to be fun finding corresponding backgrounds on which to photograph the hexagons.

Finding fun backgrounds for the hexagons.

More interesting backgrounds for the hexagons.

• I found myself trying to come up with interesting layouts for photographing the hexagons.

Various layouts for the hexagons.

• Occasionally, the commentary accompanying the daily IG posts reflected on real life.

Some days you need a crystal ball and some days you wish it was a caldron.

• Admittedly, there were days when it was challenging to find the energy to stitch at least one little hexagon. So, I'm glad I chose a do-able project and one that was also portable. 
• It is often said, if you work on something for short periods of time on a regular basis, a lot can be accomplished. Every little hexagon made a contribution to the whole.

In the end, I was rewarded with 243 of these fun little fabric gems, daily photo documentation, and milestone blog posts of the project. 

A possible option for using the hexagons.

Now that the 100 days have concluded, I don't know how (or if) I will put these hexagons into a final project—or multiple projects. But I consider this project a success—and even a "finish"—because The 100 Day Project is all about the process.

I showed up!

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Milestone progress photos of my 100 Days of Hexies can be found in these blog posts: 7 days, 33 days, 50 days, 75 days, 90 days.

At 90% of The 100 Day Project

It felt a bit "draggy" around the 70-80% mark... and I was pushing myself to stick with it... but now, at over 90%, I can't believe it's nearing the 100 Day finish line.

221 three-quarter inch hexies at day 90 of the 100 Day Project 2021.

At the 90% mark, this is 221 three-quarter inch hexagons for one of my 100 Day Projects. 

Past mileposts are: at 75%.

Day 75 of the 100 Day Project 2021.

At 50%

Day 50 of the 100 Day Project 2021.

At 33%

Day 33 of the 100 Day Project 2021.

After the first week.

The first week of the 100 Day Project 2021.

And, the 2021 Stitching Success Tracker has moved into the month of May.

Starting May 2021 of the Stitching Success Tracker calendar.

The background fabric is a canvas panel called "September Morning" from Northcott Fabrics. I'm contemplating a slow stitching zipper bag or possibly a combo of hand and machine stitching. Mood and inspiration will dictate.

The 100 Day Hexie Project at 75%

These are the fruits from Day 75 of my 100 Day Project. These little gems are three-quarter inch hexagons. Each with an image that is selectively cut from the fabric.

193 hexies for the 100 Day Project.

A more organized view:

193 three-quarter inch English paper pieced hexagons.

The 100 Day Project for 2021 will conclude on May 10.

The 100 Day Project: 50 days, 141 hexies

This is the halfway point of my 100 Day Project of 3/4-inch English paper pieced hexagons. 

141 three-quarter inch EPP hexagons. 50 days into The 100 Day Project.

There are 141 hexies. Each has a selective cut image. I have no project(s) planned for these. I'm just enjoying the hunt for fabric... and thread- or glue-basting each hexagon.

It's all about the process.

A third of the way through the 100 Day Project

My 100 Day Project with EPP Hexagons is about a third of the way through. I have 118 three-quarter inch selective cut English paper pieced (EPP) hexagons thus far. What?

118 hexagons for #100daysofepphexies 

At this rate, I could have over 300 little hexagons by the end of the 100 days. This batch is about 12 inches wide. 

Over 12 inches wide.

What would 3 feet of hexagons look like??

The pile of hexies grows daily. The 100 Day Project. #the100dayproject 

And what can I make with them?

Week 1 of the 100 Day Hexie Project: it's about the tools

Progress: the first 7 days of my 100 Day Project, #100daysofepphexies. 

January 31 through February 6 of The 100 Day Project.

I'm using 3/4" hexagon papers for English paper piecing [EPP] and selective cutting (fussy cutting) motifs from the fabrics. 

3/4" hexagons with fussy cut images.

Initially, I thought I would do a single hexie a day. However... there are often multiple images on a piece of fabric—the same image or different, but related—that shout out to be included. As long as I'm tracing and cutting, I might as well take advantage of what that fabric offers.

There were multiple kitties on this Small Things Pets fabric by Lewis and Irene.

Tools

Daily posts of The 100 Day Project are on my Instagram [veronica.fiberantics] and Facebook feeds. One of my friends commented that she was impressed that I liked all the handwork. 

Confession: I'm using a fabric glue pen to glue-baste these hexies. I haven't been thread basting any of these hexies.

Back side of the hexie EPP pieces. Fabric is glue-basted with the glue pen.

It's all about the right tools to: 

• make the process more efficient, 
• make it more accurate, 
• make the assembly easier or quicker, 
• ______ (fill in the blank).
• and, in the end, to enjoy the process more! 

That's what it's all about—enjoying the process. Don't you think?

Prep for the 100 Day Project with 3/4" EPP hexagons

I'm prepping for the 100 Day Project. It starts in less than a week—on Sunday, January 31.

From Dr. Seuss

My 3/4" paper pieces from Paper Pieces have arrived along with an acrylic template for selective cutting the fabrics. I also cut my own preview window from cardboard (because I couldn't wait). So I have two tools.

Paper templates for English paper piecing and acrylic viewer.

I'm collecting fabrics with small images or motifs that look interesting.

Templates for selecting images from fabrics.

Everyone should think about doing this! 

The 100 Day Project

So, what's one more on-line Challenge? I've decided to join the #100DayProject since it's starting early this year—on January 31. 

The 100 Day Project.
Image: the100dayproject.com

What's The 100 Day Project?

Initially, The 100 Day Project was inspired by a grad school project conceived by the iconic graphic designer and principal at Pentagram, Michael Bierut. After being launched on social media in 2014, it has since become a global art project that encourages participants to show up every day, for 100 days, and make/do something creative. It celebrates the process. The goal is to show up day after day. 

100 Days of 3/4" fussy-cut hexies

Knowing that my "thing" for the 100 Day Project had to be something manageable and not time consuming, I'm choosing two simple/do-able ones. The first is to fussy cut [selective cut] fabric for 3/4" English paper pieced [EPP] hexagons. I've started gathering potential fabrics. I got inspired by smaller EPP shapes through participation in the #IloveEPPparty2020 stitch-along last year.

Prep for #100daysoffussycuthexies 

100 Days of Mindful Mark Making

My second item is to do 100 days of "mindful mark making." Here is an example of these doodle-like drawings in my sketchbook. This paper is for mixed media, but I'm contemplating watercolor paper in case I want to add color.

Sketchbook page of mindful mark making, slow drawing.

The 100 Day Project starts on January 31, 2021. My daily posts will be on my Instagram feed [veronica.fiberantics]. 

Here's to celebrating PROCESS!

Image: from The Great Discontent

A month of hand stitching, a virtual stitch party and social distancing

Another productive month of stitching!

October was all about hand work. My Stitching Success Tracker shows that time was split between English paper piecing [EPP] and progress on my Make Nine 2020 knitting project. 

October Stitching Success Tracker: knitting and English paper piecing.

I've continued adding 6" hexagons to my Glorious Hexagons project. The 10 blocks completed in October puts the count over 130! (No quilt layout in sight... one day I'll decide on a project or three.)

Participating "virtually" in the daily prompts of the Instagram-based I Love EPP Party with @the_makers_stash was also very motivating and inspirational. I picked up a few good tips from world-wide EPPers and there are several new-to-me things I now want to try.

Ten hexagons completed in October.

A recent purchase of two packages of Glorious Hexagons paper pieces has provided me with fresh templates and different shapes to work with—including the kite shape. New block design possibilities! I'm also referencing Katja Marek's latest book, "The New Hexagon 2."

The kite shape is offering new hexagon block designs.

My Make Nine yarn project—a yarn stash buster—has been traveling with me. Progress has been made on my garter stitch wrap. 

Yarn stash buster garter stitch wrap.

Last week, I exercised my 19th Amendment right with Early Voting! We wore our masks, social distanced, and waited in line about 45 minutes.

"I Voted!" 2020

I hope your October was proactive and productive!

Happy Hexie Halloween