Monday, December 12, 2016

Making Twine

A few weeks ago I found a new-to-me blog, Hester's Handmade Home.  Her youtube page has this super cool tutorial for making fabric twine.  At first I was like, sure, that's cool, but I'd rather make a string quilt.  But then, last week I tried to destash some scraps on facebook and instagram.. and even after filling and shipping boxes to other scrap loving friends, I still had SO MANY SCRAPS.


Like, so many.  It was obvious that I had tons and tons of strings that will probably never end up in any quilt, as much as I would like them to.  So I recruited George to help pull strings of desired width and length, and I started twisting..
And twisting and twisting and twisting.  It's pretty easy and kind of addictive.  I only stopped when my arms started to hurt.  It's very easy to change colors, absolutely no stitching involved.

I made enough to wind around the tree as garland and called it a day.  Very simple and fast project, used up some neglected scraps.. like this sheet music print that had been sitting in a bin since.. 2007??  Also great for the selvages I tear off and collect but never use.  1" wide was my minimum, but the portions that swelled to 2" were nice and hefty, giving the rope a nice weight.  Overall it doesn't really matter.  This "twine" isn't going to be weight bearing, and if it lasts for 2 or 3 Christmases, that's good enough for me.   I like having handmade on the tree (and everywhere, really) and George commented that he likes that our tree has ornaments of all shapes and sizes.
I definitely don't feel like I'm back in the loop again with all things crafty and bloggy and quilt industry-esque.  It's an awful lot to keep up with and I did voluntarily take myself out of the online quilt community for.. far too long.  Now it's kind of exciting to "discover" things and trends that other people have tried and gotten tired of already, but hey, I work at my own pace, always have.  What were your most and least favorite quilts-trends-bloggers from 2016?  Scrolling through Instagram all year, I can say there definitely were some popular ideas that... didn't quite fit with me.  But I'm curious to see what everyone else seems to think.   Have you discovered anything new?  Taken up a whole new hobby all together?   Even stopped quilting (Gasp!!)?  Please, do tell..

5 comments:

  1. Love the twine. I think it would look great across a fire place with cards pinned on it. I have made microwave bowls for gifts this year. Merry Christmas.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Elaine, maybe I should twist up some more.. my walls are a little bare.

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  2. A tree-garland is a great idea for scraps. I'm pretty new to the blog scene as well, so am still learning. Thanks for sharing the tutorial!

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  3. You know primitive style crafts are so popular; your lovely fabric spun garland fits right in. I too have a bin (or 2) of scraps that need a purpose. What a great idea and thanks so much for passing it along. I work at my own speed and just with the things that catch my eye but I do love to read blogs and write my own. I especially love the connections between bloggers we can make. Hope you do get your positive feelings back especially about your hobby which I always think enhances ones life.

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