Treasure in an Ancient Mimeographed Sheet

Okay, I pulled out the sewing machine I bought off a missionary leaving over a month ago. I wanted to get some curtains finished that I had cut out for the guest room. I looked over the instruction manual trying to decide of it was an older machine than the one I’d been borrowing previously.

Amidst the manual was an ancient typed sheet of paper. I mean the kind typed on a real type-writer and then mimeographed. (Not copied.) Ok, it wasn’t like on papyrus, it was probably created in my lifetime. (Hmm, maybe I’m ancient.) The heading of the page read “MONOGRAMMING – Free Hand Stitching”.

Let me back up and say that there is a Christian ladies self-help group here in Nairobi that we often take visitors to. They do a lot of fabric crafts of all kinds and they are always looking for ways to use scraps and so on. Anyway, they have a huge, donated quilting machine. This allows the maker to freehand quilt their lovely African designs in a fast and efficient way. I have often wondered if there was a way to do that small scale, on a regular sewing machine without breaking the needle.

This little typed sheet was my answer! I set to work immediately on a scrap of canvas that I had. Oh my! I’m hooked. Drawing pictures that don’t need to be perfect is addictive. Why? Because I can come up with something nice the first time. (Usually I’m a detail person, translated to crafting sometimes means I don’t have the patience to get good at something that takes practice, like cross stitch or knitting.) The immediate gratification that this brings is fabulous! There is still much to explore! I could use an embroidery hoop, like a 10 inch one. But otherwise, the sky’s the limit! I can give you more details after I try it some more. Here’s the first attempt.

Another.