This weekend I decided to clean out my fabric/sewing supply cabinet. I have gotten into the bad habit of throwing things back into the cabinet any which way. The result being a disorganized mess. So this weekend, I pulled out all the fabric, batting, interfacing, and other sewing supplies and got to work.

I ironed the fabrics that were a wrinkled mess and folded them neatly and organized everything. My stash is getting smaller, as I have made quite a few face masks for the Covid crisis. While cleaning out the cabinet, I found some projects that were either partially started and then abandoned or never started at all. Would I do such a thing!

I set these projects aside. The idea being that if they are staring me in the face every day I will do something about them. I am proud to say that today I have started on one of the forgotten projects. A paper piecing project (‘Teddy Bear Santa’ designed by Ruth Jensen) bought many moons ago. This was set aside because of its intimidating nature. Although, paper piecing is not actually something to be weary of at all. I have done some paper piecing in the past but needed to refresh myself with instructions before undergoing the project. I had to get myself in the right way of thinking of how the pieces go together and then all went smoothly. Well…after ripping out a seam or two.

Today I finished one section of the project, a tree. Not bad… I have one more tree to do. This should be a piece of cake since it is just like the one I just finished. Then there is Santa and a bear. This will be more difficult as there are three dimensional pieces involved here. I was supposed to do the three dimensional pieces first. Ha! If I did that, the project would still be in the bag. These are intimidating to me. I decided to start with the easy part first so that I can work up to the more difficult part. At least I will have some satisfaction with the piece in the start.

Here is what my tree looks like…..

Do not worry! The edges are left uneven on purpose. It will be trimmed and sewn to the other seams eventually. I will keep posting on my progress. I have two months till Christmas, so there is my motivation.

[Note: It does not appear that this pattern is still available. However, there is a very similar one available on the site. The Santa and bear are different and packages are added. Patterns are at: http://www.thimble-art.com]

As always, Happy Sewing!