favorite portable projects

[Ruth C.]

What are your favorite projects to work on while traveling?

Laura

[Ruth C.]

Well, the most traveling I do is back and forth to places with the kids, but while I'm waiting, I always have my grandmother's flower garden project with me. I have a small tupperware container with my paper templates, cut fabric pieces, needle, thread, and scissors. I'm good to go! I've finished over 20 "flowers" since last fall just by working a few minutes each day in the school parking lot.

[Annette R.]

We do a lot of traveling and I rarely drive. So I have two or three bags of projects that can go to the doctor's office or any other place where I might have to wait. I keep the type of projects separate in tote bags (good use for the ones you get at the quilt shows) Then I have a couple of other bags that are projects I can work on when we are traveling place to place in the motorhome. These might be things that take more space or are messier.

I do a lot of Brazilian and silk ribbon embroidery and am developing a class where we will use vintage linens and jewelry to make pictures so am working on the samples for that.

I find ways to keep busy.

Ann- in MS but home is where you park it. Just about to need my handwork because "home" is moving next week

[Frances L.]

I do foundation piecing by hand. I always have one in progress. I need to get my next set of foundations printed. I've used muslin, now I'm going to try interfacing. All you need is a small cutting board. When we travel, my DH drives because otherwise he'll get car sick so I have lots of time to sew.
Frances in sunny, hot Austin

[Judith T.]

I am leaving for the east coast tomorrow and I have put together 8 reverse applique blocks for Dear Jane and another BOM block which I will needle turn. On the plane, I will crochet but am packing my knitting. I feel as though I have to keep my hands busy or they will stiffen up with arthritis. Judy in AZ

[Sandy F.]

My favorite is probably hand quilting. I quilt large quilts in sections but about any are portable. All I need are thread, thimble, and scissors and I am good to go. Grandmother Flower Garden is another great carry along project. I loved the yellow one at Paducah. After my last one I said I would not do another but I really loved that yellow one at Paducah.

[Sandy F.]

I have been carrying my BOM in a zipper bag I got with a set of curtains. I slip my scissors and marking pen in the pocket that held the lable, then put in my spools of thread (sometimes I use bobbins instead) a needle case with all the sizes I might need, a thimble, a small pin cushion, precut peices and of course the block.

When I am hand peicing my Civil War blocks I use a block caddy I made from a peice of felt backed with a fat quarter - I fold it in thirds lengthwise, then in half so it forms its own little purse shape. I added handles and a button closure. I use safety pins to pin my block peices inside and secure a couple of needles before i fold it then once it is folded I slip in my thread and thread snips. All self contained.

Another project my dd found to be very portable was making yo-yos with the clover yo-yo maker. All she needed was a bag of scraps, the yo-yo maker, her scissors, needle, and thread. She made yo-yos in the back seat of the car all the way from WV to Lancaster PA. 8)

[Sandy F.]

I do a lot of my fussy cutting while I am waiting or not at home. Usually I will ruff cut something and lay it aside knowing that I will be going somewhere later in the week. This way I can just grab it and go. Or if I have something that needs embroidery I will do that while at appointments. Most of the quilts I do are for babies. This way they aren't too difficult to take.
Anne did you say you were going to be teaching a class about ribbon embroidery?

[Sandy F.]

Well, since I'm needle-turning my BOM, that's a good carry-along, but in between, and before THAT addiction took hold, I'm doing a completely scrappy hexagon quilt-- same thing as GFG but no pattern. I'm using the plastic templates and I just prepare them all up, then sew them all on. Pop out the templates that are no longer on an outside edge, and repeat. On longer trips, I've "saved" a binding that needed hand-stitching, and I've done the "snipping" on a few flannel raggy quilts--you definitely want the spring-back scissors for that! DH doesn't "let" me drive (says I fall asleep as soon as it gets dark! Well, DUH, can't sew or read!) but that's ok, it's one of the best long stretches I have to relax!

[Annette R.]

Rachel, Yes I teach crafts in the seniors park in Southern Texas in the winter and usually spend most of the summer preparing samples. My most popular classes have been Brazilian embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, vintage jewelry pictures, greeting cards and T shirt projects. The vintage jewelry pictures have been popular enough to expand them to using vintage linens etc using Cindy Needhams techniques.

Ribbon embroidery is the area we emphasized this year and I worked on adapting it so that persons with rheumatoid arthritis and other issues with thier hand. The adaptations were quite successful .

Ann

[Ruth C.]

My standby travel projects are all knitting! Yesterday I took a 2.5 hour train ride and brought along some hand applique and it was fairly difficult on the ride, which was a bit bumpy. I think it would be a good hotel-room travel project, though. I have never tried hand piecing...

[Ruth C.]

Made a truck load of yo-yo's traveling to Illinois. 8)

[Judy M.]

I usually take my DJ blocks to hand piece or hand applique. I've also hand quilted on trips. Redwork is another favorite. I'm trying to organize my take-along projects so each project has it's own container. I ordered four cute pairs of scissors today from Keepsake Needlearts so I don't "steal" scissors from one project for another. It's also giving me an "excuse" to have several really cute containers! I've got one project in one of those cute metal sewing boxes with a handle. My BOM is in a black zippered 13" square x 4" high hard case that I got at JoAnn's--my 12" design board fits in really well so the applique pieces don't get lost. It's also big enough to accomodate the block picture and instructions. I've got all my applique threads on bobbins and use a bobbin saver. Notions are my weakness, as you can tell! Judy in Torrance

[Sherry B.]

On this trip I have been enjoying doing a redwork project. Another thing I enjoy are the felted wool penny rugs. And knitting dish cloths is an easy no brainer that I can easily do while the vehicle is moving.

[Lorna B.]

I like to do needle turn applique while traveling. I have a kit that holds all my supplies and the block and pieces. I try to prepare a block before I go. I will be leaving Sunday, so really need to get May's TQS BOM ready to take with me. But also I am working on another BOM needle turn that I started in 2002 or 2003. It actually only has 13 or 14 blocks, not 5 years worth. I think I am on the second to last of that one. I guess I need to travel more, maybe to get some of these projects done. :wink: