My Flower Garden...

 Good Morning, Glory!

 As I round the corner from our living room and enter the hallway

to my studio each morning, this is the sight I see on sunny days.

Light spills in from the east window and creates the cheeriest

of atmospheres for creativity in my little corner of the world.

I've placed my ribbon frame on my shelves. It was an easy move

thanks to those Scotch™damage-free hanging strips. I attached one

side to the shelves and the other to each end of the frame. They stick

together like velcro and will remove without a problem whenever I 

want. If I need to access something behind the ribbons, I can just peel the

frame off (thanks to the velcro), get what I need and replace the frame.

These are the ribbons I've accumulated since I joined our quilt guild 

nearly four years ago. Don't they look like flowers? If you live in

Florida, you can practically toss a rock in the ground and it will

grow. I do best with plants that thrive on neglect - like jade plants, 

flowering bushes (jasmine, bouganvillea, crown of thorns and palms). 

Rather, the majority of the flowers I grow are born in my studio.

These "flowers" make me smile. They represent the result of many

joyful hours spent putting fiber to fabric and they inspire me to improve.

 I purchased a couple of these flower pins in the boutique at our quilt 

show. I don't know who made them, but they're so clever! They're a 

great way to use scrap fabrics and metal bobbins, too! (My machines 

use plastic ones.) Batiks are great for this project, because it's hard 

to tell the right side of the fabric from the wrong side when folded.

 

After gently moving the ruffles and peeking between them, 

I can see that this is how the pin was made...

Cut one strip of fabric about 3" wide and about 5" long. Pink along both 

long sides. Starting about 1/2" from one end of the strip, hand sew a row 

of stitches about 1" away from a long edge using a double thread. (See drawing)

 Leave a long tail at the starting end because you'll be tying both ends together 

as you form a ruffle around your metal bobbin. (Be sure that when you gather

 and fold the fabric strip, you keep the thread to the inside of the fold.) Place 

the bobbin inside the gathered strip before you tie the ends of the threads 

together. Tie double knots and cut off the extra length of thread so that you 

don't have any hanging tails showing. Overlap the gathered ends of the

ruffle (where you tied the knot.) Now it should look like the pin above.

 The back side of your pin will be behind the wider ruffle. You can either sew

 or glue (with a strong E6000 or jewelry glue) the small pin back on this side.

Voila! 

A beautiful fabric flower pin to wear on your favorite shirt or jacket.

Happy Monday!

You know where I'll be if you're looking for me.

(Tag will be there, too keeping me company.)