USE IT OR LOSE IT

I'm talking about the brain.

Now what does the brain have to do with the pillows in the picture?

I have two throw pillows I use all the time. They're like an old pair of shoes, broken in and comfortable. The covers on these pillows were pretty ratty and had worn themselves out.

Now I always make covers for throw pillows. I make them like an envelope, with a flap in the back, to remove easily for laundering.

Being a quilter, I always have a stash of fabric, so why should I buy covers for the pillows?

Here is where the use it or lose comes in. It has been years, maybe five or more, since I made pillow covers. I don't use a pattern, because it is just straight fitting to the size of the pillow.

The problem was, it had been so long since I made the envelope it took some trial and error and seam ripping before I remembered how to do it.

On top of that it has been about twenty months since I used my sewing machine. Yep, you guessed it. I had to use some brain cells to figure out which way the bobbin fit in the shuttle. Did the thread go clockwise or counter-clockwise? After a battle with jammed thread I figured it out, it's clockwise.

It has been almost two years since I last made a quilt too. I think I'd better get back to that before I forget how to do math and paper piecing, and maybe make some cloth dolls, before I forget how to stuff them and draw their faces.

I'm happy with the pillows. I especially like the fabric, although I can't quite remember where I bought it. It may have been in the fabulous quilt store in Branson, Missouri. Mm, maybe I should go back there, just to buy some more fabric.

Okay so I'm a FABRIHOLIC, I admit it.

Well, it will be a long winter. I will have to fit in some creative sewing with creative writing of my novel.

Did I just mention that dirty word WINTER?