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I’ve been quilting and quilting on my Blushing Triangles 3 quilt. It measures approximately 41″ square, and it is heavily machine stitched. I started the quilting on this in April, and it’s been slow going. Here’s a close up of a section of the quilt.

A big help for my eyes while working on this project is the neatest gadget which is now attached to my sewing machine. It’s a light – called the “Bendable Bright Light” that was one of my best finds while at the Houston Quilt Festival. It attaches to the machine and points a white beam of light directly where it is needed. My aging eyes is in love with this light. It makes a huge difference.

At $50, it isn’t inexpensive; however, I find it worth every penny. I have no affiliation with this company, just a very happy user. You can find more information about it at the Bendable Bright Light page.

I was flipping through the TV channels and Rachael Ray was on. There was a woman showing gift wrapping using a type of “Mottainai Furoshiki,” which is a symbol of the Japanese culture to reduce waste. Furoshiki is “a Japanese traditional wrapping cloth which is used repeatedly in a stylish way.” “Mottainai” means “it’s a shame for something to go to waste without having made use of its potential in full.” Together, they are folding and wrapping ideas to use with a scarf for wrapping presents (instead of using paper or plastic). Some of them are really nifty, like warpping two books into what looks like a purse of sorts to hold the books. The technique is further explained as putting “an accent on taking care of things and avoiding wastes.”

To get directions, you follow a bunch of links on her site to eventually get to the Ministry of the Environment site. To save you time, here is the site with the directions.

At times I wrap gifts for friends in fabric that I painted, and this will be such a cool way to do it.