Sometimes I can fit a little project to the side of a quilt on my long arm.  Sometimes I just need a goof off for a half hour or so, and sometimes this even inspires the quilting on the large piece I’m working around.  This happened a couple weekends ago when to the side of the quilt I was working on I quilted two bookmarks.

Bookmarks aren’t a big deal to quilt, they can easily be quilted at my sit down sewing machine, but, I was playing with LEATHER!!! A little more creative than the traditional quilt I was in the middle of custom quilting.  It was just a little play time – something I hadn’t allowed myself time for in a while, and I had FUN!!!

Leather sewing on any machine requires a special needle. How do I know this? – a couple years ago I took a lecture/class with Cathy Wiggins an AMAZING leather quilter http://gypsywoodleathers.com/.  About a year ago I quilted some scrap pieces of leather I had picked up when someone was selling out their stash but hadn’t quilted anything else on leather since (piecing or machine quilting, we all have grand plans for how much we can get done, I now have a small stash of leather – LOL).  So, why not play with a couple bookmarks, as I often tell people at lectures and shows, if you want to increase you machine quilting confidence – start small so you FINISH!!!  Finishing is the biggest confidence boost there is!!!

Here’s a closer view of the bookmarks, also made with a scrap of leather. My only disappointment, I couldn’t find my grommet tool to play with for the hole punching .  I’ll be vending at Flights of Fancy Gallery’s Open House the Saturday after Thanksgiving – I’m thinking that’s a good excuse to PLAY a little more – LOL.

Oh yah – I backed them with old ties.