My Friend Martha

I've know Martha Pullen for a long time. She's one of the most amazing people I've ever known. First of all after she'd met me only once, the next time she saw me, she remembered my name. To me that's incredible. She meets literally thousands of people every month – how does she do that? How does she remember their names? That's only a tiny part of what this woman can do.

This is her newest book – one of 50 or so she has written.

She took the time to write this book, not to make tons of money like so many that write self-help books aspire to. She wrote it to help others fulfill their dreams.

Here's one of the most amazing things about Martha right now in 2014. She sold her company a couple of years ago and left it this past year. Instead of sitting back and enjoying the fruits of her labor – she's starting over. She's excited, enthusiastic and full of fun and exuberance. It contagious! She's part of the new generation of 50 plus people who refuse to use the "r" word and continue to live life to its fullest.

On to the book. Do you want to make it with your sewing or craft? Do you have excuses why you can't? Look at Martha. She's still doing it. She's an inspiration and so is her book.

If you can only purchase one book this year, it has to be Martha's! You can purchase it at http://www.pullenbusiness.com/

Once you read it, I think you'll agree with me – she's one amazing woman.

Silverware Holder

With so many holidays coming up soon, I thought it was time to better organize my silver flatware. I've kept them in the plastic bags they came stuffed in a shopping bag. So, I started out with a couple of yards of linen. and a couple of yards of silver cloth. I could only find silver cloth in dark brown at my local fabric shop, so that's what I used.If you can't find silver cloth, you can use felt.

Here's the supplies list for each place setting:

·    20 x 10½ inch piece of linen for
·    20 x 10 ½ piece of silver cloth
·    2 1 yard pieces of ¼ inch silk ribbon
·    Embroidery design (Flower from Dainty Borders was used twice)
·    Stabilizer
·    Wash-away fabric marker
·    Size 80 universal needle

The first thing I did was cut my 8 rectangles 20 by 10 1/2  inches. I came up with this size by measuring my knife, the longest piece and figured out how much extra fabric I needed to fold up for the pockets and down for the flap. I then set my 5 piece place setting next to each other, leaving space between and measured that. I added an extra inch so I could have 1/2 inch seams. My measurements should work for any silverware.

To keep the linen cuts straight, I pulled a thread in each direction and cut on the line. I set the linen on the silver cloth and used the linen as a pattern guide for cutting it.

1.    Lay the linen so the short side is top and bottom and the long sides are left and right.Measure up  2 ½ inches fro the short side of the linen and 5 inches from the left side (with the short side at the bottom) and make a mark. This is the center of your embroidery.

2.    Embroider the design in this spot.  The embroidery is optional, but I tend to embroider everything I can.

3.    With right sides together, sew the linen and silver cloth all the way around all 4 sides leaving a 3-4 inch hole on one side to turn.

4.    Turn the piece right side out and press.  Press one short end up 5 inches.

5.    Top stitch around all 4 sides - you’ll be sewing the fold you made above. 

6.    Mark 4 lines on the 5 inch piece and sew a straight line to create 5 little silverware pockets.

7.    Fold the top short end over the lower one and top stitch the fold. I used pins instead of a marker because I didn't want to wash the silver cloth. You could use a air erase marker.

8.    Sew two pieces of ribbon 2 inches from each folded and sewn sides and 6 inches from the side that has the embroidery.

9.    Place the silver in the pockets and roll up the holder and tie the ribbon.

I hope you like this project.

Kandi