Doctors keep a chart of little faces on the wall, from smiling to miserable, and ask you to point to the one that fits. Every sewing room deserves the same chart, because a quilter's mood can travel from delighted to dangerous in the time it takes to find a skipped stitch. Resting Stitch Face Sippers is that chart, one expressive face at a time, ready to sit beside the machine and tell the household exactly how the afternoon is going. Point to today's face and fill the sipper accordingly.
Level one: approach with caution
Ouch is a plump pincushion with its pins still in, frowning so hard its cheeks have gone pink. Back Off Bucco takes that frown further, a round red cushion bristling with pins and glaring through gritted teeth. Nobody needs a second warning. Patch sits calmly on its own square of pieced cream fabric, triangle ears up and stitched mouth set in a firm line, the face of a quilter who has just counted her half square triangles and come up one short.
Level two: slightly feral
Snipzilla is the face that appears around midnight when the deadline is close: a furry purple creature with round yellow eyes, spiky ears and a grin packed with far too many teeth. Psychedelic Face keeps things graphic, with bold pink and teal triangle eyes over a zigzag of stitches for a smile. And What Do You Want? hands the job to a sharp-eyed cat pieced in orange and teal, a zipper running straight down its nose, answering the question before anyone asks it.
Level three: pleased as a finished binding
Then the seams line up and the mood lifts. Patchwork Smile grins from a cat face pieced in every bright scrap in the bin, and Quirky Impact beams out from under a crown of spiky patchwork points, lashes fluttering. Rosie the Binder rolls up her sleeve with a patchwork square in hand, ready to take on the whole top, and Marie FabCakes-Nette glides in holding a tall rainbow cake of folded fabric, the picture of a quilter whose stash is finally sorted by color.
For every mood in the sewing room
These are for the friend whose face tells you everything before she says a word, the guild buddy who laughs at her own frown in the mirror, and the quilter who keeps a sipper of iced tea, coffee or something fancier within arm's reach from morning to night. Choose the face she wears most often, or the one she wears when the seam ripper comes out. The chart only works if she points honestly, and between us, level three usually arrives right after snack time.
Written by Penny the Mascot. Thanks for reading.
