Tu-Na Travels: Finding Fabric

Tu-Na Helper and I spent a long weekend in Austin, Texas returning late on Monday. While there, we browsed through several thrift shops. Why? Because I love a good deal and one never knows what they might find.

I found 5 3/4 yards of this beautiful elephant fabric.

The colors are vibrant. It felt lovely and soft. Although it hadn’t been washed, it still smelled good telling me that whoever had it took good care of it.

The price tag read $5.00. But it wasn’t 50% off day.

The fabric is “Elephants” designed for Exclusively Quilters. Exclusively Quilters is known for producing fabric with realistic looking animals. Look at all those color dots on the selvedge!

Did I buy it? Need you ask.

5 3/4 yards is a lot of fabric but it still fit in my personal bag for the flight home.

What will I make with it? Not sure yet. What would you make with it?

What I Learned Today:

I enjoy a good find.
Good finds are getting harder to find.
Shopping at thrift shops is addicting.
I could be addicted to worse things.
Contrary to what Tu-Na Helper says, I don’t need to have a plan in order to buy something. My plan will eventually come.

Question: Would you have purchased it?

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

Friday Foto Fun at Powered by Quilting

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Tu-Na Quilts: Making Time to Sew

21 Replies

I’ve tried them all: lists, deadlines, motivators, organization strategies, and goal setting. Somehow, making time to sew eludes me. I’m finding myself pushing back the deadlines more and more. After all, I’m living the retirement dream in a 55+ Active Adult Community that has 92 clubs and activities in sunny and warm Arizona during the winter. That in itself is a lot to keep me busy.

I’m hoping to gain ideas from this Sew Much Fun Blog Hop to help nudge me back into my sewing room. In the meantime, here’s a few ideas that at times have helped me stay or get focused and maybe they will help you, too.

Making Time to Sew

Some sewists strive to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. There’s even a blog, Life in Pieces, where you can link a post with your time accomplishment each Sunday. If this is for you, start keeping track of your daily sewing times.

I started. It lasted 3 days. While I haven’t joined the linky party there yet, I thought you might like to know of that resource. You just never know, I might show up there one of these weeks.

Some days, I’ll sew for hours and hours and deep into the night. Some days, I don’t even touch my machine. I enjoy reading quilting blogs and am often amazed at how much some of my favorite bloggers get done. For example: Karen at Quilts…etc., Julie at Pink Doxies, and Sally at The Objects of Design, whose clocks all seem to have more hours on them than mine.

I’m starting to realize that it’s not so much about setting aside time to sew as it is about creating a balanced life and not wasting the time I have in order to do all the things I want.

Finding Accountability

I’m finding that I need more than just the effort of making time to sew in order to move projects along. I need acountability partners. There’s a number of blogs that offer weekly or monthly linky parties. Some sewists find linking their WIPs or UFOs or goals helpful to keep them on track towards a finish. Here’s just a few of my favorites that I visit regularly even if I don’t link:

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts every Monday

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter every Wednesday

UFOs at Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland every Saturday

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict every Friday

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts link your one goal for the month in the first week then return at the end of the month to link your completed goal

Yearly Finish-A-Long is sponsored by a number of bloggers. Write a blog post with your quarterly goals and link to one of the blogs each quarter. Then at the end of the quarter, link a blog post with your completed goals. You can find more info here.

Sewing Something Fun

No matter how often I create with fabric, I am more willing to spend time and happily return to it each day if I am making something I enjoy or like. I love fabric and I love sewing. Oftentimes, those two don’t meet.

I recently made this fun block. It was difficult and I spent a good part of 3 days working on it. You can read more about it here and find the free pattern here.

Keeping It Real

Whether I am thinking of the size of my project or tidying up my workspace at the end of each day or a project, I try to be realistic. If I only have a week to make a quilt, a lap size might be doable, a king size is not. I learned that the hard way. If I have no room on my cutting table to cut fabric, I try to take a few minutes to tidy up before continuing.

I am a messy cook and a messy sewist. I need to heed my own advice.

Reducing the Pressure

I like my blocks to be perfect. No matter how hard I try, they often are not. I am now striving for making them good or better. I make a lot of “good” blocks, and many “better” blocks and even a few accidently have fallen into the “best” category.

Good blocks will still make a wonderful quilt that someone will love and snuggle with. Better blocks still make a wonderful quilt that someone will love and snuggle with. Best blocks get hung on the wall as no one should touch those masterpieces. Who’s judging them? Me, of course. I’d rather have my blocks sewn into quilts to be used and loved than hung on my wall for only me to see and admire.

: I finally made time to catch up on these bee blocks several weeks ago. You can find the pattern here. The more I pressed those blocks, the more they looked puckered. Perhaps it was the fabric. Although not all the seams looked puckered. Perhaps I wasn’t careful enough cutting with the grain. I mailed them anyway even thought they were not perfect. Hopefully, Paige won’t get hung up on not seeing the forest for the trees.

I’m getting better at overlooking and then forgetting about those minor little imperfections as well as embracing those unmatched seams and chopped off points as things that give my quilts character.

Oftentimes, pressure is self-induced.

However, this Bee block I finished earlier this month turned out beautifully. I sent it to Emily of The Darling Dogwood to include in her bookshelf quilt. She asked for a shelf of books from 13-16.5″ long but would take whatever we sent. This one turned out 29″ in length. I wrote more about it on the Bee Inspired Blog here.

The block above is a perfect example of why it takes me a long time to accomplish things. I complicated a very simple block by making it larger than necessary and including a very interesting but complicated extra item. But I had so much fun doing it!

Handling DSD — Distracted Sewing Disease

Admission to having DSD—Distracted Sewing Disease—leads to coming to grips with it and working with it. The only known cure for it is stopping to quilt altogether. For me, that’s not an option. So I will just have to learn to cope and live with it.

I work on multiple projects. This is normal for me. Do you do the same? To help me keep organized, I put all items for one project in it’s own plastic bin with a cover that snaps shut.

Here’s just one of my many bins.

This includes the pattern, fabric, AND notes as what needs to be done or purchased, where I am in the process, ideas I have, etc. This way when I feel in the mood to move that particular project along, I can grab the bin, read my notes and know exactly where I’m at.

In the event, my DSD surfaces at a moment’s notice and I find myself starting yet another new project, I usually just go with it making sure I have a bin to put it into. After all, I don’t want to stifle my creativity but I want to stay organized in the process.

This is a class project with my AZ group. I’ve included all the fabric and thread I need for this project.

For those of you who also suffer from this disease, you can join others and link up your distracted sewing projects, also called squirrels, or Drop Everything and Make It Moments (DrEAMi Moments) at Musings of a Menopausal Melon – mmm quilts! on the last Saturday of each month. But be warned; you might find more projects there making you drop everything and make them!

Join These Bloggers

Check out these other bloggers to see how they Make Time to Sew.

Faith and Fabric (our hostess) Thanks, Jen

Faith and Felt Obsession

Fabric Engineer

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats You are here. Thanks for stopping by.

What I Learned Today:

There is no clock in my house that says “Sewing Time.” I have to make it a conscious decision.
I love the process of quilting: cutting, sewing the pieces together, being distracted by another quilt and making a block from that one.
I enjoy the process of quilting; it’s a bonus when I actually finish something.
Sewing/quilting is only one of my priorities in my life. Life is too short to worry and fret over not producing enough quilts or becoming overly concerned that I haven’t sewn anything today or even this week.

Question: Do you prefer to sew in the morning, afternoon, or evening? Do you find yourself spending more time at your sewing machine in the summer, fall, winter, or spring? I like evening sewing but it comes with the problem of needing really good light. I used to sew a lot during the winter until we moved to Arizona during the colder months. Now I find it hard to sit inside and sew on a nice sunny day and we have a lot of those.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen,

Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Tu-Na Quilts: The Rest of the Story…

20 Replies

Earlier today I posted here about all the Valentine things I made this year from fabric and flour. I ended my post saying that I gave Tu-Na Helper (my husband) the mug rug and he gave me flowers. I did not know that there was still more Valentine surprises coming my way.

Tu-Na Helper drove me to the Sew and Chat Evening Session of my quilting group. I was the first to arrive and the room was still locked and dark. I could hear voices in the courtyard but didn’t really pay attention. I unlocked the room and turned on the lights. Tu-Na Helper brought in my sewing machine and supplies.

Soon the room was overrun with a dozen people carrying sheet music. I was thinking that the office had made a mistake and accidently scheduled the room for another group besides us quilters. Our quilting group’s President had now arrived and explained that they couldn’t stay because we would be using the room. The explanation came, “We’re here to sing a song to Karen.” They turned towards me and started singing, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”

After another love song, they handed me a box of very delicious chocolates and a bright red rose.

What I Learned Today:

I am loved.
Singing Valentines are the very best kind to receive.

Question: What would you choose: chocolate truffle, raspberry cream, caramel, maple nut butter, or coconut cluster? I shared the chocolates with my quilting friends who came to sew and chat. The raspberry cream was delicious! And so was the chocolate truffle.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Tu-Na Quilts: Happy Valentine’s Day Finishes

17 Replies

I finished the Valentine’s Day wall-hanging I made for the Put a Little Love in Your Quilt Blog Hop last week. You can read more about it here. This wall-hanging was one of my goals for the 2018 Finish-A-Long and was posted here.

I hung it outside and it’s been greeting our guests ever since.

I wanted something that says “A Quilter Lives Here.”

I used a darker scrappy pink binding to frame out the hanging. It’s under a nice covered patio and is out of the sun. Hopefully, it’ll be protected enough to last a few seasons. Now, I will have to think of the next holiday and get something made to replace it, maybe something for St. Patrick’s Day or Easter or spring.

Last week I also baked a batch of cookies—heart shaped ones.

And decorated them all fancy. It was a large batch so we took them to a couple of community dinners to share. They were a hit and I should have made more.

I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe found here and decorator frosting to pipe the borders and some sayings from conversation heart candies. I only have 5 decorating tips and should look for more or bring my extras down with me next year.

This week, I finished Tu-Na Helper’s Mug Rug. You can read more about his mug rug and find the link to the free pattern here.

I chose some Chocolate Love by Audrey Jeanne Roberts for Studio e fabrics.

I also made a mug rug for me using the free paper pieced rose pattern found here. I reduced the size and then trimmed it to 5.5″ so it would be the same size as the cup one. The rose sewed up easily.

I quilted a diagonal crosshatch about 1/4″ apart. I used painter’s tape to mark my first diagonal lines in each direction and then my seam guide for the rest of the lines.

I made the center of the rose darker. The next couple of rows of petals were a bit lighter, and the last couple or rows of petals were the lightest.

I used three different fabrics for the rose but could have used more as the petals are lost by all the quilting.

I used a 1 1/8″ strip to bind them. It didn’t need a bulky double binding. Each mug rug finishes at 5.5 inches.

I gave Tu-Na Helper his Mug Rug this morning for Valentine’s Day

and he gave me…

a dozen long-stemmed roses!

* Update: That’s not all he gave me! I posted Tu-Na Quilts: The Rest of the Story here.*

What I Learned Today:

I sew slowly. I was at a class this afternoon and am the furthest behind with that project.
Being slow isn’t all bad. I didn’t have to rip out as much as some of the others.
My seam ripper is rather dull. It’s time to get a new one.
Completing the Valentine Wall Hanging was Goal #10 on my post Tu-Na Quilts: My Three Month Plan for the 2018 Finish-A-Long.
I’ve still got 9 other goals to complete.
I might have to speed up the sewing to get more of my goals completed.

Question: What do you do special for Valentine’s Day? When the kids were little, I would make and decorate each of them a giant heart-shape cookie.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Show Off Saturday at Sew Can She

Tu-Na Quilts: Put a Little Love in Your Quilt

61 Replies

As quilters, we put a lot of love in our quilts we make. When Carol from Just Let Me Quilt offered this blog hop, I jumped at the chance. The only requirement was to put a heart somewhere in the quilt.

I’ve been wanting to make a wall hanging for the front door area of our house for awhile.

This quilt will finish at 21.5″ x 33.5.” Read on to find out why it’s missing it’s binding.

Something that says a quilter lives here. Something that says welcome. Something that I could leave up for awhile and replace with something else as the season calls. I found a free heart pattern here and began to cut some scraps. I wasn’t going to go scrappy but once I started cutting, I dug deeper into the scrap bin.

I put a binding clip in the end of each row to show which direction I should press the seams toward. This keeps me from running back and forth from the ironing board. Although, I could use the exercise.

I changed the pattern by cutting the blocks 3.5″ so that my finished block would be larger than what the pattern called thus making my wall hanging larger.

I used this recent purchase of #love designed by Sandy Gervais for Moda that I found in the clearance bin at a local quilt shop for some of the background pieces.

This fabric has hearts too as well as the words live laugh love.

At this point I realized it needed something more and so I searched for a pattern of a bouquet of flowers. I settled on these paper pieced rose buds that I found in the May/June 2015 issue of Quiltmaker magazine.

I remove the inner papers leaving the outer ones intact until the seams are sewn together.

They sewed up quickly or maybe I’m just getting better at paper piecing.

And Then Some Distracted Sewing Happened

I started searching the internet for some free patterns for roses, just in case you wanted to make one of these wall hangings for yourself and didn’t have access to that particular magazine. You probably won’t believe me when I say that a funny thing happened on my way to find that free pattern. I found a “squirrel” project. So I dropped everything and made this cute little mug.

You can find the free paper-pieced pattern here.

I’m planning on quilting this mug rug and giving it to my husband for Valentine’s Day. He likes his morning coffee all day long. Now he’ll have a fun mug rug to set his cup on.

If you want to sew up some roses. You’ll find a free paper pieced pattern of a rose here. I downloaded it and will make it as soon as I am finished writing this.

Back on Track Again

I quilted the heart with straight lines

My husband bought these gloves at Menards, a department-type hardware store in the Midwest. We were sad to find there isn’t a Menards in AZ. The gloves have silicone on the underside of the fingers (you can see some of the dots) which really helps grip the fabric and makes quilting so much easier on the hands, arms, shoulders, and back.

and did some free motion loopy hearts all over everything else.

I couldn’t resist adding some ric rac stems. After all, I am the Queen of Ric Rac (self-proclaimed).

So that’s why this outdoor wall hanging still needs the binding. (Update: This wall hanging is now finished and hanging outside my front door. You can read all about it and Tu-Na Helper’s finished mug rug and other 2018 Valentine projects I made out of fabric and flour here.)

I chose these fabrics for a scrappy binding.

More Fun and Love Found Here

To help you spread the love or at least get you in the mood to sew up something fun for Valentine’s Day, hop on over to these blogs.

February 5

Life in the Scrapatch

Freemotion by the River

Marjorie’s Busy Corner

Cynthia’s Creating Ark

February 6

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats You are here. Thanks for stopping by.

February 7

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

February 8

Just Let Me Quilt Thanks, Carol, for hosting another wonderful blog hop.

What I Learned Today:

I get easily distracted and want to try new patterns. Maybe that’s why I like making sampler quilts where every block is different.
That lemon pie isn’t making itself. I’ll have to make it tomorrow. Lemon Meringue is Tu-Na Helpers favorite pie. I’ll make him another one next week.
Paper piecing is getting easier. The easier it’s getting the more I like it.

Question: How will you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Will you sew something special?

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River

Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter on Feb 14th

Midweek Makers at QuiltFabrication

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt

Can I Get a Whop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Show Off Saturday at Sew Can She

DREAMi at Musings of a Menopausal Melon on the last Saturday in Feb. (Hopefully, I won’t forget)

Free Motion Mavericks at Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing

Tu-Na Quilts: February Goal

19 Replies

I didn’t do too well last month so let’s try again this month. January’s One Monthly Goal was to finish and mail the elephant quilt.

I laid the elephant quilt on the guest bed and figured out what needed to be done to make the rows the same size. (They were sewn on two different machines and are not equal in length.) But that’s as far as it got as we were getting overnight company. So I gathered up the rows and they’ve been hanging over the ironing board ever since.

And then I got distracted making some pine trees for my Bee Inspired Bee Mate

You can find the free pattern here.

and this super cute mixer which I wrote about here. Now you can read my post on the Bee Inspired Blog here and why I needed to sew one and who gets it.

You can find the free pattern here.

I also spent a couple of all day sewing sessions working on a mystery quilt hosted by my Arizona quilting group.

I picked up this tip to keep organized with the steps by putting the pieces into labeled zip lock bags..

I completed these pieces for day one of the mystery quilt. I must admit that I spent a lot of time checking out the fabric choices of the other class members as well as just chatting.

Here’s a wonderful batik quilt. Even Tu-Na Helper likes this one.

I did lots of volunteering in my AZ community in January: making popcorn for Monday Movie Days, clearing and resetting tables for the Sloppy Joe Lunch, being in charge of ticket sales for the shuffleboard club, and chairing the membership committee for the quilting group. That brings me to this month wondering what happened to the rest of January.

I’ve got several projects needing to be finished this month that I could list here but I want to keep this elephant quilt as my One Monthly Goal. After all it really needs to get done!

So February’s goal is to finish this cute elephant quilt top, quilt it on the longarm, bind it, and put it in the mail.

What I Learned Today:

I suffer from MPD (Multiple Project Disorder).
I am also afflicted with DSD (Distracted Sewing Disease).
I have a problem with time management.
There’s so much to do all the time here at “winter camp for seniors.”
I need to use my time wisely as it will continue to pass quickly no matter what I do or how much or how little I get done.

Question: What do you do help with time management?

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

WIPs at Silly Mama Quilts

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Tu-Na Quilts: Mixing Around and Having a Lot of Fun

29 Replies

I’ve always said that spending the winter in Arizona is like going to winter camp for seniors. There’s 92 different clubs and activities offered in our 55+ active adult community and that’s not counting the flu that’s also going around. Tu-Na Helper and I have been busy and enjoying every minute of our time here.

I did spend some time this week mixing things up a bit and produced this cute little block. I thought you’d like to see what I’ve been up to as far as sewing related. No, I have not started a new project. But more about that later.

This little beauty is 7 3/4″ X 9 3/4.” Tu-Na Helper says this one is a new digital model since it’s missing the lever. Some things just have to be left to the imagination. You can find the free pattern here on Why Not Sew.

I changed the pattern a bit. I treated it like paper piecing and not sewed as shown on the pattern for two reasons; I needed it to be facing this direction and I just couldn’t see myself fussing over little pieces of freezer paper. It actually worked amazingly well.

What I Learned Today:

I’ve been missed. I received 4 emails from my dear readers asking if I was ok since it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. Rest assured all is well but I did enjoy knowing that I was missed. There is much fun in the sun around here taking my time.
The more time lapsed between posts makes sitting down and writing more difficult.
I need to use my “real” Kitchen-Aid to whip up another lemon meringue pie. The lemons on our tree are ripe! I’ve already made three pies and we’ve had some company.
Some of those lemons are so big that it only took 1 and 1/2 to make a 1/2 cup of juice.
There’s no comparison between homemade fresh lemon meringue pie and lemon pie made from a box of lemon pie filling.
Find another piece of fabric to use for the background in my pictures. I got a new camera for Christmas from my kids and a new light/camera stand from Tu-Na Helper. I’m still learning to use both.

Question: Do you whip things up by whisk, hand mixer, or a fancy stand mixer like the one pictured? I tried whipping cream with a whisk, once. After 30 seconds, I decided it definitely is worth using something that’s a whole lot faster.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen,

Tu-Na Quilts

Linking with:

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

2018 Monthly Color Challenge (January is red) at Patterns by Jen (PB &J)

Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River

Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Tu-Na Quilts: My Three Month Plan

22 Replies

Before I started my blog, I joined the finish-a-long party but haven’t been back since. Life happens. Because I need all the motivation and encouragement I can muster, I am linking once again. It’s an International affair hosted by a group of bloggers from around the world. You will find the link at the bottom of this post. Look out party goers, Tu-Na’s back!

Tu-Na’s January, February, and March Finish-A-Long projects

Continue reading →

Tu-Na Quilts: Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Closet

14 Replies

Yes, lets’ talk about that elephant quilt lurking in my closet. I’m making it for my best friend’s granddaughter who already celebrated her first birthday in November. So it’s officially not a baby quilt anymore. And I’m officially very late with it.

This project became shelved when I began having eye issues. It needs a bit of seam adjustment to make the rows match.

Everyone (well, at least the blogs that I follow) talks about their one monthly goals and up to now I figured I didn’t need to set myself one goal a month. But after last year, I do need an incentive or something to help me move some projects along. So I figured I’d join the party.

The rules are to write a post about the one item you want to move along or finish this month and link to the party at Elm Street Quilts. Then at the end of the month, write a post about your progress and link to the finish party. I figure it may be just the incentive I need to move along a few projects. Oh, and there are prizes to win, too.

I started this quilt last spring. You can read about the exciting birth of that baby elephant here as Dr. Tu-Na was present in the delivery (sewing) room. I posted about this quilt’s progress here in Let’s Make Elephants, and here in We Have an Elephant Parade, and here in Progress on She Has Her Mommy’s Nose.

I’ll post about my progress on this Elephant at the end of the month or sooner if I actually get it done. Yes, completely done: pieced, sandwiched, quilted, bound, and in the mail.

What I Learned Today:

There are 25 days left in January. I better not wait until the last week to work on this project.
It gets cold in North Dakota in the winter. We braved the cold temps and spent the holidays with our family in North Dakota. The coldest it got was -28°F with at least two days of never getting above 0°.
My plants in the sunroom don’t like the cold. The dieffenbachia froze.
It’s time to bring on the heat and head back to Arizona.
I’m thinking an Arizona Family Christmas next year just might be perfect.

Question: What project do you have that’s been hiding in the closet? Oh, I have others that will hopefully make their appearances this year but this is the one that really needs to get done so someone cute and little can snuggle with it.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

Linking to:

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Moving It Forward at Em’s Scrapbag

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River

Tu-Na Quilts: A Christmas Tree for the Kids

11 Replies

I didn’t want to bring up all the Christmas decorations this year when we arrived back at the northern house just two days before Christmas. But I didn’t want to be nicknamed “Tu-Na the Grinch” or “Tu-Na Scrooge” if I didn’t at least do something to decorate the house for the holiday.

So I thought I’d use some felt and make a tree to put on the wall. I cut lots of circles: large, medium, and small for the decorations, while my daughter-in-law cut the tree shape. She made it a very full tree to hold lots of felt circles.