Done!

In my mind, this table runner is done 11 months ahead of schedule.

It's not wonky like it looks. The ground is a bit uneven. I have horrible problems getting true colors with photos taken indoors but I do need to find an alternative to the ground.

I actually started this on the 4th of July and realized that the kit didn't have backing fabric and I didn't already own something I liked. I finally made it to working on the binding last week. It's now hanging in the closet.

I sure love finishing projects ahead of schedule!

Unsettled

I've been feeling unsettled the past week. Can't focus on much of anything. I managed to stitch yesterday with the Sampler Guild for a few hours. Today I played around with some flying geese. My UFO project uses a method that is similar to this method (very little waste) from Linda at Flourishing Palms. My attention span is short, so I didn't get much done. I've read a bit from a book I'm reading and I've caught up on email and blogs.

Jeanne at Willow Tree Stitcher was having a contest to give away the Plymouth Sampler chart and I won. She sent along a couple of other little goodies with it. I love Brenda Keyes and The Sampler Company.

This unsettled feeling has been here for a couple of weeks. I have some thinking to do. I know it will all work out, I'm just in a hurry for that to happen.

I think I'm going to knit for a bit.

Runner Up!

Heather at A Passionate Quilter had a contest on her blog. I wasn't the winner but was the runner up and the winner never contacted her. Look at this lovely Chocolate Lollipop fabric by Anna Maria that she sent me! Stop by and give her a hello.

Here is my next block on for the $5 Quilt. For the first time, I was sewing at midnight the night before our meeting. Bad move. The block isn't sized as nicely as it should be. I'm going to live with it though. In the words of Tim Gunn "make it work" is what I'm going to do!

When I was packing at the last minute for my trip to Dallas I decided to pack an old friend. My Per Terras big knitting project. I actually knit 12 or 14 rows on it while I was gone and a few since I've gotten back.

I think I started this project a year ago. When I started it, I thought I'd never get the hang of it. I knit and frogged, knit and frogged, frogged some more. Then it got better but it wasn't intuitive. When I picked this back up after having it sit for over 6 months I realized how much I've grown with my pattern reading and reading my knitting. It's SO much easier. Dare I say it is EASY now? This project is going to be special in that it's going to tell the story of my growth as a knitter. Don't you just love those kinds of projects?

Traveling Woman

I finished Traveling Woman a couple of weekends ago but didn't get a chance to block it. This weekend, I threw it in a tub of water with some Soak. I was very disappointed to see the water turn pink as it meant some of the dye was releasing back into the water. Hopefully, I've rinsed it enough. Out came the blocking wires and few short hours under the ceiling fan and my shawl was completely dried and ready for it's photo shoot.

I love this pattern and I love this colorway!

Traveling Woman (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Madelinetosh DK
Colorway: Tart
Needles: 9
Modifications: Use of DK weight yarn and 1 extra repeat of Chart A

Too bad it's in the 90s with high humidity. I'd like to wear this one right away!

Home Again!

I'm back home after a busy week in the Dallas area. I must admit, I was surprised at how much I liked Dallas. I could easily live there. It's very modern and clean and definitely has an urban vibe. Love it. This was the view from my hotel window. We stayed at the Nylo Hotel which is boutique hotel. The rooms feature concrete floors with concrete and brick walls. Funky bathroom. Hanging egg chairs. I loved it! The earliest we finished up at night was 9pm so I came home today and slipped into a coma. I'll probably be up all night as a result.

Inspired by Terri at Quilternity who blogged this week about her Grandmothers gorgeous afghan, I thought I'd pull out some pillowcases my Grandmother embroidered. I knew they need some attention but I really don't know what to do.

A bit of a back story, my grandmother died before I turned 8 (which was 40 years ago). I am the only one of my siblings that really remembers her. I remember is her sitting in a chair in front of a big plate glass picture window and crocheting doilies. She has one of those metal TV dinner trays set up to hold her supplies. I have a few of her things which are my most prized possessions. I always think that she's smiling down at me as I explore my hobbies as she quilted and crocheted. I think know she'd be happy!

Now for the part where I need your help. There are black spots on some of the linens which I can only assume is mold since I live in Florida. The whites have also gotten dingy. So how do I get this cleaned up without damaging the crocheted edgings, the embroidery or the linen? I could google but I think personal experiences would give me better direction.

I think this crocheted edging may need to come off as it feels like it may have shrunk a bit. I'm thinking of dampening it and then seeing if it stretches a bit.

These have been stored in a cedar chest (not touching the wood) for the last several years. Is this a bad/good thing to do? What is the best way to store linen? These items are just too precious for me to not take care of them.

I'd love to see your special treasures!

Quiet Week

Not much is going on at Chez Jackie's Stitches. I've been busy shopping for a business trip to Plano/Dallas next week. I'm taking a small stitching and knitting project with me but I'm unsure as to how much time I'll have. The work days will be long.

The camera I always carry in my purse is still missing.

I did manage to completely finish this block. The square on point in the corners were a pain to line up. It's not perfect but it's good enough and it's done.

Some recent stash added:

Isn't the owl cute?

I'm not sure if I'm taking my personal computer or not but if not, I'll catch up on what everyone is doing when I get back. Have a great week!

Holiday Recap

The winners of the pattern giveaway from my last post are Barb and Susan! I'll send an email to each of you and hopefully get the patterns in the mail this week. Please visit their blogs, they are each so talented. Congratulations to you both!

Yesterday, we went downtown to see the fireworks. It's always so hot here but it's on the river and there is always a bit of a cool breeze. Jacob and his girlfriend went with us and we really enjoyed their company. I really like his girlfriend a lot and I know he's crazy about her too.

It was overcast but it didn't rain on us thankfully. We had a great time!
The pictures with fireworks didn't come out so I'll spare you those.
I think it was because of the bad weather but there weren't a lot of boats out.

I'm still puttering around working on my Stitchers Gardens blocks. Next weekend is another class and I needed to get my background ready to go. We're quilting the background using a decorative wavy stitch using a twin needle. I really like the way this looks and the twin needle was not the pain in the rear I expected it to be.

Here's another block I finished up.

The flowers were supposed to have DMC corded on around the center of the flower. I didn't like it so I took it out of the one I had completed.

I worked on something else this weekend but I got close to being ready to quilt it and realized I didn't have backing fabric. I'm going to save that for another post once I get it completed.

Today was an interesting day. I couldn't find my camera - the one I always have in my purse. My phone stopped working. Greg pulled down one of the shelves in my sewing room by accident. The day started off rough. My phone is now working (who knew it could be reset by pushing 2 buttons at the same time). The shelf has been fixed and Greg installed a light under the same shelf. The camera is still AWOL though. The weird thing is that I think I put it somewhere with the idea it would be easy to find later. Clearly a bad move. It was still a great day - I'd certainly vote to have 3 day weekends every week!

I hope you had a happy and safe holiday. Happy Stitches!

Pattern Giveaway!

Contest is Closed
Last weekend when I was straightening up my sewing room, I realized I'd probably never make these two projects. So I've decided to give the patterns away!

How to enter? Simple - just leave me a comment and let me know which one you want. If you'd like both, you can say that too. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to give both patterns to one person or not. I'll pick a winner this weekend.