A Bit of Quilting

In the past couple of months, I've done just a bit of quilting.  I'm trying to finish up my Fat Quarter Shop 2020 Designer Mystery Quilt.  I have an older block of the month from them and I'm glad they are generous with their monthly fabric packs as cutting mistakes don't derail everything and that BOM has long out of print fabric.

I was able to get the center priced on the 2020 BOM.  

I also got the pieced setting triangle completed too!

I had to be very careful to label these blocks that go on the outside.

I've actually have all of these pieces pieced together but had to put it away for furniture delivery.  My design board isn't up in the new house yet and I was using a bed that was replaced instead.  I have some borders left to do and a few other things and then I'll be ready to send it off for quilting.

I've been stitching too but I'll save that for a separate post!  I hope all of your stitches are happy ones!

Most of 2021 Finishes

During the last year I've been absent from blogging, I have been stitching!  Let me show you some/most of what I've been up to.  In no particular order....

I finished Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings.

I finished A Sampler Grows by The Scarlet House.  I need to FFO this one.

I finished Ann Morison by HATS with several "design elements".

I started the MMM Crafts 12 Days of Christmas Felt Ornament series.  I'm stitching this with friends via zoom.

I also found my very first cross stitch when readying my parents house to sell.  

I finished Red Deer Sampler by GiGi R.

I stitched 3 Prairie Schooler Santas but could only find photos of 2.  FFOing is in progress.

I attended a KimberBell Machine Embroidery class and finished all 3 projects.  These are my first machine embroidery projects.

I finally finished Ann Dale by Shakespeare's Peddler!

Then two weekends ago I attended another Kimberbell class and finished these 3 projects.  I had forgotten most of what I learned months and months before but it came back to me quickly! The ornaments still need a hanger and a backing.

This is an embroidered and watercolor pencil card.

Other than what I mentioned above that is missing, there is one other small project that I'll post about separately when I get it FFO'd.  I'm not sure if I' ready to finish it quite yet though.  

Wishing you the happiest holiday season and a safe New Year!

 

One Year Gone

It has been a tough year during the year plus I've been gone.  A year ago this past Saturday, we lost my mom.  The night after we buried her, my dad went to sleep and never woke up.  I'm the oldest of their 3 children and have been busy taking care of their estate and grieving.  Trying to find a new normal without them.  This photo was taken on their 50th anniversary.  They were married for 61 years.  The boys are my children and the girls are my brothers.

Early this year, I received a note and a chart from Carol of Stitching Dreams.  You see, she lost her mother too in 2020.  A friend, Ginger, had sent her this chart to stitch in memory of her mother.  Ginger had also lost her mother and had stitched this chart in memory of her mother.  And now it was my turn.  You can read Carol's post HERE about this project.  Carol's also posted so eloquently about her first birthday without her mom, and in reading her post I felt a kinship with Carol in terms of finding comfort in knowing mom was whole again.  My mom lived with dementia for 11 years before her death.  It is a terrible disease.

Here is where this story gets a little embarrassing.  Carol sent this to me in MARCH.  Typically when someone gifts you something, you start stitching it right away.  At the time, however, I just could not do it.  It represented a lot of things I just wasn't ready to deal with.  We were also building a home and preparing to move.  I say that as an excuse but we all know, I could have stitched this quickly.  I just was not able.

I actually started this and got it mostly completed before we moved.  It was done except for one of my mothers initials.  This is the first home I have ever lived in that I will not have any memories of my parents.  They've always helped us move, paint, decorate, figure things out, make improvements etc.  I would have talked to my mom about the floor plan and furniture placement and decor.  Greg would have talked to my dad about things he saw during construction, how to take care of newly sodded grass, and all that kind of things.  

They are missed in many ways.

Saturday was the 20th anniversary of my mothers passing.  I took out this project and pulled out the one initial of moms that I had stitched.  It was too ghosty and I wanted her initial to STAND OUT.  So I stitched her initials, put my needle away and the project is waiting to be FFO'd.  In a weird way, Saturday was the right time to finish this little pillow.  I felt like mom was with me and we were chatting while I stitched.  So in an odd way, I do have a memory of mom here in this house.

I have already chosen another stitcher to pass this chart to who has also lost her mom.  I hope this helps her through her own grief journey, it her own time, as it has me.  Carol, I humbly thank you so much.  xoxo

Sampler September Wrap Up

I had every intention of posting every week for Sampler September.  That obviously did not happen!  I did end up rotating through all of the WIPs I intended to except for one and that one I'm going to destash.  Can't force love!  

I ended up having two finishes for the month.  The first one is the second in the series Springtime Pleasures by Barbara Jackson.  This little egg is TINY and is almost entirely specialty stitches.  The year is supposed to go down at the bottom but I wasn't feeling it so I may leave it blank if I don't figure out something later.  It was a fun stitch!

Springtime Pleasures by Barbara Jackson

Class offered through The Shining Needle Society

I also finished up Martha Pudsey by The Scarlett House last night.  Great way to end the month!  She was a fun stitch due to the funky colors and the border was loads of fun.  I've heard some people say the border reminds them of a string of Christmas lights.  Another fun stitch!

Martha Pudsey by The Scarlet House

40 count Lakeside Vintage Meadow Rue

Called for NPI silks

I'm not sure how it got to be October but we are enjoying a great fall day today in Florida.  The sun is shining and it's only supposed to be 82 today.  I'm truly enjoying it!

Until next time, I hope all your stitches are happy ones!

Sampler September Week 1

I'm doing my own version of Sampler September this year.  I believe it was started a few years ago on IG but thought I'd post about it here too.  I'm defining this for me as a sampler of my WIPs.  I've pulled 20ish WIPs and hope to give each of them a day's worth of stitching.  Most are samplers, but not all and there are several teaching pieces included.  I may not make significant progress, in fact I won't, but I do hope that it will reignite the spark for the project.  

I'm only showing after photos as adding before photos would make this too photo heavy I think.

Up first was When Thou Art Rich by HATS.  I was at a spot - an entire row of queen stitches on a linen that was a similar color to the thread - where I was mentally blocked on this one.  I picked it up and something just clicked! I finished the row of queen stitches (which was only about 25% done) and started the satin stitch row below.  I'll definitely be coming back to this one soon.

Hannah Hammond by Gigi R was up next.  I was definitely not enjoying this last time I put this one away. I can't say that I love her now but we are in a better place.   Not a bad outcome.

This is a teaching piece by Jane Timmers of Fancy Work called Liberty Little Sewing Box.  This is for a class this fall.  There will be smalls and a box from LeHays that will be finished.  Super cute.

Mary Barres came out.  Hard to see but I completed the ghost alphabet and started that bottom motif.  She's a big girl and will therefore be a long term project.

Tocatta 1 by the Drawn Thread has not been touched in YEARS.  Why?  I have no idea!  It's so close to being completed except for the hem stitching which I've never done before.  This was, I believe, the very first SAL project of my stitching guild.

I started block 10 of Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow.  The black box outline was already stitched, I do that before I put it away.  Everything else was stitched on its day of stitching which was a weekend day.  Closing in on the home stretch on this one too.

I'd call week 1 a success!  If I focused, I could realistically finish 3 of these before year end.  Will that happen?  Probably not.  That's ok though!  

I hope you're having a great week and that all your stitches are happy ones!