Farewell Faithful Friend

Today we said goodbye to our Josie. We adopted her when she was seven and enjoyed five and a half wonderful years with her. She was sweet, gentle, and so well-behaved. It was her time to go and she will forever be missed.

Anticipation...is making me wait.

I’m anxiously looking forward to opening this box. Stitchville Spring Fling was originally scheduled in April, but Covid had other plans.

We will be having our Spring Fling retreat this weekend via Zoom. Linda Stolz is the designer and the event starts tomorrow night.

We normally would have gathered at the hotel tonight for a little pre-retreat fun.

I am missing all my retreat buddies tonight. Thinking of you.

Almost Finished

First, let me answer a couple of questions...

Khristine...the designer is Hands on Design. The pattern name is Well-Rounded, Perennial Pinwheels.

Robin - no ice cream at the creamery; it has been turned into a quilt shop and woolen mill!

It rained all day today. Perfect day to keep working on my finishing. I was able to finish the fronts and then stitched the fronts to the backs. Tomorrow, I will add the trims and the pins.  Second picture shows the finishing fabrics I used on the back.

This project has been a lot of fun!

Pinwheel Backs are Ready

My pinwheel backs are ready. Tomorrow I will work on the fronts.

Took a little field trip today.

Ready for Finishing!

All twelve pinwheels are finished! Ready for finishing.

I made a quick pitstop at a quilt store yesterday to pick up some fabrics for finishing. They were selling some of their models. These two had to come home with me!

Love these colors and fabrics.

Isn’t the backside cute?

And this tablerunner was a steal!

On vacation this week! It’s wonderful!

Summer is Done

Summer, Autumn and Winter!

One more pinwheel left to stitch!

Autumn and Winter

I’m on the final lap. Two of the last four pinwheels are done. Two more to go - Spring and Summer.

Here are Winter (left) and Autumn (right).

Glad the weekend is here.

When You Don’t Have Time to Stitch...

Yes, it’s been a challenging week. When you don’t have time to stitch, support other needleworkers!

I purchased this lovely armchair needleroll/needleminder from a stitcher and quilter that I follow on Instagram. It’s beautifully quilted, the fabrics are lovely, and it came with a pretty strawberry pincushion! There are pockets on both ends to hold my scissors, a ruler, and any other supplies I want to keep close at hand.

Look at these goodies from Under the Woolen Willow on Etsy. I snagged one of her tomato pincushions and one of her chenille strawberries. So cute!

All of these things just make me smile!

Low on Gas This Week

Well, how quickly things can change! I didn’t have much stitching time this week. I was only able to finish one of the remaining four pinwheels. Here is the winter pinwheel.

Earlier this year, Belinda from Blue Ribbon Designs did some finishing for me. She finished all three of these project bags from Brenda Gervais. She did an amazing job.

Belinda also finished the pocket of this design from Hands on Designs. I had stitched it last year, but couldn’t bring myself to sew the pocket together. I did finish the pincushion though (I don’t mind hand finishing.). Belinda did an amazing job on this project too.

That’s all I’ve got for today! Thank you for your kind comments!

Cooking With Gas

My Auntie Theresa was a character. She had certain phrases she would say that I think of every now and then. “Cooking with gas” was one of those things she used to say.

I guess you could say I’ve been “cooking with gas.” I now have all four of the medium sized pinwheels stitched.

Eight done and four more to go!

Pardon the Wrinkles

It’s been a relatively good stitching week. I have two more pinwheels stitched. Six down, six to go!

Winter Wishes and Autumn Fields.

Have a great weekend!

Perennial Pinwheels Part 2

The Spring pinwheel is finished. Tonight I will move on to the medium sized pinwheels.

My friends who regularly stitch with me know that I have issues with linen. I have been known to switch up my linen after stitching a significant portion of a design. I abandon what I have already started and I start over. They just shake their heads at me. So, with that in mind, see if you can follow my story.

I decided that I would like to stitch Teresa Kogut’s Land That I Love. The called for linen is Weeks’ Tin Roof. The finished size is 16.5 x 16 5/8 inches. I stitch in hand, but I still like to have a two inch border to be safe (and comfortable).

When I purchased my pattern and threads at Stitchville, the largest piece of Tin Roof on hand was 19 by 26.5.  That number 19 made me a little nervous, so I decided to search for other options.

I checked my stash first. I have a fat half of Lakeside Vintage Cedar Plank that I was planning to use for Samplers Not Forgotten’s English Garden. A fat half might be enough for both projects though.

Then I happened to watch Flosstube and one of the Portland flosstubers commented that Jeannine at Acorn and Threads had Tin Roof in stock. Well, I didn’t call right away, but when I did I had a nice visit with Jeannine. She didn’t have enough Tin Roof, but she suggested Confederate Grey and fixed me up with a Portland cut (fat half). As long as I had her on the phone and because no linen can travel alone, I also got a piece of Lakeside Vintage Tundra from her...and perhaps a few other things...

So now that the linen has arrived, it is time to decide between Confederate Grey and Vintage Cedar Plank. It was an easy decision, Confederate Grey won hands down.

But then last night, I watched Kindred Stitcher on Flosstube and she showed her progress on English Garden and shared that she is stitching it on Lakeside Vintage Tundra. It was really stunning. Now I have another decision to make! Do I stitch English Garden on Vintage Tundra or Vintage Cedar Plank? Oh, and did I mention that the linen called for in the pattern for English Garden is Tin Roof?

Stitching is hard.

From left to right: Tin Roof, Vintage Cedar Plank, Confederate Grey, Vintage Tundra

Perennial Pinwheels

This week, I continued to plug away on the large “Summer” design from Hands on Designs’ Perennial Pinwheels. Summer, Fall, and Winter are now finished in the larger sized design. There is also a medium and small sized design that I still need to stitch for each season. So, three down and nine to go! 

They stitch up quickly though. I love the linen colors and the thread colors Cathy selected; they really pop on the linen. I should have Spring all stitched up by Sunday night and then I’ll move on to the medium-sized designs.

Look at this sweet finish that I received in the mail this week. About three years ago at our guild’s Annual Meeting, several finished pieces were offered as door prizes. A member of the guild had stitched the items. I selected a beautifully stitched band sampler.

Recently, I’ve been cleaning through my stitching things, trying to organize better, and I came across the sampler. What to do with it? I didn’t really want to frame it - not quite my style. I didn’t want to stick it back in a drawer either. Then all of a sudden the light bulb went on. I decided to reach out to Faye Riggsbee. I had seen a Huswif that she finished recently for another stitcher and thought maybe she could do something similar.

I sent the piece off to Faye and she worked her magic. This week, the finished piece came back to me and it is beautiful! Faye created the most gorgeous Huswif using a beautiful lining fabric from French General that coordinates with the design. There are two pockets for scissors and/or threads and a needle page that is embellished with a sweet little bow and some buttons.

 

I am tickled pink with Faye’s finish. 

Hope you are doing well and staying safe. Please wear a mask. We need to do all we can to stop the spread of this horrible virus. Stay home and stitch!

Poor Neglected Blog

Poor neglected blog...yes, this was the subject line of a recent email that I received from the Mad Tatter. I visited her twice this weekend and both times she told me that she had checked for an update and was disappointed that there was no update. So here we go!

The past two months have been busy. I’m working from home and find that I spend even more hours working than I did when I went into the office everyday. Doesn’t leave much time for stitching. I took pictures today of the projects I have been working on though and was surprised at how much I’ve actually done.

Around the Memorial Day weekend I got the patriotic stitching bug. I started Summer Jubilee by Blackbird Designs. I’m stitching on 36 ct 18th Century Blackbird and I don’t mind the dark linen at all. The linen color in the first photo is more accurate.

Squirrel...sometime in June I got distracted and started another patriotic piece. This one is from Plum Street Samplers...A New Constellation. Using all the called for linen and threads. Love stitching this one.

Another squirrel...I was looking for something that would be easy to stitch on while visiting with my mom, so I started this Blackbird Designs piece after seeing Abibellastitch (flosstuber) stitching it on this Weeks Straw checked linen. Loved it so much I couldn’t stop.

Revisited patriotic stitching by pulling out Star Spangled Spectacular from Brenda Gervais. I’m not a big fan of over one stitching, so I stitched mine over two on 40 ct Vintage Pearled Barley.

Squirrel again...some of the flosstubers were going to start Flag Folk on the 4th of July. I just happened to have it in my stash; I had purchased the Country Sampler conversion on 36 ct. Picture This Plus Murky. Just a small start...

This past week, I have been working on the Perennial Pinwheels from Hands on Design. I will be meeting up with a friend in August who has hers all stitched and we are planning to finish them together. These two are almost finished. Ten more to go. :)

Now you are all caught up!  And you have this lady to thank (included are some pictures of her recent tatting!)

True Confessions

Hope you are having a nice Memorial Day weekend. The weekend has gone by fast! Hopefully the upcoming shorter work week will also go by fast - right?

I’ve been busy stitching over the past several weeks; working on what I would call “comfort stitching”. One of my projects kind of went awry though.

I purchased this kit at Keepsakes during Stitch Con last summer. It is a Heart in Hand design that was created specifically for Keepsakes. The linen was from Picture this Plus, 32 ct Sand and the fibers were from Colour and Cotton. I was having a delightful time stitching it until I got to the red and white checkerboard on the chicken. It was at that moment that I realized I had made a counting error. Reverse stitching the black thread for that chicken was not an option. I added another row of red and white on the left side of the chicken (look close and you will see it). I ended up putting it in timeout. After two or three weeks, I decided I couldn’t live with it and started it again. This time on 40ct Vintage Country Mocha. It’s finished now and I’m happy with it.

Yesterday, I switched out my stitching that’s displayed in our living room. Brought out the patriotic stitches. Didn’t think I would have much to display, but I had more than I thought!

I also took time to finish a couple of smalls; nothing fancy, just a simple pillow finish. I think my collection of patriotic smalls looks great. It makes me smile.

That’s it for today. Be well. Stay safe.

And then there was stitching...

Quick post to share some of the things I have been working on since my last post. Most days I am grateful for time to stitch and updating this old blog is not a priority. I know that there are still a quite a few of you who like to peruse the blogs though and I also need to keep the Mad Tatter happy!

Last month I finished up this wool pouch. It was a class piece at Needlework Galleria last fall with Summer House Stitche Workes. It was a fun project!  It’s called Pumpkin Patch Pouch.  Love the fall colors!

Also from Needlework Galleria, this little make and take kit from Hands on Design. The inside was all pre-assembled and ready - all I had to do was cross stitch the outside, then sew the two together. It turned out okay. I always struggle making those corners look good. It’s called “With this needle, I thee thread”!

Two weekends ago, I finished up another block on the Village of Hawk Run Hollow.  Six down and six to go.  Those blocks are solid and very deceiving - they take much more time to stitch than you would expect.

I have one more finish to share but I’ll save it for another post. Let me leave you with a snap of the pretty flowers I received from my daughter on Mother’s Day.