Slow Sunday Stitching

We were away for a week’s vacation so there was no post last week. We had a fabulous and restful week camping at the Pinery Provincial Park. In fact, it’s the best week we’ve had away in a long long time. It’s turned into somewhat of a running joke that the weather forecast is always.... the Shepherds are camping..... it’s raining and cold. But not this time. It quite reminded me about why it is that we go to all the work of packing up and setting up to go out into the quiet of the trees. I was beginning to wonder the last few times why we even bothered and whether it really was worth it. But this trip proved that yep..... it’s worth it. The day time temperatures were wonderful for being outside. The night time temperatures were perfect for sleeping under warm comfy quilts.
I managed to find a spot quite near our campsite with a lovely shaded bench where I could sit with my stitching and look out over the river. While there I was treated to the sight of a blue Heron flying by and some Canada geese and some hawks hunting and gliding. 
As you can see by what is on the bench, I’m still working on Friendship’s Chain. Less than 2 rows left now to sew up and then it is finished. I don’t know if I’ll make my goal of the end of this month though. There are some busy days and evenings ahead. I’m doing an afternoon English Paper Piecing class this Wednesday and then a full day English Paper Piecing workshop on Saturday. Then there are a few customer quilts to finish up in time for our guild’s quilt show a month from now. We are vending at that show, so there is stuff to get ready for that as well. All of that is seriously going to cut into my slow stitching time. But, I will continue to work on it as I can and get it done, slowly, one stitch at a time.
I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching before going back to do more stitching of my own.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Squirrel........

I’m in the process of chasing a squirrel. It’s a project that’s been in the back of my head for a while, and a couple of days ago it demanded to be let loose. At first it started as a mostly grey squirrel, but once it was partially assembled, I decided I didn’t like how dark it was turning out. Since there are potentially going to be a lot of these units, I don’t want the over all quilt to be that dark. So then it turned into a brown/beige squirrel and I think I like it much better.  Other than the very weird face in the hexagon. It’s supposed to be a rag doll, but it doesn’t quite come across like one.But they both have their down sides. If I use the greys, I’ll be limited in how many dark colours I can use, but there will be many more places to use lights and I could also use lots of brights. If I use the beige, I’ll be limited to mostly mediums and darks, but few lights. There’s a picture of where I am heading with this quilt here on the Quilter’s Cache. It’s a variation of the Jack’s Chain block. I’m going smaller with it and replacing the nine patches with a smaller square. But the layout will be the same.
So I’m looking for opinions here..... what would you do.... grey squirrel or beige?

I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

Sapphire Net is Finished

It’s done, finished, finally. Sapphire Net is a finished quilt. The blocks measure 12 inches finished. The entire thing, as shown, measures about 35 inches square.



Not only is the quilt finished, but the pattern is done too. Double added extra bonus for me so I can call it done and done. And the third done is that it’s been added to the website. Printed pattern or pdf pattern and the papers for it too, since it’s English Paper Pieced.  If you are interested, you can find them here Sapphire Net.
Amanda Jean, at Crazy Mom Quilts, took the summer off from her finish it Friday posts and I must say that I’ve missed them. It’s good to have her back. So, saying that, I’m going to link this finished to Finish it Friday.
After that, It’s time to get some work done on the long arm on a customer quilt that was supposed to be done by September...... whoops.......

Slow Sunday Stitching

It’s here again, Slow Sunday Stitching day, but there is always slow stitching happening in our household these days. I seem to be very hooked on the process. My poor old sewing machine hardly ever gets used any more. It must be feeling so sad and neglected. (insert sigh here).
In Kathy’s post today she encouraged us to show our stitching locations. Mine is nothing exciting, but is exceedingly comfortable and close to home. We have a lovely shady patio area right outside our door. I can hear traffic and air conditioners running in the distance, but mostly I hear the breeze in the trees and the sounds of birds and cicadas. No matter how hot it is, it is always at least 10-15 degrees cooler here in our little oasis. We are underneath a canopy of 4 large maple trees, 2 in our yard and 2 in neighbouring yards.

I’m still working on Friendship Chain.  Three more rows to go and it’s finished. So that’s my stitching for today, to continue working on this. I have all the fabrics chosen for the rest of it and I succeeded in my goal - completely from stash and scraps with no fabric repeats making it a true charm quilt.
I'm linking to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching before going back to stitching.