Slow Stitching

 I continue to do exclusively hand work these days. My sewing machines and most of my fabrics are all packed away waiting to be moved to wherever it is that we end up. The search for a house that is suitable for all of us for an affordable price up in the very expensive region of Muskoka continues. There was one that was really good for the inside area, but the outside was too small. Very small narrow driveway with no parking allowed on the street, so that one got nixed. I’m confident something will come up. In the meantime, I continue to do cross stitch projects that will get framed and hung on the walls of wherever we end up.

I finished part 5 of the Mandala Millefiori from Peppermint Purple. Part 6 will be released on Monday. It will go in the bottom right of the piece. 

I joined the Peppermint Purple Facebook page because there was talk of a year long sew along which I was curious about. Dangerous, I know. Well once I saw it, I had to join in. There is a new square or rectangle released every Wednesday. I spent yesterday doing the first 9. It is such an enjoyable process. Almost like instant gratification for stitchers. The are choices for different borders to go around the whole thing. I have one of them that I really like but I’ll wait for a while and get more of the squares done before I make a decision.

And then there is the wonderful Family Sampler from Victoria Samplers. It is such a fun and challenging project to do. Every row has new and different stitches. I have a hard time putting it down. Here’s this week’s progress. And a picture of the whole thing so far. I had to set it aside for a bit while I did some thinking. The next row of text on the pattern shows the names of the families, so it would be my maiden name and my married name. However, I don’t have fond memories at all of my childhood, so I don’t particularly want that name front and centre all the time. Plus I wanted it to be a bit more generic for if it eventually gets passed down to other family members. So instead I did some searching in the scriptures for a verse that speaks to family and the Lord’s blessings. I found a perfect reflection of that in Psalm 103:17-18. So that scripture reference is going to go in the place of the names. This is so close to being finished. I will work on it today.

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

Slow Stitching

 I’m continuing the rotation of projects. I must confess that I really enjoy doing my projects this way. Each one gets its assigned day and none get left behind. I finished this month’s blocks for Noah’s Journey. Finishing that means I get more time to work on my Mandala Millefiori and more excitingly, my Family Sampler. 

Here are the sheep and the goats from this month’s Noah’s Journey.

The Millefiori Mandala step 5 is up in the top left corner of the finished design. I worked on it a bit last night after my eyes started going all wonky. And here is the Family Sampler.

 I worked on it quite a bit yesterday until I finally had to stop due to the previously mentioned wonky eyes. I’m working on another pulled thread section and looking back and forth between the fabric and the stitching instruction diagrams were the cause of those wonky eyes. The pulled thread section is at the bottom of this picture. I have to say that before I did this piece I had never done pulled thread work before. There are some really good youtube videos put out by the Victoria Sampler ladies which were a huge help in doing this. This is currently section 18 out of 29.  Not bad considering I started this at the beginning of February. 

I’m going to post this and link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.Then it will be time for lunch and more stitching. I suspect having fresh eyes and daylight will help with finishing that section of pulled thread work. 

Slow Stitching All Week Long

 I’m back to rotating my projects again and it continues to work well. I have two more circles done on the Millefiori Mandala. I’m really enjoying seeing the different designs and details form inside each circle. I’d never done anything quite like it before, which was the original attraction of this piece.

I’m working on the goats for Noah’s Journey. It’s fun that one of the goats has spots that are heart shaped.

My favourite project though, is this Family Sampler. I am loving every minute and every stitch. I’m learning so many new stitches in it. That makes it fun and challenging to do and not a bit boring. I’m sad when the end of the day comes and I have to set it aside. But I’m determined to not let anything turn into a UFO and sit unfinished so I will continue to rotate through them. 

I’m going to link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then get to my own stitching. Today is the family sampler day. I’m looking forward to seeing how much further I can get on it. The next section is #9 out of 29. Yes I freely and willingly admit to being insane.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’ve worked almost exclusively on cross stitch and embroidery this past week. I have four projects going now, one embroidery and three cross stitch. It’s a good thing I never committed to only doing one at a time because I would have broken that commitment by now. But I know myself well enough not to say that sort of thing.

The seventh release of Noah’s Journey came out at the beginning of the week. So I got it traced out and coloured. This is a two block section. I have one of them almost finished. I just have to do the flowers and leaves on the top of the sheep’s head.

I’ve also made progress on the Millefiori Mandala cross stitch project. I’m keeping up with this, so far. Part 4 was released a week ago and I am part way through that.

The Victoria Sampler Facebook group is doing a monthly sampler type thing. A small portion of the monthly design is released weekly on Fridays for the first 3 weeks of each month. I finished February’s yesterday.

And then there is the new project, also from Victoria Sampler. One of our slow stitchers is also working on this and when I saw the picture of hers I sort of fell in love. It is a challenge to do. Lots of new stitches and also lots of different type threads from what I’ve used before. But I am loving doing it. There are nine little tiny birds in the tree. They are done with a single strand of silk thread over a single thread of fabric. I have never done anything that delicate before. I have one more bird left to do before I can move on to the next element. I am finding the instructions with this sampler very good and am planning on doing it step by step as it is presented in the instructions. 

And now for our big news that has been going on in our lives. We live with our daughter and son-in-law in a granny flat type apartment. Our son-in-law started a new job in January. The job is in the Muskoka region of Ontario. So we are all going to be moving. The house we are in now sold this past week, so there is a new adventure in our future. It’s very exciting, especially since we all love that area of our province. They are now on the search for a new home for all of us up there. 

I’m going to link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Stitching

 This week has seen the finish of a couple of my projects. Block 6 for Noah’s Journey is done. 

Block 7 doesn’t come out for a couple of weeks yet.

The knitting on The Night Forest sweater is done. 

I have to weave in all the ends yet though. Here’s a close up of the top colour work and the bottom colour work. 

I did start a new knitting project. It’s a shawl using double knit weight yarn called Gravity Shawl. There isn’t a whole lot done on it yet.

And then there is the Millefiori Mandala. It’s a stitch along type design that has sections released every 2 weeks. So this one will be going until March. This close up section is part 2. 

I am still enjoying rotating through different projects on different days so I think I will continue with this. I need to get something going for the days that were assigned to Noah’s Journey now that it is done until the next month. I have a few ideas involving new cross stitch designs. I picked up some 28 count fabrics from our local stitchery shop yesterday. Now to figure out how and what to do. They are awfully tiny.......

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

Slow Stitching

 I continue to work on my 3 hand projects, alternating them per day. I am enjoying doing this. I can make good progress each day per project. None get neglected and I don’t get tired of just working on one thing at a time. 

First off is Noah’s Journey. This month it is ostriches and armadillos and peacocks. The ostriches are done and the armadillos are started. I love the little touches like the bows in this design.

Next up is my sweater. One sleeve is finished and the second has 2 or 3 inches done. There was supposed to be colour work on the sleeve down near the cuff. I had started the colour work but I didn’t like the way it looked so I ripped it out and did just plain.

And last is the Millefiori Mandala. It is much slower going than the other 2 projects, but I am enjoying the process. It is so different from anything else I have done in the last few years which I think is part of why it is so enjoyable. This is today’s project. So I will link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching, check out the other Slow stitchers and do some cross stitch. We may get out a little later this afternoon for a walk, just to get out of the house for a bit.

Slow Stitching All Week Long

 I mentioned last week that I had set myself up a rotation for working on my 3 hand stitching projects. It seems to be working well so far. I have made good progress on all three projects. First is the Noah’s Journey block. It is so close to being finished. But I ran out of one of the floss colours for the pink hippo, so I had to order more. That will likely take a week or so to get here. I can finish off the birds in the meantime when it comes up for its turn tomorrow. And the next block is out, so I can get it started as well.

Then there is the cross stitch sampler. Two of the Mandalas are done. And I started the third, but I have discovered that I have the wrong colour going in those little circles, so I need to take those out and get the right colour in.

And then there is the sweater. I have finished the body and gotten a good start on one of the sleeves. Today is the sweater’s turn, so I hope to get a few more inches done on it this evening. I will link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching in the morning.

Slow Stitching Sunday

Here it is, a brand new year and the first Sunday of that brand new year. I really hope this is a better one than last year. I hope we can get to the point where we can be out and about with people more. And for an introverted home body like me to say that, it is a sure sign that we’ve been isolated in our homes for way too long! Once more I am so grateful for our multi generational home where we can spend time with family here in our household. I am daily conscious of the blessing that is when so many people are alone and isolated now. 

I spent considerable time on New Year’s day on the Ontario Parks web site, looking at camp sites, dreaming of warm weather get aways that we completely missed last year. The place where we store our trailer phoned us back in October wanting to know if we wanted them to winterize our trailer. I told them there was no need. It hadn’t been out since the summer before so it was still winterized from the year before. I really do hope we can get out this year.

In the meantime, while we continue to isolate, we who are slow stitchers have plenty to occupy us. I have 3 projects on the go right now and I have set myself a loose schedule for working on them, spending one day each and rotating through them. 

First is block 5 of Noah’s Journey. I have the moose almost finished. There are still the rhino’s to do.

Next is my Millefiori Mandalas. I’ve made a lot of progress on it this week. This project was my New Year’s present to myself that I started before the New year started. 

And last is my The Night Forest sweater which is also making good progress. I have 9 rounds left of the bottom colour work. After that it’s the bottom ribbing and I can move onto the sleeves. This is today’s project and I hope to make a lot of progress on it. I bought a couple of new audio books so I can stitch and listen to a new book at the same time. 

Kathy was asking in her post whether we had plans or goals for our New Year stitching. At first I thought that I didn’t really have any firm plans, but then I realized that I actually do. Both Noah’s Journey and the Millefiori Mandala are stitch along type patterns that are released at regular intervals. So I guess my goal would be to keep up with them and finish each step before the next is released. However that isn’t necessarily realistic since the next block for Noah’s Journey will be out in the next few days and I have quite a way to go on the current one before it is done. But that’s OK, since this is supposed to be enjoyable and I don’t want to be doing the pressure on myself to get stuff done thing. So I’ll see how it goes. 

I’m going to link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then get a refill for my coffee.

Slow Stitching

 I have finished all the knitting I wanted to get done for Christmas and they were gifted Christmas morning. The last stitches were put into Becca’s mittens at 10:30 pm Christmas Eve. Nothing like finishing at the last minute. She loved them.

So I’m back now to my regular knitting and stitching with a new addition. Gail, aka the Cozy Quilter, was showing me some of the embroidery her daughter has been doing and also Gail has a new cross stitch pattern from the shop Peppermint Purple. I decided to go have a look. Oh dear..... that was a mistake which has led to the addition of a new stitchery project. I picked the Mandala Millefiori Stitch Along. I went to the store Stitch It Central here in the city on Tuesday and picked up the supplies I needed for it. I got a very small start on it a couple of nights ago. I used to do cross stitch all  the time, before quilting took over my life. I’m slowly getting into other things besides quilting lately. I did a little bit on my Noah’s Journey, block 5 as well. The bunnies are done except for their eyes and noses and some of the grass is done as well. There is still quite a way to go on this one. And then there is my The Night Forest sweater. I’m well into the colour work around the bottom, so this shouldn’t take much longer to get the body done and then start on the sleeves. With our province being back in lock down until the end of January, there will be lots of time to get lots of hand work done.

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