Slow Sunday Stitching

 My Love Is Patient Sampler is getting close to the finish line. I’m ready to start section 29. After that comes the last section consisting of cut work which is challenging but fun. Before I can declare it done though, I have to add all the beads. I decided on this one to do the beading all at the same time at the end. The beads are tiny and fiddly and are difficult to get out of their little bag and then back into it again without losing some of them. This way I can put them all into a bowl and go fishing for them all at once. Plus the beads make it difficult to place the hoop. I also have to place our anniversary date into the box.

I’m looking forward to finishing this one so I can move onto the next. I have the threads for 3 more of the Victoria Samplers here waiting to start.

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

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Slow Sunday Stitching

 Cross stitch continues to be my focus. I truly think it is helping to keep my sanity. The news around us is getting worse and worse and our provincial government is doing nothing substantive to mitigate it. I’m not a political person and won’t get into it here. But I will say that I am getting more and more discouraged and angry, like many others. The good news is, I have an appointment for a first vaccine dose on Tuesday. I have no idea at this point on how the second dose will work. The appointments are supposed to be booked at the same place. But by the time my second dose is due we will be living 4 hours drive away. I’m hoping it will be possible to transfer the dose to another location. I called the pharmacy and they seemed to think that would be possible. But I’m not willing at this point to put the first dose off for another 5 weeks until after we move. So, in the meantime I stitch to keep both my hands and my brain distracted and occupied.

I’ve made really good progress on the Love Is Patient Sampler from Victoria Samplers.

 I’m up to section 19 out of a total of 30. I’m not sure yet what I am putting into the box. I may leave it as is, or I may put our anniversary date into it. 

I’ve also almost finished the third instalment of the April stitchery. This is also from Victoria Sampler and is free through their facebook page. The green stems at the top of the piece need their flowers added and then there are some boxy type stitches that go under them yet to do. I may finish this up this afternoon and then get back to my sampler. 

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

Slow Stitching All week long

 I continue my obsession with cross stitch. It is helping to keep me sane during this very crazy season of life. This whole past year has been nuts, I’m sure everyone thinks and feels that. Add in the whole moving thing to that and it has been rather stressful. We now know where we are going though. Matt and Becca have bought a house suitable for all of us. But the distance and the Covid lockdowns mean that Matt is the only one who has actually seen it in person. We were hoping to get up there to see it when he does a walk through, but that isn’t going to happen now. We have seen pictures of our apartment area, but it is so difficult to tell exactly how things will work in it from the pictures. We do know that we have to get rid of some of our big bulky furniture. And we can now begin to pack more stuff away. From the pictures we’ve seen it is a gorgeous house, about 10 minutes outside of town on 18 areas of land, most of which is forested. The land backs onto Crown land, so it is highly unlikely that anything will ever be built behind it. I am looking forward to the next phase of our lives. 

Meanwhile, the stitching continues. I have finished the Canada Sampler. It is from the Victoria Sampler people. I can’t remember on whose blog I first saw the family sampler, but I am so glad she shared it. I love all of Thea’s designs. I have started another one, this time the Love Is Sampler. This one is going to take a bit of time since all the vines at the top of the piece are stitched using one thread of embroidery silk over one thread of the fabric. It’s a good thing I have magnifying glasses. I have 2 more of these samplers kitted up and ready to stitch as well, but I’m trying very hard to get one done before starting another of these big projects. 

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

Slow Stitching

 I am so enjoying this slow stitching time. I continue to have 3 projects going. They aren’t in constant rotation since 2 of the projects are stitch along style where a small portion of the design is given weekly. The majority of my time is going into the Oh Canada Sampler designed by Victoria Samplers. I’ve made good progress on it this past week, although the satin stitch stars gave me some headaches and had to be ripped out numerous times before I got the spacing correct. Now that it is figured out the stars are going quickly. This piece just might be done by this time next week. The stars are row 13 out of 15. I have two more samplers here with fabrics and threads ready to start once this one is finished. 

My second project is also from the Victoria Sampler folks. It’s a free stitch along for a monthly calendar representation. A section of each monthly design is released weekly on Fridays.

And then there is a weekly stitch along put out by the Peppermint Purple website. Each week presents a new square or rectangle with blackwork geometric designs. These are released every Wednesday. I haven’t done this week’s yet. They are relatively quick and easy to do.

I picked up the frames for my finished pieces yesterday. I watched a youtube video on how to lace the finished stitcheries in order to get them stretched and centred onto the backing boards. Now all I need is to get the loose threads trimmed from the backs and I can get started on that. I have to finish the beading on the Family sampler before I can frame it though. Maybe I should get those beads sewn on today. Then when the the mood and the courage strike, I can get it framed.

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

Slow Stitching all week long

 My machine sewing supplies continue to be all packed away waiting for the move that is happening in the next couple of months. So in the meantime, I slow stitch by hand. And that is a good thing because it is soothing and relaxing. It just might get warm enough today to actually take my stitching outside into the sun..... I hope.

I have finished the Victoria Samplers Family Sampler. We went and picked out frames for it last week. I’m hoping they will be in this week and then I can get it stretched and framed so it can count as fully finished. Here’s a close up showing the finished pulled thread work at the bottom. I have never done anything like this before, so it was a bit of a challenge. But I like learning new things so it was fun too.

I’ve done some more work on the monthly sampler that Victoria Sampler is doing. The fourth part for March was released on Friday and I’m hoping to get that done today.

And then because I’ve had a couple of finishes in the past couple of weeks, I treated myself to a new start. This is also from the Victoria Sampler people. Considering I started this last Wednesday, it is going quickly. It a piece celebrating Canada. 

It has the cutest goose in the row I’m currently doing. This is row 7 out of 15 so almost halfway done this one. I am hoping that in our new place I will have a wall somewhere dedicated to this kind of needle work. 

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

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.