Slow Sunday Stitching

 It’s the first Sunday of the new year.... how did that happen so fast? Do you make new year resolutions? I don’t because I know I am terrible at keeping them. I like the word goals better since it is a more nebulous something to aim at rather than a resolution to keep. With that in mind, I have some goals I’d like to aim for. I want to keep up with my slow stitching, of course. But I seem to have gotten stuck on cross stitch, which isn’t a bad thing, but some of my other embroidery projects have gotten left behind. So I would like to get back to it, especially the Noah’s Journey embroidery. I have all the remaining blocks traced out and coloured in. They just need to be stitched. I’m not sure How I’m going to organize that goal, but I do want to get back to it. Maybe the first half of a month on one project and the last half on another. Or maybe every other week. Or maybe set the goal of finishing a section and then moving to something else. 

I have been making really good progress on my cross stitch Quilters Bee piece which I picked up again after Christmas. We had 6 days of on again, off again power loss due to the 4 feet of snow we received over the Christmas weekend. So I had lots of time during the day light hours to stitch. Most of the quilt blocks in the large quilt area now have their outlines done. And I’ve started the baskets in the corner blocks. They’re tricky and involved multiple rip outs before I got them right. I think I should finish the outlines of these blocks and do the other 2 baskets while I still remember how to do them. There... that’s my first goal set. Then I’ll move to the Noah’s Journey block. 

I started a new knitting project. I needed something simple to do during the dark evenings during the power outage with only a small lantern flashlight for light. I’m using up leftovers from socks for this scarf. It’s knit in the round so I only have to tie off the ends of yarn in the middle without having to neatly weave them in since they won’t show. I’ve also started a new pair of socks, but there isn’t enough done on them to take a picture. 

The other goal I would like to aim for is to post on the blog more often about other things I am doing. I am getting more quilting done these days, but for some reason don’t seem to get around to posting about it. And since this blog is titled Eagles Wings Quilts and all I seem to post about lately is knitting or cross stitching, I would like to fix that. There seems to be more incentive to post if there is a linky party to hook up to. So I’m going to investigate that and see if I can find one, mid week perhaps, and see if that will help with consistency. 

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 You may remember from last Sunday that my sock knitting hit a snag where the tension wasn’t right and I had to rip out an entire sock. I started with this last Sunday.

My knitting fingers have been flying and I am now here. I am on track to have these done in time. All other slow stitching is on hold until after these are done. 

I’m linking to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’ve been going quite well on a pair of socks all week. And all week something about them has been saying to me that something isn’t quite right. It’s a new to me yarn and I think it must be just slightly thicker than my usual sock yarns. I got to the decrease on the toes and realized that it was a very large sock that  used up way more than half of the ball of yarn. So my week of slow stitching has resulted in this. I’ve found a set of smaller double pointed needles and will start over. It’s a good thing I have the basic sock pattern memorized and can do them quickly since these are supposed to be a Christmas gift. All other hand work has been put on hold until these are done. 

I’m going to link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching, and then cast on take 2 on these socks.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m continuing to make good progress on my Quilting Bee cross stitch sampler. The flowers on three sides are done now. After I finish the last side I have to go back and put beads into the centre of each flower and then I can move on to the next border in this cross stitched quilt. Have I already mentioned how much I’m enjoying this piece? Of course I have..... sorry for the repetition. I suspect progress on this will be slowing for the next while. There are Christmas gifts to finish and at some point I will need to do a little baking, For sure there will be some ginger bread men done with our delightful grand daughter’s help. I’d also like to do some mincemeat tarts and maybe some shortbread. I’ll have to canvas the family opinion to see what everyone would like. 

I’m linking to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

Slow Sunday Stitching

 When I left all of you last week I was getting ready to start on the stitching  for the large quilt on my Quilting Bee cross stitch sampler. I’m quite surprised at the progress I’ve made. One of the things I love about the Victoria Sampler designs is their wonderful detailed instructions. For this section they say to work from the outside of the quilt to the middle. So I started that. All of the outer blanket stitches are done and also the stems of the vines are finished. I have to add in some lazy daisy leaves and some flowers to that particular border and then move in to the next. All of the quilt blocks in the centre are little mini samplers all on their own. I love doing this type of embroidery. Most of the designs from Victoria Samplers that I’ve purchased in the past have also come with what they used to call Acc Packs, where they provided all  the threads and beads necessary to complete the designs. Unfortunately they no longer do this, so I’m coming up with my own colours. I have lots of threads left over from previous projects, so I’m using some of those for this. I need to dig in my bin and find some silk for the leaves. I started out using DMC floss, but I think I like the silks better. They stitch up so much smoother with much less drag and tangling when doing the stitching.

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’ve gotten the top section of my Quilters’ Bee Sampler completely finished. All the beads are added and the threads and needles in the quilters’ hand are done. I can now move my hoop and start in on the large quilt section under them. To give a reminder, the sampler I am doing is available at Victoria Samplers here.They have scaled back their services and no longer offer printed patterns, but all their designs are still available through PDF purchases.

I’ve made progress on my grey/blue sock too. I’m at the point of starting the heel for the second sock.

Most of the snow that was forecast to hit us over the last few days missed us, thankfully. I suspect there is about 4 inches of it out there. or at the most 6 inches. Enough to make it look pretty and clean without causing too much of a problem. Also thankfully, we have a son-in-law with a snow blower to do out the drive way which is long and on a slope, not a safe thing for old bones to be doing.

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

Slow Sunday Stitching.

 My Quilting Bee cross stitch was in time out for a couple of weeks. I’d gotten to the 1 thread of floss over 1 thread of fabric section for the lettering and I was finding it difficult to see and I didn’t have enough patience for it. So it got put away, That seems to have passed and I’ve picked it back up again and made good progress on it. Not only is the lettering done, but so are the quilt blocks and I’ve started on the floral border of the quilt. I still have to do the threads in the quilters’ hands and some beads around the floral arbour which will finish this section. 

In the meantime I continue with knitting mindless hand occupying socks. I have more than enough bright eye catching pairs of socks, so I’ve gone over to more muted shades of grey this time. It seemed to suit my mood somehow.Once these are done I’ll likely go diving into my box of stash yarns and find some more bright ones.

I’m linking to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching