What We’re Working On

 Another great day was spent at our Prayers and Squares group yesterday. Last week and then again yesterday we had a new lady join us. That puts us up to 12 local ladies now. What a blessing it is to all of us. Both of the new ladies are in the very beginning stages of their quilt making journeys, so we have designed a quilt where they can learn basic techniques and then have a finished donation quilt at the end. They seem to be enjoying themselves.
 These are Angela’s blocks, so far. Three Rail Fence blocks and Three Double Four Patch. Next week we move on to making half square triangles. Pat finished a quilt top that she’s been working on for quite a while now. It is gorgeous. I think we are going to add it to our fund raising pile for the spring and summer. Susan has been working on a quilt for a young girl whose father is fighting a battle with cancer. She loves horses. Susan designed the quilt, forming the letter B, on her own, pieced it and quilted and bound it, all by herself. Not bad for a lady who said a few years ago that she would never be a quilter. Here at home I’ve been working on some Bear Paw blocks. I brought home some white fabrics yesterday to do the sashings. I’ll work on these some more this coming week, along with working on some quilting for another of next year’s fundraiser quilts, Capistrano by Judy Martin. I’ll do some more on this, perhaps get it finished, while my machine is still set up for free motion quilting. I’ll link up with finished, or not, Friday.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 It is well and truly November here, after a lovely start to the month that felt more like September. But, the temperatures have dropped, the clouds have moved in and the sun showing itself in the sky hasn’t happened for days now. It’s a good time to stay indoors, with all the lights on to drive out the dark, and slow stitch and sew and knit. My Woodpecker from The Year in the Woods series is almost finished. I have just a few stitches to put in the end of his wings and then I can finish off the surrounding trees. There are only 2 more animals in this series to do and it is finished. Then I’ll have to do something about ordering frames and getting them, as the cross stitch world says, fully finished. But for now, I’m still enjoying the process. I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

What We Are Working On

 It was another day yesterday at Prayers and Squares with lots accomplished, but not much that was picture worthy. Janet and Tammy are continuing with their quilt layering marathon. We had at least a dozen tops ready, perhaps more. I’ve lost count. We had such a prolific summer and fall making quilt tops. We now have a stack, also an unknown number, waiting to be quilted and another stack waiting to be bound. It is a wonderful ?problem? to have. I did get a picture of one of the quilt tops that were layered. They used the floral fabric in the large squares also on the back, with some light green added to make it big enough. Here at home I’ve been slowly working on a quilt that will be in our fundraising next summer. It is a Judy Martin design called Capistrano, from her book Stellar quilts. The piecing is intense, with lots of inset seams and is quite challenging, which I love. I fell in love with the design and had to make it. And that’s all I have for this week. I’ll link up to finished, or not, Friday.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m slowly making my way down the Woodpecker’s body doing the fill in colours, mostly two different shades of grey with some white added in for contrast. As is appropriate for slow stitching, it is going slowly. I was on a really good roll last evening, happily enjoying my stitching when we were suddenly, quite literally, in the dark. The power went out and stayed out for several hours. Counted cross stitch by flash light tends not to work very well, so that was the end of that. I had a book saved on my phone through one of my reading apps, so all was not totally lost. I can happily add in some more stitches today and perhaps get the Woodpecker finished. I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

What We’re Working On

 We had 2 new ladies come out to our Prayers and Squares group yesterday. If they continue to come out, that will make 10 of us meeting year round. What a wonderful gift! Tammy and Janet yesterday continued to layer quilts. Six more are now ready for quilting. I brought 2 of them home with me, both of them tops that I finished here at home. There is the EPP mystery and a Trip Around the World. I neglected to get a picture of the Trip quilt with its final borders. I’ll have to make sure to get a picture after it is finished. Tammy put together a scrappy quilt that we call triplets using some pre-cut 3 1/2 inch squares from our scrap bins. 

Barbara continues to work on our group sampler. It is almost finished. I’ll link up to finished, or not, Friday.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m moving along quite nicely now on my Woodpecker from the Year in the Woods series. I think I’m back in the groove for cross stitching again, which feels quite good. The outlining of the wings is almost done, as is the tail. Then I can go back and start filling it in. I have seen lots of people lately talking about the Pattern Keeper app for cross stitching. I’ve never closely investigated it because it wasn’t available for iPad and that is what I had. However, the battery in my iPad won’t hold a charge any more, and I’ve noticed that I can get an android device for the same price as it would cost to put a new battery into my more than 10 year old iPad. So I am closely considering doing that. I used to have my cross stitch patterns kept in a knitting app on my iPad which also worked well. These days I’m very low tech with the printed pattern, keeping track of the line I’m on with an index card held in place with paper clips. I think I’m ready for an upgrade.

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m happy to see that the trick of cross stitching is coming back. The Woodpecker is slowly growing. I’ll be moving onto his tail soon. I’ve learned that if I clip a file card under the line I’m working on it is much easier to both see and keep track of where I’m at. In other news, only slightly related to slow stitching, this is what we woke up to Saturday morning... snow on the ground. Thankfully it had melted by mid afternoon. It’s an indication that the time is coming when it is good to stay indoors where it is warm and dry and take the time to slowly stitch. That picture, by the way, is my very lovely view from my stitching chair. I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.