Slow Sunday Stitching

 My reindeer now is on its way to having two full sets of legs, as most self respecting reindeers would agree is absolutely necessary. Maybe by next week the legs will be done, or at least the front hind leg. 

I still love it and enjoy working on it, which is a good thing. I’d hate to lose interest and end up having a cross stitch UFO pile start to add up. It’s bad enough having quilters attention deficit disorder without adding cross stitching to it.

Nothing much else to say at the moment, so I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and call this post done.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 My Reindeer is growing. He sprouted a full set of front legs this past week and his mid section is coming along nicely. 

I suspect there is a counting error in his mid section on the right hand side somewhere, but rather than rip it out I am going to try stitching over the mistakes with the correct colour. I think the correct one will be darker so I’m hoping in the overall scheme of things that the mistake won’t show. I’ll call it a design and shading choice if it does. I’ll know one way or the other by this time next week. 

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching tomorrow.

What We’re Working On

 Last week at Prayers and Squares we finished a couple of quilts and their backings and got them layered. I brought them home and they are now both quilted too. I haven’t got pictures of them quilted. They both still need bindings applied. That task will be done by another of the ladies. Both of the finishes are of the outdoor theme variety. The one with the birds already has a recipient in mind. The log cabin /woodland animals might end up as a fundraiser. We’ll have to decide about that later.

I’ll link up to Mid Week Makers

Slow Sunday Stitching

 This reindeer is such a pleasure to stitch. I’m so glad I gave in to the impulse and ordered the patterns and thread and fabrics. It’s going fairly quickly too, for a slow project that is. I like being able to see progress from one week to the next. And the new magnifying glasses are helping, both with seeing the stitches and with seeing the chart, a double bonus. I also have the chart available in a knitting app on my iPad where I can zoom in on the chart and see it better. Since it’s a paper chart rather than a download, I had to scan it into my computer, but that was an easy task. And it also acts as a backup should the unthinkable happen and I lose the chart. I’m thinking maybe I might start on the tree, just to have a bit of a break from all the browns. It will be easier counting too for a bit.

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then I’ll decide what to stitch next.

What We’re Working On

 It’s been a while since I did an update post for our Prayers and Squares group. We hadn’t had any finishes and I hadn’t managed to get any photos. But that has changed a bit. We are into our fund raising season and we have 2 quilts that are finished and have raffle tickets on them. First is a Toronto Maple Leafs quilt. And second is a scrappy triangle sampler quilt. 

Janet finished off the hexagon stars. The hexagons were donated to us. There were enough to do about 2/3 of the quilt and then we raided our stashes to find fabrics that complemented those that we already had. And lastly there is a log cabin quilt with some woodland animals in it. This is the fourth quilt that this fabric has shown up in. This one finishes that particular fabric.

I’ll link up to Mid Week Makers

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m not sure how much stitching I’ll get done today. We are puppy sitting for the weekend.

She is a very cute and very active 8 month old cocker spaniel poodle mix, which means stitching quietly probably won’t happen unless she is sleeping, something she doesn’t seem to do a lot of. She loves cuddles and lap surfing and she wants to say hello to everyone. But I have made good progress on my reindeer up until this point this week. And I did order the increased magnification glasses which helps considerably when working on this project. I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

Slow Sunday Stitching.

 I’m starting to be able to see the smaller thread count easier so the stitching on my Reindeer is going a bit easier. I think the bigger magnification glasses would help, so I am going to order some. In the meantime, the reindeer’s antlers and head are done and I’ve started on his neck. I haven’t much else to say today. It’s been so wet and stormy lately that there hasn’t been opportunities to do anything other than stay indoors and sew and stitch.  I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then do some more stitching. 

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I did it!! I finished my cross stitched hymn before starting the next one! Here’s a picture of the finish. It obviously still needs framing, but that can wait until I can afford it. And the very next thing I did after finishing this was to get out the new linen and start a grid on it. Not an easy process because it is 36 count linen. It takes a while for the eyes to adjust to the small thread count and my 4x magnifying reading glasses are an essential part to doing this. I might even break down and order some 5x magnifiers. I’ll wait and see a bit longer since my eyes are starting to get used to seeing the pairs of threads. I’m using the called for linen which is Picture This Plus in the colour Mirage. I’m also using the called for colours. This is part of a set of three that will be stitched side by side. The series is called "A Year In The Woods”. I am hoping to do all 12 of the designs eventually. I’ve ordered all of the patterns, thinking that by the time I get to doing all of them they might be out of print. This way I will have them all and then will only need to order the linen and threads for each set of 3. That’s the plan, at least. The animals on each of the patterns are so much fun and so whimsical. I kinda fell in love with them.

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching in the morning.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I am so pleased with myself. I am successfully exercising self discipline. The new linen for the new project I want to start arrived on Friday. I haven’t even taken it out of the plastic bag it is in. I am determined to get my current piece finished before starting the next one. With that in mind, I spent last evening working on the light blue flowers across the bottom band. Those are almost finished. After that there is the dark blue accents and it is done. Another day or two should finish it. Of course the other thing that is slowing me down on the new project is the knowledge that the first thing I have to do with it is stitch in a bunch of grid lines. Every time I start a new stitchery I am tempted to skip that step. But then I make a mistake and catch it only because I notice that the stitch is not lining up to the grid lines on the pattern and I am thankful that I took the time to put those grid lines in. So, I will not skip it this time either.

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then maybe do some more stitching.

Slow Sunday Stiching

 Last week I was musing about whether or not I would be tempted to start the new project that was being delivered by Canada Post on Monday. I got the delivery but had the unfortunate, or perhaps fortunate, finding that the fabric that I had for stitching the new project wasn’t going to be big enough. So that meant I had to order new fabric, which will likely take another week to get here. Rats..... But that certainly removed the possibility of being tempted to start the new project. In the meantime, I continue to push on to finish this one before the new fabric arrives. I just might make it. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to finish stitching the letters tonight. After that there is a repeat of the top border reversed at the bottom and I can call it finished.

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching in the morning.

What We’re Working On

 Our Prayers and Squares group got 3 tops to a finish and 2 of them are layered and ready for quilting. We are just motoring away. Pat put together a beautiful quilt using soft shades of greens and greys. Then there is a maple leaf quilt that was put together by Pat and Helen. Marg and I did the cutting, so it was truly a group effort. It has been  made for a possible sale as a fund raiser for our group. And then there is a bright and wild scrappy quilt that is the opposite of the soft and subtle quilt shown earlier. Barbara and I worked on this one for the past several weeks. It started off as a bag of 4 patch leader/ender squares. I love how each quilt is so different and can all fit into someone who will need them. 

I’ll link up to Mid Week Makers

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m continuing to make good progress with my counted cross stitch hymn piece. I have an ulterior motive for pushing hard on this one. I’ve ordered a few new patterns, floss and linen for a new project I want to start. But I really don’t want to find myself in the position of having multiple UFO cross stitch pieces. So I’m trying to make sure I continue with this one until it is finished. The new patterns and floss are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. We’ll see how long my don’t start it until this one is finished resolve lasts. To be fair, this one is 1/3rd finished  and the letters stitch up very quickly, so it won’t take long to finish it at which point I can start the new one guilt free.

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching before heading out to the screened shelter on our deck for some delicious bug free stitching time.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m working on my cross stitch piece for the hymn All to Jesus I Surrender. I had to re-order the light blue floss because the one I had was too light and didn’t show up well. I ordered 3 different blues to try since it is hard to know exactly what they will look like when ordering online. 

One of them works beautifully and I was able to get lots done. It is a gorgeous day out today and I was outside enjoying it, sitting in our screened shelter away from the horrid black fly critters. 

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching tomorrow morning.

What we’re working on

 We’ve been working on multiple projects at the Prayers and Squares group, as usual. And we’ve had a couple of finishes, or finishes up to the point of a fabric shopping trip for finishing border fabrics. This flying geese and woodland animals quilt is done. 

Barbara and I have been working on a scrap quilt drawn from the 2 inch strip bin. It is finished to the stage of needing border and backing fabric. We didn’t find anything in our stash of fabrics, so it will go with us to a fabric shopping trip next week. At the moment we are thinking something red for borders.

We had some hexagons donated to our group, so Janet has been working on sewing them together with the burgundy triangles. It turned out there weren’t enough hexagons to make a decent sized quilt, so we dug around and found some fabrics that coordinated well with what was already there. 

And then lastly is the quilt I’ve been working on at home. All 20 blocks are done now,  although I only have a picture of 19. I thought this one was going to need to go on the shopping trip for backing, but we found some fabric at the church that will work for it. So I can start the quilt as I go process for this one tomorrow.

I’ll link up to Mid Week Makers.

What we are working on.

 We’ve been busy, as usual, at our prayers and squares group. And I continue to work on projects here at home as well. I finished up the red/grey/yellow quilt today. It will go with me tomorrow to be trimmed and bound. All my striped binding fabrics now live at the church. I’m continuing to work on the half square triangle sampler quilt and now have 14 blocks finished. I only have a picture of 12 of them. These are a lot of fun to do. Although I have found that I have to be really careful with placement. I’ve had to rip out a couple of them after finding a couple of triangles turned the wrong way.

I found a bag of leader/ender 4 patches a while back and have been slowly adding triangles on either side of them to turn them on point. Those are all done now and we are slowly making strips to go in between the on point triangles.

And then lastly, we have a finished quilt that will be going to a new home soon. The recipient used to be very into fishing, so all the fabrics are fishing  and water themed.

I’ll link up to Mid Week Makers.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’ve started a new cross stitch piece. It will eventually be this hymn found here. I love the colours in the sample, but the light blue that I ordered for mine isn’t showing up as much as I wanted it to. It actually shows up better in this picture than it does in person. So I’ve ordered 3 different blues in hopes that one of them will show up more. In the meantime, I will keep going with the other colours. Other than this piece I haven’t been doing any other slow stitching.

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

What we are working on.

 I’m falling down a little bit on the job as recorder of the quilts that go out from our Prayers and Squares group. We had one go out on Sunday and I completely forgot to get a picture or the details of who it went to. Oops.... 

However, as always, there are quilts in the works. I’ve gotten a start on quilting and sashing the Pinwheels done in red/grey/yellows. And then I’ve started another quilt here, also from the 3 1/2 inch strips. This one is going to be a half square triangle sampler, inspired by A Quilting Life here. I think I am aiming for 20 blocks for this one. A little bigger than we normally do. But there are lots of strips to use up. I have the first 3 done. 

And a member of our group made this wonderful baby quilt using flying geese and a border print. It is so much fun. The geese are all made from solids that coordinate with the border print. 

That’s all I have for today. I’ll link up with Mid Week Makers.

What We’re Working On

 We have a couple more quilts on the go for our Prayers and Squares group. I finished a nice bright baby quilt. It has a bright and fun backing too which used up a couple of partial yards of fabric. I then started a pinwheel quilt using up strips from the 3 1/2 inch bin here at home. The blocks will be sashed in black with yellow cornerstones which will go nicely with the controlled scrappy colour scheme of red/yellow/grey. The black sashings will tone down the squares that have a wilder background on them. I will also be quilting this one quilt as you go style. 

I’ll link up to Mid Week Makers

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I won the game of chicken I was playing between myself and the yarns for my sweater. I finished the body and the short sleeves with just the smallest little balls left of each colour. Whew!! I have one more round of the green to do on the second sleeve and the I can go and start to pick up the stitches around the bottom of the sweater for the green contrast band. Maybe after this sweater is done I’ll go back to my cross stitching. Or maybe, since I’ve enjoyed doing this sweater so much, I’ll dig around in my yarn tote and find some yarn to make another. I’ll have to wait and see. Sometime soon, I hope, the warm weather will get here. We have ordered a small screen shelter that can be set up on our deck. Hopefully it will provide protection from those nasty black fly bitting critters so I can spend the nice days outdoors. It should arrive sometime this week. Hopefully there will be a nice day where we can set it up and try it out before those nasty critters arrive to drive us nuts. They are the only down side to living up here in lovely Muskoka. Thankfully, their season only lasts for about 6 weeks, May into June, and the rest of the time is pure beauty. 

Anyhow, I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then perhaps put on an audiobook and take some stitches in the quilting of My Tweets.

What we’re working on

 I have a couple of more quilts to show from our Prayers and Squares group. There is a quarter square log cabin style quilt. We had a new lady come and join us. She is very quiet and focused. She put this quilt together over the course of 2 weeks. 

I finished the second of the flying geese quilts, but I don’t have a picture of the finished quilt. Here’s a teaser. 

And then I’ve started another one, using bright and fun colours out of the bin of 3 1/2 inch strips. I’m in the process of doing the quilt as I go on the blocks and then using narrow strips to put it together. It is going to need a border. It’s only 39 inches wide right now. The back is going to be as fun and bright as the front. More on that maybe by next week.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I finished the body of my sweater using the two skeins of yarn last evening. So far I am winning the game of yarn chicken, but I still have the short sleeves to finish. It’s going to be close. It also still has a band of the contrasting green that needs to be added to the bottom to bring it up to a wearable length. Aside from this sweater, there hasn’t been a lot of slow stitching happening here. My Tweets needs some attention before I can add another picture of it since it looks much the same as the last time. I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I had forgotten from many years ago, how much I enjoy the hand quilting process. It is slow and steady, just the quiet of the rocking needle. Sometimes it is accompanied only by the quiet around me, sometimes by watching something on the computer, sometimes by listening to a good audiobook. I would say that I have at least a quarter of the centre block finished now. The callus on the finger that I use on the underside of the quilt to feel the needle come through is getting thicker, so I can quilt for longer. I am quilting in the ditch around the appliqué shapes, which doesn’t show up on the photo, and then the background lines approximately 1 inch apart.

Later on in the evenings I am still working on my sweater. I may end up with a game of chicken between the amount of yarn I have left and the end of the sweater. I hope I don’t have to order more yarn because I have lost or thrown out the identifying tags for the colours, although I do know the brand. I could always do a fade type thing if I had to, I suppose. I’ll do a few more inches on it and then make a decision to order more yarn.

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

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What we are working on

 We have been very productive at Prayers and Squares lately. However I haven’t been very good at getting pictures of what we’ve been doing. We’ve gotten a couple of 3 years quilts done. One using a very pretty floral fabric with some coordinates. Pat’s face can be seen peeking over the top of that one.

And another using a panel of butterfly squares also using some coordinating fabrics. We also finished the star quilt using up some wildlife fabrics. The centre of the stars have moose and bears and Canada geese in them There is more of this fabric left, so I have plans for it.While browsing on pattern websites I found a pattern that I absolutely love which uses multiple sizes of flying geese.  The pattern is called Got Geese. 
I love making flying geese units, so I found some odds and ends of earth tone fabrics and started in on the making a couple of weeks ago. It grabbed my attention so strongly that I now have it done, other than an outer border. And that new one using up the wildlife fabrics, I have an Electric quilt mock up for it. The geese are almost all made and ready to sew into the blocks. That’s all the news I have from our group. I’ll link up to Mid Week Makers

Slow Sunday Stitching

 My sweater continues to grow. I’ve separated off the sleeves and have about 2 inches of the body done. But the really exciting piece of slow stitching is the start of the background quilting on My Tweets. It is going faster than I thought it would. The amount here was done in an afternoon. I don’t have any calluses built up on my fingers yet, so I had to quit as the finger under the quilt was getting quite sore, as was my wrist. I haven’t been able to get back to it, due to our grand daughter being off for March break and also the now almost finished reno of my room. The ceiling is in and the baseboards are going in today. There is still all the tapeing and mudding and sanding of the drywall seams in the ceiling, but I suspect that is not going to happen for quite a while yet.

I’ll link up to Kathy'sSlow Sunday Stitching