Slow Sunday Stitching

 This coming week should see the last stitches taken in Connections. The last seam is halfway finished. Unfortunately, I don’t have a backing fabric for it. That means a shopping trip coming up, such a shame to need to go shopping..... not. It’s going to be a bit of a challenge to quilt and finish. I don’t want to trim the edges, which means keeping the papers in the edges and doing a turned edge finish. It also means trying to avoid the papers while doing the machine quilting. But I’m sure it will work out. So hopefully this time next week will be a celebration that this one is a finished flimsy.

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 So close, so very close to having Connections finished. I’m now in the process of sewing the connecting row and putting the two halves of the quilt together. It is going to be a nice lap quilt size for the winter. We had such a hot and dry end of July and beginning of August that it is hard to think about winter. But the last week has cooled way down to the point that it fells like fall is here already. I’m carefully watching the weather predictions and keeping an eye out for frost warnings. I don’t want to lose what is left of my tomato harvest.

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I have increased my numbers of 2 inch squares by digging into some unused fabric scraps. I am getting so close to having Connections finished. I’ll probably need a few more 2 inch squares before it is done but from here on I’m going to cut them as I need them. I have 3 out of 8 units done that I need for this last row. After that it is just a matter of joining the 2 halves of the quilt together. I won’t put a time frame onto it. But soon..... maybe...... I’m hoping it will be done by the time I need a lap quilt for the winter.

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I have finished the second to last row for Connections. One more row and I can start joining the 2 big sections together. Of course, before I can do that I need to make a long connector row to go between the sections. So I guess that really means I have 2 rows to go.However, I’m going to have to go scrounging for more 2 inch squares. I’m almost out again. So, I guess I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then go hunt up some more squares.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 The row for Connections that I was working on last week is finished and has its spacer row added to it. It is lying on the right hand side of the main piece, but hasn’t been stitched in place yet. I’ve now started on the second to last row needed for this project. The end should be in sight sometime in the next month or two. Certainly it should be done by the time I’ll need it for keeping warm. Just on general principles I’m not going to utter that word here and now. It’s way too lovely to even think about that word, let alone say it, let alone write it down.

So, I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching where there are lots of other warm weather posts to look at.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 Connections is making great progress. By the looks of it I only have 2 more full rows to do. Then I have to join the sections together and I can count this one done. It is going to end up as a nice lap sized quilt for this coming winter. I have enough squares basted to start the next row, but I need to do more of the triangles. So that is on my to do list after I finish this post. It’s another glorious day, so I think I’ll be taking my stitching and basting glue outside into the shade of the screened tent shelter.

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I didn’t  make as much progress on the Christmas stocking for our grand daughter as I had hoped. Turns out I had the wrong week for her going to camp. It’s this week. So, I kinda have another week to work on it. That’s what I’ll be doing this afternoon in the glorious sunshine. I’m up to piece 15, which is the green frame around the door, out of 80 something. Not bad, all things considered. 

In between working on the stocking I did a little bit on my Connections piece.

I was able to spend an afternoon last weekend with Gail and Christine and they each brought me some 2 inch squares to go in it. I was running low, so their supplies might take me to the end of it.

 I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then head out to the sunshine.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 As has been the case for the past several months now, I’m continuing to work on my Connections quilt. I have units made for the next row. I need to sew them together and then add them to the main body. Here’s a close up of one of them. I haven’t a whole lot else to say, so I’ll go ahead and link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 It is a glorious spring day out there. Warm and sunny and so far no bugs biting. I suspect that will change before this time next week and I’ll be bleeping the nasty critters known as black flies. But for today, I will enjoy it. I took my 2 pieces of Connections outside to get a photo and yahoo, I’m officially 3/4 of the way to being finished. This is what I will be doing for the rest of the day, sitting outside and stitching. I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m slowly stitching away on my Connections quilt. Once again, thank you to all who sent me 2 inch squares. Unbelievably, I have gone through almost all of them! When they first arrived I thought there would be more than enough to finish this, but no. I’m going to go scrounging through my stash here and at the church and cut bits off things to get more. I’m almost halfway through the second half of this quilt. Hopefully when the other half of this half is finished,  it will declare itself done.

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it, the best, most excellent day of the Christian year! He is risen!! We are off to church to celebrate in a few minutes. I’ve just time enough to write and post this. It won’t be a long post. I’ve made progress on Connections. I have two rows and a spacer row all stitched together and a partial spacer row in place. I’ve removed a bunch of the papers as I’ve been sewing so I have more pieces to glue baste again. 

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 My Connections quilt is growing, although not all that fast. But that’s OK, it is, after all, slow stitching. It now measures about 30 x 46 inches. I would like it to be a lap sized quilt that I can use next winter. I’m aiming for somewhere around 48 x 60. So I will keep going and add rows as I get them finished. I have a row and a bit of another one ready to add. But I think I might work in smaller sections before adding them to the main piece It is getting a bit cumbersome to handle. I’ll have to do some measuring of the sections to figure out how many rows to do before adding them. Actually, I don’t need to do that. All I need is another piece the same size as what I’ve already done. The hexagons, triangles and squares are all 1 1/4 inch finished sides. Once again, thank you to all who sent squares so that I could continue with the quilt. 

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then maybe go do some measuring and figuring.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 My evenings this past week have been taken up with stitching on Connections. Thank you to those who sent me some of their 2 inch scrap squares. You have increased the connections found in this quilt and enabled me to keep going with it. I’m sure I have enough now to be able to finish it to a reasonable usable size, most likely a lap quilt to perhaps use next winter. It currently measures about 29 inches long by about 42 inches wide. I’m working now on adding the single row to join these 2 sections. After that I’ll likely start a new section and perhaps make the next ones longer. Although, thinking about it again, 60 inches long is a good lap quilt length. I have lots of time before needing to make that decision. For now, it is just fun. 

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m continuing to work on my two current EPP projects. I have others that are UFOs buried in a bin. At least I know where they are. I’ll likely get back to them at some point, even if it is to combine them with something else. I spent some time earlier this week adding some flattened hexagons to my six point stars for the Willyne Hammerstein pattern Flower Power. And then, because I got responses from my call for 2 inch squares, I’ve spent the rest of the week basting those squares to their papers and stitching more Connections units. Thank you to all of you who responded.It is so much fun to play with someone else’s fabrics. I haven’t touched my cross stitch lately. I’m thinking of picking it back up once the weather warms up and I’m able to stitch outside. Of course being outside actually means inside of a screened tent shelter to provide protection from those nasty biting black fly critters, the one and only down side to living in Muskoka.

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 It was such a lovely day on Friday that my husband and I went on a drive to Minden, about 90 minutes from home to do a bit of fabric refreshing. There is a quilt shop there called Remember Me Quilts and More. It is owned by the loveliest, friendliest lady. I needed border fabrics for the McKenna Ryan Aurora Ridge quilt that is hopefully on the fast track to being finished. And then I wanted some bright and happy fabric that I could semi-fussy cut for a new EPP project. I seem to have renewed my obsession with EPP. It’s a Willyne Hammerstein design from her third book called Flower Power. I’ve gotten a start on the centre stars. I’ve cut them stack and whack style rather than true fussy cutting. I didn’t want any more fabric swiss cheese and I think this will work. There is lots of motion in these, which is what I was hoping for. 

I’ve had to put my Connections project into time out. I’ve run out of 2 inch squares. Originally, the squares came from some of my friends at the London Friendship Quilters Guild, which led to the name Connections. Would any of you reading this be willing to send me a small envelope of 2 inch squares so I can continue this project? Nothing big, perhaps just enough to fit into a regular envelope that can go in the regular mail. That would be so much fun. If so, contact me at caleeshepherd at gmail.com and I’ll send you my address. Don’t leave it in the comments as I likely won’t be able to respond. So many comments now come through as no-reply. Thank you in advance, so much. 

The really big news for here though, for the slow stitching, is that I’ve finished My Tweets. It  is trimmed and waiting on binding. I took it with me to the church on Thursday to spread it out on the big tables to trim it and then laid it out on the floor for a picture. I’m going to bind it in the same fabric as the sashing/border so it won’t look too much different than this when it is done.

Anyhow, it is time to get this day fully started. So I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then get to it.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I took the last quilting stitch in My Tweets this past week! The last stitch went into the junction of those three sashing bits. Celebration time! However, it is currently still sitting on the chair in a heap, still in the quilting hoop, waiting to be trimmed and bound. Hopefully I don’t leave it too long. Since finishing that I’ve been rather unfocused and unsure of what to do next. I picked up my Jackrabbit cross stitch, but had a difficult time trying to concentrate on the tiny threads and the counting. I ended up ripping out stitches two different times in his right ear, so I put that aside. Then I went digging looking for an EPP project I started years ago, back in 2019, according to this blog. It’s called Connections. I found the fabrics and the papers and got started on doing some more glue basting. But the biggest thing I’ve been working on this past week is machine quilting an old McKenna Ryan project. I’ve dived in and am doing some free motion quilting on my domestic machine. It’s actually going better than I thought it would. The hand sewing bit comes in on the back. I’m doing it a block at a time and then putting it together quilt as I go style, which involves hand sewing cover strips over the seams on the back, hence the slow stitching part. I really want to get this one done so we can use it as a fund raiser for our Prayers and Squares group this spring/summer. It is the pattern Aurora Ridge.  According to this blog, I started it way back in 2016. I bought the patterns as kits with the fabrics in them. I’m not sure why it got put into cold storage. But anyhow, it is back in production. I have one more block to put together. Pictures to follow in more detail in another post. I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

Bitten by the startitis bug

I have been eyeing this lay’s website for several years now... Esther Aliu .... ever since she came out with the Love Entwined pattern with is a redo of an antique applique quilt. Every year she does a free Block of the Month and a paid Block of the Month. I follow her facebook group and have been drooling over this year’s quilts, both the free and the paid, but especially the paid one called Hold Onto Your Heart.  I’ve been giving myself all kinds of talks about how I have way more than enough projects already started, that I don’t need anything more, etcetera, etcetera. Anyone who is prone to this illness knows the drill and the self talk that ends up being of no use. So, I did it. I bought the pattern.... I told myself it was a birthday gift and that starting the new quilt was a birthday gift and the new fabrics that I needed for this quilt were a birthday gift. I have the centre section of it ready for basting and hand stitching. We are going to be heading out for a week’s camping next weekend, so I’m putting a push on to get a bunch of pieces prepped and ready for stitching.

However, I have kinda promised myself that I will keep working on Connections as well. I have the second section half done, so it is making good progress. The pattern for it is almost finished, but I’ll wait to release it after we get home.

So I’m going to link this post up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then do some more prep work for this quilt. I’m going to do up a whole pile of 1/4 inch bias stems and then get to working on the pansies for the corner squares in the centre of the quilt.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I took a little break last week from both blogging and  hand stitching to do some intensive knitting. I’m working on a blanket called Sweet Spot.



It takes hand dyed yarn and makes it into a really neat looking design taking advantage of the long colour repeats.
  

The Sweet Spot refers to the number of stitches required to make the yarn pool and pattern the way it does. It’s rather hypnotic, watching the design unfold from the needles.

But I did finally pick up a hand stitching project again - my Connections quilt. I have one section of it done now which currently measures 23 x26 inches.



I’d like to do three more in order to get it up to a usable size for a lap quilt. I’m a good way into the first row of the second section.

But I’ve had to stop and cut more dark grey triangles. So after I finish this post it will be time to get those triangles basted to the papers so I can continue on.
I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Connections progress

I haven’t done a Slow Sunday Stitching post in a couple of weeks since I wasn’t making a whole lot of progress and there wasn’t much change in any of my projects. But now I can show a section of the Connections quilt is finished. It measures about 22 inches square right now. I’m planning on working on it in sections this size and see where it goes and how big it gets. The scrappy squares were all gifted to me by friends at the London Friendship Quilters Guild. Here’s a close up of some of the fun squares.

I’ve also finished a sweater in the last week. It is one of the fade projects. It’s a pattern called Spectre by Joji Locatelli. I’ve made a few of her designs now and really like them.  Here’s a close up of the yarns and how they fade together. There are three different coloured yarns in here. I did 3/4 length sleeves on this project. First because I’m always pushing up my sweater sleeves and also because I was running short on the yarns and didn’t want to run out before the second sleeve was finished. I have another of this sweater pattern almost finished, that’s how much I liked it.
I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching before going back to making more Connections blocks.

Connections

I’ve been working on my Connections project this past week and am making good progress. I’ve almost double the size of it. Or at least, I have the pieces made to double the size of it but they aren’t all sewn together yet. I’m hoping to get a good way towards that today. That should bring it up to measuring about 24 x 24 inches. The pieces are 1 1/4 inch hexagons, squares and 60 degree triangles. I have no idea how big this is going to get. I have lots of the 2 inch squares left that were gifted to me from friends, so I might just continue until those are gone.
I’ve been having lots of fun this year knitting as well as working on quilts. The store Eat Sleep Knit hosts quarterly knit alongs. The  next quarter challenge which starts tomorrow is to knit a Fade project. I have a couple I want to do. One is a sweater by Joji Locatelli called Spector. And the other is a shawl by Ambah O’Brien called Jacinta. I have one of the hanks of yarn for the Jacinta shawl wound already. I still have to do up the other 2, but I can at least get started on it tomorrow using the yarns shown in this picture. As far as the Spector Sweater, it will be from these colours starting with the lightest at the top of the sweater and progressing to the darkest at the bottom. These fade projects are rather addicting, I think. I have 3 months together them both done.

Of course by then it will be mid summer and way too warm to actually use them, but that is totally beside the point. As in quilting, the fun and challenge are in the making not the using.
I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.