Full Coverage February - Day 3

 267 stitches today, and total this month of 653

Slow Sunday Stitching - March 14, 2021

 Wow, after a tough few weeks, my crafting mojo has roared back with a vengeance!  Work is a bit better, too.  Though still very very busy. 

So in the order finished this week.

I got the rest of the applique block done, the basting removed, the block washed.   Here it is, still damp.  I'll give it a nice press before I put it away in the 'orphan' block box.  I enjoyed doing this enough that I do believe it's residency there may be short lived.  But I am NOT starting another long term project at this time, so it will be safe there until I set up an applique paper cut quilt project in the (hopefully not too distant) future.

ETA: After a good press

 

Next up, I finished the stitching on the Just Nan design, "I Can Drive a Stick" that I started during the last #24HoursOfCrossStitch.  This I got it to FFO (Fully Finished Object) status as a stand up flat fold.  I do think I'll add some black chenille trim to finish off the edges.  Or maybe some mini pompoms.

And remember my sister's Muppet?  All done but the lining, which is my job for today.

First, though, I'm going to check out the rest of the SSS crew (link to current round up).

Slow Sunday Stitching - March 7, 2021

Work has not gotten any better, and won't for at least a couple more months.   What was a supply crisis two weeks ago is now an accounting crisis.  Even knowing it was coming is not helping anyone cope.  And nobody likes being blamed for things WAY outside anyone's control.  100 degree Fahrenheit temperature swing in 7 days !!!!!   from  -18 to 71 !!!!   

Stitching is keeping me sane(ish), though I'm thinking about retirement more and more seriously as the days grind on.  I am slowly working on a cute Halloween piece by Just Nan that I started back in January during #24HoursOfCrossStitch.  It's about 2/3 of the way done and will be finished as a flat fold.

On Friday I finished up just shy of 10 hours on my pictorial - my son's USMC Seal.   I got a page finish on Page 6 (pages are outlined in green).  Next time it comes up, I will mark the grid on both the paper pattern and the fabric for Page 7. 

 What else - three more inches on the Sock Yarn Blanket.  And I got around the third quarter on the paper-cut applique block #1. It's not perfect.  I can see a few places where I went 'off the line' a bit which left a flat spot, but overall, I am pleased with the way it looks. The last set of 'stair-steps' is on deck for the week; getting straight lines and 90 degree corners is harder than you think!

I am hoping that actual spring holds off just a bit because I am in no shape to start working in the garden yet!  I actually need to get back to work (yes, on a Sunday, sigh), but I'll try to see if I can get around to look at all the SSS crew later in the week.  (link to current round up)

Slow Sunday Stitching - Feb 21, 2021

 I work for a midwest utility company.  As you can probably imagine, the week has been rather ... fraught.

Behold the entire amount of crafting I have been able to accomplish during the "Winter Event 2021" as the state regulatory body is calling it. 

A few measly inches of applique.  Yep, that's it.

And the industry will be digging out from under this for ages (pardon the pun).   Retirement is looking better by the day!

Linking up very late with the SSS crew.

Slow Sunday Stitching - February 14, 2021

 Happy (snowy) Valentine's Day from Kansas.  Minus 15 degrees F /  minus 26 C is forecast for tonight, but this time next week, we should be back to seasonal weather just below freezing.   I can't wait.   Spring seems to be months away, but it will come.

Very busy work week this week, we are testing a new account reconciliation software.  So we are having to do each account twice - once in the old system and once in the new to parallel and prove out the new system.   I've been so tired that about all I can do is sit and read.  I'm just VERY grateful that I don't have to drive in this winter mess.  I did get another three inches on the sock yarn blanket.  Mindless garter stitch was still possible LOL.

I also did get a very small amount of work done on the applique block as my #LunchHourCrafting; around the base angles between corner two and three, and the first 'petal' on corner three.

And I went well over ten hours on Dutch Beauty.   There are still three large flowers and two parrots to do on this motif, but it's at a good stopping spot with the lower flowers and almost all the foliage done.  There's still about a dozen stitches of center stem to go, but I will put that in when I do the center flower.

I'll lay it all out when I do the changeover post in a bit.  In the mean time, check out the rest of the SSS crew (link to the current round up).

Slow Sunday Stitching - February 7, 2021

It's winter here in Kansas.  The forecast is for high temperatures in the teens: 19 to 21 F (around -6 C) and nighttime lows around -6 F (-21 C) later this week.   My poor Thanksgiving cactus is quite confused.  I moved it to the other side of the bay window and it has set flowers for the first time.   There are close to a dozen buds of various sizes and they look like they are going to be the palest of pink/white.  Quite lovely and I don't mind at all that it is four months late!

Also 'blooming' is my cutwork applique quilt block.  I'm a bit past the halfway point around the outside as the entire second quadrant is done and I'm about to start the straight 'base' between the second and third corner.

I put in six inches on the sock yarn blanket this week, in part due to an hour long "state of the company" annual video meeting where only the presenters were 'on screen'.  Side 2 of Round 8.   No photo because it's just more garter stitch - endless 20 stitches of garter stitch, turn, 20 stitches of garter, attach.  Repeat ad infinitum.

Dutch Beauty is at around 8 hours in this round.  This week I finished the bottom border for this page and got SO CLOSE to finishing the vase for the big fritillaria bouquet on the left side of the bottom row. 

I'll try to get the handles done after I check out the rest of the SSS crew (link to the current round up).  And I'll be over here trying to stay warm......  And watching my Chiefs in the Superbowl AGAIN!

Slow Sunday Stitching - January 31, 2021

 Rainy the last couple of days here in Kansas and it's cold and cloudy today.  It was a great weekend to hibernate craft, so that is all I did!

I'm at about three hours into Dutch Beauty this rotation round.   Working on page P/16.  I've put in the three small motifs (squirrel, plant and basket) between the lily vase on page O/15 and the big vase of flowers that flank the main center motif on the bottom row.   I'm now working on the bottom border for this page before I start on the vase of fritterlaria and parrots that are perching on it.

This is good 'audiobook' stitching since it's so repetitive. 

I also put in some time on the newly discovered needleturn applique block.  I got up to the tip of the second quadrant.  I really do enjoy applique, but finding yet another UFO was not fun.  I may do a paper-cuts quilt at some point.  Or it just may go into the Christmas Sampler with all the other odd and orphan red and green blocks. 

You can't really see it in the photo, but this one was done with freezer paper cut out, then ironed on.  Then the turn line was traced with a mechanical pencil for a narrow, accurate line and the freezer paper was removed.   Then the two layers were basted about a half inch in from the turn line (you can see the basting).  Cut a little, stitch, cut more.  Fun technique if you like handwork as much as I do. 

On the knitting front, got to the second corner of round 8 on the sock yarn blanket.   I'll do that corner while I catch up with the rest of the SSS crew (link to current round up).

ETA:  Kathy asked us about our favorite hoop in the link up.  Mine are the Hardwicke Manor embroidery hoops (from Access Commodities).  I have three: one is 5/8 inch deep and 6 inches across.  The others are 5/16 inch deep;  6 and 4 inches across.  All are from Threadneedle Street in Washington state.  Link to these hoops on their website.

Here's the littlest hoop on the cutwork napkin a while back.  They are very nicely finished with the adjustment screw being a heavy brass and the thumbscrew has a slot to really tighten down with a small screwdriver.  

It really is never ending!

 I've joked around about the 'never ending' parade of old WIPs, now UFOs.  I have found boxes and bins in the basement with my own projects as far back as the mid 1970s (the Kitten pillowcases).  I've inherited my mom's UFOs (the cutwork napkins).  I've inherited my grandmother's unstarted projects (the cutwork dresser scarves) and my great aunt's UFO (Aunt Lottie's garden).

Here's another one of mine!  This is from a workshop on needleturn applique, using one of the patterns from "Baltimore Beauties and Beyond" by Elly Sienkewicz .   That workshop was from an area quilt store that went out of business in the mid 1990s!  It was tucked into the book, discovered when I was packing books for the upcoming move up to the new library / study that I am trying to put together in the upstairs bedroom.

THANK you, former me, for thread basting instead of pin basting and NOT leaving the needle in the work.  No rust spots.  

At some point, I will have gone through every box and bin in this house and will have unearthed everything.  Right?

This will be slotted into my 'travel and desk' project list.  Now that the grey socks are done, there's room for it there.  

I do want to do a Baltimore Album quilt, but I didn't really want to start it yet! 

Slow Sunday Stitching - October 20, 2019

Being on vacation for most of last week was great for my crafting, though I did a lot more reading than I had intended.

At about seven hours, Millennium is down to the top of the mountain and its clouds. There are a LOT of colors in this area, but I should finish off all of the sky before this rotation ends in three more hours.  There's a bit of sketch in of the snow on the slopes of the mountain where one of the 'cloud' colors carried down, but I mostly have stayed up in the 'sky' area so as to have a clear ending point for this round.

And I got the corners based for Aunt Lottie's Garden.   This project will go on hold for a bit.  I need to get the pieces cut for next Sunday's hand piecing demo.  I won't get the entire block done at the library, I'm sure, but I'll finish that block for the orphan block bin before moving on.

Linking up with Kathy for SSS. 

Slow Sunday Stitching - October 13, 2019

Work is good - we got past quarter close and I actually have a few vacation days coming up.  I offered to cancel, as the staffing situation is still not resolved.  But my boss told me to go ahead and take the days.  I'm not going anywhere - a "staycation" is fine with me.  

I will hopefully get some good crafting in!  Probably focusing on "Millennium".   I put in about 2 1/2 hours this week and got the first couple of the 'sky' colors on the landscape area done.

This section started out about where St. Michael's hand ends, but because the colors in through here are a very subtle gradient, the progress is not very noticeable.  And look at all that confetti stitching!

On the quilting front, I got the replacement block finished.

Next step on this project is to prep and baste the four border cornerstone blocks - finally!  That's what I'll be working on today.   I won't be appliqueing them down until I work on the border vine, so I'll do closer basting than I did on the center blocks.  The borders will get handled a lot.  Definitely hitting the corner blocks with a heavy dose of Best Press to help everything stay in shape. 

The other project for this week is to prep a block or two to demonstrate hand piecing at the local library's "Fiber Fair" which is the 27th.   I'll try to get some pictures and report in late that day.   Bells are playing that morning, so it will be a very busy day.   I can't decide what to prep for the demo.   I'm leaning toward a block in Christmas fabric.  I am gradually collecting random blocks for a "gypsy" style sampler quilt.  Every time I make a test block, I do it in Christmas fabric and put it in the bin.  Someday I'll have enough...…  

Linking up with the rest of the SSS crew over at Kathy's blog. 

Quilt WIP: Aunt Lottie's Garden Block detour

I have passed a milestone on my hand applique quilt, "Aunt Lottie's Garden".  I have finished all the blocks for the center of the quilt.  Well, at least I thought that I had.

I took the blocks over to my sister's house last night and laid them all out on her living room rug.  

Kimi's an artist, so I wanted her to take a look and maybe help me with the design and the borders.

We laid them all out in my tentative arrangement and Kimi helped me tweak the block placement.   We decided that there was one block that didn't fit.   Early on, I'd made one block with vintage material outside and a pink center (upper left)

And it looks "green" in the layout despite the bright pink center and pink flowers in the print.   I'm going to make a replacement block for that one.  I have plenty of pink solid and several more background pieces from the layer cake.  Rats, I will need to go to the quilt store and buy a 30s reproduction fat quarter!   I wager that is not all that will come home with me tomorrow LOL.

Slow Sunday Stitching -- September 8, 2019

I finished some quilt blocks this week:
Number 29 of 30 for the center of Aunt Lottie's Garden.  Hand applique on this block, and for some reason my basting went all puckered and I had to redo half of it because there was a big fold in the background fabric under the applique.  "Haste makes waste!"

"Yankee Puzzle" (12 inch finished size) for my Guild's Quilts of Valor; I think this is quilt number 7 so far this year.  I just love the background fabric on this one; perfect for patriotic quilts in the US.

And I put in about two more hours on Dutch Beauty  (total of four so far this rotation).

So I'm happy with my progress.  Today I'm going to mark and baste the LAST block for the center of Aunt Lottie's Garden - yeah for milestones.    Still lots to go on this top, with the assembly of the center and the borders.   I'm planning on doing the borders 'cornerstone' style, with the same hexi sets as the center in each corner and then leafy vines on the sides.  


Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's.  

Slow Sunday Stitching - September 1, 2019

September?  Where did the summer go?  Seems like it just dashed by!! This last week certainly went fast.   There was quite a bit of crafting, though.  And I'm going to enjoy this long weekend to the fullest (off on Monday for Labor Day weekend).   Linking this post up to Slow Sunday Stitching and wandering over to see what the rest of the crew is up to.

I finished up the "floral hand towel".

and got working on the next project in the rotation.   Hello again "Dutch Beauty". (See where I started in this post.)  A flower, one more leaf and a half dozen of the 'flower and fruit' circles took about two hours.

And I got Block # 28 of "Aunt Lottie's Garden" done (and pressed after I took this picture).

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 25, 2019

Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitching crew.  I have a finish to report this week.  I got the Victoria Sampler "Earth" finished finally.  This one did take a bit longer than the last one, but only because I didn't work on it quite as steadily.

I think it turned out well.  I'm happy with the 'clover' that added semi-precious beads to the piece, despite my initial thought that they might be too visually 'heavy'. 


I've made decent progress on the Zombie piece that is next up in the needlework rotation.   The stems and leaves are rather finnicky - lots of weird partial stitch angles, which are NOT easy on Aida cloth.

 And last, but not least - I finished Block #27 of 30 on the center part of Aunt Lottie's Garden, my current quilting project.  

Today's goals are to get Block #28 ready to work on as my travel project for the upcoming week, then try to get the vine and leaf stuff done on the other side of the cartouche on the towel.  I would really like to get that finished off by the first so I can get going on Dutch Beauty.   It's been way too long since I worked on that one.

Weekly Check in - August 18, 2019

Last weekend passed in a blur of overtime, but all of the audit items were submitted by the 5 pm deadline on Monday.  Go my team at work!!!

This week has been much better.  I took a full day off on Tuesday and half day on Friday.   It was glorious.  (Went to a lecture at Union Station on Friday in conjunction with the "Stonehenge" exhibit.) 

So there's been quite a bit of crafting this week.  First up - finished Block 26 for Aunt Lottie's Garden.  Just four more blocks to applique for the center of this quilt.  This is one of the vintage blocks and was actually from the scraps from one of my grandmother's house dresses.  My aunt and grandmother made most of their casual clothes, aprons, house dresses and such, but used a professional seamstress/dressmaker for their more formal clothing worn to church and out in public.  I loved Miz W (I don't remember if she was a widow or unmarried).   She used to make the most wonderful doll clothes from the scraps of her ladies' fancy dresses.  

You know, I remember less than half of these fabrics, so either the dresses had already worn out by the time I was old enough to pay attention, or possibly some friends and/or extended family gave Lottie their scraps.


The Four Elements Band Sampler "Green Earth" is on the bottom band.

And the zombie project that I picked up while waiting for the malachite beads has the second motif's borders laid in.

 Goals for today are to get a few more passes on the bargello, the rest of the double running on the towel  and get block 27 prepped and basted to work on in the upcoming week.


ETA: IT at work updated my operating system to Windows 10 week before last (yes, right in the middle of the audit - just one more stressor LOL) and now all of a sudden I can do the Slow Sunday Stitching link party again!   Hope it continues!   Here's the link up for this week.
 

Weekly check in - July 14, 2019

I'm still feeling a bit under the weather.  Since my cough is persistent, I went to the doc this week.  My asthma is usually really under control, but right now I start coughing and end up giving myself an asthma attack on top of the scratchy throat.   So we are trying an additional med for a while.  I hope I can get rid of it eventually since it makes me retain water and I feel a bit like the Staypuff Marshmallow Man in the original Ghostbuster's movie - UGH.

On the other hand, I have gotten some crafting done. 

The Victoria Sampler piece is at the half way point.   There are 16 bands and I have 8 of them done.

and I finished Block #24 of 30 for the center of the "Aunt Lottie's Garden" quilt.  Just two more of each color to go.

Not much progress this week - July 7, 2019

Still trying to get over this lingering summer chest cold.   My energy levels are so low; I can barely make it through a work day.


So not much crafting (or anything else) to report.  I did get another block for Aunt Lottie's Garden finished.   This was 23 of 30 for the center of the quilt.

I have the next one prepped and basted.

Weekly update - June 23, 2019

Some crafting this week, including another block for Aunt Lottie's Garden

This is block #22 and I already have #23 basted to work on this week.   And I got two more bands on the VS Sampler "Earth" piece early in the week.  (See last two posts.)


My main focus, though, has been getting my little challenge quilt done.   It's an older UFO that just happened to meet the challenge criteria, so I'm motivated to get it finished.

It's about 18 x 22 (fat quarter sized) and I'm calling it "Christmas Cabin Stars"   I have the machine quilting done - very simple, just outlining the blocks.   And I'm in the process of binding it with a mottled green (also used as the backing).   


I have all the binding yardage made and the first side attached.  I'm not even bothering to do mitered corners.  I often use fold over square corners for mini quilts and table toppers.  They are quick and since the quilts won't be used, the fact that those types of corners aren't as sturdy and stable as continuous binding doesn't matter.

Weekly update - June 16, 2019

I'm frustrated by the fact that my favorite link party, Slow Sunday Stitching, has had a recent 'upgrade' to the link platform.   Not Kathy's fault, but I can't link up any more.   I post on my work computer and the new platform requires 'cookies' and is not a 'verified' site for my corporate IT.  Nor will the IT folks let me configure my laptop to accept cookies.   Sigh.  

When change is a BAD thing and "improvements" are anything but better.   So until I buy a personal computer (which I wasn't planning on doing until I retire), no more Slow Sunday Stitching.....

But I do like the discipline of the weekly progress report.   We'll see how well I do with that when there's not someone keeping me accountable.

This week, I did the one band on the VS sampler, and I finished Block 21 for 'Aunt Lottie's Garden'

My weekend, though, was taken up by the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival.  It was the first 'large' quilt show that I've ever been too.  Impressive.  I didn't even make it all the way through the vendors.   I was pretty good with my spending.   I got a grab bag of 1930s vintage scraps and several templates for hand quilting and pounce to mark tops for hand quilting.

Slow Sunday Stitching - June 9, 2019

I am finally getting back to the needlework project.  I made good progress this week, getting to the start of Band 5 on the Victoria Sampler "Earth" band sampler.  These three bands were fairly simple - leaf stitch, open herringbone and Smyrna cross.

Next up is a band of white work - half diamond eyelets just getting started.

And I've finally gotten back to the Aunt Lottie's Garden quilt.   This is block 20 of 30 for the center of the quilt

Needs a good press, but the stitching is done.   Today's task is to get Block 21 basted so I can work on it next week.  I'm really happy to get back to this project.  To see what the other Slow Sunday Stitchers are up to visit the link up.