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. 

Slow Sunday Stitching - September 29, 2019

This month went by at warp speed!  Between the quilt show and the fact that we are short-handed at work, I've been ultra busy.   So there's been less crafting than usual, but it is, at least, happening.   Slow and intermittent is better than none, right?

I got the replacement flower set done for Aunt Lottie's Garden.  (Add cleaning my keyboard to the 'To Do list'.)  My stitching priority today is to get this block basted for applique.

And I am at ten hours on Dutch Beauty.   This week I filled in the body, stitched the neck area and got started on the head.  This motif is a bit wonky, it's like the original stitcher had seen other needlework with this design and was trying to copy it from memory.  That's not the shape I would have used for a deer's muzzle to say nothing of the front legs LOL.  But such are the perils of an exact reproduction.

Since I just have the top of the head and the antlers yet to go to finish Row 2, I'm going to keep plugging away on this one until the deer is done.  I'm too close to the page finish to quit yet.

Linking up with Kathy's blog for SSS.

Slow Sunday Stitching - Sept 22, 2019

Stitching will happen, but it will not be so much "Slow" as "Tucked in between my duties as treasurer for the local Quilt Guild."    This weekend is our local quilt show. 

My quilt in all it's glory - this is the Scrappy Sister's Choice that I finished a while back.   The theme of the show is "Stars" and this one fits with the green star points surrounding nine patch blocks.   Please pardon the rather rumpled photo of me - hanging a show is hard work!  In between volunteer shifts yesterday, I did manage to finish up prepping the pieces for the replacement block for "Aunt Lottie's Garden".  

I'll get to work on assembling it today.  (The fabric is another one from the 'states' line so it will coordinate with several other pinks done previously.)

And Dutch Beauty is coming along.  The body of the deer is outlined.

Linking up with 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. 

Slow Sunday Stitching - February 24, 2019

This week just dashed past me.   Lots going on at work; part of my job is moving back to my old department (it really belonged there all along, but I know how to do it, so it stayed with me when I moved to accounting).   So I am writing up directions for all of that, which is not my favorite thing to do.

My car pool buddy had errands to run in KC a couple of days last week, so she drove and I rode.  Good news on the knitting front, but I'll be driving the next two weeks, so bad on the budget. Glad I had an oil change done Friday.  The hat is all the way up to the start of the crown decreases.   Just ten rounds to go.   I'm trying to get that done by Thursday so it counts in this month's totals.

This week's block for "Aunt Lottie's Garden" is also done.  This is Block 19 of 30 for the center of the quilt. 

I love the fabric in this block.  I know it's supposed to be floral, but some of those little red and yellow sprigs inside the geometrics totally look to me like happy chicken faces!

Handwork quilting focus will be switching to "It was the 80s".  I have another hand pieced block to do for that top.  I hate to lose the momentum on this one, but I really want to get "80s" done.

And last but not least, my cross stitch project -  Millennium.  I finished the planned back stitching on St. Michael.  I actually also got started on the landscape/robe edge on St. Raphael, but didn't get too far yet.  So no picture of that side until next week.

Linking up with Kathy's blog for her weekly SSS round-up.  (link to this week)

Slow Sunday Stitching - February 17, 2019

Another snowy weekend here in Kansas - we had four inches on Friday and more over-night on Saturday.   I credit the weather and the resulting hibernation for getting a fair bit done this weekend.   (This is the view from my office door on Friday......  BRRRRRR.)  I hope everyone else in the Slow Sunday Stitching crew is staying warm (or cool depending on their local weather conditions).  I'm linking up with Kathy's blog for that.  (link to current week round up)

I had to get a new, shorter knitting needle for the hat to match the orange cowl - it was just too stretched out with the one I did the cowl on.  Picked that up on Thursday on the way home from work and the hat is now underway.  I'm really only working on it during my commute when it's my turn to ride, so it will be rather slow going this next week - it's my turn to drive.   Though I may get some 'waiting in line' time.   So there's not a lot to see here (and the color in this photo is really bad - the cowl picture from last week is a lot more accurate).

Got Block # 17 AND another block for Aunt Lottie's Garden completed.   This is #18 of 30 for the center.  Just four more of each color and I can assemble the center of the quilt.   I promise, I did finish and press both blocks before I put them away.  I took this photo at Quilt Guild last Tuesday since I finished it during the lecture there.   Interesting talk from one of the RJR designers on how the pattern industry works. 

 And last, but certainly not least, Millennium is at a bit over four hours this round.   I finished the rest of the area between the sword blade and St. Michael's robes and then started the back stitching on the left side.  I did the torch pole, the column edge and the lower wings.  Still to do this coming week - robes and trim on this side.    

As with the first round of back stitching, I love how the piece just comes alive with the outline finished.   Colors that didn't make sense become contours, highlights and shadows.  It's like magic.   I'm leaving the back stitching on the sword hilt until the end when I lay in the metallic threads on the blade and put the two beads in the cross-guard.  But I will do the purple in the sleeve lining and trim with this round.  And I've mentioned before that the gold under tunic back stitching will be done with the arch base.  So this week should see me done with this side.

Slow Sunday Stitching - February 10, 2019

This week ended up with more crafting time than I thought it would.   We had a pretty nasty ice storm here in eastern Kansas that started on Wednesday afternoon (choir practice was cancelled) and I worked from home on Thursday and Friday.   So zero commute time!  That was fun, but I was getting a bit cabin-feverish by Saturday morning LOL.  (Like Kathy who hosts the link up party, sand and/or salt is not to be found here for 'love nor money' as my grandmother used to say.)


I finished off the orange cowl and cast on a matching hat:

And on the needlework front, Millennium is at about two hours.   I am working on Saint Michael, working down the landscape behind the sword blade on both sides.   I have two more colors to lay in on the left of the blade and then I will be able to do the back stitching on the wings, outer column, lower torch pole, and upper tunic.   I'll leave the lower, golden tunic to do later, since the cloth drapes over and behind the bottom of the base of the arch.

And I am about to finish off another block for Aunt Lottie's Garden; just the upper left quarter yet to go.   This is 17 of 30 for the center of the quilt and is my focus today.  I'd like to get this one done and the next one set up this afternoon.

All in all, progress on all fronts.  I'm linking up with the rest of the Slow Sunday Stitchers over on K's blog.  (Link to this week's round up.)

Slow Sunday Stitching - February 3, 2019

I've got a couple of things to report this week.  


My needlework rotation hit a changeover point.   I put in a solid ten plus hours on Dutch Beauty.   Just one page to go for the center row!

If you want to see the whole thing all laid out check out the changeover post.    Millennium is back on deck for February, with a plan to work on the edges where the center landscape touches the angels on both sides so as to set up for backstitching to come.  


And I finished another one of the applique blocks for Aunt Lottie's Garden - number 16.  This is another one of the vintage blocks.  I love the dainty floral.   I think this was scraps from a curtain or valance of some kind in my Great Aunt's house.  I have a vague memory of a purple flowered flouncy drape in her bedroom, but in those days, little people stayed out of adult bedrooms, so I'm not really sure.   

I'm going to be super busy at work this week, but hopefully I can get some progress somewhere.   It's not going to be a good day for Slow Stitching today as I have to run into the office and play catch up after a bunch of unexpected meetings and such at the end of the week last week.    Otherwise I'll be drowning tomorrow.    But hopefully the rest of the SSS crew have a better time of it  (link to this week's roundup.)


ETA:  Finished the pink blanket, but still need to deliver it.

Slow Sunday Stitching - January 13, 2019

It was a decent week for crafting all in all.   I got another block for Aunt Lottie's Garden done; this is block 15 of 30 for the center of the quilt.  At the mid point on these!!!   And today's first Slow Stitching goal is to get another one basted.  

Dutch Beauty got some attention; this is about four hours so far this round.  Finished up the bowl of roses and started on the carnation motif.  And miracle of miracles, I found my bigger Q snap set that I have been looking for since I restarted this.   The larger frame fits so much better on my Just a Thought floor stand.   It's a bit harder to get the ground fabric 'square with the world' when I put the caps on  the rods, but to not be squashed into a 9 x 9 inch square hoop is worth it.
 
By the way, I triple checked the pattern, there are no dark centers in the 'cherries' on this side, though there are on the left.  I always waffle about 'fixing' mistakes on historic reproductions.  On one hand, it makes me a little crazy when mirror images aren't exact reflections.  On the other hand, it's a reproduction and that means a faithful copy.  So no centers for the cherries.  Probably.

And I'm approaching the halfway point in the new afghan thanks to a couple of nights of 'knitting and reading'.   Here's a look at the colorway on this one, from back when it was just a corner.

It's gotten cold again here in Kansas, winter settling back in and I think that I'm hibernating for the rest of the weekend once I get back from church.   I'm going to settle in with a mug of hot tea and see what the other Slow Sunday Stitching crew is up to over at the link party on Kathy's blog (link to this week's roundup).

Slow Sunday Stitching - January 6, 2019

Still not used to dating things in "19".   For a minute there, I had a time warp post going on LOL.

I did get Marita's afghan done.  It's just a tad over 40 inches square, which is a nice size for tossing over your legs while watching TV.   And I cast on another one in pinks.   Angie's sister wants one. 

Dutch Beauty has been the Needlework in progress since the first of the year. 
At the end of the last rotation I was here:

I worked on it just a bit at the Silver Needle Camp before we started on the camp projects and then put almost 2 hours in this week.   All the buds are done on the bowl of roses and the last large flower is well underway:

And I finished Block #14 of 30 for "Aunt Lottie's Garden".  I also prepped another block as my travel project for the upcoming week.  It's one of my pink blocks; took the papers out of the English Paper Piecing and my first Sunday Stitching task will be to get it basted.

Work's going to be busy and there's Quilt Guild this week on Tuesday, so not as much crafting time next week.   Plus the annual 'squishing of the girls' is scheduled for tomorrow.   Not looking forward to that a whole lot, but it's necessary.  There's a family history of breast cancer on both sides - my dad's sister and my maternal grandmother's sister, the Aunt Charlotte/Lottie that made the Grandmother's Flower Garden sets, in fact.  So I've been very conscious of getting my exams.  In fact, Public Service Announcement.  Make the appointment for your mammogram.  Keep the appointment.  Do it.  Now.  Today (or first thing Monday morning).
Off my soapbox and linking up with Kathy's blog.  As soon as I get back from church, I'll be over there seeing what everyone's been up to this week.