Slow Sunday Stitching - June 25, 2023

Sorry for skipping out on last week's Slow Sunday Stitching round up.   I had zero progress on anything to report!   

I'm having a bit of a rough patch - work is crazy, of course, with my boss out on maternity leave (healthy baby was born on the 13th) and the garden is taking most of my after work attention right now.    So the usual summer slow down in crafting is hitting a bit earlier than some years.  It doesn't help that I jammed the thumb on my left (non dominate) hand so it hurts to 'pinch' anything - like a sewing or knitting needle!!!

But LOOK

Is that the borders of the Patchwork of the Crosses Table Topper that I see?   Yes!   After almost exactly a year since I finished the center, I finally have gotten energized on this project again.   Now I have to figure out how wide the solid black inner border needs to be, get the borders assembled and the corners mitered and then applique down the EPP center onto the borders.   

I've laid it out on the table that it's being made for and I think somewhere between six and eight inches for the inner border will give me the size I need.   Since there's a drop over the edge of the table, I'm a bit worried that the corners will not drape well.   Definitely using the thinnest batting I can find for this, maybe flannel or even no batting at all, just the front and back cotton layers.   That's what Lucy Boston did in her patchworks - they are actually not true quilts because they have no batting and no quilting or even tying.   

Decisions, decisions - but at least we are underway again.  

Hopefully I'll have some needlework to show next week; linking up with the SSS crew.

Slow Sunday Stitching - July 3, 2022 and #BBDweekendSAL for July

 Whew, July already.  We got some much needed rain on Friday and a little relief from the heat.  It's been a very hot early summer here in the mid-central part of the US.   And now the Independence Day weekend is here.  People are already shooting off fireworks.  I love the big professional aerial displays, but not a huge fan of all the 'snap crackle pop bang' stuff.  

Despite the heat, I managed to get to the halfway point on the last side of the Sock Yarn Blanket.   I'm not pushing on this one despite it being close to a finish because I can only manage about three inches of the I Cord border before my hands get uncomfortably sweaty working with the wool yarn.  Slow and steady......

"Patchwork of the Crosses" has reached a milestone, though.   Ready for borders!  I'm glad I took the time to finish off the connecting blocks.  Even though the edges are still not straight, they are better than they were.   The inner border will be the solid black to make the pieced section 'float'.  The outer border will be the dark Jinny Beyer print.   I was going to use the lighter version with the steel grey background, but now that it's all together, I'm leaning into the whole 'dark and dramatic' aesthetic.    Plus, the light background was only BARELY enough for outer border length as the center sits now with no inner border.  I have more of the dark background stripe - over twice as much. That will make pattern matching the corner miters MUCH easier!

After finishing "Corgi Caboodle", I got going on the monthly Black Bird Designs weekend stitch along.  So I'm currently working on "Their Song".  I've put a couple of hours in on this so far this weekend, starting with the branch and bird.  There's a lot of stitches in that last big bird (in two shades of dark grey - WWD "Charcoal" and "Pelican Grey"). 

Back to work on this one as soon as I check out the current SSS link round up.  There's a whole bunch of leaves and cherries yet to go (plus my initials over on the far right).

ETA:  Five hours total in on "Their Song" (including a break to chart my initials).  I think I'm going to work on this again tomorrow since it's a three day weekend and see if I can get a finish.

Slow Sunday Stitching - June 19, 2022

 Summer is here in spades in eastern Kansas - hot and muggy.   In the garden, peppers and tomatoes are setting fruit like crazy as are the squash.  My cucumbers are a loss this season, though.   Something ate every single one!  So if I want to make pickles, it's off to the farmer's market for me!

Inside where it's cool, there's crafting going on.  I'm almost at the next corner on the Sock Yarn Blanket.   Maybe six inches to go.   This next corner will present some interesting challenges that I'll post about when I get there. 

And Corgi Caboodle hit five hours: I have been working on the fill in on Papa Corgi and did almost half of the foliage and upper border.  I might actually get this done this rotation, though there's a lot more flowers (and a bee) still to do.  Plus the fill in on Mama

More time on this is on the docket for today, once I've checked out the SSS crew (current link roundup).

I got the second side fill in on my Patchwork of the Crosses finished. To be honest, I'm getting burnt out on this project and it's not even a top yet!   I don't want to put it aside for fear that I'll never want to get back to it.  

I've really slowed down on the EPP, so I've set myself a weekly and some daily goals in the hope that I can keep slogging along until I get excited about it again.

Slow Sunday Stitching - June 12, 2022

Looking forward to my two days off on Monday and Tuesday this coming week.   Our vacation has a July first "use it or lose it" deadline, so everyone is scrambling a bit to get their last days used up.  I did donate a couple of days to our employee fund.   I used several days from the fund when my mom was in hospice care twelve years ago.  I've long since paid it back (not that you have to) and am now "paying it forward".  

It's going to be hot here - 105 F heat index due to high humidity (40.5 C), but I'll get out into the garden early or late and enjoy stitching in the cool house the rest of the time!  Hard to believe we were in the 60s F / 15 C just a couple of weeks ago.  We went from early spring to high summer in just ten days!

So what's on the docket?   The sock yarn blanket is not much fun to work on now that it's hot.  It's uncomfortable to have that much wool in my lap, but I sit at the desk or the dining room table, shove the whole thing up onto the surface and knit away.  I just hit the halfway point on side 3.  Still miles and miles of navy blue I Cord edging that looks just like all the other navy blue I Cord edging LOL.  At this point, it's a slog. but the end is in sight, and there will be an interesting fiddly bit at the end.  I've never tried to do an invisible grafted connection on I cord before. 

Capped off the first side connecting blocks on the "Patchwork of the Crosses".   I decided to applique down to the inner border once I get to this point on all four sides, but I don't have enough black for the inner borders and the backing, so I'll need to put in an order for a couple yards of Kona Black.  I have plenty for the honeycombs for the other three sides, so work on the fill in continues.

On the needlework front, Rotation #3 for the year kicks off with five hours on Plum Street Samplers "Corgi Caboodle".   I'll come back and put in the full time on it, but five hours will be enough to meet my second WIPGO goal for June which is "five hours on a current project".  I only spent about an hour on it yesterday and got the puppy finished - aren't those ears a hoot!   Corgi puppies are really all ears and wiggle LOL! Today I want to work on the border, vine and flower above Mama Corgi's head in the hopes of establishing the upper right corner.  But first I will check in the SSS crew (current link party).

#BBDweekendSAL for June 2022 and Slow Sunday Stitching - June 5, 2022

Blackbird weekend stitch-a-long yesterday and today.   I'm still working away on "Their Song", #24 in the original Loose Feathers Club.   This month I'm working along the bottom row of motifs under the branches of the cherry tree with the big blackbird perched in it.   I've finished on everything on the left side of the tree trunk and sketched in the base of the tree just to make it easier to count.  This is at somewhere around three and a half hours worth of work.

When I hit five hours, I'll put it away until next month.  There's no plan or deadline on this, I'm just enjoying stitching on it. 

Let's se; what else?  I got around the second corner on the Sock Yarn Blanket, but still just row after row of navy blue I Cord edging.   Good floss tube knitting!  But no picture since it looks exactly like the first corner LOL!

And I got the four little squares on the corners of "Patchwork of the Crosses".   EXCEPT this happened:

oops.  Yeah, there was more seam ripper deployment when I saw that!   I'll move that little black square over to the actual CORNER after I check out the rest of the SSS crew (link to the current round up). 

In garden news, my tomatoes and peppers are blooming.  We've had some pretty cool weather (60s), so they are a bit later than some years.

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 29, 2022

 Memorial Day weekend - Remembrance Day in the US.  Honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

I'm running behind at the office, so I'm putting in some hours today so I can take tomorrow completely off to go to the parade, etc.  But there has been some crafting in and around work this week. 

First of all, I got to the center of the second side of the Sock Yarn Blanket.  No photo this week because it's just more of the I Cord edging, and blue on blue is not all that interesting to look at!

What IS interesting to look at is my Patchwork of the Crosses Table Topper with the center all put together!!

I love the way this is looking!  But it's time to talk next step.   See that jagged edge?  Yeah, I need to build that out until it is a LOT straighter. Paper Pieces is where I have purchased all my papers for this project and they have some partial shapes, so I got a selection and laid out a possible edge.  

Can't decide if I want to do that because it's still not straight.   The alternative is to applique the whole thing down to straight black strips and join that to my Jenny Beyer border print.

I at least want to EPP the corners and fill in the end of the connecting blocks.  Those pieces are the white papers in the photo above.  I do like the idea of appliqueing it down to a wider strip of black fabric.  I don't think the little 'triangle house roof' pieces will be deep enough for the border I have envisioned.  

At any rate, I need four more squares for the corners and 16 more honeycombs to cap off the connecting blocks.  I'll start working on that after I get some work done and check out the SSC crew (link to current round up).

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 22, 2022

 I really enjoyed being on vacation the first part of this last week.  I just relaxed and puttered around the house, but sometimes, just a chance to unwind is a great vacation time.  I will admit that most of my extra time was spent in the garden; after all the rain last couple of weeks, it was exploding, especially the weeds LOL.  And I read several books for pure pleasure.

Of course there was stitching of various types. As projected, I reached the first corner of the I-cord edging on the Sock Yarn Blanket.   It doesn't add any size to the project or even much bulk.  But the edge with the I cord is a lot more stable and less prone to stretching in general.   That happens because the 'grain' of the edge and the grain of the I cord are perpendicular to each other, and the way the working yarn wraps around the edge with each row acts almost like a whip stitch style stay stitch.  Still good audiobook or TV knitting. 

I put in quite a bit of time on "Patchwork of the Crosses" last week,   I finished attaching the third corner, reworked the last corner to have green in the center (I like it much better now.) and started attaching it (upper right).

Because I'm still fiddling around with painting the canvas on the Unicorn Pillow, my needlework time (such as it was) has been spent on the USMC Seal - a couple more letters done since the last time I showed it.  I'd like to get this section finished today after I check out the rest of the SSS crew (link to current roundup).

Ugh, where's my seam ripper...... And adventures in paint!

 

I do not love this last of the corner blocks on my "Patchwork of the Crosses".   The other three corners all have some green in them and this one is just 'BLAH'.  Too much neutral and rose pink.   So I'm going to take out the center four pieces and put in green.    It wouldn't have been bad in a bigger quilt where a few 'ugly' blocks can often provide some negative space or 'resting' space.   But in a quilt with only nine blocks (or thirteen if you count the four alternate blocks with the squares), every single block has to work and this one just - doesn't.

Also while on vacation, I knew that since I'm getting towards having the Plaza Sewing Bag about done with it's slot in the rotation, I need to stop procrastinating on getting the Unicorn canvas repainted.   So I got brave, took it off the stretcher frame and lit into it.  First coat.  Goodbye roses, hello unicorn in a forest.   I painted out the borders of the cameo in the blues that are the shadows and ribbons, but the more I look at it, the more I think maybe the two olive greens would make a better transition between the fairly bright blues in the cockade and the dappled tweed teal in the background.  I was glad to see that the pure titanium white did cover where it needed to. 

Will need to dry for 24 hrs before adding another coat.

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 15, 2022

 Lots of stuff going on this week!  I got a new storm door installed and even the pizza delivery guy noticed LOL.  Still working on getting a few more projects on the house done before I retire.   I'd eventually like to replace all the storm windows, but I'll have to do that a few at a time as the budget permits.  

I'm off Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday next week and even though I have a couple of appointments and my grandson's sixth grade promotion assembly to go to, I'm hoping to get a bit more crafting time next week.

I did get some things done this week:

First of all - very exciting, I'm getting close to the first of the I cord corners on the Sock Yarn Blanket.   This final / binding border is not 'mindless knitting' anymore; since the rows are only a few stitches long, I can never really get into a rhythm.  But the flip side of such small rows is how fast they go.  I'll share a picture of a corner when I get there. 

Thanks to a good audio book on Saturday afternoon, I am almost to five hours on the Plaza Sewing Bag for the current rotation.  The next portion of the city streetscape is the building that is the highlight of the actual Plaza skyline - the clock tower; there is SO MUCH double running!! There's a whole big and complex second story rotunda, dome and finials yet to outline before I can even start on the fill in.   This building will certainly take multiple rotations to finish!

And I got the second corner block added to the "Patchwork of the Crosses" table topper.   

I have the third corner (upper left) prepped and will start connecting it as soon as I'm done checking out the rest of the SSS crew (link to current round up).

#BBDweekendSAL for May 2022 and Slow Sunday Stitching - May 8, 2022

 I made some progress on "Their Song" for the May Blackbird Designs Weekend SAL (#BBDweekendSAL).   Last of the bottom edge is done, which also includes the last of the lettering.   And I filled in most of the right side, except for the initials, which I will need to rechart and move over to the very edge since all of my letters are tall ones. (khd)

Plus in order to fill a normal five hour slot on this, I also started filling in the floral, star and random motifs that run along the bottom of the motif area.  There's still several more, plus the big cherry tree and largest black bird yet to go on this piece.  But there's no deadline or plan for this one, so I'm not going work extra on it today.   Instead, I'll move on to the next rotation piece - the Plaza Sewing Bag.

There was a fair bit of other progress this week as well.  Links to the detail posts.

Finished up the ten hours in the rotation for the "Modern Slot" -  "Corgi Caboodle" by Plum Street Samplers

Got a very old piece (2000!) of needlework to FFO status ("GVS1888: An Orphan Sampler" from Antique Sampler and Needlework Quarterly).  I was inspired by all the redwork pincushions being made from new market releases.

The Sock Yarn Blanket has started the final round, the I-cord edge.

AND I got the first (bottom left) of the corner blocks on Lucy Boston "Patchwork of the Crosses"!  Next is the bottom right

All of this was due to the fact that it pretty much rained with thunderstorms all the days that I worked from home this week, so there was very little time spent in the garden.  Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitching crew (current roundup).

Slow Sunday Stitching - April 17, 2022

Happy Easter to everyone who is celebrating today and Happy Sunday to all ! 

Last week, I promised an update on a couple of projects that have not gotten a lot of press over the last few weeks.

Assembly on the Lucy Boston "Patchwork of the Crosses" table topper continues.  I am ready to finalize the corner layout and get those underway.  Loving the dark background. 

And I passed the very last full sized corner on the Sock Yarn Blanket.   The final round will be Icord that acts rather like quilt binding, wrapping around the edge.  That will have corners, of course, but not anywhere near as complex as the rest of the rounds with their wrap and turn miters. 

all the balls of yarn are used up - down to just the cone

And on the needlework front, the "modern" slot is nearly done with six hours in on a Victoria Sampler "Beyond Cross Stitch" small piece.   This is BCS #4-2 that features Three-sided Eyelet pulled stitch and zigzag hemstitch.  I have all the border and fancy lacy work done.   Just need to continue the double-running and cross stitch inner border around, add a few beads and a brass reindeer charm in the very center and this will be done.  

only about 4 x 4 inches (10 x 10 cm)

Side note on this project - I laced the sides because of the drawn and pulled thread work.   It needs four way tension to do the lacy bits, but I don't like to do these techniques (or any counted thread work for that matter) in a hoop.   So I turn my roller frame into an faux slate frame by lacing the sides.   

I'm feeling quite accomplished so far this month.  Linking up with SSS (current link party).  I'll tackle more double running pine branches after I get back from Easter lunch with the kids.  Should be able to finish this today or tomorrow!

PS:  I haven't gotten the Unicorn canvas repainted (as discussed here) nor will I manage to get to it next weekend - because the quarterly virtual retreat is coming up!  And I really need to get some cheap brushes before I can tackle it.  Painting canvas is hard on brushes because of the heavy texture of the weave.  I'm not going to ruin my good sable brushes on this!

Slow Sunday Stitching - March 20, 2022

 I've been working on getting the Patchwork of the Crosses Table Topper caught up this weekend. The first three rows (of five) are together.

The more I work with it, the more I like the dark background.   Now that the basting is out of the center, the full effect is really pretty, I think.  EPP assembly is not the quickest technique; I have to be careful not to do enough to stress the base of my left thumb.   I have an old injury there and it's the first place that stress in my hands shows up.   So no knitting marathons either!

But the sock yarn blanket is only about 12 inches / 30 cm from the next corner!   It's coming along nicely as well. 

And on the needlework front, I finished the 10 hour slot on my full coverage USMC seal (see the rotation changeover post) and have put in an hour and a bit on the unicorn pillow.  I finished off the front ear and the part of the mane right above it.

I'm watching the grandkids this afternoon while my son is out of town and my daughter in law is sitting at the hospital with her sister post surgery.   It went well and there's a good prognosis.  All in all a good week.  Linking up with SSS (current round up)

Slow Sunday Stitching - February 20, 2022

 Busy week with internal audit this week, and it's a short month, so all the usual deadlines hit early.   And we had more snow!   Luckily, not as much as they had south and east of town.   We were right on the upper edge of the storm so the accumulation was spotty.  It was weird.   We have the airport that was the old AF Base / now the AF Reserve unit south of town and the airport for private small planes north east of town. There was snow accumulation of 2.5 inches / 6.3 cm at one and just short of 7 inches / 17.75 cm at the other.   And they are maybe 11 miles / 17.5 km apart.  Here at my house (about halfway between) we got 4 inches / 10 cm (measured by sticking my quilter's ruler on the sidewalk before shoveling).   It's supposed to get up to 60 F / 15.5 C this afternoon, so the snow won't stick around.  

I've been watching campfire cooking videos on You Tube (oh the rabbit hole the internet can be) while beavering away at my sock yarn blanket.   Finished round 9, did the first corner on round 10 and started down the first side.  I wanted to be sure I liked the second round of the navy border.   I think I do.

And I got another block attached on the PotC table topper.   You can really see the effect of the black background now that the basting is out of some of it. 

Picked up the Blackbird Designs "Moon Garden" from the framers.   I really like how it turned out. 

The frogs visited this week on the Plaza Sewing Bag, so I'm at very nearly the same spot despite several hours of work on it.  There was a discrepancy between the charted color and the cover photo color.   I like the cover photo color much better, so .....  I REALLY hate frogging over one, BTW.   No picture this week; I've put it in 'time out'.  But at least I'm ready to start moving forward again when I pick it back up. 

Linking up with the SSS crew (current roundup).

Slow Sunday Stitching - February 13, 2022

 Health update - getting some energy back, but still coughing a lot.   It's good to not need a nap every day, though!

And there was quite a bit of crafting this week all things considered. 

I put in over four hours on the Plaza Sewing Bag that is the current needlework focus project.  The next building in the cityscape is about half way done, with the rest of the roofline and a large 'stained glass' window in the front facade left to do.   I'm not happy with the spacing on the name over the doorway; I may frog and re-chart it myself.  I'll decide after I get the window in.

There's been some progress on Patchwork of the Crosses as well.  Here's a back view of the center and first connecting row in progress.   As you can see, I'm starting to remove papers as I go along.  (And I REALLY need to replace my ironing board cover!  I use Best Press and other starches quite a bit on my quilts and linens and starch over-spray does stain when it gets heated multiple times on the linen setting.)  About halfway through getting that vertical connecting block attached, then I can take out 9 more foundations.  There's something very satisfying to pulling out the basting and papers

And last but not least, I'm within six inches of the last corner on Round 9 of the Sock Yarn Blanket.  It's been nice to snuggle under a pile of garter stitch when it's cold.

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching (current link party).

Slow Sunday Stitching - January 16, 2022

Very short update today.  I'm bushed!  Busy week at work finishing up the year end close, plus see below.

There were a lot of small birds this week.   Finished the ones on the left side of Dutch Beauty.

And started the ones on the right.   Not shown, the remainder of the 'bottom edge of the nest' area that spanned the entire page in between!

I started putting the "Patchwork of the Crosses" Table-topper together; just barely started, but I'm already liking how it looks.

And this weekend, there was this and that going on, so very little crafting occurred yesterday LOL.

Linking up with SSS and then taking a nap!

Edit to add:  the gymnast on the uneven bars is my granddaughter, Alexis.   She took first on bars and vault and second all round in her age and skill level.   The young biker is my grandson, Carl.  He qualified in both heats, but didn't place in the actual race - this is his third competition and he's still learning. Their competition venues were just a block apart, which made it possible for me to support both of them this weekend. 

Layout for Lucy's "PotC"

 I originally titled this post "Laying out Lucy", but 'laying out' is something one does to a corpse prior to the coffin and funeral.   And there's a lot of life in this old gal yet!

I think this will be the final order of the blocks.   The colors are pretty well distributed, I think.   If anyone has opinions, please weigh in!   I certainly didn't plan four blocks with reds, two that were just two color, and three with golds, but it did work out nicely just by chance!  And I put the three with the best fussy cutting across the center.

Even once the blocks are together, there's a bunch of work left to get to a finished top.  I'll have to decide what to do about all the edges for one thing!   Paper pieces does make some fill in shapes for honeycomb blocks. I need to investigate.

As far as the strategy for putting it together.  I think the most logical way is five rows - three of the main blocks with two connecting blocks in each row and two rows with alternate blocks and three connectors.  

I'm still working from home (our back to the office date was moved back due to the surge in the new COVID variant), so this can be my lunch hour project even though it's outgrown true 'travel project' status. 

Slow Sunday Stitching - January 2, 2022

NEW Year - 2022 came in with snow late New Year's Eve night / very very early New Year's Day here in Kansas and the lows were a couple of degrees below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. (-20 Celsius).   BRRRR, but luckily it was after most of the revelers were already home!  After almost 60 F (15 C) on New Year's Eve mid afternoon, it was a shock to the system LOL.  But temperature swings like this are pretty typical of my area of the Great Plains.  So today I'm staying inside, enjoying leftover eggnog and just being in a crafting cocoon with my ongoing projects.

Like #BBDweekendSAL this weekend.   I'm working away on "Autumn Silhouette".  I made some great progress Friday and yesterday due to staying up late.  My neighbors always set off fireworks at midnight. so it's not worth going to bed before all that is done.   With Walt having been a law enforcement officer, we never were able to really celebrate New Year's Eve.  Every LEO in the country is on duty over the New Year's holiday! And after he passed away, I never got back into the habit of doing anything more than staying up late and maybe watching some of the TV celebrations.

Ready to work over on the upper left later today after checking out the rest of the SSS crew (the weekly Slow Sunday Stitching link party).

Linen color is not right - it's actually more rust toned

Earlier this week, I finished the last of the connecting blocks for the center of "Patchwork of the Crosses" this week.   I'll need to figure out the layout before I can start connecting everything up.  But at least I met my goal for 2021 on this project - ALL of the center blocks are done!

7 - 12 of the connecting blocks

Speaking of goals, I didn't quite get a blackout on my 2021 WIPGP board.  The last project for December didn't get finished.   I got the little bit of stitching done on the "KCHSG Smalls - Tape Measure Case", but not the finishing.   In fact, I've barely started to baste the strip that goes around the outside, which also needs to get a ribbon felled down to it (on the left side below).  So I'm going to put this project on the 2022 WIPGO board in the center space.   If I get it finished before then (which I hope I can do during the January finish and frame weekend), #13 will go back to being a "free" space.

cute itty bitty queen stitch flowers

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 26, 2021

 I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday week and weekend.  Mine was rather busy with family and church, but just being off work for a few days has been wonderful!

There's even been some crafting in and around everything else.   Most of it has been at the machine, though I did get TWO of the pathway blocks for "Patchwork of the Crosses" done.  I'm up to 11 of them with number twelve already cut out and ready to start basting.   I'll get to that after I check out the SSS crew (link to current round up). 

I got to the midway point on Side 3 of the first round of the navy border on the Sock Yarn Blanket this week.  Now that it's getting at least marginally like winter occasionally here in Kansas, it's the perfect time of the year to be working on an afghan and have a lap full of warm woolly goodness. 

 I've also set up the fabric and floss for my last 2021 WIPGO project - the KCHSG Measuring Tape Case.   There's minimal embroidery on it.  It's basically going to be the same design as this pin disk from the set, just without the octagon border.   The side strip will have a ribbon felled down, just like the Garden Smalls one, so I'll need to baste out an area for that first.  The back will be a scrap of the lining calico, so that will be easy. But talk about down to the wire!

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 18, 2021

After a very warm December to date, the temps have finally dropped to below freezing here in Kansas.  With the unseasonable warmth, thunderstorms and straight line winds earlier this week, that's good.  We did loose our electric power here in my city, but it was back on within five hours for most neighborhoods.  My son works for our local water department and they are still running many of the pumps on backup generators at this point as the electric company prioritized households.   Unlike our poor neighbors to the east who were devastated by tornadoes from the other side of this weather system, things should be back to normal soon.   If you can, consider donating to the recovery efforts.     

Since I work for a utility company, it's been busy this week due to all the terrible weather, and like last winter, that leads to not a lot of crafting time,  I'll be busy in and around the holidays anyway, because my monthly workflow doesn't extend deadlines due to the time that the office will be closed, so I have to work extra to be able to take a day off.  I'm on salary, but it never seems to be a 'slack' time to make that time up LOL.   Retirement is still eleven months off.......  Not down to counting weeks or days yet.  Trying to run right up to the tape!

My family went out to see the lights around town the day before the storm hit.  This one is a drive through display in the camping area at the lake.  It's a fund raiser for our local sheltered workshop and advocacy service.  The mix of traditional and neon lights and fun special effects is always interesting to see.  We also hit up two of the houses that do the 'light and music' displays.  Again, they are in support of charities - the rescue mission and the local military family services outreach for one and the local food pantry for the other.  My son would love to get to the point where he could do one for USMC Toys for Tots.   Our zoo also does a wonderful walk through display, and my neighborhood (especially the big Victorian houses a couple of blocks over) have lots of houses that are beautifully lit for the season; we have tiny pocket parks in traffic circles over there and they are lit with painted plywood displays that rotate through several themes year to year - "A Christmas Carol" this year.

Driving around to see all the pretty lights with Mannheim Steamroller and other Christmas music playing is one of my favorite things this time of year. 

There was enough crafting time that I feel like I can link up with Slow Sunday Stitching though.   I did get another one of the connecting blocks done for "Patchwork of the Crosses" by Lucy Boston.  Number 9 of 12 for the center of the table topper.  Number 10 is already cut out.

Nine inches on the sock yarn blanket while watching some Floss Tube and attending a mandatory zoom meeting.  I'm not going to love having to do those in person next year where I won't be able to turn off my camera and knit (sad face).  More work on Bob's stocking - under the gun on that now.  He may be getting it without the embroidery and then I'll take it back after the holiday to finish it!

And lastly - since I finished Moon Garden, I concentrated a bit on the other Blackbird Designs piece, "Autumn Silhouette".   I think this one will make a good project bag if I can find the right quilting cotton to coordinate.   There's quite a bit of extra linen in the kit, so I could probably get some matching smalls out of it.   I ordered a couple of extra skeins of the floss to be able to accommodate the extra stitching if I decide to do the smalls.   I'll do the alphabet in the new dye lot.   It's Weeks Dye Works "Swamp Water" and that one changes a LOT from batch to batch.  The kit floss is almost black, but the Fat Quarter Shop website (where I ordered it) shows the same color as a greenish brown.  Hopefully it will look OK.

The linen is very grey in this photo, it really has an orange undertone

 On Saturday this coming week, I wish a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate.  And for everyone, I wish you Peace and Safety in this and every season.

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 11, 2021

 Wow, this week went by quickly!  And I got a fair amount accomplished.

Lucy Boston's "Patchwork of the Crosses" - working on the second set of the connecting blocks. Here's #7-8 of 12 for the center of the table topper.  Just four more to go.  I might get all the blocks finished by the end of the year! #9 is cut out already and the basting is underway.

I got the Plaza Sewing Bag to a bit over it's ten hours and got the shops on the left side of the front finished.  I think I'll continue along the cityscape when it comes up again.   There is a horse and carriage that goes on the center left where the gaps in the outlining are, but I'll do that after the shops are done as per the directions.

But the big news is on the knitting front.  Bob's Christmas Stocking - the heel flap is finally underway.  It's an heel I don't use often - the Dutch or Square heel.  But it will match the one on Kimi's sock pretty well.

Linking up with SSS

Edit to Add:   Moon Garden is finished!