Slow Sunday Stitching - August 30,2026 AND 2026 Rotation #6 Slot #3 (Historic) Changeover

 First up, bells.  As I mentioned last week, today's main service had a lot of bell music.  Most times when we play, it's one piece for either the prelude or the communion music.  Today we did both of those and procession music.  A total of three full pieces and some incidental music.  Basically, we covered for the fact that the choir is on vacation.  It went pretty well, a few mistakes, but nothing glaring.  I'll take it for the win!

On the needlework front, it's been a 'start-a-paloza' this week!  With the reorganization of the rotation to add the Blackbird Academy SAL, I needed a NOT Blackbird project for the historic or historic inspired piece.  I have been itching to do a Quaker and "A Christmas Quaker" by ByGone Stitches has been on the short list for several years.  It's an older pattern (2007), but Quakers are classics!

I have also been wanting to try Sulky 12 weight thread since several of the Floss Tubers I follow rave about it on 36 or 40 count - great coverage with one strand in the needle.  I can say, I LOVE it.  The coverage is as good as people reported, and working with one strand is my personal preference.  I choose a variegated green moving from deep pine to Christmas green as my main color.  There is no obvious repeat in the color order, and the color length (according to their website) moves randomly from two to five inches.  This makes the color pooling and overdying a lot more interesting and easier to work with than some more regularly variegated threads.  Highly recommend.  I also picked up dark red and medium green solids and a DMC metallic gold for the letters / numbers, the motifs where I wanted green without variegation, and the angel and star motifs respectively. 

This is a good-sized piece, even on 40 count linen.  10.25 inches (26 cm) H x 16 inches (40.6 cm) W.  The picture shows 10 hours; I was so excited to work on this project that I finished the rotation slot already! I'm working from a paper pattern, so no stitch count or accurate percentages will be available.  However, the pattern is three pages across and 1.5 pages high, which breaks naturally into a 9-block grid of rectangles.  And it's pretty densely stitched.  To give you some idea of the size of a section: the left side motif is half a page or one section high, and I'm halfway across the width of a page or section at the center of the half motif just above the "4".  

Carl had a haircut appointment this week and wanted me to go with him to meet the new stylist.  He has curly hair and has been having issues finding someone who can handle curls that are not tight and give him a cut that shows off his curls and is still easy to take care of.  But the result of that is that I got to start on the next perforated paper ornament; it's underway at 15.58%.

And finally, I picked out the next project for the Blackbird Academy SAL.  This is Loose Feathers #40 "Hedgerow Birds".  I'm using the kit materials and stitching two over two.  It will be a project bag finish per the pattern instructions.  This one I will start on September 1.

"Santa of the Forest" will have its month end picture on Tuesday, so look for that changeover post with the stats and progress comparison picture mid-week.

Knitting is progressing on both the new LOSY hat and the yoke of the sweater.  I'll try to remember to snap pictures for next the next update post.  In the meantime, enjoy the work of all the other Slow Sunday Stitchers.  (Current week's round up here.  And I should be back to my usual posting time next week.)

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 23, 2026 AND 2026 Rotation #6 Slot #2 (Modern) Changeover

 Well, my grandson and I survived the first (partial) week of school LOL. We aren't exactly into the routine yet, but we will get there. And bells are also off to a good start, with our first service next week.   We are playing a lot more pieces than we normally do in a single service because the choir is on break - I'll post after church next week (so later than usual) and will hopefully have good news.  Luckily, since we only have a couple of rehearsals to prep, most of the pieces are fairly simple to execute. 

I had a little more stitching time than I thought I would this week.  Carl is actually taking more responsibility for his online learning schedule this semester.  (Something I am very glad to see.)

I managed to get ten hours in on the "Collaboration Sampler" and finished the Shepherd's Bush section (top area of the bellpull, part 1 of 3) - except for the beads that will go in at the end. This brings me to 20 hours on this project so far.   It's cute - basically a mini band sampler.  The shadow stripes and checkerboard patterns in the sheep are my favorite part in this section!

Then I started in on the Just Nan area (bottom of the bellpull, part 3 of 3).  I'm leaving part 2 in the middle to the end due to all the specialty stitches in that area that would not like to be squashed onto the scroll rods when the fabric moves up and down.  This section is a small pictorial, so I took the time to put just this one area into Pattern Keeper so as not to miss any stitches.  It's dense and full of confetti stitching with over a half dozen colors just in this one floral branch!  This section is at 9% (not counting the corner eyelets and beads).  When I pick this up again, I'll be working on the first peacock of the pair.

And there's a finish in the Blackbird Academy SAL slot!  I got the stitching done on "It's Berry Time".  (Finish post is here.)  I won't be working on the actual finishing into a drum until next year in April, though, because I have another project that will go on the same piece of linen.  It's the strawberry emery that came as a bonus chart in the Berry Time pattern.

I'm leaving the linen on the scroll rods until both the projects are stitched, then cut them apart for finishing over the SAL "summer break" in June/July.  Hopefully the Academy will continue since I have MANY more BBD projects in the stash (30 of them including the planned December restart on "And to All a Good Night").

The prompt for September's Academy assignment is "Birds".  SO many BBD designs have birds, I'm spoiled for choice!  I'll report next week on which one made the cut.

Santa of the Forest got some attention this week as well. 1,133 stitches, which brings me to 69.39%.  I did make it over the 2/3 mark this week though, so progress milestone!

Linking up with the SSS crew for ongoing accountability and inspiration! (This week's link party is here.)

Slow Sunday Stitching - July 5, 2026 AND 2026 Rotation #5 Slot #1 (Not Counted X Stitch) Changeover

First of all, Happy Birthday to both Canada and the USA!  We had the annual big patriotic service at the church, and the handbells played my favorite version of "Amazing Grace" (and the "Finlandia" intro for "God Bless America" - which I also like a lot).  Then we had hours and hours of fireworks all over the neighborhood (Dela is not a fan LOL - but she did better than last year.  She just needed to be under my feet instead of pacing and shaking the entire day.)

But having a dog glued to me meant that I got a lot of stitching done, and I actually finished ten hours on the vintage German needlepoint piece "Alter Bauernholf / Old Farmhouse".   60 hours in it now.  

And the back so you can see the progress without the painted canvas

I had hoped to get more of the yard done, but the house was more fiddley and took longer than I thought it would.  To make matters worse, I ran out of white and the DMC "Blanc" is a bright white instead of the creamy white from the kit.   I was able to at least color block the part of the house facade that is the farthest forward instead of having a diagonal line or some other obvious break, but I wish I'd put some of the bright white into the clouds and mountain snow instead.  Not pulling out those areas - it doesn't bother me that much.  I did notice just now that I forgot to put in the long straight stitches for the wagon wheel spokes; I'll do that the next time I have black on the needle.

And where I was last rotation (end of May) for comparison:

I have also been working on the "Santa of the Forest".  During the last three days of last month, I put in 402 stitches for a June total of 4,701.  Then so far in July, I've managed 645 stitches.  That's a project total of 15,682 or approximately 45.19%.  Total for the week was 1,047.

 

Linking up with the SSS crew (a little later than usual because we slept in after the fireworks went on until almost 3 am!!!) - this week's link party is here.

Slow Sunday Stitching - April 4, 2026

 Happy and blessed Easter to all who celebrate today!  Handbells are playing at the main service, so this will be a very brief recap.  Not difficult as I have only worked on three things so far in April.   The first one doesn't have a photo, but I put 688 stitches into the Santa of the Forest since the first (see the changeover post here for what it looked like then).   5.84% complete. I'll try to get a decent photo for next week's post, but since it's a 'daily 100 stitches pictorial', I may only update once each rotation or month like I did with the Mead Dragon, unless you all want a weekly update.

Second is my knitting.  The charity scarf is over the 3/4 point and the last ball of yarn is down to the size of a baseball and shrinking rapidly. 

yellow marker is at the halfway point

Third on the list actually has the most time in since the rotation restarted on the first.  The vintage German needlepoint "Alter Bauernhof / Old Farmhouse" has five hours in already!

And the back so you can see the progress.  I finished up the right-side horizon and tree line, then moved over to the church to finish the walls and the bushes/trees around it.  Now I have started working on the farmhouse roof and am finishing my threads over on the barn in the right middle distance.

I've used all but two colors now, so the palette area is almost filled in.  (Some needlepointers fill the sample palette in first, but I do each color when I use it the first time.) I am so tempted to jump into the timber area on the house or barn just to get those last two done.  But I will be good.  The two roof areas shouldn't take too long (I hope).

Linking up with the SSS crew (weekly link party).  I'll be back after church to see what everyone else is up to.

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 21, 2025

 What a week!  My grandson made it through his finals.  Good grades unless he bombed his public speaking long form speech on the last day, but even if he gets a poor score, he will pass the class. (Speech was NOT his favorite class, and I can't blame him.  I hated it every time I had to take it - high school, college - both degrees - and a couple of rounds of professional development over the years!)  So now on to Christmas!  I can't believe we are only four days out. Where did December go?

Bells play today for the last Sunday in Advent and again on Christmas Eve at the early service.   One of the pieces has a very tricky syncopated section that I only get right about half the time.  I'm praying that the service is on the good side of those odds! 

Crafting has been a bit scant on the ground this week.  Two extra rehearsals in the run up to Christmas services and the end of the school term really cut into my free time.  But I did get the binding for the 80s quilt finished and all ready to go when it gets back from the long arm quilter.   And the design wall looks a bit different this week.

First of all, look at it all mounted on the wall and everything!  Thank you, JC and Carl for plaster anchors and levels and getting it squared away.  Second, you'll notice that all the 'parts of blocks' are now actual blocks except for the 3 inch finished squares.  I ended up with a total of 12 blocks to date.  

I've been thinking about how to approach this back.   The quilt is going to a long arm quilter, so I will need an extra 4 inches on each side of the top dimensions.   The top is 85 inches / 216 cm square.   So the backing will need to be a minimum of 93 inches / 236 cm square.   That's way bigger than my design wall, so I'm going to put it together by the quarter like a huge 4 patch.   

I'm going to set some guidelines for myself:

• No blocks in the outer six inches / 15 cm (so no blocks get chopped off and the binding is easy on the back).  
• Asymmetrical so it doesn't matter where the top lands relative to the back.  
• Bottom left corner - light neutral for name and date label (use that lone rosette to embellish).   
• Use up the bright rose fabrics and the intense plaid first for large sections of backing.
• I'm going to try not to worry or overthink too much about the layout.  As Karen Brown says in the tutorial I am using, the only two rules are 'big enough for the quilter' and 'must lay flat'. 

I'm hoping that the back goes together quickly so I can get an appointment with the long arm quilter that I used before.   But I'm not going to make that appointment until I get the back finished and ready to go.  I don't need the stress of an actual deadline on this thing!  Besides, this one will probably hibernate for a couple of weeks until after the holidays now.  The sewing table needs to be clear for gift wrapping and holiday crafting.  This is better than the old house, where the dining room table had to suffice for all of the above plus dinner!

Linking up with the SSS crew (this week's roundup).

Slow Sunday Stitching - November 23 AND 2025 Rotation #7, Slot #2 (Historic) Changeover

 It was a good week this week on the needlework front.  I finished off the ten hours on the Blackbird Designs historic inspired project "And to All a Good Night".   I am now at 58% on this piece.   I finished the bricks down to the top of the front door and the first half of the mortar in that area plus all the mortar in the upper part of the house and the interiors of the windows up top.  The gaps over the door and lower windows will have a huge floral swag with a pineapple, foliage, and large burgundy ball ornaments.  Hopefully I'll get to that part next time this comes around, because frankly I'm tired of bricks and mortar LOL.

Where I started the rotation for comparison (no mortar in the upper part of the house yet and the window insides only barely started):

Moving on to the third slot in my needlework rotation - not counted thread.   I introduced the new needlepoint project a couple of weeks ago (link to that post).   But I won't have time to do the set up on it today.  Bells are playing at both the main service and Evensong.   Wish us luck, the morning piece has a lot of difficult techniques and bell changes; our bass section is struggling.

I'll check out the rest of the SSS crew after all the church stuff (link to current roundup).

Slow Sunday Stitching - March 9, 2025 AND why I'm skipping 2025 Rotation #1, Slot #4 (Not Counted Thread)

 Back from church, with bells playing this morning.   The rehearsal was a disaster, but the actual piece in the service was the best we have ever done!   Better that way than the inverse😁!!!

Have had a bit of a setback on the vintage crewel eagle piece.  When I set up earlier this week to work on the pine needles, the pine green yarn just shredded to bits in the needle.  While it visually looked fine, it broke as it was pulled through the ground fabric into bits only a few inches long.  Since the pine needles are a combination of long and short shading plus very long straight and couched work (plus some bullion knots), I absolutely could not fudge it with the compromised yarn.   

Luckily, there are two very good needlepoint shops in Kansas City, so I mailed off a sample of the yarn to the one that I have used several times to replace materials for various vintage kit issues and they had a very close match in Colonial/Paternaya needlepoint yarn in stock.  Basically, it is just a dye-lot difference.   And a hank of that yarn should be here this week.

But in the meantime, I called Rotation #1 done and moved on to the Blackbird Designs piece that is in my "Historic Sampler" slot.   I put in a couple of hours on "Blessings and Kind Wishes" and got the stork's nest and a good bit of the first of the two storks finished.

This isn't a great photo, in real life, the pale grey and cream show up much better on the mottled linen.  I'll try to get a picture with better lighting next week.  

For now, though, I'm going to take a nap - between the shift to Daylight Savings Time and getting up early for church, I'm exhausted.   Linking up with the SSS crew (current link party).

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 29, 2024

 Hope everyone had (or is having) a great holiday season.  Bells played for the early service on Christmas Eve.   My grandson came with me to it, which was nice.  He even helped break down after the service, which was very appreciated by the older gentleman who does that for the bell choirs. 

My usual needlework rotation has fallen pretty much by the wayside this week.  I've been watching various floss tube videos doing "daily temperature" pieces.  One designer whose work I really like is Sarah, Stitchin' Mommy (link is to her You Tube channel).  The piece she designed for 2025 is all specialty stitches and I just couldn't resist any longer.  I love doing specialty stitches!  She released the pattern on Christmas, I bought it right away and got the borders done by this morning!

Each box is one month.  Each day will have one larger specialty stitch with the color determined by the day's verified high temperature.   Eastern Kansas (which is where I live) has a huge temperature range, so I chose the color palette that ranges from 110 F/43 C high to -10 F/-23 C low.  I may not need those two extremes, but we have gotten both that high and that low in the last 5 years.

Pretty plain and uninteresting so far, but Jan 1 will start with Queen Stitches.  The birdhouses project last year got lots of nice comments, so hopefully you all will like another monthly project.   I'm planning on updating on this one the first Sunday of each month.

Also been working on yet another LOSY hat and got it from the brim to the start of the crown decreases this week.

Linking up with the SSS crew (current roundup).

Slow Sunday Stitching - July 7, 2024

Hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Independence Day, and those in Canada had a good Canada Day celebration as well.  Happy Birthday to our respective nations!

My church traditionally has had a huge (standing room only) service of hymns and prayers with patriotic music and choirs from all over the area and a local VIP giving a speech every year on the Fourth.   The last one prior to this week was in July 2019 and loosing that service was one of the things I hated the most about the pandemic.   Well, we reinstated that service with a great 'bang'.   And the bells played for it.   We played my favorite version of "Amazing Grace" as part of the prelude and then joined the organ, brass and massed choirs for the closing hymn 'Finlandia" with the bells and brass parts written by our director.   Donald is so talented!   The speaker was one of the Kansas Supreme Court justices.  The service was posted on the Grace Cathedral Topeka You Tube. (Hopefully that link works, since embedding did NOT.)

That's the last thing for the bells this season.   We are on break until early September now.   I'll miss ringing, but it's nice to have a summer break.

I had an opportunity to go to a crafting group this week, and even though I have said that beading is not a travel appropriate project, I took my Mill Hill Santa any way since I figured that a quiet coffee shop had a fairly low 'spillage probability', and indeed no beads went astray.   I am the halfway point on the beading with the rest of the 'snow' crystals and the two types of beads in the tree left to go.

I wish the sparkle and dimension of the beading showed up better in a photo.   I'm really liking this one and it's getting close to a finish!

And I also got the SAL section for July completed for the Birdhouses SAL.  See the changeover post for a close up.  I love the way the gull is eyeing the 'catch of the day' with bad intent.  LOL.

Getting July done necessitated moving the Q Snap.  So here's the piece all laid out.  (Pardon the wrinkles.)   Just two more sections to go (August and September) and I sure hope it meets up in the middle!!!   That's always a concern when you work in from the edges! Everybody keep your fingers crossed for me.

Linking up with the SSS crew.

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 12, 2024

It's been a good week for stitching.   I had a couple of online meetings last week that gave me some stitching time on my travel piece.  It's getting very close to the start of the beading.   Just that darkest tree color and the backstitching of the plaid on Santa's coat and bootlaces to go before it's no longer a travel project.   Mill Hill ornaments "Northwoods Santa: Scotch Pine" kit.

I spent my 'house stitching' time the first few days of the week finishing up my monthly SAL.  This round took 7.5 hours - it's one of the smaller sections.  The little trio of 'birdhouse condos' is so cute, though.

With the SAL done, I then switched back to the Blackbird Designs "Keepsake" piece.  At five hours total on the project, I'm 3/4 of the way done with the basket.  Good progress all around!

Linking up with the SSS crew (current round up).

Wish me luck this morning - bells are playing a really 'stretch' piece for us.   "Now the Green Blade/Sing We Now of Christmas"  arranged by Kevin McChesney (link to a YouTube of a high school choir performing it, though we aren't going quite that fast).  Lots of percussion technique! 

Slow Sunday Stitching - April 21, 2024

 It's been a tough week.  Two deaths in my church family, both unexpected.  One of our ringers discovered last week that she was in the final stages of an aggressive cancer and she passed on Wednesday morning.  The funeral was yesterday and the bell choir played.  It was hard, Darlene was one of our founding members.  And I feel for her kids.  Her husband is in the early stages of dementia and she was the primary caregiver. I don't envy them the next few months. 

Our director did an arrangement of Amazing Grace that omitted her bells in a setting with the base bells doing a funeral toll throughout.   It was beautiful and went well.  We also put together a small tribute at her place in the choir; nobody but a fellow ringer would notice her upturned bells "at rest".  And we wear black gloves to ring, so hopefully someone looking at it without that knowledge would understand the intent.

The other death was even worse.  I'm not going to give details, because the police inquiry is ongoing, but it happened just two blocks from my house!  

In spite of tragedy and funerals and the garden getting started, I did have a good stitching week.  There were a couple of quarter end video meetings where my camera was off, so I got some time in on the current perforated paper Santa.  The cross stitch part is coming along.  There's still  a couple of tree colors, the second mitten (shows through the tree branches), and a cardinal perching on the top of the tree to go before I get started on the beads.

And I'm very close to finishing the current month section on the Birdhouses SAL.  Just the rest of the fence backstitch and neat little wren perched on top of the right hand picket left to go.  Look for a changeover post later today.  (ETA: That post is here.)

I'm going to be puttering around in the garden after church and healing my soul with growing things.  Linking up with the SSS crew here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS (Eve) and Slow Sunday Stitching, December 24, 2023

Wishing everyone who celebrates a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah (a bit late), a Blessed Yule.  However you mark the longest night of the year, hail the return of the Light!

The LIST for December

(1 thru 4 are 'have to do', 5-7 are 'nice to do', 8-10 are 'if I have time by the end of the month'.)

1. Set up "FFO / Frame" WIPGO board for 2024 - DONE
   
2. December part of "Birdhouse SAL" - DONE
   
3. Pillow finish for Marita - Christmas gift - DONE
   
4. Denton "Family Tree" for Angie - Christmas gift
   
1. Fill in on top of tree - DONE
   
2. Framing - done temporarily (I want to add a narrow mat at some point)
   
5. Blackbird Designs "Two Hearts"  Needle Book - 10 hours to finish "historic" slot - DONE
   
6. Back to "Birdhouse SAL" - remaining borders - DONE
   
7. KC Plaza Sewing Bag - 2.5 hours to finish "modern" slot.
   
8. Perforated Paper Santa 
1. Stitching complete
2. Embellishment (beard)
3. Finishing
9. Sugar Skull - lace area around eyes 
10. Project Bag - if not finished, put on WIPGO board #13

Bells are playing this morning for Lessons and Carols.  There's the Christmas Eve service tonight.  I have to bake a pie to take to Christmas Dinner tomorrow and there is still wrapping to do.   So I don't know how much stitching I'll get done today, but there will be some.

With my vacation day last Monday that was "use it or loose it" and a pretty quiet week at work, I got quite a bit of stitching done this last week.

I got the fix done on the "Denton Family Tree".  (Link to finished post is here.)

The "Birdhouse SAL" got it's top and left side border and the basting to establish the bottom of the piece.   I put in just the 'strings' on the snow and clouds to help with the counting.  Here's what it looks like all spread out before I get it back in the q-snap to start the January section on New Years Day.

And I got the next charity hat cast on.  This is the one from the pink, pale blue and tan Merino / Bamboo blend yarn.   It's very soft and is a joy to knit with. 

It's still only small, but it's underway.   And here's the colors:

Linking up with the SSS crew.

Slow Sunday Stitching - November 26, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!   Happy random weekend to everyone else LOL.

We are in the middle of our first snow storm of the season here in eastern Kansas.   Not sure how much has accumulated, but it's still coming down (as of 9 pm Saturday) 

    ETA: about seven inches.   This could make getting to church for bells interesting!  

    Even later ETA:   One of my neighbors stopped and helped me get my car cleared off.  Once I got out of the neighborhood onto the plowed streets, I was fine.   My neighborhood is bounded by major streets that serve our hospitals and the church is downtown, only a couple of blocks from the state capitol complex.  So all the streets I needed are high priority for the street crews.

There's all kinds of leftovers and things to munch on, so I've happily been spending time stitching!  When I switched to the KC Plaza Sewing Bag, I was supposed to work on the over one fill in on the statues, but after having put in several hours on one over one on 28 count on the Sugar Skull, putting in even tinier stitches (on 30 count) didn't really appeal.   So I moved on to some of the two over two areas.   I got the left side background in and started on the water in the pool.  It's beginning to look like a scene from a park instead of the outline of a fountain just plopped down in the center of a vast field of nothingness!

I also finished off the crown of the fuzzy blue hat and ran the ends in.   It ended up a large child size, which is fine.   I played yarn chicken with the strand that was sock yarn and had less than 3 yards left after the bind off.  😤  Glad I started the decreases when I did!   I really like the subtle stripes in this one.  It will be donated to the 'hat, scarf and mittens' tree at the church.   Need to get a tag put on it so I can drop it off.

This year looks like it will be my smallest yardage for knitting since I started keeping track.  Less than 1K yards unless I finish my sweater (unlikely since I'm only at the underarms with the entire yoke and collar yet to go).   Maybe I should cast on another hat!

Linking up with the SSS crew.  

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 28, 2023

Wow, this week went fast!   Work's been heating up for the end of the month stuff.  With the three day weekend and the first of the month falling mid week, next week will be even more frantic.  The US celebrates Memorial Day - the equivalent of Remembrance Day - on Monday, which is a time to remember our fallen service personnel.   

It's also Ascension Day today.  Since my church is named "Grace", we don't have a patron saint for the parish.  So we celebrate on the day that the greater church received the 'grace of the Spirit'.  There's a picnic today and just one service, and of course bells are playing.  Wish me luck - one of the pieces we have not had a chance to practice with the choir that we will be accompanying until this morning!

On the crafting front, I finished the ten hours on the crewel Eagle (changeover post here).  And I started in on the last of the Victoria Sampler ornament/quilt blocks. 

This one doesn't have any cutwork, despite the Kloster blocks in progress.   It's teaching how to set up the blocks.  Even though I'm no novice with Hardanger, I did learn a couple of tricks about how the 'path' that is stitched can be planned for maximum stability of the future cutwork.  It's going so fast that I should have it finished by the time the long weekend is over.  ETA:  Finished post here!

Linking up with the SSS crew (current roundup here).

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 25, 2022

 First of all, Happy Holidays to everyone!    I am already looking forward to spring given that earlier this week it was -2 degrees F / -19 degrees C plus windchill that dropped the "real feel" temp by at least 10 degrees lower that day.  And in the middle of all of that was precipitation.   

looking out of my front porch door

With having the company holiday on Friday and working from home all week, it was a great week to get some stitching in along with some baking.

I needed to work on "My Day Complete" by Kathy Barrick.   This is a year long stitchalong that has become an annual tradition for the other participants.  Following their lead, I have divided the chart into twelve parts.   I may work ahead, but I'm trying not to lag behind.  Deadline for each month's section is the 29th.  Here's November and December finished and a bit worked ahead.

The initials on the left are two of the other participants in the SAL

The red cowl is also trudging right along.   I started with 109 grams of yarn and now have 58.   There's no rush on this one since it's for me.

But what about Dutch Beauty, you ask?  Ta DA

DONE.   It's done.   I put in the last few stitches after mass last night.   Happy Christmas to me!  I'll lay it all out and do a proper finish post later today.  (ETA: post is here.)

The "12 x 12" challenge is all over FlossTube.  People are starting a project every hour between noon and midnight on New Years Eve or they are working on 12 WIPS, one each hour.   I do not have twelve needlework WiPs, thank goodness.   I have no intention of starting twelve projects either after all the struggle to get the WiP pile under control.   I will be marathon stitching on New Year's Eve, though.  

I plan to give "Sugar Skull" some love (to ten hours total), then to ten hours on the Kathy Barrick piece (that's about 2 additional hours and should get me well into the January section), set up the next Victoria Sampler quilt block and get it started, and put some time in on the Plaza Sewing Bag and the BBD piece. That will put all the cross stitch in a good place to start the new year.

I'm off to the kids for lunch and gift unwrapping.   There are two ways I can go, one is fast and hilly, the other adds 10 mins and several miles, but it is much flatter.  Guess which one I will be taking LOL.  Have I mentioned how much I hate driving in snow and ice?

BTW, the handbell pieces went OK at mass last night; not our best, but not horrible.  

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate;  linking up with the SSS crew (current list).

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 18, 2022

 Things are ramping up for the holidays around here.  One more bell choir rehearsal before we play on Christmas Eve.   All but one of the gifts are here, and mostly wrapped.   There's a bit of baking yet to do, but I'm off on Friday the 23rd, so will go pie and cookie crazy then LOL.

And there have been several 'waiting' times for various appointments, school programs, etc which have been the perfect time to work on the red cowl.  It is as good for a travel project as I had hoped it would be.   Only a few places where I need to pay attention - on either side of a 6 stitch purl panel at each of the four markers.

It's just as soft and textured as it looks.  The way that the decreases stack up every row makes the four decrease points ruched up and spiraled around on the left side of each purl panel.  And the increases cause the right side of the purl panel to fall into soft pleats.   It's a very organic look that is unlike my usual style, but I rather like it.   This will be an 'accessory' cowl, not an 'outerwear' one.   My office is always SO cold.  My cubical is just outside the server room (which of course is kept very cool), so I like to wear (or at least have with me) a lightweight something to keep the back of my neck from chilling.  The one advantage to working in an office set on 'arctic' is I can wear handknit socks year round!

On the needlework side of things, the fill in on mama swan is coming along well.   See this post for discussion on the changes I made to the pattern.  This is right at 10 hours, so ordinarily, I would move on to the next project in my rotation.   HOWEVER, it's coming up on the 23rd anniversary of the start on this thing (1/2/2000) and I really, really want to finish it before it ticks over another year!   So I am throwing the rotation to the winds and focusing on this for the next two weeks.  There's a lot of fill in to do and there won't be much stitching time with all the holiday stuff, but maybe, just maybe?   

Linking up with the SSS crew (current roundup).

Slow Sunday Stitching - November 20, 2022

 Hopping on early to activate this post before I dash off to church.  Bells are playing this week for the second (larger) service.  It's been so great to get back to a full choir.   

It's been a busy week crafting wise as it has been an easy work week.  Forecast was for our first snow of the year on Tuesday, so we all got to work from home that day in addition to our usual days.   It was more sleet than snow, so I was glad to not have to drive in it!  Freezing rain is always so nasty.   Give me real snow, please!

First up, I put in some more work on the Blackbird Designs piece.   It's now got 20 hours in.  I do like the purple and yellow flowers in the basket.   All the stems are there now, but lots of leaves, buds and flowers and background circle motifs yet to go on the bottom half of this piece

I've been working on the Unicorn Pillow every Friday for about an hour and a half to two hours to meet the Full Coverage Fanatics (on Facebook) challenges.  This week, I got to my two hours and there was just about 45 min left to finish off the rest of the background, so I put some time on Saturday and voila - all done but the remaining goldwork and making it into an actual pillow.

So this project will continue with the couching on the horn as the 'not counted thread' project and next Friday, I will get a new start on a full coverage piece.   I have two kitted up and will start on the smaller one - a Sugar Skull for a work friend who is of Hispanic descent and loves the 'Day of the Dead"/All Saints and All Souls.  I'll share a picture of the set up and pattern cover next week.  

Remember when I was in the early stages of the project how I was grousing how off register the printing was on this and how much better a hand painted canvas is?   Proof is in the final corner.

Square?  Not in MY book!  Two stitches off over just 14 inches!  BOTH dimensions even.

Knitting.  Thank you to those who recommended in comments and IMs that I should work in the ends on the shawl as I go.   I went back and caught myself up.  This is about 2/3 of the way through the peach colored stripe.   The rows get ever longer, though, so not very far into the knitting at all. 

Unfortunately, I am not as far on getting the ends woven in on my other knitting project.

But the fact that I am weaving them in at all means that the re-work on Bob's Christmas Stocking is DONE.   Which is a good thing since I will have to return both of the stockings back to my sister at Thanksgiving dinner later this week.   Kimi's on the left c 1979.   Bob's on the right.    Kimi's is slightly less dense yarn and a slightly tighter gauge.   I was not so good with my colorwork tension back then either.   But the gauges are not too far off considering there's 40 plus years between them!

All those ends are waiting for me inside Bob's stocking.  I'll be catching up with the SSS crew (link to the current round up) and working on those ends when I get back from church in a bit. 

Slow Sunday Stitching - March 28, 2021

 Wow, busy couple of weeks since I checked in last.  I was overly optimistic about things getting better at work.  The flip side of that is that I had very little crafting mojo left when I got off work.  Also church things are finally starting up again in real life, including my bell choir.  Man, am I rusty; felt like I was lifting weights at rehearsal on Thursday.  Glad to get back to it, though.   I've really missed ringing. 

On the handwork front, I'm working on the last of the cutwork napkins.  At a little over six hours into my ten hour rotation slot, I've got to here

Still one more big petal, three little petals and all the interior area and details.   I'll probably be running over the ten hours, but I'm so close to a finish that I'll work on it until it's done.

It's supposed to be nice today, so I'm going to go play in the dirt.  Getting the garden ready for planting. Hello Spring!!

Linking up with the rest of the SSS crew (current round up link).

Slow Sunday Stitching - December 22, 2019

Gosh, it's almost Christmas.  December has flown by.  My handbell choir is playing for the early Christmas Eve service, and we had a rather grueling practice on Wednesday.  There are several substitutes due to people's holiday plans; it always takes a bit for a new player to integrate into a group, even if the music is well within their ability.  You get used to hearing a certain style or 'hand' playing next to you and when that changes, your own timing is subtly "off".   But I'm sure it will be fine.  

Despite the busy schedule, there's been some crafting time.  The knitted cowl is almost at the halfway mark.  There will be 9 bands (4.5 full repeats) and here I'm just starting band #5.  It's actually a little further along than this in real life, but this is the most recent picture.   This yarn is so lush - alpaca and poly blend, so soft but very dense.   So it's a bit hard on the hands; and it's a single, so it's easy to split a stitch.  So it's not the fastest project and I can't really do it on 'auto-pilot' like I can knit with some yarns. 

The last panel for the needlepoint plastic canvas box is also coming right along.  The main motif of the Blue jay is almost finished.  There's quite a bit of stems, foliage and berries to do yet, as well as the sky and embellishments. 

I wish for all my Slow Sunday Stitching friends that you have a safe and happy holiday season.  (Link is to the current round up.  Click on the link party button.)