This work is licensed

under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Please link to my blog if you make derivatives of or reference any of my work.

Creative Commons License

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Sew Busy!

 The last three weeks have been great for me and stitching. I made the decision to work less overtime so I can have more time at home. I miss the money, but I was too tired and stressed. So with all that time I made things!!

I worked for a bit on the jelly fish project from the Mill Hill Marine Life Series for a bit. I decided to take a break from it so I could work on my Perpetual Calendar. It is so easy to start working on little projects that are super satisfying to finish and forget to take time to progress on the larger projects. I am almost finished with June and am hoping to start July within the week!


I have also been spending some time working on the Bramble and the Rose, but do not have an update photo on that. 

Meanwhile, I have been trying to get up to my sewing room every couple of days to work on some large projects I have going on. I was able to finish my Tradewinds quilt a couple of days ago.
Today I finished the last of the quilt blocks for the Nebula quilt pattern. I have some of the background cut. I'm hoping to cut the rest of that tomorrow so I can assemble the quilt top in the near future. Here are the ones I finished since the last update.


I also have been sticking to my Gravity Quilt stitch along and finished the 3rd month's blocks today as well. Here are the blocks I have completed so far.



I'm working on a challenge project for the Milk and Honey Quild Guild which requires me to make a quild no larger than 28 inches square using 4 colors, 2 of which are provided to me. So far I have designed the quilt and selected the additional 2 fabrics. I am hoping to start cutting the project very soon. I think it needs to be completed by May. No spoilers though!

In addition to the sewing today, I got a little excited and painted the pantries in my kitchen. It looks so much better! Before and After...


I'm looking forward to sitting on the couch soon to do some cross stitch. It was a busy day to be sure!

Saturday, February 17, 2024

The Beauty of a Stitching Place and Time

 It has been a great year so far. I made a decision to work less overtime, so I have had more time at home (although less money for stitchy projects). Also, we recently went on a cruise. Vacation is a lovely pick me up and this one was very relaxing. And, of course, I have been working on my projects.

Since I moved into my new home I have a sewing room where I store all of my stitching supplies and have room for a sewing table, a cutting table, fabric shelving, and a comfy chair. In our relaxation room I also have a decidated stitching area at one end of the couch. But most of the time I sit at the end of my gorgeous kitchen table in a sunny spot stitching with my dogs and cats milling about my legs...and preiodically climbing on me. Having these happy spots has motivated me to stitch more which has really helped me destress from work.

Before we left for vacation I made six tote bags. Four of the bags were for us to take on the cruise. I was thrilled to add pockets to them on the interior. I am super happy with the fabrics I used as well. Everyone who received one loves them - which makes me heart sing. Three were made from the blue florals and the others were made with the same fabrics but I rotated the placement which really changed the charachter of each bag.





While I was on the cruise I worked on the third in a four part series of Marine Life from Mill Hill. I loved stitching the first two and the Dolphin project was just as fun. When we were in the Bahamas sitting on the cruise ship deck with the sun streaming down the beads were so brilliant and lovely! I finished just after I arrived home.


I'm now working on the fourth in the series - the Jelly Fish. This one I saved for last because I love the rainbow colors and was so looking forward to it that I figured it would pull me through the others. Although the blues in the dolphin were luscious.


Yesterday I was feeling quite terrible with a sinus infection and decided I didn't want to participate in much. I wasn't up to sttiching but I did end up doing some quilting in my beautiful sewing room. I cut the last three months of the Nebula Quilt from Jaybird Quilts. I finished sewing the month 7 blocks and then made a little piece with some of the left over fabrics. I was excited with how they all came out.



Throughout my stitching I have had my helpers with me. They seem to be always with me, sometimes within millimeters of me.




I'm looking forward to more stitching and more finishes!

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

A Finish and a New Kit!

 As usual it is busier around here than I was thinking it would be. I seem to include basic needs in my time buget plan! I did take time to do some stitching and sewing this week. I completed a tote bag for a friend - and forgot to get a picture! No worries though since I have 2 others pre-cut with the same fabric.

I have been working on the Mill Hill Aurora Borealis kit for the last couple weeks. Today was competion day! I'm excited to see what it looks like in the dark because it has glow-in-the-dark beads. Ooooo.

I haven't decided yet how I will frame it. I'm trying to think of new ways to display my stitching because framing is just so expensive. We might start making our own frames here. It is easy enough to cut some molding and then I can paint it. Especially for these little project stitched on the paper it should be easy and attractive to make our own.

While I was stitching the Aurora Borealis my dog flipped the bead container and I ended up running short of the 02098 pine colored beads. Crisis! So I just _had_ to order the Grasshopper Pie pattern from Glendon Place as a kit since it happens to have those beads. Yesterday the kit arrived! I am so thrilled to have this goegeous project. Of course, when to stitch it? I have so many that I want to do. What a terrible conundrum to have! I received the kit from WickedWips ETSY shop and couldn't be happier with the service. I recommend purchasing from her if you have the chance.




Sunday, January 7, 2024

First 2024 Completion

 It has already been an eventful 2024 and it's only one week in. I worked three of the days so far and have been trying to get a handle on plans for our vacation in a month. It finally became cold enough for the ground to freeze, so I haven't had to fight the mud battle I was waging in December. There have been a couple of doctor visits for me and for dogs, and finally a couple of days to try to relax. Of course the minute I sat down I spent most of a day doing paperwork. I swear the world gives me more busywork than an elementary school teacher! Saturday I was excited to have a friend over to stitch with me for a few hours. That is the first time in a couple of years I have been able to make that happen! We had a great time. I was working on the letter Z in the Black & White project. She was working on Glendon Place's Plum Pudding


Today I was able to finish the letter Z. I was pretty excited because it seemed like it took far longer than I hoped. I grabbed the letter Y to work in next but decided that I wanted to work on The Bramble and the Rose a bit before I started back in on some of my smaller portable projects. Here is the finish of Z and some of the progress on The Bramble and the Rose:


Now that it is winter (it snowed about 6" today), I start to think about what WIPs I can work through to completion. And I always hope I will be able to get more done than I actually do. This year I'm going to think more about just trying to find time to stitch and not worry about what I might or might not complete. I am hoping that things start to settle down with the house so I'm not tied up with fixing all the things that one finds wrong with a 200 year old home the first year living in it! I look forward to making things to make it beautiful instead of just focusing on just keeping it standing - a lofty goal. 

I know that things always happen and some are good and some are challenging. I hope that everyone this year is able to find more fun times than challenging ones and that the challenging times are short lived. Be well!

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Holiday Projects

 This time of year is always busy, even if you don't celebrate the winter holidays. I always pick up overtime so others can spend time with their families - and it is extra pay after all. But it is also dark and the weather is in upheaval, so what better time to work on sewing projects?

This year I joined the Milk & Honey Quilters Guild. I haven't had a chance to go to a meeting yet, but I did join the mug rug exchange and the 30-year challenge project. I am still working out what I want to do for the 30 year challenge, although I have the fabric. But the mug rug exchange is done and I was excited to make a fun little project for one of the other quilters.

This is a great pattern. The green block to the left is a pocket for holding tea bags or a napkin. I recevied lovely feedback from the recipient. It was nice to participate in the group effort.

I have also been going to the fabric projects group at my local library a couple times a month as my schedule permits. I have been able to make some progress with my various projects. No photos at this time however. I've been a bum on that front. I have made good progress on the letter Z from Black & White. That is really all I have been focusing on currently. Although I had a day of educational seminars and was able to quilt for the day. During that time I madea couple of blocks for the Nebula quilt and move my halloween quilt along. I also made huge progress on a queensize quilt I am working up. So this is all encouraging. As always, it is fits and starts because of this whole employment thing.

A few days left in the year to work on projects and then a new year begins - same plan as the last, do my best each day. And I'm looking forward to a vacation early in February. What a great way to welcome a new year!

Sunday, October 15, 2023

Giving Thanks

 Thanksgiving came early to my home this year. We have other obligations on the actual holiday so my Aunt and I decided to get together early this year to have some turkey, good conversation and a little break from our daily lives. We had a wonderful time and enjoy a delightful pre-cooked turkey with all the trimmings and some roasted vegetables. It was lovely.

Not long before she came I was able to wrap up binding a couple of quilting projects I had laying around (it was "cleaning"). I am so happy with the result on both of these.


The first is my own design. I made it to commemorate completing the 46 Adirondack High Peaks a few years ago. It was fun to participate in the seminar at the Schweinfurth Art Center which resulted in this quilt. The second quilt is Mod Flower Box by Robin Pickens. It was a lot of fun to do and was the first time I was sewing round pieces. I have another one that I made with the same fabrics except with a light gray background. I feel lke the black background is so dramatic.

In the meantime I am doing little projects about the house and spending some time working on my Black and White, perpetual calendar, and marine life stitching projects. I discovered that there is a stitching group that meets at the local library a couple times per month. Everyone is lovely. One of the ladies owns an alpaca farm and sells knitting and crochet patterns as Berry Meadow. They are gorgeous - she is very talented at project design.I'm looking forward to getting to know all of these people better over the next year.

Sunday, September 24, 2023

Fall Stitching

This summer was so rainy and we were so short at work that I spent most of my time at work. Not much stitching was happening. But now that the weather is turning and I am working fewer days I have been able to work on my project. This week I did some mending and some quilt binding. But I was able to finish the next in my Mill Hill Marine  Life Quartet...the turtle!
I'm hoping I will be able to get some work done on my calendar project or my alphabet project in the next few days. But in the middle of the week I am heading out for a dog show and am not sure how much I will be able to sitch since I will be camping. I'm hoping I am able to improve my dog show technique!! My dogs deserve it!