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!

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.

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!

Spring is Turning to Summer

 It has been a lovely spring in Vermont. We wish we had more rain for the plants, but it has been nice to be able to be outside on sunny days as much as we have. It has been a hot week here, but nothing too intolerable if you are able to pull up a comfy chair in the shade.

This past week I was able to finish one of the new projects I purchased. In January I got the bug for some beading/cross stitch kits and ordered far too many. I decided to start stitching the Marine Life Series from Mill Hill so I can have a few more "beachy" items in my morning room. I finished the lobster and couldn't be happier with the outcome.

I have started on the Turtle and have made some great progress. I am still working on the perpetual calendar project, but I needed a little break from it.

Meanwhile the puppy continues to grow like crazy. He is an awesome addition to the pack and has really bonded with his big sister Doss who is also new to the pack.

My biggest challenge right now is that my allergies are flaring like crazy so I am very very tired much of the time. This is cutting into my stitching time because I am often just fall asleep in my stitching chair. Not that it is terrible to get some extra sleep! Hopefully the rain this evening will knock some of the pollen down so I can perk up some. 

Vacations, Puppies, Stitching = Spring Fun

 April was a busy month for me. We were getting ready for a vacation and prepping for two new additions to the household. The weather was overall cold and damp so my free time was all about the stitching. I was able to finish the next month in the Perpetual Calendar project. 

I'm hoping to be able to keep finding time to stitch, but I know it will be difficult because I picked up my two new dogs this week. Sprite is a 9 week old German Shepherd Dog.

Doss is a 1 year old Bloodhound who needed to be rehomed when her owner passed away. 

They are both settling in well. I am sure we are going to have a great time with the new additions!

We also went on vacation last week. It was a nice break and took us to the Carribean for a little sunshine. We have been wondering why no one is showing up with fancy meals now that we are home. Terrible!! It couldn't have been a better time. We are looking forward to the next one!

March Shenanigans

We are coming up on St Patricks Day. For many this means a day to imbibe, get red faced and be merry. For me this means the anniversary of passing the nursing licensing exam and the confirmation that I would be able to continue having a job. It also marks the onset of spring. This will be our first spring in the new home and I am excited to see the greenery coming out on the farm and watching (maybe even helping) Jon put in his gardens. 

However, today we have gotten about a foot of very wet heavy snow and I am also off work. I just worked a 6 day stretch and am very uninterested in doing much of anything. I was awake at 5 am, but stayed in bed reading the news and snoozing for a bit. Then the power (and my internet) went out for a few minutes so I got up. The dogs and I went outside and jumped around in the snow for a bit. I shoveld the walk. They did not help. We then stood in the kitchen for a bit. Then there was another cavorting trip to the outdoors. Then impoortant-seeming phonecalls to ensure adult things were adressed. The cat and Jon came down to break up the party. There was general confusion for a bit as the cat was trying to help with the project and thus was taken outside to be reminded how distasteful it is to have to live somewhere other than here.

An egg sandwich was then made and destroyed. I took to the couch to complete a project. 

I have finished the April installation of the "Fun Every Day!" calendar from Sam*Sarah. Sadly, Patti Connor, the artist, has retired from stitching. So here is the photo of my finish from today:

So now, over the course of 3 years I have successfully completed 4 months totalling 16 tags. What might be the chances I will finish this project this year? Probably not very good.

I have been working on The Bramble and the Rose but do not have a photo update at this time. Not much more to say on that!

I shall now begin the May series for the calendar. It is a good day for stitching.

Black Cat and Brown Dogs

 It has been an interesting week in stitching. The weather has been pretty terrible this week so I have been able to spend a lot of time at the kitchen table with my support personel assisting me with my stitching. Mostly it has involved a lot of support via presence:

I am looking forward to having a new staff member at the crafting table. I just got word today that I will be adopting a pup who's owner passed recently. It is sad to get a pup this way, but I am excited to have a female back in the house. I expect to have her move in sometime in May. 

Despite all of this overbearing assistance I was able to finish the "Moonstruck" project today. It was a fun little project. I realy enjoy the beads in these. I have been pretty impressed with the Mill Hill kits (distributed through Wichelt). The colors are fun and they are well designed overall.

I am thinking that I might dust off another long-lost WIP this week. I was able to set up my stitching stand so I can work on a larger project now. So next up is working on "The Bramble and the Rose" in hopes of maybe completing that this year. The last update I posted with this project in it was from August of 2018! I swear I have worked on it since then, but maybe not. It has been a full few years with hiking and pandemicing. Looks like it is time to get to work...

Black and White Gains a P

I guess I am inspired to stitch a lot lately. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's because I have a place to sit (2 really). Maybe it's just time. 

This week has been a bit up and down. The weather went from just under 60degF to the teens with a foot of snow. My mood has been all over the place with craziness at work and being frustrated about wanting to get outside more in the snow. And last minute errands have gotten me all dicombobulated. But at least I have had down time and been able to make a few things.

A couple of days ago (the 22nd?) I finished the next letter in my Black and White alphabet. It is not very much black and white, but then I have to do things my own way. Meet the letter P:

It feels good to finish this one because it involved the most stitching of them all. It seems I started it so long ago. I think the letter Y is next on my agenda for that project.

Meanwhile, I am stitching a little pallate cleanser. My cat had damaged one of my beaded projects and I needed to raid another for some matching thread for the repairs. So I decided to start a cute little one called Moonstruck from the Mill Hill bead collection (a subdivision of Wichelt). And of course I just wen to their website and was sucked right in to all the pretty projects. So here is the progress photo of this little project:

I'm happy with how quickly this one is going. I am trying to get to some of my outstanding projects, but it is always nice to have littles to finish in between.

I have had a helper while I have been stitching:

Generally he isn't too much of an imposition, but sometimes he wants to sit in my lap while I stitch. He is such a strange being. 

Time for me to get back to managing my upcoming vacations!

Red Birds Everywhere

 When my dad died my Aunt Kathy said he became a cardinal...the bird, not the religious figure. She says grandma and grandpa are also birds. So whenever I see a cardinal I say hello to dad. I see cardinals all over in our yard. I love it because they are such fun and showy birds.

I found the Red Bird pattern not long after dad died and decided it would be a nice project as a little rememberance. I'm not super sentimental, but hey I only got one dad and he was pretty good. Today I finished the project and added a button embellishment I found:

Hi dad.

I was planning on also fixing a project that Oreo the Destroyer (the tuxedo cat) decided to use for a stretch. I took it apart but realized I would likely need a little more thread for the repairs so decided to start a sister project to I could use the leftovers for the fix. So today I started Moonstruck:

Jon thinks this is the neatest thing because of the beads in it. He was thinking it was going to be slow stitching because of that. No, man, I'm a pro! :-D

Not much else going on here. Just the usual boring winter stuff: trying to get done with indoor projects, getting outside on warmer days, watching the dogs eat the cake I just baked...you know, the usual.

Time to get back to stitching!

Snowy Stitching Time

Last week there was a very cold snap that came through. We had temperatures that dropped to -25 degrees Farenheit. Since then it has warmed to the 40s yesterday. Now it has transitioned from rain to snow. As much as I love to be outside, and I have taken a few opportunities, it is also a great time to stitch.

I have made great progress on a couple of my projects in the last couple of weeks. In mid-January I had picked back up on my "Red Bird" and "Black and White" projects as shown in this post: Fast Forward a Year. And this is where I am at with each:

It feels good to make progress on these and feel more connected to my fabric and fiber loving self. I am looking forward to picking up on some of my longtime projects now that I have the space and some time for stitching.

In addition to the stitching, I also repainted a bathroom. Here are the before and after pictures:

I am so excited about my pink bathroom. It is a bright raspberry color and really brightens up this tiny space. It will look fantastic once we get the decorations and shelving up. We are hoping to expand the shower this summer, but I just couldn't wait to get rid of the tan from the previous owners. 

I also found some time to make a display board for my quilting so I can visualize the quilts as I make them. It looks amazing in the room:

So big happenings here... and looking forward to more!

Two Fun Projects

 Now that we are settling into the new house I am able to find some time to work on my projects. I have been stitching most evenings while we watch a cooking show or two. Last night I decided to take my new felting kit for a little spin. A few months ago a lady posted on the local Fron Proch Forum that she had some felting kits that she was never going to use. Jon mentioned it to me in passing saying "what's a felting kit" and I said, "message her first that I will take it then I will explain." It was a great deal!! So last night I made a little rooster:

He was a super fun little project .I might make another one tonight, or stitch, or who knows!!

I also have been quilting a lot lately. I have a large project I'm working on (no photos of that yet, I keep forgetting). I have another version of my pumpkin quilt prepped to sew. I started on a strip quilt - very beginning of it. And I finished a neat little project as a lap quilt for a friend who is leaving the country to live in South America for a while (I can't wait to visit):

I'm plannin to make another one of these with a black patterned background to keep here because I had enough of the colored fabrics. 

but for now it is time to go rake the roof! 

Fast Forward a Year

A lot has happened and a lot of it precluded time spent with my hobbies. The whole of 2022 was the sum of a series of epic happenings. I left a job I loved with an environment I found intolerable and moved to a job I love with coworkers to match. I moved from NY to VT. I sold a lovely little house and bought a large, impressive 200 year-old home - with the repairs to match. I lost a dog (miss you Leifr) and gained a rodent infestation. I went to the Grand Canyon - it is definitely grand! I feel like I spent half the year on hold with vendors and medical offices. But most importantly, I am happy to be living with Jon, my two dogs, my two cats and have an awesome stitching room:

The cats are happy because they apparently have each co-opted a queen sized bed:

The good news is that I have found a little time with the onset of the new year (mostly the inability to have access to contractors during hunting season) to get in some time for crafting. I did have two finishes in 2022 that I never posted. One was another in the alphabet series I have been working on and off over, I think, more than a decade now (oof). The other is a delightful Haloween quilt which will have a matching pumpkin facing the other direction (any time now):

I have made some progress over 2022 on the Red Bird project. I think I will need to purchase more of the green, but I am working through the rest of it for now:

And I started the letter P in the alphabet series and have rocked it in the last month (having the flu for a week helped because I only had the energy to stitch for the few hours I was awake):

And today I finished most of a quilt top for a lap quilt I am working on. I just need to add a colorful boarder with a white-grey outer border:

I'm pretty proud of this quilt because I learned how to make the rounded flower corners in a quilt block. 

It is lovely having a room where I can relax and focus on making things. I need the quiet and space to re-ground myself. Also, the view out towards Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks is not to be trifled with.