Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! Our goal is to encourage you to pick up your project, put a few stitches in, take some deep breaths, and enjoy the happy feelings that will likely result! 

I have been having a wonderful time stitching the Lola Crow SAL (Stitch-A-Long) called Extraordinary Birds. I enjoy learning about a wide variety of birds and stitching them on my 18 count hand dyed aida.

This is the bottom of the design and as of yesterday I have completed 8,166 stitches which is 92% of the needed stitches up to "Feat 3" (which was posted last week).  Feat #4 was just posted on Friday and I haven't yet imported the pattern into Pattern Keeper since I wanted to complete more on the previous parts. 

This photo shows part of my stitching in front of my tablet with the Pattern Keeper screen open. See on the right side of the screen where there are 6 thread colours that are finished? Seeing the new "0" stitches makes me so happy and motivates me to keep stitching to see more zeros!

Today I hope to finish the stitching for Feat 3 and then I will import Feat 4 into Pattern Keeper so I can keep making progress. Next week there will not be a pattern release so we have an extra week to catch up. 

What are you hand stitching as June begins? Please share your projects with us and link up your blog below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly celebration of hand stitching! It's the one time a week where we make sure to set aside some special moments for playing with needles and thread/yarn. We hope you will join us!

This week I have been obsessed with the Lola Crow Extraordinary Bird SAL (stitch-a-long). I can't wait until my work day is over so I can dive into my  thread collection and stitch more of the design. I am enjoying learning about the creatures as I stitch and look forward to another part of the design coming to life.

I talked about this project (and everything I've stitched in May - even though I said it was June!) on my most recent flosstube video posted this week - click here to watch. I haven't had much time for stitching recently with all the spring yard work, and fitting in as much grandbaby time as possible, but overall this month I did put stitches into a few projects. 

What are you stitching at the end of May? Link up your blog post below and share your hand stitching projects with us.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Congratulations! We made it to Sunday! Sometimes the "rat race" of life makes it really challenging to get through a week, but we did it! And now it's time to slow down, breathe, and do some meditative stitching.

In my very few moments of stitching this week, I continued to put stitches into the Extraordinary Birds SAL by Lola Crow. I have finished 5,940 of the 7,152 required stitches to complete feat #1. That's 83% which I thought was excellent (all things considered)! 😉 But then on Thursday feat #2 arrived in my inbox and suddenly I am really behind again. And then I am back into my "rat race" brain, wondering if I'll ever catch up, and turning my relaxing hobby into a job!

 

In an attempt to reset, I say to myself...breathe, it's okay, you'll catch up, it's not a race or competition, it's just for your own enjoyment, there is not a deadline so just slow down. That feels so much better! 

And as soon as I pick up a needle, my spirits improve, the stress melts away, my heart beats slower, I enjoy the pretty colours and the sensation of the needle pulling the thread through the fabric and I'm restored like magic.

Link up your blog post below and share with us what stitching project is restoring you this week!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the hand stitching party! Sunday is finally here and you know what that means... it's time for some relaxing hand stitching!

It's a long weekend in Canada where we celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday. Canadians have done since 1845! This basically means we get a holiday on Monday, which I will use for stitching...yippee!

I have been focused on the Lola Crow Extraordinary Birds SAL and have been working with pattern keeper to manage this large pattern. I finally had success with importing my progress from one step into the next step, which was a major accomplishment for me (and helped greatly with instructions from Steph of Lake Girl Stitches). This is where I am this weekend - about 60% of the stitches complete for the first pattern pieces. 

This is where the SAL process gets tricky. I have been stitching for 6+ weeks on this and still need to stitch 40% of the stitches by Thursday. I try not to be stressed, but I know if I don't keep up now, I will never catch up. And then the probability of the project starting the death march toward the UFO closet will begin!

I did create a unique system (using an old envelope LOL) for counting the long columns in the aviary frame.

Count, stitch, recount, cross your fingers and carry on!

What are you stitching today? We'd love to see your progress!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Happy Slow Sunday Stitching and Happy Mother's Day to all who "mother"!  If you are visiting with loved ones and enjoying family time today, why not pick up your needle and thread, and put in a few stitches.

I have been stitching on my Serenity project (by Pansy Patch Quilts and Stitchery). This is how far I am as of yesterday.

I often hear stitchers complaining about border stitching so I am keeping up with it and not leaving it until the end. I am not loving the block stitching of the house, but am also trying to put in a white thread every time I pick up the project. So far the letters are my favourite part, so maybe I am going to become a "sampler stitcher"??

This weekend I have the privilege of babysitting my grandson and I am loving every minute of it. And of course I am taking time for stitching. 

What are you stitching today?

I hope you can take a few minutes to link up your stitching progress!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!

It's time to get out a stitching project, a cup of your favourite beverage, and enjoy some relaxation.

Since attending Stitch North I have had a terrible flare up of my chronic condition of Startitis. I can't seem to settle to work on one project without my brain teasing me with other ones. I started Chamomile Cottage - a Diana Bloom design and have enjoyed every second of this stitching.

The colours are subtle and it's a lovely spring design. I am stitching it on 18 count Porcelain by Roxy Floss using the recommended threads. I am making good progress on it (considering the Startitis flare up!) Oh my goodness I see one half stitch in the photo - I'll fix it today!

I made a flosstube video to share the projects I worked on in April so if you haven't seen that yet, click here to take a look. In the video I showed the little needlebook/ thread beds that I made to give to my table mates at Stitch North.

I also talked about the interesting dilemma of machine binding vs. hand binding. I did end up hand stitching all the little bindings because 1) I love hand stitching, and 2) I just couldn't get the machine binding to look acceptable. I was really stretched for time that week and this photo was taken late at night in my hotel room while I finished these after the first day of the conference.

I have also attended a bit of the Spring Mingle hosted by Lindy Stitches this weekend. Of course I started a new project. Can you guess what it is?

I need some medicine for this Startitis situation.

Does anyone have any remedies to share with me?

I hope you will link up your blog post below and share your projects and new starts with us!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

It's time for the weekly hand stitching party!

Everyone is most welcome to join in and stitch with us! All you have to do is prepare your favourite beverage, grab your stitching project, and enjoy the relaxation that hand stitching offers. 

I am attending Stitch North in Brampton, Ontario Canada and let me tell you, the room is full of talented and inspiring stitchers here. And everywhere you look, you are surrounded by beauty and finding more treasures to buy! 

I purchased the Stitch North kit to start a pattern called Serenity, and here are the pretty threads. The pattern is so lovely to work with and I am really enjoying my stitching.

I was lucky enough to meet the pattern designer Lori Pengelly of Pansy Patch and purchased several more of her patterns for future starts. Here she is holding her framed sample stitch, and below it is my small start.

This is how far I got by last night. I had planned to just stitch the border all around, but I was enticed by the stars and letters (it looks like I didn't finish the letter 'L'!) and got started on stitching the roof. And then I noticed my mistake and shut it down for the day! Can you spot it? Should I take it out?

What a wonderful weekend it has been and we will have a half day together today! It will be very sad to say goodbye to all the lovely, kind, generous people I have met here. I will say more about the experience (and show my purchases) in my next flosstube video, but for now I will say that I am so grateful to be part of the hand stitching community and to have the privilege of meetings so many like minded people!

Like you!

Link up your blog post below and share your hand stitching projects with us!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter