Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the Sunday hand stitching party! Make yourself a nice cold (or hot) beverage, take a deep breath, and get out your hand stitching. We hope you will join us in creating hand made items that bring beauty to our world! 

I often hear people ask "What are you going to do with that?" or  "Who are you making that for?" Earlier in my life I usually had an answer - a reason or occasion that I was starting a project. But now I don't seem to as often, and I usually answer "to make me happy" ( or "sane", depending on the day), or "I am making it for myself", or "I want to create something beautiful". For me, that is enough of a reason.

I stitched this Quirky Quaker Pig this week because Deanne from Stitching on the Rock sent the pattern to me. Does anyone "NEED" this lovely little pig?!? Absolutely not! But it made me so happy to stitch her, and the quaker motifs, and the little heart just makes me smile! 

Some people really don't understand this and look at me like I have lost my mind. Maybe I have?!? But it is the reason why after 40 years of quilting and hand stitched crafts I am still working on more projects. 

Society does not "need" the things I make, and my family certainly doesn't "need" more quilts to stay warm. I do these stitching projects  because I can't seem to stop doing it! Truthfully I don't feel well or "like myself" when I don't stitch something. But when I stitched this little wren I was in my own little happy world, using all the colours of thread, wondering how the bird would turn out, and forgetting about all the sadness, trials, disappointments, violence, conflict and loss that humans have to endure. 

And what about this thing?

This is a 30 day venture to join with the stitching  community and to  learn about a small community in Holland called Frisland. Do I need to learn about the women in Holland in the 1800s?!? No, but I want to learn! This is an August stitch along with Jacob of Modern Folk Embroidery called "Fast Frisian" and every day we have a stitching assignment of about 144 stitches. Jacob makes a video each day of the stitch along and has been sharing antique samplers and the lives of the stitchers who created them. Here I have stitched a spinning wheel, a key, a pot of flowers, a comb, and the base of the tree of life image. 

So there you have it - three of the projects my hands have touched this week. Today I will be at the Fergus Scottish Festival sitting around a  quilting frame and putting stitches into a quilt with quilters I only get to visit once a year! 

What are you hand stitching this week? Are you making something useful, or (like me) are you stitching things for relaxing, fun and to make the world a more beautiful place?!?

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party where we celebrate and enjoy a wide variety of stitching options! It is a hot mid summer weekend here, so I'll be staying indoors by the fan and stitching with a minimum of movements!

Yesterday I started the August Fast Frisian stitch along hosted by Jacob at Modern Folk Embroidery. This is a traditional sampler and we will be stitching about 140 stitches every day this month to finish it by the end of August.  

This is a new colour palette for me to enjoy stitching with, and I look forward to working on this for the month ahead. It's interesting that the colours kind of look Christmasy, but somehow not?!? This was the day 1 stitching in the bottom left corner of the design.

Also yesterday I posted a summary video on my Youtube channel to share the projects I worked on in July. You can view that video here.

It has been a very busy summer here so far and I'm looking forward to a quieter month ahead.

What are you stitching on this week? I hope you will have time to enjoy your hand stitching today!

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A Finished Quilt!

Since the pandemic it has taken me longer and longer to finish a quilt. I just seem to move slower, start more projects, and do more crafts. Have you experienced the same thing or is it just me?

Anyway, I finally  finished this quilt while visiting my sister at her cottage this summer. 

The Princess Charlotte quilt top was finished on Feb. 15, 2021.  This might have been the fastest mystery quilt top I have sewn in all the years of doing Super Bowl mysteries with Kris of Scrapdash. 

This is a close up photo that shows the "lazy quilters way" to make faux mitered corners which I like to do. 

The long arm quilting was done by Quilting By Design in New Hamburg. They give you a discount if you are donating your quilt to a charity and this quilt will be going to the community outreach program at  my local quilt guild.

Finished size is 50" x 62".

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the Slow Sunday Stitching party! We are stitching enthusiasts who value the slow process of creating unique projects with our own hands. We want to "smell the roses" and enjoy each day, and each project we spend time with whenever possible

This week however, it was not possible for me!

I finished up my Luhu Stitches bookmark and had this great idea to add an adhesive felt backing and then decided to do some blanket stitches around the outside. That was a big mistake!  Apparently you cannot stitch through an adhesive backed piece of felt. 

Well, you can, but the needle gets more gummed up with each stitch. The glue adheres to the needle and gets increasingly difficult to pull through.

And how do you get the glue off the needle? Well, if you wipe it with a tissue, it gets more gummed up with tissue fluff - everything sticks to it! If you try to pull the glue off the needle with your fingers, the glue stays and your fingers get covered in glue!

I hated every single buttonhole stitch around this treasure! That so rarely happens to me when hand stitching that I spent half the time wondering what my problem was. The problem was the glue. I dislike the stickiness of it. The threads were sticking to it, the needle was sticky and my skin was sticking to everything... ugh!

I did finish the bookmark but learned an important lesson - sdhesive backed felt should not be stitched through! But it's finished (although the corners are terrible) and the needle went right in the trash never to be used again.

Did anyone else have a successful finish this week? I'd love to hear about it - link up your blog post below!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the hand stitching party!

Last week's idea to start a camping stitch that the family could participated in was a total fail! Not one single person could be convinced to put in a stitch!  😞I admit I was disappointed, but I understand that everyone was having a great time being at the beach, playing games together and enjoying campfires. It was so busy I hardly had time to add any stitches myself and I'm not sure what will happen to this start.

When I returned home I immediately re-started a new project called Pink Wren. The photo is odd because the background fabric is actually lime green!

This weekend I am visiting my sister, and there will be some stitching time and maybe some baseball and soccer watching. What are you hand stitching today? Please share your slow progress with us below!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

It's finally Sunday - a day of rest, reflection, renewal, and slow stitching! Why not join us as we get out our hand stitching projects and put in a few relaxing stitches?

I have started a new project to take on a family camping trip in the hopes that some folks might be persuaded to try stitching. 

I hope someone (besides me!) will enjoy adding some stitches to it, and want to continue when they go home. This is  called The Great Outdoors Band Sampler by Stitching Cabin. I'm still at the auditioning thread stage to see what will show up well on my 14 count PEI sand dyed fabric made by Chantal at Paint with Stitches. 

I have all the recommended DMC colours, but am experimenting with adding in some specialty/hand dyed  threads just for fun!

I'm really looking forward to stitching more on this new summer camping themed project today. 

What are you stitching today? Please link up your blog post below!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the first hand stitching party in July!

Pick up your favourite stitching project and join us today for some fun and relaxation!

I posted a video on my Youtube channel of all the projects I stitched on in the month of June. Life goes by so fast sometimes and I enjoy the process of reviewing the accomplishments of the month. You can see the video below...

I have been a tiny bit obsessed with the FIFA world cup soccer tournament and have been trying to get some quilt bindings finished while watching the games.

It has been so hot here that it's uncomfortable to sit under the weight of a quilt while finishing the binding, so it has been slow going. I have been sitting beside the window air conditioner and trying to get some stitching in. Canada is now out of the tournament, so I'll be watching less TV and hopefully have more stitching time.

I have also started the "Women in Science" cross stitch SAL by Climbing Goat Designs. 

This project features "six incredible women who have changed the story of science"....most of whom have not received the credit they should have earned in their achievements. I am enjoying the history lessons and learning more about these women. The first scientist featured was Katherine Johnson and there have been 2 more patterns released, so I better get a move on!

What are you hand stitching today? Are you suffering from the heat where you live? It has been so hot here, I haven't been outside for days (unless walking to the car). Please link up your blog post below and share your slow stitching with us.

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