Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching where we celebrate the art of creating things with our hands. Any hand stitching activity is welcome here :)

I have been slowly cross stitching Melisa's Spring project. I repaired the problematic bird in the header that I posted last week. Thank you to the eagle eye stitchers who told me how to fix my mistakes.

I also stitched the first stamp on the upper right, which is stamp #3 called Bluebird and Bees. So cute! I am using the sewing method of cross stitch and stitching in hand, which I find to be  easier with my sore hand.  I am willing to overlook the fact that it doesn't look as nice as stab stitching using a hoop.

And following along with the bird theme, I have been watching the nesting chickadee family in the front yard birdhouse. It provides hours of free entertainment to watch the comings and goings of Mr and Mrs while they are setting up house and hopefully planning to have a family.

Okay, enough of the bird watching, now it's time for more bird stitching. Next up is making the maroon frames so I can stitch more bird patterns (9 in total).

What are you hand stitching today? You know we love to peek in on your progress, so link up your photo, instagram or blog post below.

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Rainy Saturday Fun

My wonderful local quilt guild has created amazing opportunities to access international speakers and teachers as an adaptation to covid restrictions 3 years ago. In January we heard an inspiring lecture by Krista Moser who shared her presentation called "Diamonds are a Quilter's Best Friend".  She made it sound so easy and I have been dreaming of diamond blocks since then.

Today I am excited to be taking a zoom class with Krista and we will be learning how to use her 60 degree ruler. Here is my pile of practice fabric and my newly acquired ruler, and I am ready to start learning. 

What a great way to spend a rainy Saturday!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly celebration of the art of slowly stitching by hand! We encourage you to slow down, breathe deeply, and take a few stitches in your current project. And we hope you enjoy seeing the  creations of hand stitching gurus from around the world that share with us in the links below.

I have been slowly stitching Melisa's Spring cross stitch.  All the called for threads have been gathered, and there were only 2 floss colours that I needed to purchase.

I finished stitching most of the heading and one border for the top right stamp. 

I was so excited to stitch a bird that I jumped right into the header bird design without counting properly. UGH! I don't know just how it happened to turn out unlike the chart, but this bird needs some reconstructive surgery somewhere! I gave up on that bird and started a new one!

This blue bird went much better and is so cute! I stitched some grass for her to stand on, and today I will start stitching a tree for her to enjoy. 

You can see Melisa's project here with links to all 9 of the bird stamp designs. 

What are you slow stitching today? Link up your photo, instagram, or blogpost below and share your progress with us.

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Sewcialites 2

The Fat Quarter Shop posted the last Sewcialites  block pattern this week. I am sad that this project is finishing since it was so fun to see these patterns as they were posted and dream of sewing them in different colours. I am only about half way through the patterns, so I will continue to sew the blocks in the Rainbow Scrap Colours each month until I have made them all. 

This is block #14 called Enchant - pattern by April Rosenthal (a churn dash variation). It was fun to pull the fabric scraps and easy to sew. In the centre I put a fussy cut square taken from my border fabric (Dragonfly Lagoon).

And then it was back to sewing the harder block #13 called Innovate - pattern by Doug Leko. 

I decided to challenge myself by changing the colouring a bit and use 2 prints instead of 3. Why do I let my creative brain do this to me?!?

I did all the cutting last night, but made a few errors apparently. While I was sewing the block this morning I had to keep cutting more squares, mostly of the light purple.

Here is the finished 6" block with 36 pieces. And all the squares that were left over! LOL

Anyway I love how it turned out and it was a good workout for my brain!

Here are my blocks on the design wall.

I love the 2 new purple blocks added!

Click here to see the layout that was just posted for these blocks... it is so pretty!

Linking to the Scrappy party at Angela's and Judy's Design Wall Monday

Happy Earth Day!

Disappearing Design Wall

More progress has been made on my disappearing pinwheel blocks. Two more Kaffe blocks have been sewn. I love these fabrics and hope I never run out of them!

There is a grand total of 5 finished blocks on the design wall. I must confess that the orange block is my favourite. The background fabric was in a layer cake from the Fat Quarter Shop's Spooky Box last fall. While it didn't make it into the Halloween quilt, the spooky fabric found a perfect home here!

This is what the whole design wall looks like today.

Five finished blocks and seven pinwheel blocks ready to disappear. I want to find more blue fabrics in my stash to add to this collection.

Hope your design wall is bringing you joy today!

I'm joining Judy's design wall linky party

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!  Take a few moments to set aside your machines, your devices and screens, and just take a deep breath... ahhh... so much better. Now pick up your needles and fibres, and put a few stitches into your project. You will feel better in no time!

Today I will be adding stitches to Melisa's Spring Stamp Collection Stitch along. I am stitching very slowly so I don't aggravate my healing hand, and have only made it this far in stitching the frame. But do you notice that the line at the top and bottom do not line up? For heaven's sake! I made a nasty counting error and missed a stitch on the diagonal. I had to rip out the carefully stitched mistake...UGH! That was a set back for sure.

So I took out a big bag of floss that my friend Janet donated to me, and started digging around in it, looking for the perfect green to stitch the word "SPRING". In the sample the word is brown, but I wanted mine to be green. I did find the perfect floss colour and really cannot wait to stitch the letters so that I can get stitching the sweet blue birds! 

And in other bird news, I am delighted to announce that a bird has moved in to the little house my neighbour made for me and attached to the tree outside my front window. I can't tear myself away from watching her come and go. I'm so happy she is my new tenant. What is the rent for a bridhouse these days?!?! LOL

There is another spring mystery stitch along over at Joy's blog - called Days Filled With Joy. I just finished her winter sampler in March and can't wait to get to put some embroidery stitching in the spring project.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Design Wall Monday

The disappearing pinwheel pattern has captured my attention *squirrel*!

I made my first block in December of 2020 and started making more blocks in March. My design wall has 3 finished blocks,  6 squares of light and dark fabrics sewn together around the perimeter and ready to become pinwheels,  2 pinwheels ready to "disappear", and 6 squares that have no light square to partner with yet. So fun!

What kinds of squirrels are running around in your sewing room today?

Linking up to Judy's design wall linky party

Slow Sunday Stitching

Happy Easter and Happy Slow Sunday Stitching!

I saw this sweet picture on Jocelyn's blog a few years ago and thought I'd post it today because it makes me smile to think of the Easter bunnies (or are they mice?) joining us for hand stitching! The bunnies also remind me of precious memories of when my Dad used to read to us at bedtime when we were kids. He read many Beatrix Potter books with wonderful stories of the adventures of woodland creatures.

I have finally spotted some robins - real ones in my neighbourhood, and one that I hand stitched. This pattern is by Tammy Black and is the perfect spring stitch. I am loving it! Next up to stitch will be the bird's nest on the left and the word "Messenger" at the bottom.

I do love visiting your blogs and seeing your wonderful projects - even though I am not leaving many comments lately due to resting my sore hand (so I can stitch a little). Just know I am admiring your work and cheering you on! 

David Artz painting

I hope you will link up your photo, instagram or blog post below and share your hand stitching projects with us.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Scrappy Saturday

April is purple month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I don't use purple very often in my quilts, and in fact I can't even locate my purple scrap bin at the moment! But there were enough bits laying around to do some sorting and cutting this week.

I made some blocks for my version of scrappy stars. This pattern alternates 25 patch blocks with a star block. Just look at this sweet 3" star block!

I have been having thumb pain and have it immobilized for 6 weeks in a hand brace. That makes quilting very challenging. I have been teaching my left hand to do tasks like cut with scissors and use a rotary cutter. And I am letting my fingers do the work my thumb used to. I have to keep quilting somehow!

Here is my collection of blocks so far! 

Only 1 purple block has been finished but today I'll stitch together the pieces I cut out for more blocks to add.

Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly celebration of the art of slowly stitching by hand! We encourage you to slow down, breathe deeply, take a few stitches, and enjoy seeing the slowly created projects of hand stitching gurus from around the world. 

There seems to have been a lot of social events in my life lately, and my stitching time has been eaten up by visiting and celebrating. I'm not complaining since it has been lots of fun, but that means less to share on the blog.

I did order a new hand stitching project to celebrate spring. I ordered these products  from 123 Stitch and the pattern is called "Spring's Messenger". Yes it was extra in postage and the exchange to Canadian currency but I just loved it, so it's worth it to me. I love robins and watch for them in the spring. I haven't seen one yet. 

Just look at these floss colours! Yum! I'm stitching on the recommended 36 count vintage country mocha Edinburgh linen. I love the feel of stitching on linen vs. aida cloth.

It's slow going since I am pacing my stitching due to hand pain. This is how far I am today. I wonder if I will stitch see a stitched robin or a real one first?!?

While I was waiting for the robin to arrive in the mail, I worked on my "Stitcher" project until I ran out of green "Lucky" floss. I was rather unlucky because the skein I bought was not enough floss for the entire project. Pastime Pieces mailed me another skein and this one has a bit more yellow in the dye, but that's okay. 

My right hand continues to be too sore for hand quilting, but it can tolerate cross stitching for short periods of time. I'd like to purchase a lap or table stand that could hold a hoop for embroidery or cross stitch. Does anyone have a recommendation for one of these products that you have enjoyed?

What are you hand stitching this week? Link up your photo, blog or instagram post below and share your slow progress with us!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter