Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!

Why not pick up your project and put in a few stitches today? That's exactly what I'm planning to do this afternoon. I started knitting a dishcloth with a bee skep pattern from an old book called "Garden Dishcloths" that my friend Debby found. I am really enjoying this project so I plan to do some knitting.

This week I finished embroidering the word "home" in the centre of a pieced block which will become part of a donation quilt.

I also want to share with you a bit about the Mennonite Relief sale and quilt auction that happened yesterday.  Although my sewing group didn't have a quilt to donate this year, I was inspired to get working on our group project for next year.

Here is a terrible selfie of me volunteering at the sale.  I think I got a bit dehydrated andstarted to feel unwell, so I didn't stay until the end like I usually like to do. 

Since covid, they have capacity to include online bids, and you can see on the photo below on the TV screen where the bids are coming in from (across Canada and the USA).

This is a quilt named 
"China Blue" that my friend Sandy pieced and donated and it raised $725!

There was so much inspiration to take in! I love to hear ladies oooing and ahhhing , pouring the details of  gorgeous quilts. There was a lot of that going on!

One of my favourite quilts was this tiny little treasure named "Wheel of Fortune" made with exquisite workmanship by Henny Bremer. 

Details:

-543 patches

-62 different fabrics

-size 11" x 8 "

I also saw many lovely labels and pretty backing fabrics. Look at this label on the back of "Quilt Addict Tulip Time" which reads: "Am I a quilt addict? Well yes, Oh no, Yes yes yes, Shhh maybe, No I am not, Yes I am today, Define addict?" Well that covers all the possible answers!  LOL

And of course I was inspired by all the lovely handwork I spotted. Just look at this gorgeous embroidery on a quilt called "Paisley". It didn't show well from a distance, but up close, this quilt was so beautifully done.

I hope you were inspired by my photos to pick up your stitching and make some progress today. And please link up your blog or instagram post below so we can enjoy your creativity.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! It's time to put your feet up, relax, and put some stitches into your favourite project. Just breathe and stitch, even if just for a few moments.

I will be breathing slowly and putting some stitches into this mystery cross stitch from the Fat Quarter Shop. I think I am making good progress, but I am 2 weeks behind right now. That's okay... I'll catch up (or I won't!)

And I will be finishing some embroidery on this sampler block. That is probably all I will have time for today. 

What will you be stitching today? We'd love to see your projects and hope you will link up below!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Sewcialites 2

Orange is the colour of the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I have been playing with some orange scraps and made 2 new sewcialites blocks to add to my collection.

First up is block # 15 called "Brighten" by Minki Kim. This was quick and easy to sew, and made from 3 fabrics.  I'm making all my blocks in the 6" size but this is a really cool block and wouldn't it make a dramatic quilt in the larger size (9") pattern?

Next was block #18 called "Spellbound" by Robin Pickens. It was the perfect pattern to use up 16 pieces in my 1.5" square collection. 

Why did I skip block #16 and #17 you ask? Well, one block was too many large chunk of orange for my liking, and I'll save that one for another month's colour, and one block was too hard for my brain this week, so I'll also save that one for next month!

Here is my yummy block collection so far. Some colours are noticeably absent in the sampler, but they will appear in the next few months.

All the free Sewcialites 2 block patterns are posted now (in 3 sizes) and will continue to stay on the Fat Quarter website, so I will keep sewing 2 blocks each month until I have sewn them all.

Linking up to Angela's RSC party and Judy's Design Wall party

Mother's Day 2023

Happy Slow Sunday Stitching and Happy Mother's Day to all who "mother"!  Kris from Scrapdash wrote in her newsletter:  "Whether your baby is two-footed, four-footed, feathered, finned, or quilted, today is your day". 

I have been mothering my Granddog this weekend and he loves to go for car rides (unless it is driving to the vet!) He sticks his head out the window as far as he can reach to get all the good smells.

I finally finished my 1991 cross stitch! Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to finish it - I'm so glad I took your advice!

I took this photo in the early morning sunlight with some spring tulips. The photo looked better in my mind's eye than in real life.

I gifted the pillow to my Mom when it wasn't quite finished - you can see the clips across the bottom. I don't have the hand strength at the moment to do that kind of stitching, so my friend Debby actually stitched it closed for me. The stitched words across the bottom say "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as Kings" (a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson)

We should be happy, but I was quite cross this week about a glitch (aka mistake) on my spring cross stitch.  My sister so patiently fixed for me. That's right - the dreaded ripping out of stitches. I can't bear it... but thankfully she enjoys unstitching - for others. This project is going into time out for a bit until I build my confidence to work on it again (hopefully not 30 years!)

I did make some progress on my Spring embroidery from Days Filled With Joy. These little adorable bumgoots filled with flowers are step #2. The next block to stitch are seed packets, so I hope to work on those today.

What are you hand stitching today? I hope you will link up your photo, instagram or blog post below and share your project with us.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Hot Mess Design Wall

Life has been crazy/fun/busy lately, which means my quilting productivity has decreased. This is what my design wall looks like. There are three different projects represented, and many of the 60 degree triangle blocks fell off. Pathetic!

But full disclosure - that's the way it is when life is busy!

For one thing I went on a shop hop! Woohoo! Every May, for the past 17 years my friend Louise and I take the first Friday in May off work and we go on a shop hop together. We missed 2 years during covid and were delighted to be together again for another adventure! This shop hop used to be called "Goose on the Loose", and now it is called Hills and Valleys and included 4 stores this year. 

We enjoyed leisurely country drives, deep conversation, a delicious lunch at the Creemore Bakery, and of course soaking up a wide range of quilty inspiration at each quilt store. Some stores had draws to win prizes and deals on some products. We each did a significant amount of damage to our credit cards! And also, we did not buy all the things we wanted to, because we do have some self control! LOL

I have also been on a quilt retreat, but that report will have to wait for another day. 

Linking up to Judy's design wall party

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!

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

Last Sunday I attended a little hand stitching party hosted by my friends Debby and Dorothy. It was so much fun to see what everyone had brought to stitch. We had some embroidery, cross stitch, crochet, and we even had a painter! We also had one person "making memories" and talking about stitching, but not really doing anything! We won't mention any names! LOL Visiting with friends is a very important task, and since we have been so socially deprived over the past 3 years, we are making up for it now!

And look at these new friends... Livvy is learning to crochet turtles, and Katie begged to buy one to give to her son.

Janice had just come back from Stitch North and told us all about the event, and showed her floss winnings! We were so happy for her, and know she will make many gorgeous stitcheries in the future. She showed us the patterns and books that she bought and we all decided we were going to attend next year (even though I have tried to attend the past 2 years and missed the deadline before it was sold out).

And of course I have started a new project! 

You know how I love mystery projects and the Fat Quarter Shop started a spring mystery called "Life in Full Bloom". So I had to jump on board with that! These are the necessary supplies. I had 7 of the 12 required floss colours, so only had to buy 5. I am stitching on 28 count Lugana which is so soft.

Here is my start. A new section of the pattern comes out each Friday, so hopefully I will be motivated to keep up. I love the argyle design I stitched so far and the pretty needle minder that came with the project. 

What are you stitching today? Are you starting new projects, or finishing old ones? I hope you are able to have some happy stitching moments today and can share your projects with us in the link up below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Krista's Diamond Ruler Class

On Saturday I attended a virtual workshop on the design possibilities of a 60 degree ruler with Krista Moser. It was fantastic! 

I hadn't taken a quilting class for about a year and I forgot how much I enjoy being able to stay at home to learn (no commute), wearing my pyjamas, having all my supplies and equipment around me, and seeing everything perfectly. Krista was an excellent teacher, so I learned some teaching tips from her as well as her many quilting tips.

I was "in the zone" as they say! Cutting fabric and sewing and being constantly amazed at how everything lined up perfectly! I can't say enough good things about her specialty ruler. It was pricey and I'm not one to have all the gadgets and rulers, but this one is well worth the investment and I am sure I will get a lot of use out of it.

We made many different complex blocks with lots of bias seams, and Krista shared her tips about how to handle and sew pieces to reduce bias issues. You have to take a class with her to decode why I took this photo to remind me of a few of her tips.

I am telling you, I barely had to use pins and my blocks were practically perfect most of the time! I can't even believe it! I felt like something magical was going on!

And just look at all the various block patterns she taught us in one day! Here is my day's accomplishment on the design wall.

Pinwheel diamond, rainbow hexie, wreath hexie, star block and pinwheel hexie were some of the patterns we learned how to make. I hope to sew these into an equilateral triangle sampler. 

I keep looking at my design wall in amazement today! My grade 10 math teacher would roll over in his grave if only he knew I could accomplish this! LOL

Lynn's mini blocks

But just look at this... our co-student Becky  challenged us to make the blocks smaller, and Lynn actually did! Look at how small her blocks became (loonie on the table gives the size perspective). Now I have to try to meet this challenge too!

Linking up with Judy's design wall postings

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.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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