Design Wall Wednesday

Wednesday finds me in the sewing room unexpectedly. You know those days when you're too tired to work, but not too tired to sew??!?  That's me today! I have been watching too many  olympic events and not getting enough sleep. That's okay... it only happens every 4 years!

I have been enjoying the free Star of Wonder mystery quilt sew along by the Fat Quarter Shop.

I ordered the fabric kit mid June and it took the slow boat on a trip around the world, and was MIA for a while. And then the Fat Quarter Shop sent me a second kit mid July to replace the original MIA kit, which then randomly arrived in my mailbox  shortly thereafter! 

Of course it did! 

That meant I had 2 mystery kits in hand, what was I to do? You can hear all about it, see my July projects, and enter a draw the win the bonus fabric kit on my Youtube channel. 

The fabrics are from the "Once Upon a Christmas" by Sweetfire Road Design by Moda line. They are gorgeous with the mistletoe, snowflakes and doves.

I have almost all the blocks sewn for the first 4 steps and hope to sew step #5 today.

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Judy's

Kathy's Quilts and Stitching - "Flosstube Adjacent" Video

Welcome to the end of July hand stitching party! We encourage you to get out your hand stitching project and put in a few stitches. Don't just think about doing it, or talk about doing it, or plan to do it - just dive in and actually do it! It is a guaranteed mood booster for all of us crafty folks!

I made another Flosstube video to show the projects that I worked on in July, to share 2 summer stitching stories, and to talk about the Summer Stitching Olympics which started on July 26th. Pop over to see what's been happening in my summer stitchy adventures. Also, I have an amazing quilty giveaway that I hope you will enter on my youtube channel.

Last weekend was my family's annual camping trip by Lake Huron. We had a wonderful time together and I got a lot of outdoor stitching time. I finished the June Square Dance pattern, and even got the tiny buttons attached.

I also started a new project called Wild Whimsey Bear by Darling and Whimsey Designs, stitched on 14 count tea dyed aida. I loved stitching the bear while camping in the woods! The stain under the bear's front food is because a squirrel attacked my project bag when I went to the washroom.

I stored a bag of mixed nuts in my stitching bag and when I came back, a squirrel had chewed through the bag and helped himself to my snack! **A cautionary tale to not put your snacks in your stitching bag and leave it unattended in the woods! I do hope the stain will come out, but if not, it will add interest to the story of this project! I have no idea how to fix the project bag!

Do you have any "squirrels" you have started working on? Have any squirrels attacked your projects lately? Link up your blog post in the linky party below and share what you are working on.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Design Wall Monday

Can you believe I am writing a Monday blog post?

I have been so busy this summer I hardly have had time to blog at all! I have been able to stick to my Sunday routine, but my other fun stitching has not had any blog attention!

I am working on a secret wedding quilt that I want the bride and groom to see first and haven't posted about it yet. It has been on the design wall for way too long while I fret about the math!

And I have started 2 mystery quilts this month - one through the Fat Quarter Shop and one through my local quilt guild.

I ordered the fabric kit for the Fat Quarter Shop mystery and paid for it mid June, but it never arrived. After the mystery started I contacted them and they sent out another package to me, which arrived on July 16th. And wouldn't you know it, the original parcel posted on June 14th magically arrived the next day?!? So I will send the second one back to them since I only paid for one.

So now I am scrambling to catch up with the mystery and they have posted the first 3 parts. I have only finished part 1 which is this pretty block. I have step #2 cut and ready to sew and hope to catch up this week.

And here are some blocks for the guild mystery quilt that I am making from a fabric kit coordinated by the outreach committee at my quilt. There are billions of HST blocks, so I'm trying to catch up with that also.

(The wedding quilt is underneath the mystery quilt blocks! LOL)

Linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday party

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! We hope you will pick up a needle and some threads, and join us as we relax and make some progress on our hand stitched treasures.

As you all know my favourite hand stitching project is binding a quilt. It's so relaxing, no thought required, it's a portable task, and it's the completion stage of a quilt! I had my super bowl mystery quilt called "Dancing in the Stars" machine quilted by guild friend Roxanne and she did a fabulous job. 

This week I finally got the binding made using some of the leftover pieces of the gold fabrics used to make the star blocks in the quilt. The binding is now attached to the quilt and today I will enjoy finishing the stitching on it. Can you see that pretty 8 pointed star in the quilting design? I think I might love this quilt too much to donate to the guild's comfort quilt collection!

There is also some cross stitch going on here. I have started my project for the "Stitches and Pages" group hosted by Katie the Novel Stitcher. The novel we are reading is "Funny Story" by Emily Henry, and we are choosing our own stitching project to work on that fits with the theme. I have started a design from the "Really Cross Stitch" book by Rayna Fahey. I enjoy so many of the designs in this book that it was hard to choose one. I am almost done stitching the 2nd rat. The next thing to stitch will be the words "Thanks Science". I guess my humour is a little bit sarcastic or maybe "tongue in cheek". 

My second project getting some attention is the Mini Strawberry Sampler by Pinker 'n Punkin quilting. Oh so sweet! I love the varigated red floss (called "Cayenne" by Weeks Dye Works) that I found in my stash for the berries .

So that's what my needles are working on here.

What are your needles making this week? Share you projects with us below!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching link up! 

We are in the middle of summer here, and it has been a comfortably warm summer, with a few really hot days to keep the heat lovers happy, but also enough rain to keep the grass green which makes me happy.

I did get the baby quilt binding done in time for the shower. I loved the flannel backing picturing various dogs... it was so fun to stitch on by these sweet faces!

I had just finished cross stitching my goofy looking walrus from step 2 when the 3rd step was sent out for the Frosted Pumpkin's Arctic Animals SAL. 

I'm now ready to start stitching the caribou and am delighted that I haven't fallen behind in this SAL yet. I'm really looking forward to the puffins arriving and I wonder what step they will be? But the other creatures are welcome too and this has been such a fun project to work on.

What are you hand stitching this week? Are you participating in any stitch alongs? I would like to start the embroidery Christmas in July SAL with Joy this week, so I hope to fit that into my stitching schedule.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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...

To start off the first week of July I finished the binding on this comfort quilt (52" x 60"). It is made from a cacophony of scraps and is very cheerful. I don't know who pieced the quilt or who machine quilted it, but I put on the binding and now it is ready for the community outreach program to distribute.

I also started Melisa's mini strawberry sampler and am enjoying that so much! It is a free pattern to her blog readers - thank you Melisa! Click here to see her version and to get the pattern. I am stitching on the beet juice dyed fabric I made last month and using some fancy floss that I have collected.

This is the quilt I will be working on today. My sister pieced the attic windows quilt top and I have to pin baste, quilt and bind the quilt, and have it finished in time for my niece's baby shower next Saturday. Nothing like leaving things until the last minute!

What are you stitching today? Link up your blog post below and share your slow progress with us!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Quilting Adventures

It's time for the July Shop Hop in southern Ontario, Canada. There are 13 stores to visit this year and there are great prizes to be won if you get your passport stamped at each of the stores.

Also...at each shop you get a free block pattern and the fabric to make their block. Just look at the effort that went into making this sweet package! I greyed out the colours so I don't ruin the surprise of the theme for this year's project. But wow I am so impressed with this event and have visited 5 shops so far. Great summer fun! 

Of course I am making a few purchases along the way! I bought 2 of these fun kits to make a Canada Day pillow at Ye Olde Fabric Shoppe. A friend has a red Adirondack chair on her porch that needs one of these pillows, so I'll make one for her and one for me! At the end of the month I will share more about this adventure.

One of my favourite things to do on shop hop is to notice all the vintage machines they have on display. Look at this "Peerless" from New White  seen at  Heart 'n Home Creations! The decals are so beautiful! 

Are you going on a shop hop this summer?