Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the last hand stitching party of 2024!

It's the week between Christmas and New Year, which is always a bit disorienting for me. There has been a lot of cooking, tidying, visiting, and eating delicious food. I'm ready for a vacation to recover from the holiday! 

I didn't do much stitching this week and mostly focused on trying to finish the Nordic Christmas Countdown project. I have quite a bit still to stitch in the next couple of days and intend (hope?!?!) to have it finished before the year ends. The bottom is more filled in today than it looks in this photo.

I have made a couple of changes as I went along. 

One change I made was to switch out the pink on the left half star, with a softer light green. I like it much better as I thought there was too much pink on the bottom. I still need to add 2 reindeer, finish the birds and stitch something under the crowns (either my initials or hearts). I am very proud of keeping up with this stitch along in such a busy month.

On New Year's Eve I am planning to participate in the "12 by 12", where you work on 12 different projects for one hour throughout the day (to read more about 2023's event click here). And on New Year's Day I will start a mystery quilt sew along with Scrapdash called Pretty in Paisley. So it will be a busy few days coming up!

Did you get some quiet stitching time over Christmas? Do you have plans for stitching on New Year's Eve or Day? Link up your blog post below and share your progress with us.

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Slow Sunday Stitching

It's Sunday again - time for some rest and relaxation. It's the last Sunday before Christmas and maybe you are working on food preparations, wrapping presents, hosting guests, and/or gift finishing, but I encourage you to take even a few moments to slow down and enjoy some hand stitching today. I promise you it will help you to calm down, think more clearly, and be more efficient in completely all the tasks on your to-do list. 

I have greatly enjoyed my Christmas countdown boxes (click here to see the video where I show the boxes). I have been keeping up to date on the Evertote/Roxy Floss/Modern Folk Embroidery Nordic Christmas Countdown collaboration and am really enjoying the beautiful threads for that project. Look at the rich blue "Winter Solstice" thread!

And speaking of Winter Solstice... my family celebrated our Winter Solstice baby's 1st birthday yesterday! He has certainly brought so much light to our lives this past year, and we are so grateful for him. (He made me a "great aunt" which is such a privilege!)  Look at the moose letters his Mom made for his chair - so cute!

Okay back to stitching... this is how far I have stitched on the Nordic Christmas Countdown project. I have made 4,190 cross stitches in the month of December on this beauty! The stitching has been captivating and a wonderful part of my advent season for 2024!

This is a bag of fabric I bought for a Christmas present from me to me! This will be the start of a new mystery quilt in blue and neutrals. Yum!

I seem to have a preference for blue these days, and I'll show you one more blue project.

This is the hand knit sweater that my friend Nicki made for my grandbaby. Isn't it gorgeous!? It's perfect for winter weather and it will hopefully fit soon (photos to come of course!)

Okay, now it's your turn... what are you hand stitching this week? Do you have finishes or starts to share? Any gifts you have given or received? We'd love to see them - link up your blog post below!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! 🎄🎄

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Hi stitchers! Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! It's time to rest for a few moments, to get out your needles and yarns and pretty threads, and add some stitches to your favourite project.

I made another flosstube video to update my December projects, and mostly to talk about my advent boxes, and the Jingle Ball.

I am having so much fun with my cross stitch boxes this month and although I am behind on both projects, it has been a wonderful experience and has made the month of December so much fun. 

I really enjoy opening a little bag every day that contains a new colour of floss. Just look at this lovely thread from Roxy Floss Co. This is where I was with the Nordic Holiday on day 10 and have made 4 days of progress since then but didn't take a photo.

This is one of the motifs I have stitched this week with floss that is called "Pink Peppermint" - a sweet variegated pink. 

Love! 💗

I don't even care what the outcome of this project is, or what the design will look like. This has been a wonderful "process" stitch for me! I have projects that need to be finished for Christmas, but I just want to stitch on the Evertote Nordic Christmas Countdown. I want everything else to be on the back burner so I can stitch this, but I must summon up all my self discipline to stay on track for Christmas!

Has this ever happened to you - that you become so distracted with a project that you can't focus on what should be worked on? 

Link up your blog post below and share your projects (and stitchy dilemmas) with us!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to Slow Stitching Sunday where we make time to slow down our lives, to breathe deeply, to pick up a needle and thread, and take some slow stitches. 

This weekend I have been attending the Jingle Ball which is a virtual cross stitch event. My friend Debby and I rented a little B 'n B on Lake Huron to enjoy the event together and have had a wonderful time relaxing, visiting stitchers around the world, learning about pattern designers, and of course doing some stitching!

I have been working on the Evertote Nordic Holiday Countdown which is a collaboration with Modern Folk Embroidery and Roxy Floss Co.  This is the mess from day #6. I was very discouraged by some counting errors I made, and a little fairy came in the night and ripped out most of the problem.

It was a Christmas miracle! (not really - my friend did the actual ripping out for me while I was sleeping)

There are still some errors that I can live with that I am leaving, and hope the design will turn out okay in the end. 

What are you hand stitching today? Are you working on any secret Christmas gifts? Me too!

Please link up your blog post below and share your projects (not the secret ones) with us!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! Sunday is our day to slow down and rest, to be thankful... and to stitch to our heart's content!

I have been stitching miles of binding in the month of November. I finished another binding this week for the guild outreach projects. 

That was the 5th quilt I have bound this fall, so I took a little photo of the quilt pile before I handed them over to go to the folks who will distribute them to various causes. Every one of these quilts was made by at least 3 people - one to piece the top, one to machine quilt, and one (me!) to hand stitch the binding. We all get to do what we love! Each one is gorgeous in it's own way and I hope they will  provide warmth and comfort to their recipients.

Today I posted a  summary video of my November stitching projects which you can view on my Youtube channel here. One of my finishes was Cardinal Wreath (pattern by Tiny Modernist).

I also talk about my stitching plans for December, which are to work on the Quiltville mystery each week (sewing 4 patches this week) and to stitch 2 advent mysteries. The first mystery project is from Evertote (a collaboration with Modern Folk Embroidery and Roxy Floss). 

The second advent mystery is from Four Boys and a NL Girl Designs. This photo does not show how beautiful this blue fabric is... can't wait to get stitching

I'm so excited about my plans and hope that this month will be lots of fun!

Next weekend I plan to attend the Jingle Ball which is an online event for cross stitching. I'm sure that will involve some new projects, but hopefully not too many! 

Do you have any fun plans for advent celebrations or December project starts??? Please share your plans and link up your blog post below.

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