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!

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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!

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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...

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!

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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?

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! Get out your needles and threads and join us... the more the merrier!

I have enjoy participating in the "Strawberry Moon SAL" on instagram this month and have stitched on 4 different strawberry projects during June. You saw my Strawberry Jam in last week's blog post, and I wanted to show you that my friend Debby is also stitching this design, but on a much smaller count of fabric. Look at the difference in our projects! Her 'Stitch North' needleminder is the same width as her stitching design!

I also wanted to show you Debby's new floss organization idea. Isn't this so cute? I don't have the patience to organize this kind of thing, but I sure do enjoy looking at it!

Tomorrow is Canada Day here and I plan to celebrate by starting my guild's annual summer mystery quilt because that's the best way (for me) to celebrate! I have all the fabrics cut and ready to start sewing as soon as the clue arrives in my inbox! 

And also in celebration of Canada Day, I stitched a miniature wallhanging. This is a free design by Tiny Modernist  and I used 4 different red DMC flosses to make my version. I added a little maple leaf charm and a 2024 charm. Finished size is 4.5" square.

What are you hand stitching today? Are you making something for Canada Day or for the 4th of July celebrations? Link up your blog post below and share your projects with us!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Rainbow Scrap Challenge

I haven't written an RSC post for a while and it is long overdue! I have been playing in my scraps and setting the world to rights by organizing little rectangles!

My blocks are inspired by a friend's quilt with one light round, and the other rounds will be medium or dark fabric. I have 6 light rectangles clipped together for each block (2 yellow, 3 light blue/teal and 1 pink). I'm also cutting random scraps in other sizes to use up the small bits.

Here are my first 2 blocks on the design wall today - one with a yellow contrast round, and one with a light blue contrast round. 

Yes! It is working well! I will need 20 blocks for a useable sized quilt and each block uses 32 rectangles, for a grand total of 640 scraps! That should make a big dent in the scrap bin don't you think?!? 

Linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Design Wall Monday

I haven't written a design wall post for a while but am happy today to share a new project I have started.

I was inspired by seeing this scrappy quilt made by a quilting friend (Nellie), and being hand bound by another quilting friend (Barb). I love this scrap pattern! Barb called it a "potato chip" quilt which I researched on line and found a good tutorial on the Alamosa Quilter blog. 

I studied how Nellie made her  blocks, noticing that she made one light round of rectangles in each block. Then I dug into the scrap bin, and started cutting and sewing. It was so much fun!

Here is my first block on the design wall. I used yellow as a light contrast round because there were not many light neutrals in the bin I was working from. I also would like to find some brighter colours to add into future blocks and will pull from another scrap bin for the next one.

I have many more rectangles cut and am ready to start sewing more blocks! I am enjoying the energy that a new project brings!

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Judy's

Slow Sunday Stitching

 Welcome to the hand stitching party!

Our first link up was June 24, 2012 so this weekend we are celebrating 12 years of Slow Sunday Stitching adventures! The goal was to encourage people to slow down, to take a deep breath, to dedicate precious time to the healing process of hand work, and to connect with other creative like-minded stitchers. Thank you for helping me to achieve that goal! 🥰

I am doing just as much hand stitching as I ever have including knitting, cross stitch, embroidery, quilting and beading. And I still adore binding quilts. Look at this pile of quilts to finish! The bottom two are comfort quilts made by other guild members, the middle gold and black quilt was pieced by my friend Gail, and the top two are quilts that I pieced and sent to a long armer (Roxanne) to machine quilt for me. I will post more photos next month as I finish these bindings, but this is one lovely pile of happiness waiting for me!

I also love the monthly series of patterns called Square Dance from Heart in Hand that I am making this year. They are perfect little take along projects for my hand work bag. The May flower block is finished and the June block is finally started. 

I also finished the adorable Strawberry Jam pattern by Cheryl of Tiny Modernist (who is my favourite Canadian cross stitch pattern designer).

This mouse is so darn adorable, I was smiling the whole time I stitched her. Her little boots, her curly tail, and holding a strawberry. 🍓🍓🍓 I stitched on a black bead for her eye so she could see well. I'm disappointed that my white flowers don't show up very well on my beet dyed aida cloth (which is pinker in real life).

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I dunked a piece of cloth in beet juice - it was a crazy experiment to try to make pink fabric! You can see the piece I cut out to stitch the Strawberry Jam mouse on. I don't know why some of it came out really dark pink? I'm sure I will try an experiment like this again some day. Maybe with walnut shells, or onion skins, or pomegranates, or ???

So that's my stitching update for this week. Now it's your turn - what are you hand stitching this week? Link up your blog post below and share your slow progress with us! 

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Slow Sunday Stitching Strawberries #2

 Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! Slow stitching is good for your health, so give yourself a little boost and pick up your stitching project today!

This is one of my favourite embroidery blocks for my Life is Beautiful project and still needs to be appliqued, sandwiched and hand quilted.

I have been obsessed with strawberries lately and finished the "Sweet Strawberry" stitching this week. I found a strawberry fabric for the backing and binding.

And then I stitched down a string of plastic beads around the inside of the binding. It just adds a bit more sweetness to the sweetness! 🍓🍓🍓

Tada... here is the finished wallhanging which measures 7" square. Do I "need" another little wallhanging?

Absolutely not!

But do I love it?

I sure do!

And that's what hand stitching is all about for me! 💖

I did a fun photo shoot yesterday and put a couple of strawberry miniatures together... so so cute!

Acckkkkk... wait!

One of them is upside down!  

I'll try to redo this and make it my photo header!

I hope you are enjoying strawberry season if you live in the part of the world where they are plentiful now! And I hope you are stitching what you love!

Link up your blog post below and share your projects with us!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Slow Sunday Stitching Strawberries

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! Our goal is to encourage you to pick up your project, put a few stitches in, take some deep breaths, and enjoy the happy feelings that will result (and the subsequent improved health)!

🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓 🍓

You may have noticed on instagram that there is a Strawberry Moon SAL (SAL means 'stitch along') happening this month, and I am very 'gung ho' about this theme! I have been dreaming of making a new photo for my blog header, and planning some projects to start stitching this month... way too many!

My first start was "Sweet Strawberry" which is a free pattern by Cosmic Handmade.  I am stitching it on a 25 count evenweave called "Shadow".  The top part of the design is done (wait... I see the top left strawberry is not quite finished!) and this week I will work on the bottom part. 

Also... don't you think the birds need stitched or beaded eyes?!

The second start is going to be "In the good old summer time" a pattern by Stitching with the Housewives. I am not going to stitch it on a black background because that is too hard for me to see. So I'm switching it to a grey background and will use the green "weeping willow" for the letters (instead of white).

The third start will be Pinker 'n Punkin's Mini Strawberry Sampler but first I got a wild hair to dye some background fabric with beets. Yes, beets, because I think it might make the fabric slightly pink which would make a great background for strawberries... and it might be fun! I did some internet research and it sounds possible, and once I get a creative idea in my head, I'm probably going to go ahead and try it!

I finished knitting my "Big Heart" washcloth this week. It's so cute! There are lots of wobbles, uneven edges, and some random holes, but I am ridiculously proud that I could figure out this pattern! It was a challenge for me and I am working up my confidence to knit a baby sweater next.

What are you creating with your hands this week? Are you planning any new starts for June?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the hand stitching party! This is where the hand stitchers gather to share the projects they are working on. When you create something with your own hands (not with a machine) it takes so much longer to finish. You learn to develop patience and perseverance while you make small bits of progress. And we are here to celebrate with you and encourage you in your efforts!

I have been working on one of my oldest WIPs (work in progress) called "Life is Beautiful". Have you been reading my blog long enough to remember this one?

I started this in February 2015 and have worked on it in spurts over the years. Sometimes it disappears for a while until my friend Sandy asks "How's your Life is Beautiful project coming along"? So I go in search of it and fall in love with it again! Sandy has already finished her blue version of this quilt, and it is my dream to get photos of the two quilts together. But that won't happen unless I get going on mine!

I figure out where I am in the project, what the next step is, and I wonder why I put it away for so long. This time I know why! I started to put the 8.5" blocks together quilt-as-you-go style, and then realized i didn't have enough of that dark sashing fabric to complete the quilt. I'll just have to do the sashings in a scrappy style, adding in other similar fabrics and be okay with that. Today I will be cutting more sashing strips and putting in some more stitches to move this project forward. 

This week I posted a 12 mintue video of the stitching projects that I worked on in May - you can watch it at Kathy's Quilts and Stitching.

In the video I showed a little finish and am thinking about how to fully finish this piece of spring stitching. This is a free downloadable pattern from Silver Creek Samplers (thank you Diane). It is stitched on 14 count aida (2 DMC threads over 1 square) and the finished size is 2.5" x 4.5". So cute!

What are you working on in June?? Are you working on old UFOs or new starts...or both!? We hope you will share your blog post below...

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly celebration of hand stitching! It's the one time a week where we make sure to set aside some special moments for playing with needles and thread/yarn. We hope you will join us!

Some good progress has been made on my new dishcloth from the pattern book called "Dishcloths From the Heart" by Evelyn Clark. I love the little pattern booklet and have made several knitted cloths using the patterns in it. This pattern is called "Big Heart" and has been a challenge since every row is different. But it is now over 50% done and it does look like the bottom of a heart!  

Yesterday I delivered three finished quilts to the community outreach committee of my local guild. The pile on the left are the quilts I returned. These quilts were pieced and machine quilted by other guild members, and I was delighted to have the honour of hand stitching the bindings, with some help from my friends Barb and Debby! I brought home 2 more quilts to bind over the summer.

And this week I started a new cross stitch project. I had wanted to make this in April for obvious reasons! Better late than never I suppose? You can find the free pattern to download over at Silver Creek Samplers. I picked a rust coloured thread for the robin's breast since the orange looked too bright for a robin. I should be able to finish this by next week if all goes well.

What are you stitching this week? Do you have any new starts? Any finishes? Please link up your blog post below and share your projects with us.

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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 have been enjoying the cross stitch pattern called "Bird Herd" by Amity of Hathaway Stitchers. I am very proud of myself that I have become adept at using Pattern Keeper.

I have the first (of 4) adorable little 2" bird completed and have finished the right side of the design. I am stitching 1 thread of floss over 1 stitch on a 25 count "Countess Lugana" by Forbidden Fiber Co. 

I also started knitting another dishcloth using my favourite Suds yarn. The pattern is called "large heart" and has taught me a new stitch called "SSK" which makes the lovely lacy holes in the border. 

It's the long holiday weekend here, so I will be slow stitching by the lake today. Hope you are having a relaxing weekend and that you will share your slow progress with us in the links below.

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