Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly Slow Sunday Stitching party! 

If you enjoy hand stitching of any kind, then you have found your tribe! You are welcome to join us here every Sunday and learn how we keep ourselves stitched together... it's one stitch at a time!

If you're anything like me, you have multiple hand stitching projects in progress at one time. I have a couple of half finished knitted cloths, an abandoned EPP class project, a large multi year hand quilting project, a quilt-as-you-go project, and 2 hand embroidery projects! Especially during the covid pandemic, I only want to spend my free time doing what brings me joy. 

Today I will be adding stitches to this embroidery project (design by Joy). Even though I have a couple of designs traced, this one keeps attracting my interest. 

It's a wonderful meditative project and today I'll be stitching the words "Believe" and "Joy"... a perfect combination for Slow Sunday Stitching! 💖

What are you hand stitching today? We enjoy seeing the great variety of hand stitching projects each Sunday, so we hope you will link up your blog or instagram post below and share your slow progress with us.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Another project?!?!

Yes. I have been enticed to start the Riley Blake 2022 block challenge. I swear I wasn't going to, but the blocks have been too fun to not make them! 

Why, you ask? Well, the more small pieces there are in a block, the more I like it!

Each Tuesday one 10" block pattern is posted and there will be a total of 16 blocks. Each block pattern comes from a different designer, some of whom I recognize and some I don't.

Here is block #1 Daisy Chain designed by Lori Holt with 39 pieces.

Here is block #2 Sweetheart designed by Beverly McCullough with 42 pieces. I adore this one!

I don't have a plan for these blocks and am just making the blocks from whatever is on my cutting table. And because I am a long time member of the rainbow scrap challenge, I am surrounded by red scraps this month. These blocks might be turned into placemats, or might become a sampler quilt. I'm waiting for some inspiration to make make that decision.

Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Challenge

A few leader-ender fish blocks are being made too!

Quilt Repair

Earlier this month a friend asked if I would repair a quilt for a one of her friends. I had already registered for Carole's "Well Loved Quilt Repair" workshop, so I happily agreed to look at the quilt. My friend dropped the quilt off at my house in a black plastic garbage bag - horrors! 

1975 lone star quilt

It turned out to be a huge king size lovely vintage lone star quilt and I fell in love with it immediately! I don't have anywhere to hang a quilt that big, so this terrible photo will have to do.

Notice how the fabrics in the star points are different? Clearly she ran out of some of the fabrics when she was finishing the star!

shredding fabrics

The diamonds are all hand pieced and hand quilted 1/4" inside each seam. Some of the fabrics (like the peach) are shredding and some still look brand new. All of the diamonds are securely stitched in place. 

The quilt was made by the owner's grandmother. I was told that the grandmother used to work hard in the morning so she could go to church in the afternoon on quilting days. In one of the corners is embroidered the date of 1975.

ghosts of stitches past

There is no quilting anywhere outside of the lone star, so the batting has shrunk and is unevenly distributed around the star. I can see by the indented lines that there used to be hand quilting everywhere. I felt so sad that the quilting was gone, and also happy that this quilt has been so well loved and used.

thread audition

I asked the owner what she wanted me to repair, and she just wanted me to sew together the seam that had come open.  Oh okay... that's easy. 

In the class with Carole I had the opportunity to hear her ideas of what it would take to fully restore this quilt (ie. how to fix the batting, quilting the empty areas, replacing the torn/worn fabrics, etc) so I was full of ideas when I called the owner. She indicated that she planned to hang the quilt over a bar in a safe place so she could still see it everyday and didn't want it to be restored. 

So I went ahead and hand stitched the hole closed. And I also stitched a few tiny repairs here and there on the binding. I put the quilt into a clear bag with a note to tell her what a treasure this quilt is and that my advice is to never wash it again as some of the fabrics are disintegrating. 

I highly recommend Carole's Well Loved Quilt Repair class. She also has a lot of advice on her blog posts - click here.  I feel inspired to fix up some of the quilts that my Granddog has loved!

New Mysteries

 For all you mystery quilt addicts, here is an update:

1) My friend Susan tempted me with a mini Valentine mystery from Kathleen Tracy. This is a double delight for me - small pieces AND a mystery. 

2) Nancy Zieman Productions is hosting a 2022 mystery block of the month which is "not a block sampler". That sounds intriguing doesn't it? Steps will be posted on the 3rd Saturday of the month.

3) Sherri from A Quilting Life is hosting a BOM with 6" and 12" blocks. Each pattern will be a churn dash block with a pieced block inside. Here is the first block pattern.

4) Alycia is starting a new mystery soon called Stop Tossing, which she says will be a "fast, quick, fun mystery" with no HSTs! Fabric requirements will appear on Groundhog Day.  

5) A special treat for hand stitchers is a monthly BOM from Buttermilk Basin called "Joy in Stitches". The designs will be oval shaped with sewing themes. The first block has been posted and I can't wait to get stitching!

6) I also have started sewing some of the Riley Blake block challenges. Block #3 by Kristy Lea was just posted. 

Phew - that's a lot of new projects! 

Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments below!

Design Wall Monday

The big reveal of the Quiltville mystery was on Friday and I enjoyed playing with my beautiful blocks on the design wall . 

I put the sashing fabric I had chosen on the bottom right and hated that! Although it has all the colours of the fabrics, it's too much green. I auditioned a couple of other possible sashing fabrics and decided I liked my blocks best being side by side with no sashing (blocks on the bottom left). The diagonal chain that is formed by the purple QST blocks makes me happy.

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Judy's 

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly link up that celebrates the art of hand stitching! 

Why not get your project out and enjoy some relaxation?  Try not to think about your "to-do" list, or ruminate about your worries. Just take a stitching break and focus on pulling thread through fabric, or knitting stitches with yarn. 

I started yet another hand embroidery project this week. I found a design that I had printed a while ago from Days Filled With Joy blog. It's a free design she shares with folks who subscribe to her newsletter. I started with a little HOPE... who doesn't need some of that in our second winter of covid?!?

And then I moved on to stitch a little health, purpose, and calm.

Ahhhh... that feels a bit better now! 

For some unknown reason I am tracing only a couple of words at a time instead of drawing the whole design before I start. I think I might add 'love' or 'peace' as my next word. Thanks to Joy for this embroidery design that is perfect for me today!

What are you hand stitching today? We love to see your projects, so link up your blog or instagram post below and share your progress with us.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Scrappy Saturday

We are digging into the red scraps this month over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I have an abundance of red scraps and am having so much fun cutting and sewing them. 

For the first time I used the Alphabitties that I got in my Jolly Box. They are great! 

If you like to make complex blocks with many little pieces, you need these! The Alphabitties come in many colours, and I have the red ones, so they are perfect to use with this month's blocks!

The Alphabitties help to keep all the tiny block pieces organized which makes the sewing much easier. Did you notice that the 'F' Alphabitty is the same size as the pieces underneath!?

6" sewing machine

If you would like to try sewing this block, the free pattern is still available from Fat Quarter Shop. I have made the pattern in 3" and 6" sizes and they are so darn cute. This is going to be one of my ongoing 2022 RSC projects.

Next I cut pieces for the Riley Blake block challenge. I skipped right to block 2 and you will notice one small problem with the alphabitties... I am missing 'J' already! They are small, so you have to be careful you don't lose them!

Linking up to the weekly scrap party at the RSC

**Addendum - I was sewing mystery blocks  today and the lost 'J' has been found... woohoo!

Quiltville Mystery

It's Friday once again! It's so fun to have a Quiltville mystery step reveal each Friday and I'll be sad when this is finished. 

I've kept up with each step so far and here are some of my blocks from part 7. Sorry for the dark photo taken at night, but you get the general idea. These blocks were enjoyable to sew and I like how they look on the design wall on their own.

I'm excited to see what Bonnie is posting for us this morning!

Design Wall Monday

One of the mysteries I started on New Year's day is the Merry Mayhem mystery (which has already been removed from the website). I have tried a few  different block layouts to see what I like.

I like this one, but I would like it more with a scrappy version where the pieces are all scrambled.

I know this layout by the name "delectable mountains". It was an okay layout too and I like it better than the one above.

There are so many options with this block... but this one is my favourite. I made enough blocks for a lap quilt, but I want to make it larger, so this week I will make more neutral and navy blocks and add a couple more rows.

It seems like an easy block to sew, but there are so many ways to make it wrong. I made 2 mistakes with this block - a cutting error on the right and a sewing error on the left! 

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts 

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the international weekly hand stitching party!

Why not get a project out and enjoy some relaxation?  Try not to think about your "to-do" list, or ruminate about your worries. Just take a stitching break and focus on pulling thread through fabric or knitting stitches with yarn. 

This week I traced out a new hand embroidery design and I am excited to start stitching it today.

 

I have long admired this Gail Pan pattern that a few other slow stitchers have made. You can find the free pattern here if you want to make one too.

I would like to make this for myself as a souvenir of trudging through yet another Covid modified lockdown phase (with schools going virtual again) until the end of January - is it the 4th or 5th wave now? I will stay safe at home today as I hand stitch away my worries.

Are you starting 2022 with a new hand stitching project? Or finishing ones from last year? Link up your blog or instagram post below and share your projects with us.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Scrappy Saturday

Usually by this point in January I have a clear sense of what scrap projects I will be working on for the year ahead. But this year I have not followed the process I usually do and I am more unorganized than usual... and oddly, I am not worried about it at all!

Playing with the scraps!

It seems that all I want to do right now is sew mystery blocks and have fun with scraps! 

So I'm just living in the moment and going with the flow, and maybe sometime I'll get myself more organized for 2022... or maybe not!

I have been drawn back to working on my RSC Bitcoin variation (pattern by Bonnie Hunter). I have done blue, purple and aqua, and some short ladders of orange. This week I sewed my light green strips together that I started back in November, which made 3 1/2  ladders. Then I started cutting and sewing some red ladders for this month's colour. The red ladders look more interesting than the green ones don't you think?!

I don't know what I'll be sewing next week... I'll see where the scraps lead! 

Linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Party

Quiltville Mystery

I finished my blocks for Quiltville mystery part 6. These blocks fit together beautifully, as if everything had been cut and sewn correctly. If you've ever had the experience of blocks not fitting together properly, you know how great it feels when they go together so smoothly!

It has been fun to sew with these spring colours in the dead of winter. I am looking forward to seeing what part seven will have us sewing today and will we be introducing the aqua which we haven't used yet?

Thread Challenge

Did you see on the Jolly Jabber blog that they have issued a "sew down" challenge for 2022? The goal is to sew with a cone of Aurifil and see how long it takes you to finish the cone. 

Aurifil spools

I love these cones of 50 weight thread and have a few Aurifil cones on the go. My most used cone is a darker grey and a beige, but I have finished both of those recently...and several others!

I have opened my new white thread cone and whenever I can sew with white, I will use this cone and see how long it lasts.

You can enter the sew down contest by posting on instagram, which I will do right now at my account "ssskat7".

January UFO project

It was an embarrassment of riches to pick a UFO to work on this month with so so many to chose from! Let's take a quick peak into the UFO closet. Uh oh - not much room to add to the collection, so the newer UFOs have been piling up on the bottom of the closet. 

Better get quilting!

The UFO choice for January is the guild mystery called Milady which was sewn last summer. I added an extra border of blocks I had sewn incorrectly and am very happy with how my mistakes turned out - I think there is a life lesson in there!

The first step is to wash and sew some red yardage for the backing.

Linking to One Monthly Goal

Design Wall Monday

It was a sewing frenzy around here this weekend while I worked on 3 different mystery quilts! 

1) I have been sewing the

Quiltville mystery block

Quiltville mystery since November and have several of those blocks done. I'm about half way through part 6 now and hope to have all the blocks finished in time for Friday's post of part 7.

2) On New Year's day I started the Merry Mayhem Ups and Downs  mystery and it has been really fun to sew. I know this pattern as Scrappy Mountain Majesties and I'm sure I have some blocks somewhere as a partially made UFO. There were many layouts to chose from, and I have finally decided (with the help of some sewing friends on zoom) on this layout. I have more than half of the blocks done and plan to finish up the top this week.

3) I also started the Scrapdash mystery called Winter Walk and it was quite a bit longer and harder.

I had to sew the second line on the sew and flip corners because those bonus HST blocks are about 3"... enormous! Can't possibly throw those in the garbage! I will likely make the HST blocks into another border for the quilt. I have all the blocks sewn, and now all the pieces are going into a box to take to quilt retreat to sew (if we are permitted to have retreat - depends on what omicron does in the next month).

This is what my design wall looked like with pieces from all 3 mysteries. 

Total craziness!
But hey... I started off the new year with what I hope to spend most of the year doing - sewing!

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Judy's

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the first hand stitching party of 2022!

This is the perfect time to reflect on a year gone by, and the accomplishments made. It was another very challenging year living in a world wide pandemic, and I consider just staying alive to be a great accomplishment! I am so thankful to have access to vaccines, to not have contracted covid, and to not have lost any loved ones. 

I am celebrating making it to another year by sewing all weekend and zooming with friends! Yesterday I started 2 mystery quilts and will post about those tomorrow.

My biggest accomplishment this week was finishing my December UFO that was 4 years in the making. I was a little worried about stitching the binding on these 135 degree angles, but it went very well.

See the very old Debbie Mumm fabric used up in this backing?!?

I savoured this hand stitching as 2021 came to an end, and wondered what I would hand stitch in 2022. 

I have a project in mind to start and I pulled out these Valdani threads, plus a white for the background and the blue fabric for the border. Can't wait to get started!

What are you starting to hand stitch in 2022? Or are you busy finishing up projects from last year? Link up your blog post below and share your hand stitching plans and progress with us.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter