Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! We are well into a very hot August here and I have to admit that I have not spent much time outside this summer. We have had frequent poor air quality warnings and regular heat advisories. 

This was yesterday:

Heat Warning

Issued at Sat 5:07 AM Aug. 9

Issued by: Environment and Climate Change Canada

Description

Multi-day heat event begins today.

What:

Daytime highs of 30 to 35 degrees Celsius, with humidex values of 35 to 40.

Overnight lows of 19 to 22 degrees Celsius.

When:

Beginning today.

Additional information:

Slightly cooler temperatures are expected by the middle of next week, bringing an end to this heat event.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm tired of it! So I found the perfect project to work on... Anti-Summer Club! It fits the mood perfectly for me. And also, it's hard stitching and made me even crabbier! I don't really enjoy stitching with black or white as it seems to be harder for my eyes. But I persevered and messed up the lovely lace pattern on the umbrella. I ripped out and re-stitched, and finally said "my umbrella is unique" and chopped it off on the left side so the skull could fit underneath. UGH!

Eventually I decided that the paper pattern was too hard for me to follow. Maybe it's heat stroke - it's a lovely, easy looking pattern! So after the umbrella fiasco, I imported the project into pattern keeper (which is a cross stitching APP) and it has been smooth sailing ever since. It's so much easier for me. You can see on the left side (tilt your head!) that yesterday I added 371 stitches for a total of 769 stitches completed. This project has 8,691 stitches in total. Now why on earth was I thinking I could start and finish that in August?!? Craziness! Anyway I am 8.85% complete. Stay tuned to see how this drama will play out!

But there has been some fun stitching while sitting beside the window air conditioner - Extraordinary Birds SAL has seen some progress. 

I finished feat #8 (of the 11 steps that have been posted) without any mistakes. I still need to finish the backstitching on his head. This is the Rhinoceros Hornbill, which is a fascinating creature. I have really enjoyed learning about the birds of the world in this project by Lola Crow and it has been a highlight of my summer stitching.

How are you managing this summer? Or winter if you live downunder? Link up your blog post below and share your progress with us!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the first weekly hand stitching party in August!  So glad you could join us today as we get out our threads and needles, and put some stitches into our favourite projects.

I finished a little project for the Colorado Stitcher's Cross stitch camp July 2025. We were encouraged to make something from our favourite designer, and I chose a Primrose Cottage project called "Hello Summer". Stitched on 18 count aida, the finished size is 3.75" x 2.5".  

The little bees are kind of lost at the top, but that's okay. I probably should have not used such a light background fabric. They did recommend a pink fabric, but I didn't have any. Oh well, I still really like how it turned out.

I made a flosstube video this week of the projects I worked on in July. If you have a chance, pop over to Youtube to see what I've been up to, and to see an old stitched piece I made in 1990!

I have been really working hard on my Extraordinary Birds SAL and in spite of that effort, I am several steps behind.  This is one of my favourite birds called a cassowary. It has been so interesting to learn about so many different birds from all over the world in this stitching project. 

There have been 10 steps posted so far, and I am currently on step 7. There will be a total of 14 steps so I will probably fall more behind. But that's okay because I am loving it! This is how it looks so far...

I do hope you are stitching on projects that you love and can't wait to spend some time with today! And please link up your blog post below and share your slow progress with us!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! We invite you to join us - we're slow, deliberate, and thoughtful folks who enjoy celebrating our love of creating with our hands.

This week I'd like to share some inspiration by Elizabeth Markevitch. I found her on instagram and have repeatedly returned to hear more of her videos. Here is the link to Elizabeth Markevitch. (She is also on youtube, threads and tiktok if you want to look her up on other platforms). She said "research shows crafting reduces anxiety and increases dopamine".  Here are a couple more of her statements that I loved:

*you are calming your nervous system.

*you are bringing order to your own chaos.

*you are not just crafting, you are coming back to who you are.

*you are reminding yourself "I can make beauty even on hard days".

YES please! I'd like to do that!

I think that is what my interest in full coverage stitching is all about. I started this in March of 2025 and it still doesn't really look like anything.This is the chaos that it currently is.

It's supposed to be Mini Treasure Hunt Bookshelf which is a 2013 design by Aimee Stewart.  It might not ever become anything before I die but in the meantime, I will calm my nervous system, bring order to the chaos, return to who I am, and maybe make something beautiful!

What are you stitching on this week? Is your hand stitching bringing order to the chaos? Share your slow progress with us!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

It's finally Sunday - a day of rest, reflection, renewal, and slow stitching! Why not join us as we get out our hand stitching projects and put in a few relaxing stitches?

I have been attending Midsummer Stitch which is a virtual event by Lindy Stitches. A whole weekend was set aside to stitch whatever I want! And what did I want to stitch? BIRDS!

First I stitched this little bird motif on "Room at the Table" by Proper Stitcher. So cute! I posted on my blog about the beginning of this project in April - click here to read more about it. I'm so close to finishing this one but wanted to work on other projects, so had to put it away for now.

Then I did finish a project! But not without some sweat and tears. 

My outside border was not matching up, and I had already done some unstitching before I took this photo. I had to unstitch everything in the circle as evidently I had made a major counting error. You can see my new bird themed stitch ripper that I used, and one of my new wooden bird needleminders. There are 3 birds are in this photo!

Stitches were removed and new ones put in the correct places, and the borders did eventually meet.

This is Modern Folk Embroidery's Quaker Medallion: Bird in a Grapevine pattern with 1,845 cross stitches. The fabric is Roxy's 18 count Porcelain. The thread is a lovely variegated DMC #4515. It was so fun to play with the blue and brown thread. I tried to get mostly dark colours in the centre bird and think it turned out well. I might put it in a hoop frame to finish it.

What are you stitching today? Anyone out there also obsessed with birds? 

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!

At Slow Sunday Stitching, we like to brag about our slowness, and take pride in the art of relaxing, breathing deeply, and not really accomplishing much. We believe in the health benefits of relaxation, and take it seriously enough to commit to this slowness practice at least once a week. If you need a reminder of the benefits of relaxation, click here.

Here in S. Ontario Canada we are having yet another heat wave. This has been a very hot summer so far and I just came back from a week of camping that at times was unbearably hot. We had 16 adults and 3 children (and 4 day visitors) attend our annual family camping trip, and it was so much fun! There was a lot of time for relaxing and stitching - in the forest, at the beach (under an umbrella) and at the camp site.

There was a bear reported in the Provincial Park where we were camping, which is always an interesting element of tent  camping! We have a few legendary bear stories in the family, which is why I made the bear quilt in 2017 and also inspired me to stitch "Wild Whimsey Bear" by Darling and Whimsey Designs.

I finished this sweet little bear cross stitch into a miniature quilt and it was given to a family member as a souvenir of the 2025 family camp. 

My niece has recently learned to sew and she made pillowcases for us this year - and of course she used bear fabric! I am so proud of her! 

While camping I finished the Canada Goose chart that was given to me by Kate when I attended Stitch North in the spring. This photo is called "goose on the loose"!

I'll add this to the pile of bird stitcheries that will go in my developing (in my head) book of birds.

When I returned home from camping I made a flosstube video of the projects I had worked on in June. You can view the video here. 

I really enjoyed the stitching projects I spent time with in June and look forward to the 4 new starts ready for July's stitching time! 

What are you stitching on in July? Are you relaxing in hot summer weather or enjoying the winter season down under? Please link up your blog post below and share your stitching with us!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! If you enjoy hand stitching, you are at the right place. Do you like making hexies, crochet, embroidery, rug hooking, beading, applique, hand quilting and/or knitting? We love to see what you are working on and to encourage you in your stitching journey.

I have a June start and finish to share today. This project was inspired by Colorado Cross Stitcher's Summer Camp, where stitchers are encouraged to keep stitching over the summer with monthly prompts. June's prompt was to "Pick a pattern that includes a motif to represent day or night".

I rarely have time to stitch during the day, so I picked a little pattern from Tiny Modernist called Twilight Moon since I am a night stitcher.  It's so cute how the moon is asleep (because it's night time!) and there is so much life going on right under her nose - a lovely little home and beautiful flowers, mushrooms, and trees are growing within it's protected space.

The fabric base is Roxy's Sea Party 18 count aida and it was a dream to stitch on.

My plan was to stitch this project in the recommended DMC colours, but  when I collected those threads they just looked too boring. So I chose some threads from my Roxy collection and especially loved the Chantilly thread that I picked for the moon colour and I love how the variegation made the moon look so interesting!

I am totally shocked by how much I love this finished stitch! It is not a colour palette that I anticipated liking so much, especially the purple thread that looks like dusty rose plus the dirty green, but the combination of all the colours is so pretty. And as I stitched this and thought about the fantasy moon garden, I just fell in love with it! I might add a few beads to sparkle up the night stars.

But now the big question is - how will I finish it?

I don't have a clue, but it made life in June 2025 a little more relaxed and enjoyable, so that's all that matters. It has already served it's purpose for me!

Now it's your turn! What are you enjoying with your hand stitching this month?

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the Slow Sunday Stitching weekly linkup party! If you like to stitch things by hand, you have found your tribe! Each week there are stitchers around the world who share their projects and progress (or lack thereof) to encourage and inspire us.

It has been a very busy week here with getting new shingles on the house during the hottest week of the year. On Monday with the humidity it felt like 44 degrees Celsius - which is 111 degrees Fahrenheit!! But no one fainted or fell off the roof, and somehow they completed the job.

This week I started a Modern Folk Embroidery project called "Quaker Medallion - Bird in a Grapevine". I am using DMC floss #4515 to stitch on Roxy's porcelain 18 count fabric and I'm really enjoying it! It has been fun to experiment with the variegated thread and I'm trying to make the centre bird from the darkest parts of the thread.

I have also being keeping up with the Extraordinary Birds SAL by Lola Crow. 

It is such immersive stitching and I am "losing" lots of time in this project! I love the enormous Southern Cassowary bird on the left! So far I have stitched 10,426 stitches which was 98% of the total number of stitches before Friday. This week we were given a new part to stitch and this step includes a Toucan. So fun!

What are you hand stitching this week? Please share your projects with us in the link up below!

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