1 Trick and 2 Treats

Happy Halloween everyone!

I have a trick and 2 treats for you today!

The trick is... I managed to not finish my One Monthly Goal project in October! It was an "easy to finish" tablerunner, and the entire month passed without a finish. Now that is one amazing trick to accomplish! 

Boo for me! 👻

In my own defence, it was a busy month, I did accomplish many other things, and did find a backing, binding and batting for the runner. Alas, nothing else transpired. 

Treat #1 is... a sweet photo of Max the bat, going to the vet for yet another check up on his calcium levels. He had thyroid surgery at OVC this month and thankfully he is recovering well. You can see the incision on his neck still, but the stitches are out now. He is adorable!

Treat #2 is an unboxing video for the 2023 Spooky Box from Fat Quarter shop! It's been so long since I made a Youtube video, that I had to relearn the process. 

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! It's such a fun party because you can stay in your pyjamas and join us from the comfort of your own home!

But on some special Sundays, I go to a real life, in-person hand stitching get-together which is co-ordinated by my friend Debby and hosted by her Mom Dorothy (who rents the party room at her apartment building). Many of the stitchers I haven't met before, so it is great fun to see what others are creating and make new friends. Here are some of the ladies from the last party. You can see a crocheted tea cozy being made for a Christmas gift, and some embroidery, cross stitch, and quilt binding was going on. 

We also have fun snacks to enjoy. Do you see the one eyed cookies?!? Some people are so just creative!

We joke that some of us do a lot of stitching, and some of us just come to make memories!

Here is a cross stitch being made by Katie. She is a really fast stitcher and made all these letters during our Sunday meeting.  She thought the project would be smaller and wasn't really liking it, so I volunteered to give is a place on the wall at my house to my house if she didn't like it when it was done!

Debby generously finished the binding on the community comfort quilt that I have been working on. She is a really fast stitcher and she finished stitching 3 sides of the quilt. It would have taken me all week! 

Because Debby was doing the binding, I was able to spend time on a cross stitch sampler, and finished "Owls and Acorns" (a free chart from Blue Ribbon Designs). I used all the called for "Gentle Arts" floss which was lovely to work with. It was stitched on a piece of old white 14 count aida cloth that I lightly tea dyed to make it a bit more fall looking. I love how this turned out! And now it joins the UFO pile! 

I also stitched a little pumpkin from Melisa's pattern called Mini Pumpkin Sampler. So cute! I will work on this project on Halloween night when the kids are coming for trick-or-treating.

Are you stitching anything for Halloween? Costumes? Decorations? 

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

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Design Wall Monday

Finally I am posting a design wall blog post on a Monday! 

I received a bag of blocks from my friend Dorothy who is moving and decluttering. She was done with this project and tired of her scraps (we all know how that goes!) and I accepted the challenge to make them into something.

I put them on my design wall to see what I had to work with. She had some partially constructed blocks in the bag so the first thing I did was finish those. Then I decided to add a white sashing to separate the blocks a bit. 

Because about half of the blocks had blue borders, I decided to make 4 blue rows, and the other rows would be the remaining colours which were red, pink, purple green and black. (Yes, there is a dinosaur on the right hand side of the second row - quilting studios are wild places sometimes!)

And here is the quilt top so far on the design floor.

I think it needs another white border on both sides and then maybe another scrappy squares border on top and bottom? It's still a work in progress. 

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Judy's

Slow Sunday Stitching

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

I had a lovely visit with some quilting friends last weekend, and I must share a photo of our Slow Sunday Stitching friend Deanna (who blogs at "In stitches with Deanna"). 

It was so realxing to watch her hand quilting hearts on a sweet lap quilt. You can see the whole design on her blog, and the amazing centre pattern (called La Fin Du Monde) that she made in a class with Libs Elliott. 

I have slowly been continuing the cross stitching on Owls and Acorns (a free chart pattern from Blue Ribbon Designs). I started the vines and pumpkins.  Much more progress has been made on this sampler, but this seems to be the only photo I took.

I also made and sewed a binding to a scrappy community outreach quilt. Yesterday I finished hand stitching the binding on one side - only 3 more sides to go. This has to be finished to submit to the guild collection by next Saturday. I think I can do it!

Thank you to those who left comments on last week's post. I was so happy to hear from those of you that have the same challenge as I do in terms of finishing projects. You almost made it seem like I am "normal"! You truly are my tribe! LOL

I hope you will link up your blog or instagram link  below and share the projects you are putting stitches into this week.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, or pumpkin spice latte to enjoy while visiting the blogs of stitchers around the world. It's so inspiring to see what other people are creating with their own two hands.

I admitted to myself this week that I may have a tiny problem! Apparently I love to start new projects, but don't enjoy finishing them! Here is a photo of my design wall today with several embroidery and cross stitch projects that I have worked on this year.

I loved stitching each one of them and yet there they are - still unfinished. I likely will finish them some day, but for now, I will put them on the design wall and enjoy looking at them. Does anyone else have this problem?!? 

In keeping with my bad habit, I am working on a new cross stitch called "Owls and Acorns" which is a free pattern from Blue Ribbon Designs. I have finished the top border of acorns and leaves, the 2 owls, and much of the alphabet. SO FUN! 

I'd like to announce that the winner of the draw for the Strawberry Faire pattern that I posted 2 weeks ago is Carol C. Email me your address Carol and I can get the pattern in the mail to you (you are listed as a "no reply blogger") Congratulations on the win and I hope you enjoy this pattern as much as I did!

What are you hand stitching today? Are you a stitcher who finishes every project? Or do you jump into new starts knowing that you have a pile of UFO's? Link up your blog post below and share your projects with us.

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Slow Sunday Stitching

It's Sunday and you know what that means... it's time for the weekly hand stitching party! We hope you will pick up your needles and thread or yarn and start making some stitches. 

In Canada we are celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend. I know it seems early for those who celebrate in November, but we really enjoy having a 3 day weekend to spend time outdoors with family and friends while the weather is still good. I will be seeing all the members of my immediate family this weekend and am so happy!

I am also happy because I have finished stitching the *squirrel*!

Squirrels can be so annoying in the sewing room - they take over everything and make a mess! I was digging through the floss stash to find autumn colours for the letters which was so fun, but floss packets are everywhere. Hopefully the cleaning lady comes soon! 

PS - I am the cleaning lady but I'm so busy stitching that I have no interest in cleaning up! But that's always my excuse - creativity trumps cleaning!

This delightful squirrel sampler is a free pattern from Melisa - click here to get one for yourself. She also has a mini apple sampler and a mini pumpkin sampler. I need more hours in the day for stitching!

What are the autumn projects you are stitching today? Are you starting on Halloween projects yet? ink up your instagram or blog posts below and share your progress with us.

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One Monthly Goal

Patty has resigned from hosting the One Monthly Goal link up, but luckily Anne-Marie who blogs at Stories from the sewing room is taking over. I find that the motivation to finish something each month is helpful. Even when I don't reach my goal, I do work on my goal projects and at least move them forward to completion.

I have two projects to finish for Christmas, and this month I'm going to focus on finishing the Bargello tablerunner I made at a Cherished Pieces class in the summer. This is a very grainy photo of me taken from the store's facebook photos. It was a fun class that I took with my sister and I want my project to be ready for Christmas. The fabrics used were in a kit that was made for the class, so if you'd like to make one like it, contact Cherished Pieces and see if they still have kits left to purchase.

My next steps are to find a backing, some batting scraps to sew together, and a binding.

Linking up to One Monthly Goal

Design Wall - Teamwork

My local quilt guild hosted a mystery project to encourage us to keep sewing during the summer. The project was called 'Teamwork', and I got a kit of coordinated fabric from the Community Outreach committee. I changed out the brown as I didn't have enough of it, but used all the other fabrics (except not the backing and binding... yet!)

Here is my quilt top on the design wall.

I love the effect that having 2 background fabrics created (the white and the pink). This was fun to stitch, and due to the pressing instructions, the seams met perfectly when sewing the rows together. Thanks to all involved in this wonderful project!

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Judy's

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to October at Slow Sunday Stitching here at Kathy's Quilts! Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee (or maybe a pumpkin spice latte) and join us to celebrate the experience of slowly stitching your way through life!

I have a finished stitchery to share this week. This is the beginning kit that I ordered from Cobweb Corner to make the Strawberry Faire project. This was a big deal on flosstube and Helen D did a stitch-a-long (SAL) for this pattern last winter. 

And here is the finished piece!

Finished size: 6.25" x 4.25"

It is stitched on a 14 count piece of old aida cloth that I tea dyed. I love it so much! I loved stitching the bird and completed it first in August. Although the strawberry was intense stitching (I would call it "full coverage") I really love how it turned out! So now I don't know what to do with this. Should I make it into a mini quilt, or a stuffed pillow, or a framed stitchery? You can see Helen D's finish on this flosstube episode at about the 3 minute mark.

There are similar patterns from October House Fibre Arts called Honey Faire which is a bee hive, and a new pattern called Pumpkin Faire was just released. Anyway, I am done with Strawberry Faire, so if you would like to be in a draw to win my gently used pattern, please let me know in the comments today and I'll draw the winner's name next Sunday.

I also finished a knitted washcloth for a new great nephew coming at Christmas. This cloth has a seed stitch heart pattern and was knitted with 100 % cotton Sudz yarn. Many young people prefer gender neutral colours these days so I made a grey cloth. I would like to knit a yellow one next

My new start for October will be a freebie from Blue Ribbon Designs called Acorns and Owls. (Click on "charts, patterns, designs" and when the drop down menu appears, click on "free charts") But first I will try to finish the squirrel sampler I showed last week.

What are you creating by hand this week? 

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A Finished Quilt Top

A big party is happening here (in my mind!) 

Chilhowie is a finished quilt top!

The photo has a stained glass quality because it was taken at sunset. It doesn't look that luminous in real life.

This was the Quiltville mystery project in 2022 and my version is totally made from scraps. Not a single fabric was purchased to create this quilt top. 

These were my scrap categories:

Light (for white/neutral)

Medium light (for aqua)

Medium dark (for orange)

Dark (for purple)

I love the challenge of trying to create something beautiful from scraps, which are either quilter's garbage, or quilter's treasures depending on who you ask! 

It's amazing to me to look at this creation and remember that I made decisions each clue about which scraps to sew without knowing what the final design would be. Such a crazy quilty adventure! I can't wait for the next one to start in November (fabric requirements are posted on Halloween).

Linking up my finish to One Monthly Goal - thank you to Patty for hosting this linky party for 93 months! My quilting journey has been helped with the motivation to complete a monthly goal!

Design Wall - Still Chilhowie!

Progress has been made and I am still holding out hope for a September finish on this scrappy quilt top. The light border sashing pieces are cut, but only the right has been sewn to the scrappy outside border. But I'm very happy with it now! You can see that my current design wall is only big enough for 2/3 of this quilt. The left border is resting on a roll of batting, waiting to be attached.

I am still fussing around with the corners and have tried various options for turning the corner. I think this one is my favourite for two of the corners, but when I look at the other two corners, I like it less. I'm still going with it though, because Chilhowie and I are coming to the end of the construction journey - estimated time of finish is September 30 at 11:59 pm! 

Deadlines are motivating!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party in this little corner of the internet! This has been a weekly post on my blog for over 9 years now. Stitchers have come and gone, and I have enjoyed seeing all of the amazing projects created over the years, following their interests, some short term infatuations, and some long term loves. What a treat - thank you for reading and for posting your projects, and encouraging others in the comments!

And what have I been up to this week?

I finished the binding on another comfort quilt. I love being part of a group project like this where one person sews the blocks (Jacoba) and one person does the machine quilting (Sharon) and I finish the quilt with adding the label and binding. 

This is how the finished quilt looked hanging on my clothesline. Such a terrific quilt made from scraps! I really enjoyed visiting with the scraps as I stitched on by, and saying "I had a piece of that" or "I wish I had a piece of that"!

I also became obsessed with that darn *squirrel*!

He's just so cute and I couldn't put him away. 

I decided to make each letter in the sampler a different colour of floss and really enjoyed the process of routing around in the stash to find fall colour floss. The bright yellows on the left got voted off the project. I stitched a letter in one of the bright goldy yellows and it just wanted to be the star of the show, which made the squirrel jealous!

I picked the colours for a few letters at a time, decided on the order and got to stitching.

I was thinking about how sometimes you just really need an easy project with a prepared kit that requires no thinking. 

And sometimes you want a project that you can create from scratch and make all the decisions as you go along. Both experiences are wonderful and have a purpose in our stitching lives! (Oh...and also I was avoiding the dreaded Chilhowie decisions!)

That's my hand stitching summary for this week. What are the projects being created by your hands?

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Design Wall Chilhowie

To finish this quilt top is my September goal, but it has been slow progress.

I posted some photos and layout options last week and received some interesting feedback and creative suggestions in the blog comments. I spent this week playing with different fabrics and border layouts.

I know some of you understand the process - make a change and ask myself "do I like it more or less than before"? Stare at it longer. Beg the quilt to tell you what to do. Be indecisive. Hate the quilt. Try something else. Be more indecisive. Walk away.

One of the ideas suggested was a light border instead of a dark red border. I tried it with the outside border both ways, with the points to the outside or the points to the inside light border, and I just didn't like it.

I wanted to like it, as it would be much easier because I have lots of the neutral fabric.

But I just didn't.

Then I found another Kaffe fabric in my stash and had enough of it to finish the border and it looked okay. It fit the bill in terms of this being a totally scrappy project made from stash. Decision made.

But then I saw the photos on the computer and decided that the light border actually looked better!

This indecisiveness is exactly the place where many projects start marching into the UFO closet, never to be seen again!

But not this one! I set a goal, and I'm finishing it!

Check in next week to see the final decision!

Linking up to Design Wall Monday

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly celebration of all hand stitched crafts! We hope you will join us in setting aside a few moments each Sunday for some relaxing stitching on your favourite project. Pick up a needle and thread, breathe deeply, and enjoy a little vacation from the responsibilities of your life.

I was making good progress on some of my stitcheries until I saw Melisa's adorable squirrel sampler pattern *squirrel*

I had to set everything aside and stitch the squirrel. I love this guy so much! Today I will be pulling fall coloured threads from my DMC collection to stitch the sampler letters. 

I have also been finishing the binding on a scrappy comfort quilt for my guild. Black thread is hard on my eyes, so I can only work on this in the daylight.  Luckily the backing is this yummy mottled fabric that helps when sewing with black thread. One side of the binding is stitched, and I hope to finish it up this week so I can start on another quilt binding.

I am dreadfully behind in blog reading and hope to have time today to visit some of you. Please link up your instagram or blog posts below and share your projects with us.

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