November Stitch Along

November is here already. How did that happen? I’ve haven’t been adding many stitches to Three Boats. This is how it looked three weeks ago. 

This is where I am now. There is a tree trunk that goes across the sand and you can see the water's edge in front of the rock. It isn't a lot as I have been busy with other crafts, but any progress is better than none. 

This Stitch Along is hosted every three weeks by Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea who kindly sends us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

 Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

Thanks for stopping by! 

Six works in progress!

Yes, I currently have six different projects on the go at once. Three of them are quilt projects and three are cross-stitch. I really wish I had a yarn project, but that will have to wait a bit. First, I am about 3/4 done with the whole cloth pillow quilting.

 I want to finish this soon as I am also going to hand quilt the first I-Spy quilt. Yes, I know I said that I planned to machine quilt it, but I have very limited space around my sewing table and I found it quite difficult to maneuver especially as I am going to quilt it diagonally across the blocks. I also would need to find the correct thread. I was trying to use thread that I had, but it is too thick compared to the thread I have for the bobbin and I couldn’t get the tension right.

This quilt isn’t very large and should quilt up quickly. I have it all set up on a quilt stand in my daughter’s old room. 

I’ve been cutting the sashing and corner square fabric for the next I-Spy quilt. This black fabric is different from the one in the last quilt.

 Originally I had planned to make two of the same quilt, but then I changed my mind when I was scrolling the internet. I planned a somewhat different quilt with the same 3.5” size fussy cut blocks. Well, I changed my mind again when I realized how much I love the I-Spy quilt that I just finished. Also, I already have all of the fabric that I need. 

As for cross stitching, I’ve added many stitches to the Prairie Schooler Santa. The bunny and the squirrel are stitched as is his face. 

Once again I am leaving the white stitches until the end so I haven't stitched his beard or the trim on his coat. I am working on his hat now. There is also a raccoon and three birds to stitch still.

I’m going to be stitching a lot more woodland animals soon. This one will be a little time sensitive. Do you remember this birth announcement that I stitched for my granddaughter. 

Well I will be stitching the slightly smaller version (18 count Aida cloth instead of 14) to be completed by next March/April. My son and his wife are expecting a little girl at the end of March. I am making the smaller version so that it is not a lot different in size from her brother's birth announcement though the orientation is different. You can see that one here. 

The last cross stitch is Three Boats on a Tropical Beach. You can see the last update for that here. I have gotten a decent start on the next page since that post. There will be an update on Three Boats next week.

Hubby and did take some time to walk in the local preserve and look at the tree colors. 

The geese and the ducks were enjoying the small lake. If you look behind the last goose near the reeds you can barely see a heron standing along the edge also.

I think this pair of ducks were hoping for some food. They came right up to us.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I certainly have plenty of slow stitching to choose from.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lots and Lots of Crafting!

 The weather has gotten cooler and more fall-like and I am enjoying spending time indoors crafting. First of all, I have made tremendous progress on the first I-Spy quilt in the past two weeks. All it needs are the four black borders,  then I can sandwich it. I plan on quilting this in the ditch by machine. 

 I was amazed at how quickly this came together! My seams even matched on the first try. No seam ripping!

 I’ve been adding quilting stitches to my small whole cloth also. The center motifs are completed. 

This has been what I work on while “watching” the Mets in their post season games. I get way too keyed up watching them so I usually sit on the far side of the living room and listen more than watch. 

Sometimes I work on the Prairie Schooler Santa while watching, but this has mostly become my early morning stitching piece. 

Santa’s coat is done as is the basket of greenery that he is carrying. 

I have started reading "The Island" by Elin Hilderbrand. I haven't gotten too far with it yet. It is an easy read. 

 I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

October Stitch Along Update

I'm doing a mini happy dance here....okay, maybe just a single skip. I have finished page #8 of Three Boats on a Tropical Beach.  It is the 6th page that I have completed out of 24. I am working in columns. Column 1 was pages 1,7,13 and 19. Column 2 (that I am currently working on) is pages 2,8,14 and 20. I am about to start page 14. This is how Three Boats looked three weeks ago.

This is how it looks now. 

I finished the page yesterday morning. There were so many confetti stitches to complete at the bottom of this page. Do you see this rock formation?

 Yesterday, I was adding tons individual stitches. There was 1 stitch in that rock formation that had the floss symbol "5". Just one stitch! Three stitches had the floss symbol "V". You get the picture. I am more than happy to be moving on the the next page which doesn't seem to have quite so many scattered stitches. 

This Stitch Along is hosted every three weeks by Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea who kindly sends us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

 Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

Thanks for stopping by! 

Slow Sunday Stitching

I am making progress with the I-Spy quilt. All 120 blocks are stitched, trimmed and ironed. Here is the layout that I decided on. It is laid out on the bed in my son's old room.

 

I have to cut the black sashing strips next and then sew them to the blocks in 12 rows of 10 blocks. 

I have been hand quilting the whole cloth pillow a little bit every once in a while. I finished the first motif and am on the second. 

I have also added stitches to the Prairie Schooler Santa's coat.

 It doesn't feel like I have made much progress on any of these crafts, but this week I also washed some windows and spent time reading Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn. This is yet another historical WWII novel. It is about a female Russian sniper.

I also took out most of my Autumn/Halloween decorations.

The two new pillows are sitting on a bowl that my mom had.

I like this little arrangement on our bar.

I had some bananas that were overripe so I made these Banana Crumb Muffins.

 I cut this recipe out of a Taste of Home magazine years ago. This is my favorite banana muffin recipe. The only change I will mention from the recipe that I linked is that my original recipe calls for 1/3 cup of melted butter rather than 1/2 cup. The extra butter is not needed. Trust me that 1/3 cup is plenty. These are rich, delicious muffins. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Sit back with a cup of tea or coffee and see what other bloggers are stitching. I think I will make some English breakfast tea to have with one of those muffins. 

Thanks for stopping by!

A Variety of Stitching

I have been spending a lot of time clipping threads from the back of my daughter's quilt. I will then give it a good ironing, especially all of the seams on the back to make sure they are going in the correct directions and laying flat. Sadly, the long arm quilter that I used to use has closed her business. I have info on two other local long arm quilters though, so I will be looking into contacting them this coming week. One is a few minutes from me and the other is over an hour away. 

I have been sewing the snowball blocks for the first of two I-Spy quilts. I actually finished sewing all 120 blocks this past week. Now I have to trim the seams and press open the corners. 

I am glad that this quilt is coming together so quickly. 

I finished Pumpkin House into a small pillow. I was trying to determine what I could use as trim when I found this rope floss in my stash. I know these are part of the items that I inherited from my aunt when she passed. I figured I could braid a few colors of this floss.

I had the fabric that I used for the back of the pillow in my stash.

Now this pillow is ready for display.

I am working on finishing A Crow's Pick also. The backing fabric was one I recently received from a friend's mom who is reducing her stash. It was a brand new fat quarter that matched the colors of this piece perfectly.

I have some odd "yarn" in a variety of colors that I am also going to braid to put around the edge of this pillow.

I will work to finish this pillow on Sunday.

I have started quilting the whole cloth piece that I have. It is 16.5" square. I think it will make a nice pillow for our bed. I am using tatting thread that I inherited from that same aunt to quilt this with. I have almost completed quilting the first motif.

I have kitted up the 1990 Prairie Schooler Santa to start working on also.

I like all the animals in this one. 

Hubby and I enjoyed a great dinner out at a new restaurant for us called Grasso's on Wednesday evening. We've been looking for a restaurant that has piano music and this one was recommended on a Facebook forum that I follow. The food was delicious and the music was enjoyable.

Friday morning I got my Covid/flu vaccines. I drank a lot of water and took it easy Friday. I always have a reaction to the Covid vaccine. This time was somewhat less of a reaction than I have had in the past. Just some chills at bedtime with some body aches. By midmorning on Saturday I was feeling much better.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

September Stitch Along Update 2

Three weeks have passed since the first stitch along update of this month. This is how Three Boats looked at the beginning of the month. 

This is where I have gotten to now. The sky is finished and I am stitching the ocean.

 Perhaps I will be able to finish this page by the next update. It ends just below the next set of green gridding.

This Stitch Along is hosted every three weeks by Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea who kindly sends us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

 Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

Thanks for stopping by!