February Stitch Along

For this update I have made a boatload of progress. This is where Three Boats on a Tropical Beach was at the end of January.

I have almost finished stitching the portion of the interior of the topmost boat that is on the current page.

 There were a whole lot of blues and oranges to stitch. I will soon be working on the second boat. I wish I could say that I am close to the end of this page, but I have just passed the midpoint of it. There is also still another 3/4 page to stitch on the bottom of this column after I finish the current page. 

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!

Wintry Weather

 It appears that the wintry weather in the Northeast of the US is interrupting our plans to travel to Boston. We haven't seen our daughter and her family since December, but they are expecting 6-10 inches of snow this weekend. It is only supposed to rain where we are, but it is no fun trying to travel on slick, snowy, icy roads. Hopefully we will be able to visit another weekend. Of course, there is also another storm expected to blanket Long Island with 12+" of snow this coming Thursday. Ugh!

Oh well, it just means that I will be "stuck" inside crafting. That is never a bad thing as far as I am concerned. I have been quite busy this past week with all my crafting. I managed to finish that hat that I was crocheting with the annoying Homespun yarn. The yarn looks grey in this photo, but it is a bright, light blue.

It came out quite pretty, though I don't like it for myself. This will be a donation hat. I have already started another hat of this pattern with the rest of the scraps of Homespun yarn I have. This will be a few different colors and then I won't have any more of that yarn.

I have been cutting and gluing fabric for the "Windows Into My World" quilt. I have also finished stitching two more of the "blocks". I have another partially stitched and one waiting to be stitched. 

The Woodland Babies birth announcement has been stitching up quickly this week. I finished the back stitching on the fawn and added two flowers and a bee.

We celebrated Hubby's birthday on Thursday with his favorite Entenmann's Chocolate Fudge Cake. 

It was just the two of us as he had to work all day. He enjoyed opening his gifts from me and the family.

I will be joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching and Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Make yourself some tea, coffee or cocoa and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Slow Snowy Stitching

 We’re expecting a bunch of snow overnight. I would guess that tomorrow will be spent indoors stitching. I love snow days, especially now that we have someone come to clear the snow for us. Hubby just has to clean off his car and we usually have to clear a path from the back door to the gate and the garbage pail. 

I’ve been doing almost exclusively slow hand work lately. The Woodland Babies birth announcement now has its fawn. I just have to finish the backstitching on it. 

I finished another two “blocks” for the Windows into my World quilt. There are 36 "blocks". I am stitching them in number order.

I also cut out the fabric for the next two blocks and glued them to the paper. One of these blocks has very tiny pieces. 

Since I finished Hubby’s hat, my hands have been itching to continue to work with yarn. A friend has been using scraps of yarn to make hats for the homeless. I started looking through my yarn and decided to make an easy hat with yarn that I just don’t like. When you are crocheting or knitting it is very difficult to see where to take the next stitch with this yarn.

I will save the hat for a future donation….unless I like it for myself. I have yet to make myself a hat that I like. I usually just wear ear warmers. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I am also joining Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Grab yourself a cup of tea, coffee or cocoa and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Two January finishes

 How can it be February already?! Didn’t 2025 just start? When I realized how fast this year seems to be passing by already I decided to get my butt in gear and complete a couple of projects this past week. 

First I set to finish knitting Hubby’s hat. The weather is supposed to be frigid again this coming week, so he will have a hat that completely covers his ears. This is the Wasatch Back Country Hat on Ravelry. I've made it a few times now.

Next, I decided to complete the whole cloth pillow that I had quilted. I didn’t think I had enough of any white on white print for the back as fat quarters were just a bit too small. Then, I found two fat quarters that looked to be the same fabric….. at first glance. To tell the truth, few people would realize that they are oh so slightly different. 

I probably could have had more that a 3" overlap of the fabrics on the back, but I thought it would be plenty. It will do.

I’ve been slowly cutting out the colored fabrics for the EPP quilt “Windows into my World “. So far I cut out the pieces for blocks 1 and 2 and have sewn these blocks together.

 I may just continue this way as each block is a different colored fabric except for a few repeats. I’m finding the stitching somewhat easy. I have to be more mindful to pick up only a few strands of the fabric. The pieces of bock 1 were very thin. I’m not sure they are together perfectly, but hopefully I can make the final assembly work. That is a long way off though. 

I finished the fox on the Woodland Babies birth announcement and I’m currently stitching the chipmunk. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I am also joining Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Grab yourself a cup of tea, coffee or cocoa and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Second Stitch Along post for January

Three weeks ago I didn’t have much stitching to show due to the holidays and our trip to visit our daughter. This is how Three Boats looked then. 

We had another trip during the past three weeks. We went to California to see our son, daughter in law and grandson. Our 5 day trip turned into 6 due to the snow in NY. I’ve been working on Three Boats intermittently since we returned and have gotten up to stitching the top edge of a boat. 

It is not much, but it is progress. 

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!

CA and cold weather pursuits

I mentioned last Sunday that Hubby and I would be home by the time the post was live. I lied. Our 5 day trip turned into 6 due to the weather in NY. We left on Wednesday afternoon and arrived in CA around 8 pm local time. We were supposed to return home on Sunday, but Hubby got a notice on Saturday, that our flight home might be canceled so we rebooked for Monday night's red-eye flight and arrived home Tuesday at 6:30 am. It was nice to have an extra day and a half to visit with our grandson and his parents. 

We went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park one day.

Our grandson enjoyed walking along with Mom and Dad and seeing all the animals.

 He was most intrigued by the water features and a big "hot air balloon" that was a ride there that he saw in the sky. We saw kangaroos that were relaxing. 

The lion was quite impressive.

There were a bunch of other animals to see on the tram ride. 

Hubby and I really enjoyed the adventure.

On Saturday we walked by the ocean. 

It was our son's birthday, so we also went out to dinner. Our grandson enjoyed trying all the food and was extremely well behaved. 

After enjoying weather in the 50s and 60s in California, we came home to a frigid 14 degrees. Brr! It is a good time to stay inside and craft. I had brought Hubby's hat with me to work on the plane, but I never did. I took it out one day in CA and realized I had made a mistake many rows back. I spent some time "unknitting" while there and finished that when we got home. This is where I am after fixing the mistake and starting to knit again. 

I want to finish this soon as we are supposed to continue having frigid weather. Hubby will need a hat covering his ears when walking to and from his car at the university. Classes start this week. 

Although I stated last week that I had started a bear on the Woodland Babies birth announcement it is actually a baby fox. The fox is almost all stitched now.

I have spent some time this past week cutting all the EPP paper pieces out and now they are all ready to place on fabric and cut out the fabric.

 I started with the fabric for the center "diamond" of each wonky square. I will work on the colored fabrics and the "trapezoid" sides this coming week.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I am also joining Frederique at the Quilting Patch. Grab yourself a cup of tea, coffee or cocoa and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

A small update and some past projects

 By the time you are reading this, Hubby and I will have just arrived home from a trip to CA to see our son, daughter-in-law and grandson. They live in southern CA, but closer to San Diego than Los Angeles where all the fires have been.

I have added two butterflies to the Woodland Babies birth announcement and started the little bear on the bottom right. 

Do you see this chart? 

Do you see how many different symbols there are for the butterfly in that chart? Those little butterflies had many floss color changes and took a little while to stitch. 

I have also added a few rows to Hubby's hat. 

This was my airplane craft, so it probably has more rows than it did when this photo was taken before our trip.

I thought I would share with you two items that I packed to bring with us for our future granddaughter. The first is a newborn sweater set that was made by my mother. I think she may have made it for my daughter, but I really don't remember.

 I know my son will appreciate having something from his Granny for his daughter.

The second item is the baby blanket that I made for my son when he was born. It is fairly large. It was made with the Tunisian crochet technique and then the bunnies were cross-stitched on.

 

Aren't those bunnies adorable. Here is a close-up.

 I decided not to make a new blanket for this granddaughter as I wanted to pass this one on. I have many more handmade baby blankets that I either made or received as gifts for my own two children. It is a shame for them to go to waste just sitting stored in my closet. I know that I will make other handmade items specifically for this granddaughter in the future.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Grab yourself a cup of tea, coffee or cocoa and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!