Happy Thanksgiving

 

I'm wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving full of family, friends, love and joy!

The Second November Stitch Along post

I haven't been spending a lot of time on Three Boats lately as I have had other projects that I have been working on that you can see here.

This is where I was on Three Boats three weeks ago. 

  This is where I am now. This photo was taken yesterday.

You can see that I have filled in most of the tree trunk now. There has been a lot of confetti stitching on that trunk. 

Thanksgiving is this week in the US and I will have a house full of my family all week. Three Boats is being stored out of the way of little hands for the time being.

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! 

Progress

I’m almost finished with the first I-Spy quilt. 

It is all quilted. 

I made the label and am now hand sewing the binding to the back. I really love the backing fabric.

I’ve been very busy this week making food for the freezer so that dinners don’t require much thought while everyone is here.

 This is a pot of meatballs and sausage for Monday when my son, daughter in law and grandson arrive. Here is the recipe. It is from a long ago Family Circle Magazine. You can see that it is well used. I make this several times a year. I don't add the mushrooms as I am don't really like them.

I also made beef and turkey taco fillings for other dinners or lunches. There has been a request for take out from a local italian restaurant so that covers yet another dinner. 

I’m on a baking kick lately also. I had two bananas going bad so I made two loaves of Sweet Banana Yeast Bread.

I also made Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies for a sweet treat. 

I made healthy Maple Oatmeal Banana Mini Muffins too for snacks for the little ones.

I’ve been working on the Woodland Babies birth announcement. Almost all the leaves on the tree are stitched. 

I doubt there will be any crafting this week with two toddlers here from Tuesday to Saturday and a whole lot of holiday cooking to be done for Thursday. For those of you who celebrate this week, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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

Thanks for stopping by!

Another finish

Santa is all stitched. 

I plan on finishing the two Prairie Schooler Santas as pillows after Thanksgiving. 

I am making headway on the Woodland Babies birth announcement now. I’m working on the leaves of the tree. 

All of the blocks for the second I-Spy quilt have been trimmed and pressed. I laid them out on a bed and then gathered together the twelve rows of 10 blocks. 

I have 9 of those rows assembled now. 

Only 3 more to go and then I have to cut the cornerstones for the sashing rows. 

I’ve been in a baking mood lately. I made cranberry orange breads from my Better Homes and Garden New Cook book. You can find the recipe here. I also made Taste of Home pumpkin scones with cranberry butter. All were delicious. I forgot to take photos. 

I’m back in Physical Therapy again. I made the mistake of wearing a shoe with a slight heel when I went outlet shopping several weeks ago and my right hip has been bothering me ever since. I thought it was bursitis, but the orthopedist says it’s sciatica. I have a pain med and physical therapy. It’s interfering with my daily walk and sleeping mostly. Otherwise I’m doing okay. It doesn't interfere with my crafting. LOL

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Take some time to have a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate and pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are up to.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sigh

 That is the way I feel this week. It’s a sad sigh for the United States, women, people of color and the world. Now you may not agree with me, but I ask that you be kind. That is all I will say on the subject. 

I have been spending a good deal of time crafting and avoiding the news lately. I have finished the hand quilting of the whole cloth pillow top.

 I have to choose the pillow back fabric and assemble it. I bought some cording a couple of weeks ago. 

The Prairie Schooler Santa is almost done. I’m in the midst of stitching the white parts.

When he is done, I will assemble the two that I made this year into small pillows. 

I have made a tiny start on the Woodland Animals birth announcement. Just a couple of leaves at the top of the tree.

I haven't done any quilting on the first I-Spy quilt, but I did manage to find the color thread that I wanted at my local Michael's store. Sadly, the JoAnns that I usually shop at has virtually no thread and is in quite a disarray with boxes of stock stacked in various places in the store. It is really depressing. 

I have been working on the second I-Spy quilt. I had to draw diagonal lines on 480 little black squares to accurately sew them to the fussy cut blocks.

Then I just chain pieced the four corners around 20 blocks at a time until all 120 blocks were done. This was completed over a few days.

Now I am cutting the 1 1/2" by 3 1/2" rectangles for the sashing. The 1 1/2" strips were already cut so they just needed to be cut into 3 1/2" pieces.

I will trim and press all of the blocks next and then lay them out to arrange them and add the sashing. There is more to do than I thought to finish this second one. 

Last weekend we visited our daughter and her family. Our granddaughter had fun playing with Grandpa.

We will see them again for Thanksgiving when the whole family will be staying with us for several days. 

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!

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!