Not UFO's - Slow Works in Progress

I have started creating a textile book for April but work has stalled. I'm waiting for delivery of some special supplies. While I wait some old needlepoint projects have resurfaced. And I've been enticed by a new hand painted canvas. 😉

You may remember this one if you've been around for a few years.

 I'm thinking I will overstitch a spiderweb to liven up the background. Just haven't had the courage to attempt it yet. 

Then there's this canvas.  

 There are still a few detail stitches to put in. I'll need to do something about the background around it as well. 

The canvas I just bought fits right in with these two. 😁

 So someday I (or our children more likely) could have a triptych to display in the fall! That's assuming my eyes hold out long enough to get al three completed. They are all 18 mesh canvases, meaning 18 stitches to the inch. My eyes have changed in the last couple of years. One improved, the other got worse! So now in order to see what I'm doing on these canvases I'm having to remove my glasses altogether and hold the canvas right under my nose. 

Except that I haven't been working on any of these Halloween theme images. I've been stitching this one:

 This is another 18 mesh hand painted canvas. The black areas have been particularly challenging to see. When I purchased the chandelier canvas the seller gifted me a card of bamboo thread that was the perfect blue for the darker areas in the background. That's actually what got me started on needlepoint again. Since this photo was taken I've filled in the patch on the dog's face and on her body (more than once - I couldn't find the right color brown to use) and put a bright green in the light areas of the lower border. I have a feeling I'll be finishing this one up before I move on to either of the Halloween canvases. And then there's the book for April to get back to... 

 

Scrap Happy in April

 I've got another little book to share with you. This may have been my very first attempt at a fabric book, inspired by Susan Taylor Brown's "just because" books. Other books have been started and finished since I embarked on this one.   

 This book is about 3.25" wide and 5" tall. I only used things I found in my stash. The challenge was to see what I could do in a black and white palette. The 'Liberty' tag was cut from a silk tie. The buttons are vintage. I had fun playing with my buttons in this book. 

 I tried to use a variety of fabric types. The eyelet on page 2 is a little pocket. The black flower next to it is a crochet piece as is the white flower on the next page. 

 More labels from neckties on page four. The number 2 and the spiffy fella on page 5 were cut from quilting cottons. I used this book as an opportunity to feature some laces along with everything else.  

 After I'd added the mouse (from another quilter's cotton), the strip of crochet and the fibers I couldn't bring myself to do any additional stitching on this center spread. I really like being able to read the words that were printed on the cotton along with the images of cookie dough on the cookie sheets. 

 More labels. Then I fell into spooky mode. 

 On the upper left of the back cover is a waterfall of scrap patches. 

 I used this book as a learning experience. That's one reason it has taken so long to get it to a finished state. I'd get stuck, not knowing what to do next. Then I'd come across someone else's approach or technique and give it a try. I've learned what I enjoy doing and what doesn't appeal to me so much. 

Here are the links for other bloggers who generally participate in this blog hop.  😊

Kate, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin,  Alissa,
Hannah and Maggie  

 

Textile Tales Book 3

 I used Rachel Ashwell's book My Floral Affair as inspiration for my third effort in Roxy's Journal of Stitchery Volume 9. I also used it as a place to feature some of the embroidered corners of the vintage hankies I've been collecting. 😊 But it was a hand towel that became the outer cover for the book.

 I decorated it with short bits of lace. 

The stitching on the back cover started as a way to make the back long enough when I accidentally cut it too short. I added on another piece of the towel with herringbone stitch then added a row of blanket stitches and another row of herringbone to balance it out. Oh, and I added a couple more of the lazy daisy flowers and leaves to fill up he back cover. 

I used a quilting cotton for the inside of the covers. There's a layer of thin cotton batting between the two layers. 

 All the flowers (and the leaves on the inside front cover) have been fussy cut from vintage hankies and raw edge appliqued in place. On the first page I used the corner of the hankie to save the scalloped hem and seed stitched the background area with tiny upright cross stitches. They've become my favorite way to give a background texture.  

 On the left hand page of this spread I used a green cotton print under the hankie pieces to give more a feel of a garden. I used detached chain stitches (lazy daisy stitches) to fill the background and give a further impression of leaves. The yellow on the next page was from a linen handkerchief. I added to the foliage on the upper half with some fern stitches.

Here I've used another corner over a burgundy cotton. I outlined the flowers and big white-on-white leaves, securing the hankie to the cotton with those stitches. 

 This is a linen and Battenburg lace doily that was hand dyed (but not by me). This is the center spread in my book.

 This page on the right was the last one I worked on. I was able to purchase the lacy pocket and the little pots of daisies from the same lady the pink doily came from. I used this pocket to hold a tag with the documentation I'm trying to include with each book.

 Next we have more of the yellow linen with another corner laid over top. I've simply stitched around the flowers again. On the right I appliqued pieces from two different hankies, once more preserving a shaped corner.

 The final page features a rose and rosebuds, again from two different hankies. 

 When I made the cover I added a square of a plaid I particularly like, intending to use it for documentation. I'd forgotten about that when I found the lacy pocket and was anxious to complete the book pages. 😉 I didn't add the crocheted flower until the very end. 

 And that closes the book for March! 

 

28 March 2026

 I can't be part of the protest out on the streets with my friends and neighbors on No King 3 so I thought I'd do my protesting here. 😁

 

 

 

 

 

 

These people did not die so we could live in a fascist country.

 

  In case this hasn't crossed your feed yet, enjoy Lizzy and the Triggermen singing a song written by Irving Berlin back in the 1940's.

And the fabulous Bette Midler has given us a new version of an Woody Guthrie song to sing at our rallies. 😁

 I urge every American who can to find the protest nearest you - there are over 3,000 of them scheduled across the country - and get out there on Saturday!  

 

Scrap Happy in March

Welcome to Scrap Happy Day! I have a couple of quilts to share with you this time around. First off, this Shoo-fly and Courthouse Steps quilt that I pieced last year.

It ended up being about 60" square. The blocks are all six inches finished surrounded by a 3" border. 

 It has been donated to be used by a child in Foster Care or a patient in chemo therapy.

I haven't done a lick of piecing on the machine since I started on the Textile Tales books. Before that even. It's a little unsettling. We shall see what the future brings. 

The other quilt I want to share was made some time ago. I have no idea exactly when or by whom. I purchased it when we were living in Texas from a sort of antiques shop. That would have been between 1988 and 1990 probably. It was intact when I bought it and have treated it gently but it has suffered since then. Somewhere along the way a mouse got to it and removed some of the cotton that was used for batting. I've enjoyed it folded at the end of my bed and over a chair back most recently.

 The last time I had a good close look at the quilt I noticed some stitching between patches had fallen away and a couple of places where the fabric was all but gone. It was beyond my ability to repair. {sigh} So I have begun taking it apart. 

Based on what I've learned over the years my conclusion is that this was made by an African-American woman, maybe in the 1950's. The batting is raw cotton. We were living in what would have been cotton growing country at that time. In fact, it still was when we were there, just not to the same extent I suspect.

 I have discovered a repair that had been done before I purchased the quilt but hadn't realized was there. There's also at least one patch that had been pieced before being used in a block. Everything about this quilt speaks to my soul. It make me sad that I can no longer use it in its' original state. I have every intention of figuring out how to use and honor the parts of it that are still viable. 

Scrap Happy Day is hosted monthly by Kate at Tall Tales from Chiconia. Not everyone participates every month but there's plenty of inspiration to be found in the list below. 

Kate, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin,  Alissa,
Hannah and Maggie