Small Finishes

 Apparently the potholders I made for family members almost 20 years ago need to be replaced. It's good to know they've been used and have held up for so long! It was my SIL who made the first request. I whipped up a pair for her last month or so and sent them off. It doesn't appear that I took pictures of them however. It was that effort that prompted me to make potholders for the fundraising auction for the Disabled Artists Foundation in November. Just this morning our daughter told the tale of her set of potholders. Still in use, but crusty and stained from use. So I made a new set for her:

She's still a fan of frogs, just as she was 18 years ago when I made the first pair for her. 

 I think my first efforts were foundation pieced onto batting, and typically crazy patch. Now I find it easier to just cut the strips to piece the top. There's a piece of batting under the front and the whole cloth back, and one layer of the heat reflective material in the very middle. I used a decorative stitch to secure the layers this time. Not pristine, but sturdy. The pseudo feather stitch fills the white space better than simple straight stitching would have done. 

The other small finish I have to share is another needlepoint coin/credit card case.

 This one began as a blank canvas and the patterning is my own design. I truly thought I'd found the center point accurately before I began stitching. Oh well, can't win 'em all!

Another Case for the Books

 Some time ago I picked up a Stitch & Zip kit that's a duplicate of one I'd stitched previously.

Ha! I see that even back then I didn't follow the design as indicated. In fact, I might have handled parts of it better that time than I did in this newer version.

Which makes me wonder if I've ever stitched this the way it was designed! I used hand dyed floss this time around. It's possible I did that the last time too but the variations in the floss are more pronounced in this version. I'm pretty sure I had more trouble stitching the black lines this time than two or three years ago when I made the first case. I had to put a sketchbook open to a blank page on my lap to highlight the unstitched areas to finish this one up. 

Now I am left with two blank-faced cases to stitch. One is this smaller size, perfect for credit cards, business cards, and coins. The larger case is the size of a typical cosmetic bag. That's the one I've been fussing over what design to use. I won't be able to avoid making that decision very much longer!

It's Creative Decision Making Time

Those who have been with me for a long time will know that I enjoy the simplicity of Stitch & Zip needlepoint kits. Fourteen count needlepoint canvas that has already been made up into a variety of cases. I get to do the fun part, and when I've finished all I have to do is zip the case shut and give it some steam (under a pressing cloth). 😁

Coin purses and scissor cases above, cosmetic bag size purses below (about 5" x 7").

I go for the designs that don't have a lot of detail generally. I've also created my own designs to stitch. The following examples happen to be coin purses.

Having recently completed this cosmetic-size bag of my own design...

I needed something new to keep my hands busy when my brain wasn't fully engaged. I found a couple of the coin purse kits on sale recently and bought them. I'll probably stitch one of them as proscribed by the kit contents and design but the other one had to have the colors changed in my opinion. 😉

It's not quite finished, but it won't take long to polish it off. So then the question is, what next? 

I have the other kit I just bought of course, but I also have one of the larger cases that had a blank face. My intention was to use some of the luscious autumn-hued hand dyed flosses I'd collected to stitch a pattern of leaves. I even outlined the leaves in pencil and then went over those lines with a basting stitch of sorts to make the outlines even easier to see.

The problem is, now I don't want to have to expend the mental energy that would be required to produce leaves I'd be happy with. It has been a joy to simply choose a color and stitch "flying geese" and arrows lately. What to do, what to do?

The Official Beginning to a New Year

 New Year's Day is a holiday. Then we had a weekend. Now it's Monday the fourth and life actually returns to normal. A lot of people probably bemoan this event. I'm finding it helpful. Like most folks, Hubby has been working from home for months. But during the holiday season he seemed to be in my studio space a lot more than usual. I don't seem to work well with lots of interruptions. Now that he's back to work I'm able to get back to work as well. Or so I hope! 

I have another new laptop to get used to this year. Which means I have to log back in to all those accounts I'd been using previously. Which means I have to dig up all those passwords. Passwords are a necessary evil in this day and age but it's going to take some time for me to get back up to speed online. I also have piles of stuff that have accumulated on my ironing board and cutting table. It's all going to have to be rehomed somewhere. Wish I knew where! The boxes for my floss collection are here now, I just have to gird my loins to start transferring things from one place to another.

In the meantime, one of the first things I've done is to put in a single line of stitching on this little quilt.

I did the quilting on this one myself, on my Pfaff. But James spotted a line I'd missed after I'd changed the needle and everything on the machine and right before Christmas hit. So today I set it all back up again and put in that single line of stitching. Here's the back of the quilt where the stitching shows up better:

Naturally the missing line was one of the shorter ones in a corner. But it's done now. 😁

I've been stitching away on the 3 Flowers canvas in odd moments over the holidays. This is what it looks like now:

Very close to being done. There's one little leaf to stitch yet, a line of detail on a flower stem. and the petals of the blue flower. For the first time ever with a kit I've run out of the thread provided for the background (the lighter pink). Believe me, I didn't waste any. I think whoever kitted this unit up just miscounted. It's quite possible I have the right color in my stash so I'm not too worried about it. 

I've begun cutting sashing strips for that scrappy Barn Doors potential quilt I mentioned in my last post. Haven't had the energy to start auditioning blocks yet though. One step at a time as we move forward into this new year! 

Joyeux Noel

We have had a lovely Christmas Day. I hope my readers have as well. I meant to post before now so I could wish you all a happy Christmas but life (toxins) interfered as it so often does. In the past we've had our daughter and her family over to exchange gifts. This year we watched them open our gifts to them via Zoom. I'm sure we weren't alone in that experience. We've exchanged pictures and messages with our long distance son and family too. 

This is the collection of hearts I embroidered and gave to the local granddaughters:

Well, with the exception of the yellow one. I kept that for myself. 😉You can see the book I made for the newest granddaughter in this post.

I've been stitching away on the 3 Flowers needlepoint canvas I showed in my last post. There really isn't that much left to do!

One of the reasons I picked up the 3 Flowers canvas was that I'd completed this little Stitch & Zip scissor case just after Thanksgiving:

It's a good size for embroidery scissors. I changed up the colors in the stars a bit but mostly used the floss provided in the kit. 

We have a stitch along post coming up in a couple of days. I don't think I've touched my little book project since the last SAL post. Guess it's time to pick it back up again! Now that the bulk of holiday activities are behind us maybe my creativity will return. 😊

A Project For the End of the Year

 It's been head down, nose to the grindstone around here in the days leading up to Christmas. Well, some of the time at least. There's certainly been more needlework than patchwork going on of late. As is customary at this time of the year, a lot of the stitching has been for gifts. I could probably share most of what I've made but I'll hold off for the time being. It's just easier that way. As long as I don't forget entirely! 

Once the gift stitching was finished I wanted a sort of palette cleanser project. Something mindless, dead easy. While I was shopping online for gifts one of the things that found it's way into my cart was a needlepoint kit. Screen printed canvas, a needle, and DMC floss all in one neat package. Best of all, lots of large areas for basketweave stitching.

The design area is 5 x 7 inches. I debated briefly whether or not to mount this on a frame (stretcher bars) vs working it in hand. A frame would help to keep the canvas in perfect alignment. Since I stitch basketweave as much as possible I don't have a lot of issues with distortion when I stitch in hand.

 In a moment of desperation I taped the raw edges and began stitching. 

I've already spotted two places where I was supposed to put in a stitch of yellow and missed it. And of course there's the ever present issue of exactly where the color changes occur. Screen printed canvases are rarely as accurate as a hand painted canvas. A slight shift in the pattern over the course of the canvas and the whole thing ends up skewed. It drives the perfectionist in me nuts but I try not to stress over it. Since I have no idea what I'll do with this little piece in the end it's unlikely to matter one way or the other. This will just be something to do during the holidays when I'm not otherwise occupied. It's going to be a weird Christmas this year no matter what. The fewer expectations I put on myself for the next two weeks or so the better off I'll be mentally. So the other projects I have in the works are on hold at present. You never know though, I may be seized by the muse before the New Year begins and have something spectacular to share! (Well, interesting at least. 😉)

Still Here

 The week following my last post was, unfortunately, one of those that got the better of me. What little sewing I did was done by hand, and it didn't seem like all that much frankly. I finished up a little heart ornament. This is the front:

And the back:

The front was mostly stitched when I picked it up again this past week but the decoration on the back is all new. And the front is blanket stitched to the back - that's an accomplishment in and of itself! 

I sewed down some binding on the Return of the Swans quilt.

That purple back is an extra wide cotton. For some reason it was very stiff even after laundering and quilting. Between that and the batik binding sewing it down was pretty hard on my finger tips. I've never been comfortable using a thimble but this was one time when it would have been very helpful. 

Oh, and I started on this little scissor case kit:

I do like the Stitch & Zip kits for mindless stitching, and mindless was what I needed most this past week. 

Things are looking up so far this week although I don't feel I've been very productive yet. Baby steps are what's required. If I don't learn anything else from my chronic afflictions, I certainly ought to learn patience and how to pace myself. 😏

Still Stitching in October (SAL #2)

 Every so often we fit two stitch along posts in a month. This is just such a month. 😊

Last time I mentioned that I might pick up my pumpkin head needlepoint canvas and see if I could complete it for the upcoming holiday. Almost, but not quite.

There's still time, and not much left to do so I might still make it, just not for this posting. When I picked it up again it looked like this:

So, good progress. I started with one skein of a hand dyed floss. As I approached the top and bottom edges I realized I wasn't going to have enough of that particular dye lot. I chose to use a darker shade of purple (from the same dyer), thinking it would look like shadowing. Not quite sure that's the case but it is what it is. I've been blending the two dye lots in my needle, using more of the darker shade as I got closer to the perimeter. When it's finished this will measure 5" x 7." When that's accomplished my plan is to simply pop it into an appropriate frame. 

If you aren't a regular visitor here you might want to scroll down to the previous post. I've begun embroidering a soft book for our newest granddaughter. Hopefully a relatively quick project. 😉The rest of the stitchers in the group will, no doubt, have fun things to share. You can click on the links below to see what they've been working on.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, 

Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, MaryMargaret, Renee, Carmela, 

Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

First October SAL - Happy Dancing!

Warning: this is a picture heavy post!

I haven't shared progress on this needlepoint case my friend asked me to stitch for her in quite some time. After I'd done the easy stitching, the large sections of a single color, I got stalled. The last time you saw it, it probably looked like this:

I've been feeling better the last couple of days, able to face the detail stitching that needed to be done. This began life as a kit. I don't think all the colors were included by the time my friend found it in a thrift shop, nor did I have a photograph of the finished project to go by. So once the background was in it required more mental effort than I had to give it. 

I'm delighted to report that I've finally completed the stitching and the case now looks like this.

Yup, still happy dancing a couple of days after the stitching was finished. 😁

I've also added some to my visual journal scroll since our last check in three weeks ago. It's now about 57" long (3.5" high).

Here are a series of close-up shots beginning at the left side. (You may be able to get the images even bigger by double clicking on them.)

In addition to the rain cloud (my hope for rain to wash away the smoke from the wildfires) I put some detail stitches on a few other sections.

I may get out one of my Halloween canvases (needlepoint) to work on for the next stitch along check-in. That will be right before Halloween, on 25 October. I may also cover the completion of this scroll in a Bee, Myself & I post at the end of October. In the meantime, here are the links to the other members of this SAL so you can see what they've been up to lately. 😊

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, MaryMargaret, Renee, 

Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

More Stitching in May

It's been three weeks since our last stitch along check in and I still haven't touched the dish towel I'd been working on earlier in the year. I've just lost interest in it for the time being.

 But I have been working on this needlepoint case my friend asked me to stitch up for her. 😀 I believe this is how it looked the last time you saw it.

With most of the background filled in it was down to the details.

I don't especially enjoy a lot of color changes or starting and ending new threads frequently. This SAL is a very useful tool for motivating me to accomplish the challenging or less-than-fun parts of my projects. 😉

I'm a little concerned there isn't enough of one of the colors in the smaller flowers. This was purchased in a thrift shop so there's no telling if it was complete at the time. Nor do I have a photograph of how the design is supposed to look. These screen printed canvases are rarely printed straight so I'm having to make up parts of it as I go along. Nevertheless, it's coming along nicely.

Everyone in this group is stitching on a project of their own choosing so there's a variety of needlework to be seen. We'll check in again in three weeks when it will be the summer solstice! We'll be halfway through this unusual year. Let's hope the worst is behind us by then. 🌈

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, 
Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, MaryMargaret, Renee, Carmela, 
Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Sherrie, Helen

April Stitch Along

Not to be repetitive, but it's hard to believe it's already been three weeks since our last stitch along check in. Apparently time is dragging for some folks due to the sequestration required in many places by the corona virus pandemic. I'm so used to isolation that things have hardly changed for me. It's easy to let the news depress my spirits though, so I have to be careful to limit my exposure to that as well as the other toxins my body takes exception to.

I've been doing more embroidery of late but not necessarily on the dish towel I had designated as my project for this SAL. We each work on our own projects in this group as opposed to everyone doing the same thing. My work tends to range from needlepoint to surface embroidery and back again. Let's see, I believe this is what the central part of the towel looked like the last time you saw it:

And this is what it looks like now:

Just some stem or outline stitching and a few lazy daisy leaves. Frankly, I've been distracted by activities in a group on Facebook with Tilly Rose, the author of Stitched Memories. She's walking us through the basic embroidery stitches at the moment, with an eye to other projects down the road. After doing some of the assigned "homework" I was prompted to trace off this little finch out of a coloring book and transfer it to fabric so I could stitch it up.

I'm pleased with the way it turned out. Might have to give him a branch to perch on though!

And back on the needlepoint front, I've made some progress on the case my friend asked me to stitch up for her.

Nearly all of the background is done. I'm down to the more fiddly bits now so progress will be slower from this point forward. Actually, this photograph might be helpful. I can see the contrast between the two shades of pink more easily in the picture than in real life.

This SAL has grown yet again as we welcome Sherrie to our ranks. I'm looking forward to seeing what she's working on, and what everyone else has accomplished since I last visited them. 😊

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, 
Sunny, Hayley,Megan, Deborah, MaryMargaret, Renee, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, 
Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Sherrie

By the way, will you leave me a comment - if you can - letting me know whether my photos are showing up? The last couple of times I've visited my own blog half the pictures are missing. Not being technically inclined, I have no idea why or what to do about it. Thanks.

Riding the Roller Coaster of Life

Well, I certainly didn't expect to fall off that cliff. After a very productive couple of days building a new baby quilt for the Little Lambs Foundation work came to an abrupt halt. Granted, it was a natural stopping point. All that remains is some kind of outer border treatment. However, my attention has been turned elsewhere. In spite of the fact that I spend most of my days sheltering in place due to my chemical sensitivities the ripple effect of the coronavirus pandemic has somehow taken a toll on my creativity and productivity. Maybe because every member of our household falls into the high risk category for Covid-19 for one reason or another. Just getting weekly groceries has become a more hazardous mission than in the past. That makes non-essential items not worth the effort to procure if they can't be had via an online vendor. As it turns out, not all of them are - at least not at a price I'm willing to pay. So my retail therapy options are more limited than ever before. That's enough to depress anyone I guess.

Son and I did venture out to purchase a half-barrel in which to plant the Roald Dahl rose bush I ordered before the virus took over the world. Fortunately, hardware and garden centers are still open for business. They have been deemed essential, no doubt for the health and well being of the general public! And we actually had cleaner air around our home that day so we were able to clean the deck and get the rose settled into place.

I want to get some annuals to plant around the baby rose to give the barrel some color while it gets established. I'm thinking we may need to uproot the rose, put more soil in the barrel, and then replant it. I didn't realize it was sitting so low in the pot until after we had a rain shower overnight.

One of our smaller pots has some volunteer violets in amongst the weeds.

I have a hard time getting outdoors to do any weeding or other gardening due to the noxious fumes that emanate from neighboring homes. It cheers me up no end to see a bit of color through my windows. Around the side of our house the rosemary is in bloom too. There aren't any windows over there though. 😞

At about the time that work stopped on the baby quilt (which I will eventually share with you in another post) my friend C~ brought over a needlepoint kit she thought I would enjoy stitching up for her. She'd found it at a thrift shop, obviously a souvenir from someone's cruise.

Her husband refers to their only granddaughter as "Princess." She asked me if I could just stitch that word and cover up the word 'Cruises.' Yes, I could. But that would have left 'Princess' shoved all the way to the top of the cosmetic case and left a lot of empty space between the word and the rest of the design. So to begin with I shifted 'Princess' down a bit. I also did my best to shift those little white flowers up a bit.

This project was just what I needed. It gave me the opportunity to do some rhythmic, mindless basketweave stitching for the background. Now I'm tackling the smaller, more detailed areas. I'm finding myself drawn to other embroidery projects too. Something about working on small, hand-held projects has more appeal than trying to work out a quilt plan on the design wall or even cutting patches. I'd even be pleased to sew down a binding on any - or all - of the quilts that are ready for that last step. I just need to get the bindings onto the quilts. If only I could muster up the energy that requires...