Sunday, December 27, 2020

Ruminating on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

 Hello - I know I said I'd be back last week to post pics of my recent Christmas quilt finishes, but... the week just got away from me... and then we did Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and I totally lost track of what day of the week it was (thank goodness my phone tells me the day and the date...sheesh)... So I'm here now and I do have pics of the quilts and I have some thoughts about my tentative crafty plans for 2021... which I figured I should talk about this Sunday since by next Sunday it will be 2021 and I will again not know exactly what day of the week it is unless I look at my phone... and hey where is my phone??? Oh there is it... stuck in the cushion of my chair... big sigh... I misplace it several times a day... and it doesn't do me any good to call my phone because I always have it on silent... so unless I'm close enough to hear it vibrate I'm out of luck... oh well


So here are pictures of the 4 Christmas quilts I finished for this holiday...now the first two I started last year and early this year... 

This is Meet in the Middle... a free pattern you can see here... now it was jelly roll friendly but I made it with a layer cake because there were a lot of directional fabrics in the Basic Grey Kringle & Klaus collection I used and I didn't want my ornaments or my Santa's laying on their sides... so I just cut everything into 2.5 x 10" strips and it worked fine... 

and here's a close up of the quilting from Quilting by David... 


I picked a panto with ornaments which I thought echoed the fabrics... and it washed up nice and crinkly!

Next is Snowfall with another Basic Grey Christmas collection... this one a well aged one called Fruitcake..

This one used charm packs and the pattern is from the book Charm School... I had David use a snowflake panto on this one...

Next up is this one using another well aged layer cake... this one is called Very Merry from Sandy Gervais ...


The pattern is Piece of Cake 3 from Thimbleblossoms...you can see it here... I'll be making this quilt again... easy construction and it shows off the fabrics nicely... 

And last but not least a scrappy quilt ... I started with wanting to use up the border and other fabrics I had from the Heather Ross Sugarplum collection... I added in a bunch of other Christmas fabrics from my stash and I'm very happy with how it came together...


Now these are different pictures of these quilts from what I posted on Instagram... but if you want to see more you can find them here... 

And with these quilts complete I thought I'd play in my sewing room and somehow I started another Christmas quilt... my thought process is that I'll be ahead for next year... that is if I stick with it... but there is always a possibility (actually a very STRONG possibility)   that it will end up in a plastic bin before I truly finish it... I'm already having second thoughts about it... here's a pic of what I've done so far... 


the pattern is Jelly Roll Dash, it is a lovely pattern, and you can see it here...  now the pattern is written to be strip pieced but I'm not fond of that method because my strips get wonky and there is too much repetition of fabric placement... I like things all mixed up (kinda like my life.. but that's another story...LOL) so I'm sewing individual squares together... and yes it it going to take about 4 times longer this way... but then I'm not thrilled with how it is looking...  I like mixed up... but... this is looking too mixed up to me... I think I'm going to unsew what I have and just do simpler blocks... like a nine patch or maybe a rectangular block that is pieced and alternated with a solid block... hmmmm....oh I LOVE the fabric ... it is the Oh Deer collection by Urban Chiks... along with some leftovers from their Christmas collection of 2 years ago... here's the Oh Deer collection 

I love these fabrics because you have YELLOW Christmas fabric... I even found yardage of the yellow print with the deer and I ordered it for the border... ruminating here ... and this is going to be re-worked... and that's ok..

And I did some cross stitching last week... I was in a holiday mood so I started (are we seeing a pattern here... I am such a GOOD starter... we will not discuss finishing at this time)... a Christmas piece from Prairie Schooler book No. 63 called Christmas Samplers... you can see it here...


I needed some simple stitching... all DMC and a mystery piece of 32 ct linen from my stash... it is a nice warm tan... I didn't feel the need to paint or dye it as not much of it will show when the whole piece is complete... 

But I put it down yesterday and picked back up my Heart & Hand sampler from With Thy Needle & Thread...


I LOVE this sampler... I LOVE that berry filled vine and the white flowers and the birds and the big house and the lady gardening... I'm using the called for flosses and the fabric is 32 ct I dyed with Rit dye... I think I might be able to finish this by the end of the year... and if I can I am not going to put the last stitch in till 2021 because I will NOT date anything 2020 ...ok I did date one piece 2020 but it was a tombstone for Halloween... I can't think of any year I want more to be behind us and I don't want to be reminded of it by my stitching.. there will be plenty of other reminders ... so I that's the plan...

And then there is the rumination of what to work on in 2020... I like to start a cross stitch piece on New Year's Day and I like to do a bit of sewing and a bit of knitting and I want to eat something very tasty... my philosophy is you need to do things on New Year's Day that you want to repeat as much as possible the rest of the year... get things off to a real good start... and the Lord knows we need a nice good start for 2021!!

Sooooo... what to start... I have a couple of samplers I want to do that are already kitted up... but this sampler is also calling my name... it was the Linens & Threads Mystery Sampler for 2020... now I never like to do a mystery piece until I can see enough of it to be sure I want to join... and I didn't find this one till about October... and I love what I see... here's a link to the project and it is free...and this is a finished version that I LOVE...



And you can see more versions here at the hashtag #linenandthreadssampler2020.... so many wonderful color combos... I think this is my favorite ... lots of people did it on 40 ct... but I'm not fond of stitching on 40 ct... I'd rather do 32 ct ... and I think I could dye a piece of linen similar to the picture... and it will be LARGE ...15.25" square... and I do like the idea of a light color thread on a darker linen... but 2 threads of a light color on 32 ct is sometimes sloppy looking... soooooo I purchased some 12 wt Sulky ... I want to play with it and see if I like that coverage... so I'm ruminating on that... and the fact that they have another mystery sampler for 2021 and darn it sounded interesting too... "Our 2021 mystery sampler is inspired by the Mexican and Spanish pottery tradition from Talavera de la Reina, in Spain"... oooohh... I went and looked at the pottery and it is very colorful... more temptation....

And I have this project teed up for 2020 too... another needlepoint stocking... this one is for my daughter in law...


I did get to the needlepoint shop last week and picked up a bunch of fibers for all the ornaments and I got green wool for the tree and I ordered a bunch of skeins of a minty green for the background... so I should probably put a few stitches in it on New Year's Day...

And I'm ruminating on starting a new knitting project... I think I'll go with a new pair of scrappy socks... something easy... 

And I can't help but ruminate on what 2021 might bring... I don't know if we'll have another lockdown here in Ohio...(but it was the reason I went to the needlepoint store last week as I'm pretty sure a needlepoint store is the definition of non-essential/sigh) ... I have plenty to keep me busy, but then I had plenty to keep me busy last time but I didn't get a lot done... I wonder if we had another round would I be more focused... but focus is a big problem now... I waste too much time on the internet reading stuff and not getting anything done... I've been trying to ignore the news/politics as that is a deep deep rabbit hole that leaves me feeling  anxious and ticked off...I'm trying to avoid that and it isn't easy... my current strategy is to watch youtube and flosstube videos while stitching or knitting... at least I'm getting a little accomplished. 

Soooo... I don't make New Year's resolutions and any plans I made are extremely flexible... but there are definitely projects I want to do...now if I can spend less time endlessly scrolling through IG that would be a step in the right direction... I can't totally give up IG as I get the best ideas for new projects there ... it is like looking a new magazine every time... and remember magazines?  I LOVED magazines... LOL

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I hope that you all had a nice Christmas and that we will all have a much better 2021... 

happy stitching-
carol fun 

7 comments:

  1. HA!! You sound a LOT like me! I leave my phone all silent and leave it somewhere and have to search and search and I get so aggravated at myself. I downloaded Meet in the Middle when I saw it and I think I even laid some fab aside for it but no start yet. Love the Snowfall as well. I've been cleaning out magazines and books and in going thru those found several more I want to do...not good. I also found a partially made green and red so I'm trying to finish that up. I had those Prairie Schooler samplers in my cart but don't think I bought them (LOVE PS) but am currently working on the small piece from book #167 (And to All a Good Night). I don't knit but do crochet although not often and nothing complicated.

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  2. Wonderful post, Carol. So much inspiration. I am going to start the Meet in the Middle. Yours looks awesome. Great New Year's philosophy on starting things you want to do throughout the year. I hope you have a wonderful New Years. Hugs, Melisa

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  3. A needlework shop is essential to mental health! You've got some lovely projects finished and some new ones to start. Definitely start 2021 with some fun and enjoyable activities. Happy stitching!

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  4. You are always an inspiration! My first inspiration is to complete cleaning my sewing room(s), eek! But I did find all those quilts I need to bind, so.......we'll see!

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  5. Carol, you make me feel so much better. Because of the Christmas holiday I have been confused on what day of the week it is ever since. Now with New year's coming it will be another confused week!! The quilts are absolutely beautiful. That quilting adds a special touch to what is already a very pretty design. Sounds like some good stitching plans. I am thinking of doing Teresa Kogut's patriotic sampler starting in Lent. The bookends of Lent help keep my on track. I feel exactly like you about politics. My DH likes noise and used to have the tv on all the time. I am slowly teaching him to appreciate music. The news is horrible no matter what you believe. Well, let's hope for a better 2021! I find myself looking at Instagram and You Tube too much. It is what I call escape!!But you are correct, nothing gets done!

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  6. Love your quilts and quilting. The first one is actually my fav. Already starting a quilt for next year... You're good.

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  7. My comment disappeared before I was finished--but hooray for finishes and love the stitching in the queue.

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