A Lot Of Christmas Happening

Where has the time gone? As I write this there is only 90 days left till Christmas. NO way, I have too many projects left that I want to complete. I have been working on tea towels and cross-stitch cards since the beginning of the year and while I do have quite a few gifts completed – the stack of projects doesn’t seem to be going down. I have completed these 3 cards from the original 4 I purchased in January

I just love these cross stitch beauties and thought this year I would really like to send out a few more. They really do say “your pretty special” I purchased a few more off of eBay or was it amazon…oh hec – one of those two.

I have completed friends and am working on Happy Holidays right now. The other 4 look rather easy to stitch up and will make the perfect gift cards.

I have added another two tea towels bringing a total of seven completed with another being worked right now. The quality of these towels and the ones completed are fabulous, heavy and with a sewn in hook for hanging. The towels were purchased from Joann’s, Stitch Em Up 2 pack Flour Sack

I needed more towels and since I am staying in and doing most shopping on line, I ordered from amazon Utopia Kitchen Flour Sack Dish Towels 12 pack Cotton Kitchen Towels 28 x 28 mid Sept. I was so disappointed when they arrived. They are thin and see thru with no hook. I begin doing some embroidery on one and well – I have ordered on line from Joann’s and will most likely not use any of these for gift giving.

90 days is simply not enough time to get what I want to get done – I will be shifting my expectations very soon now 🙂

I have been working on a Halloween cross-stitch and a quilt, both also for gifts. No deadline on these, with the Halloween being worked for 2021 🙂

May I share with you our blossoming fur baby Skyes The Limit Johnson. Saved thru Cozy Paws Rescue she came to us in mid July. We feel so blessed to care take her or is it her us? She has brought so much happiness wrapped up in her 14 lb mini schnauzer bundle of love. The picture was taken yesterday on a mini nature walk along the Puget Sound.

A break in the weather got us out and enjoying but you should see Skye in her blue with yellow duckies rain coat – adorable and perfect for here in our northwest corner of Washington state where we are no strangers to wet weather.

Enjoy a relaxing weekend ~ I am off to do some baking.

HQAL: The Dahlia Project update #2 and #3

Well guess who was surprised last week when I went to post on the blog for a SAL update and saw my HQAL post from 2 weeks prior still sitting waiting to be posted. I imagine I got so excited reading everyone else’s updates that I forgot to post mine. So this is a combined 6 week posting of The Dahlia Project. 

#2 At our last posting three  weeks ago, I shared this photo of the Dahlia quilt I am working on. It was a great start for this beautiful panel

I have made significant headway on the petals. There’s just a few more left to do. You can really see some definition and depth to the piece now. Funny how one photo looks so wrinkly and the other looks so smooth. I promise you nothing was done differently and I did not press it.

I used coordinating  Gutterman colored thread for the quilting.

The back is this wonderful daisy print. The fabric was just right for fitting the panel on 3 sides perfectly with a huge chunk of fabric left over on one side. So for the binding I am going to make a bias tape strip to use out of that.

 

#3 SO ~~~~here we are 6 weeks later and I have completed all of the outlining of the petals. 

You may have noticed a little bit more has gotten done. I have begun working inside of each petal. I am using a clamshell stencil 3 1/2 in. 

This is actually the first time I have ever used a stencil. I bought the wrong stenciling chalk only to discover it would not work in the thin lines. So I simply used a mechanical lead pencil and drew in the lines in the directions I wanted. No two petals are alike in nature and so no two petals are exactly alike either. I am truly learning as I go. I could have, if I had known, bought a smaller clamshell stencil for the smaller inside petals and as it opened up switched to the larger size. What I can say at this point is having discovered and joined this HQAL, corresponded and read so many amazing blogs, I have truly grown and am growing as a hand quilter 🙂

It is going fast and I am having fun with this process.

Now to remember to press the publish button, then go and visit the posts of my fellow HQAL members.

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Daisy, Connie, Monica and Sherrie

SAL: Trick or Treat Update #5

“Trick or Treat” is an Original Design by Thea Dueck for The Victoria Sampler.

At our last posting I was here

Three weeks have flown by, we are approaching mid September and here I am, just about done with phase 1 of the project.

Just a bit more to do for this section, complete the ground, there’s a bat for the sky, fix a window and some backstitching, tidy things up and I’ll be done.

Please take some time and visit the pages of the others in the group. Stay safe and well. I am off now to do some blog hopping ~ enjoy!

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