SAL: East West Sampler Update # 5

Welcome back to this SAL update for my East West Sampler

At our last posting the sampler looked like this. I had completed the border.

My time has been split between a few quilting and junk journaling projects but I am real pleased with the progress I’ve made in these past 3 weeks. I have added the blue star medallions and the sweet border below the Home Is Best. Actually in looking at the directions the placement of the heart border is misplaced. A crease in the paper looked like the dividing line under the home is best but it should have been centered between the two blue lines. I am going to keep this for now and maybe add something into the blank spaces later. I’ll wait to see as the project progresses.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting with me today. If you have some time you can join me in visiting with the others in the SAL. There are some amazing projects in the works.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, 

Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Our next updates will be posted on the 19th May 2024.

About the SAL

Please note this SAL is not accepting any more new members until further notice but this is what it’s all about anyway. This SAL (Stitch Along) is slightly different to other SALs in that we don’t all stitch the same design at the same rate. We choose ONE unfinished project, or ONE new one, and show progress of its completion over a series of three weekly updates. There are no deadlines and no set amount to stitch. The result is that the space in our drawers full of WIPs (works in progress) is gradually being freed up to store lots of new crafty goodness. It’s surprising how much motivation I’ve gained from being in this SAL.

SAL: East West Sampler Update #4

Time to check in again on my East West Sampler project. At our last posting it looked like this ~

I continued to work on her pretty consistently but then put her aside for the last week or so. I received a baby shower invite and decided I wanted to make a baby quilt which I needed to get done with the 13th invite date. Since I hand piece and hand quilt, I opted for a short cut, machine piecing and then hand quilting. I am closing in on a finish but this slowed me down. The hearts were a quick stitch and only took me a few hours.

Here is where I am with Miss East West

I just love how she is turning out. I still have a bit more to do as you can see from the picture below.

Thank you so much for visiting with me today, now I am off to check in with the others in this SAL. If you would like to join me click on the links below. The participants live all over the world so you may need to allow for time differences. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie, 

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, 

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy

SAL: East West Sampler Update # 3

March 17 and the top of the morning to you 🙂 Are you wearing the green on this SAL update? Are the daffies all in bloom where you’re at? (climate permitting) It’s really something here in the NW corner of the U.S.. This photo was in our local newspaper, the Bellingham Herald. It’s Daffoldil Festival time with these fields in La Connor, WA.

At our last posting I had shown you this picture of the East West Sampler. I had corrected my counting error which led to the misplacement of everything and started over. Everything is back in sync.

I have been working steadily on the project, putting in at least an hour just about every day. Once I got on the right track I can honestly say I am really enjoying working on this. Here is where I am now.

Thank you for visiting with me today and if you have the chance please drop in on the others in this SAL. There are some amazing projects in the works.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

SAL: East West Sampler Update 2

At our last posting I had begun the Better Homes and Gardens 1983 East West Sampler. I ran into trouble right off the bat. For some reason my brain could not understand the instructions of 1 stitch = 2 squares. Funny now, way too simple. Luckily many of you came to my rescue and almost immediately I realized what I had to do.

I wasted no time and removed all the stitching however I decided to leave the squaty blue line and then started over. Here is where I am now

She looks so much better done correctly 🙂 and the heart and little house fits correctly ~

They say it takes a village and in my case it really did to get me back on track. Thank you to everyone for your help. I’m actually having a lot of fun working this pattern now.

And thank you for visiting with me today. Now I am off to visit with the others in this SAL. You can join me by clicking on the links below.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, 

Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

SAL: East West Sampler

A new project for the SAL

I am working this vintage Crafts Kits designed for Better Homes and Gardens 1983. I paid $10 for it off of eBay. I was looking for something with a more primitive look this go round and this fit the bill with a great price too. There are 3 colors, red, green and blue.

I’ve got a start. It’s a little tricky as 1 stitch equals 2 squares. For some reason this is giving me a problem. I need to frog the green square as I have mis counted and made it too large. I had put the heart inside which alerted me to my error, so the heart has been removed already.

Looking at this now, I can see the H in home is misplaced as well. Do I remove and redo ? Will it matter when all is done? I am thinking I am going to make quite a few of the errors with this project. This one is going to be a slow and steady project.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting with me. Now I am off to visit with the others in this SAL. You can join me by clicking on the links below.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

SAL: Late Current Christmas Card Update

Oh boy what a start to the our new year of SAL posting. I’m late but for a good reason. I won’t bore you with to many details except to say when I tried to post I had the dreaded “white screen of death” I had absolutely nothing I could work with or do to post. This sent me on a deep dive of youtube video’s and google searches with endless attempts to fix. Fearing this was hopeless for me, I even went over to Blogger and set up a new blog. The short of it as you now see is ~~~~~ I fixed it! One last attempt on my own just hunting and pecking thru my computer and I found a button to empty cache and here I am. (that was a hint from all my searches but nothing they told me to find that button had helped)

I finished my last Current Christmas card I had been working on when we last posted. You may remember it looked like this with the frogging of the mint outlining removed.

I chose the same floss as the bottle for the outline this time and I think it worked perfectly. Here she is

I have another project lined up to begin work on. I will share it with our next posting and close for now.

Thank you for visiting with me to today. Wishing everyone a great start to the new year.

Below are the links to the members in this SAL. If you are not in this SAL please take a moment to visit some of these amazing crafters

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Our next updates will be posted on the 4th February 2024. 

About the SAL

Please note this SAL is not accepting any more new members until further notice but this is what it’s all about anyway. This SAL (Stitch Along) is slightly different to other SALs in that we don’t all stitch the same design at the same rate. We choose ONE unfinished project, or ONE new one, and show progress of its completion over a series of three weekly updates. There are no deadlines and no set amount to stitch. The result is that the space in our drawers full of WIPs (works in progress) is gradually being freed up to store lots of new crafty goodness. It’s surprising how much motivation I’ve gained from being in this SAL.

SAL: Current Christmas Card Update

I am working on a set of four Current Critters Counted Cross-stitch Cards. It’s a 1980’s set with a finished size of 5 x 7 set in an embossed card.

At our last posting I had started the mouse in a candy jar. I hadn’t gotten very far. It looked like this

(Below) As I continued to work on it, I put in 2 more candies and outlined as I went. I didn’t like the blue so I decided to move on to the mouse to let my thoughts settle. I didn’t get too far and in fact I put it aside. I was trying to decide if I liked it – meaning the blue around the candy. The picture next to my start is not my finished project but from the cover photo from the packaging. Seeing this, I saw the colors were quite different from what the kit called for. There are 2 different grays being used but they don’t give enough contrast like the blues used in the cover photo. Still, I’ll probably keep the gray but I think I need to change out that blue outlining as it should be the gray for the background of the jar.

Unhappy with this start I moved on the last of the four in this series.

Remember that bunny I didn’t think was very Christmasy? I had some great suggestions on how to ‘holiday’ her up. Adding the word Merry, which I used before, was just what it needed.

Thank you for stopping by ~ happy crafting! Below you will find the links to the others in this SAL. If you have the time please take a peek at the others. There are some wonderful projects in the works.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret

I know we are all over the world and not everyone is celebrating Thanksgiving (U.S.) but the sentiment is timely and so true ~ I am so thankful for all of you! Thank you to Avis for hosting this SAL and keeping is all on tract 🙂

SAL: Current Christmas Cards Continued

At our last check in I had completed this adorable card

Working steadily to complete another, I finished the skating chipmunk below. I added the word merry which is not in the instructions. The openings of this set is a bit smaller than the last and while no words were needed – stitchers liberties on this one 🙂

There are 2 more left to complete in this set of 4. I have this one started below, it’s the mouse on top of the candy jar.

I am deciding whether I want to stitch the rabbit. She is really sweet but doesn’t scream Christmas to me. With so many other holiday projects in the works, I may just put her aside for now. She would make a cute Easter card, I would leave out the berry and add some Easter wording.

Thank you for stopping by ~ happy crafting! Below you will find the links to the others in this SAL. If you have the time please take a peek at the others. There are some wonderful projects in the works.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, 

Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret

SAL: Current Christmas Cards continued

In my last posting for the SAL I had completed another card, finishing a grouping of 4 vintage Current cross-stitched cards.

For this posting I am beginning a 2nd grouping of 4 vintage cards. I was actually amazed I got one started and completed in the 3 weeks. Here she is

The opening on these cards are a lot smaller with the oval shape. I actually altered the pattern a bit. The overhanging branch looked more like a pine tree branch with straight lines jutting out from it. I tried that first and it looked sloppy so I changed it to little french knot berries. I think it gave it that Christmas holly berry look which I like better.

Now on to the next!

Thank you for visiting my page and please visit the blogs of the others in the SAL by clicking on the links below.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Cindy, MaryMargaret

SAL: Christmas Card X-Stitch Update

At our last posting I was working on the last of 4 in a set of vintage Current Christmas cards. Here was my progress, a great start.

I am finding 3 weeks is the perfect amount of time for me to get a card done. Here is the finished product

Such a cute set

Next I will moving on to the 2nd set of 4 that I purchased off of eBay. It’s another sweet set however, I may switch off to something else Christmasy. In the meantime these cards are calling to be worked. If I had to pick a favorite, I think it would have to be the mouse in the candy jar.

Now I am off to check in with the others in this SAL. Please join me by clicking on the links below, there are some amazing projects in the works.

Thank you for visiting with me today ~ love and light

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Cindy, MaryMargaret