Hello Everyone and welcome back. For my American readers, also happy 4th of July as we celebrate America 250! Unfortunately for those of us on the east coast, we are in an extreme heat wave that has caused many cancellations of events. We were planning on attending a local parade in the late afternoon, but even though it hasn’t been cancelled, it will be too hot for us. We’ll celebrate by admiring my new quilts and having hot dogs and watermelon.
I made two new patriotic quilts this season to honor America 250 and spent most of June quilting them.
The first one is the modified Fireworks quilt. I love this quilt and my husband says it’s probably his favorite. I’m so pleased with the changes I made to the pattern. I changed the corners to squares and added a narrow sashing. I got this idea from a pattern by Wendy Sheppard. The Fireworks pattern is written by Thimble Blossoms.
Most of the fabric is from American Gatherings 3 by Primitive Gatherings. The light blue is a Camille Roskelley fabric and the blue center block is a Riley Blake Fabric from a few years ago.
The backing is also from American Gatherings 3. It’s a 108″ print and I was so happy my local quilt shop was carrying it.
I made a freezer paper template and marked the fireworks motif in the center of each block. It’s quilted with a red, white and blue Aurifil thread. For the rest of the quilting, I used Glide 40 wt thread. It was fun to quilt on my domestic machine and I kept most of the quilting simple.
Here’s a different view of the quilt outside. We had a little breeze, so it was hard to get a good picture. I am really pleased with this quilt and it will go on the list for my kids to keep!
The second finish to honor America 250 is the Virginia Mini Star by Laundry Basket Quilts. I made this from a kit that included everything but the pattern and batting. Originally, I was going to quilt each individual blue leg of the star, but thought that might be too much quilting. Finally I decided to stitch around each of the red squares and then quilt large feathers in the star points. I also quilted a feather in the cream triangles.
For the corner squares, I did much more custom quilting. Those corner squares were cut from a fabric that had those preprinted 8 point stars on it. I quilted around the star points and where the prints changed to make it looked like the block was pieced. Then I added some special motifs in the corner. It was fun to plan and quilt the corners.
I have still been stitching away on some patriotic cross stitch pieces. I’ve finished a few, but haven’t taken pictures yet. I’m about two-thirds finished with America 250 by Plum Street Samplers. It’s going to be released on July 6 for anyone who is interested.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th weekend and I’ll be back next time with a stitching update. Thanks for stopping by!
Hello Everyone and welcome back. This month has been a busy one so far. I’ve been quilting and stitching, but my daughter was also here and my son is here now. I’ve also been to my mom’s twice this month.
I finished quilting the Virginia Star Mini and started quilting the Fireworks quilt. I’ll post all the details when they are both finished. While my daughter was here, we spent a morning going to the local quilt shops where she bought fabric at both. At one of them, she bought the Ruby Star Society Mystic Fable Panel. She designed a new quilt using the panel and an alternate block. I helped her with the quilt math for the block and wrote cutting instructions for her. She cut out the panel squares while she was here. I have much more room than she does and more rulers. For someone who said a year ago that she would only make one quilt, this will be her third large quilt in the same year. She has been bitten by the quilting bug for sure.
While Emily was here, we took an overnight trip to the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania to see Fallingwater.
We spent the first day at Ohiopyle State Park where we did a little hiking and showing her a few of the falls.
The falls were loud and had lots of water in them after some much needed rain over the past few weeks. In fact we had a severe storm before dinner that night.
The next morning we had reservations to tour Fallingwater. Last summer when we visited, Fallingwater still had tarps and scaffolding around it. Almost all the renovations were finished and we were able to see a few places that we couldn’t last year. I took more pictures of the house and the state park last year and you can see them here if your are interested.
Our local museum, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, is having an exhibit of Valley Quilts until the end of the year. New quilts will be displayed every few month.
There was a very interesting display of an applique quilt. Above is a preprinted muslin applique quilt top that came in a kit from the 1930’s.
These are the preprinted applique pieces that came in the kit.
Here is a portion of the finished quilt. (I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of the whole quilt). Have you seen old applique quilts that are similar in style? I would never have guessed that they might have been a kit. Today we have similar kits with precut applique pieces, made for appliqueing on the machine. I’ve made a few smaller projects using those kits. They are definitely a time saver, but the design decisions are made for you.
I hope to be back by the first part of July with my finished quilts. Until then, happy quilting and stitching. Thanks for stopping by.
Hello Everyone and welcome back! Today I have a couple of things to share, a cross stitch project portfolio and a quilt top.
I’m going to start with the quilt top. This is a revised version of Camille Roskelley’s Fireworks Quilt. I made fewer blocks and added the sashing and changed the corners of the blocks. Most of the fabrics are Primitive Gatherings, American Gatherings III. I have an American Gatherings III wideback as well. I’m hoping to get it basted this week so I can start quilting.
Now for the portfolio. I have been thinking about making a project portfolio for over a year now. I’ve watched a few tutorials and never got around to it. Finally, a few weeks ago, I decided to just do it! The fabrics are Backyard Blooms by Allison Harris, released a few years ago. I had two charm packs and a couple of half yard cuts.
I cut the charm squares into quarters and used the Bosal 2 1/2″ Grid Interfacing to sew the squares together. The sewing went quickly after fusing the squares to the interfacing. I used a 9 x 6 grid to finish about 18″ w by 12″ h. I used Soft and Stable and added the lining to the back. I quilted it using an open toe foot and used the seam lines as a guide.
I’ve seen different inside layouts and decided to go with two vinyl zip pockets. I made a double fold binding to encase the zipper. I used a midweight interfacing on the back of the pocket fabric for some extra body.
The pocket beneath the zippered pocket will fit a full size pattern. I think I left enough room in the tab closure so I can hold two projects comfortably. I plan on using the portfolio for a while to determine if I like it. If I do, I’ll probably make a few more. The placements of the fabrics took the most time. After that, it only took a few hours to quilt and make the rest of it.
We are enjoying a rainy Memorial Day weekend here. We are in a severe drought so the rain is very much welcomed. I hope you are enjoying your weekend and I’ll be back in a few weeks. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Hello Everyone and welcome back. Today I have a cross stitch finish parade for you. I’ve spent some time getting pieces ready for framing and finishing others as small pillows and a small wall hanging.
First though, if you have ever wanted to frame your own pieces, Lori at Texstylust, has a great video on using Clover clips to get you pieces ready for framing. I used them on my two framed pieces and it worked out so much better than trying to use tape to hold the fabric in place while I either pinned or laced the piece. For both of these pieces, I laced the back, which took me sooo long to do. On my larger pieces, I’ve pinned them so I think I’ll go back to that. I ordered these pins to use on my next piece to frame.
My first piece is Where My Heart Blooms by Blackbird Designs from the book “A Heart Remembers”. It’s stitched on 40 ct Winterbrew by R and R Fabrics, 1 over 2. I substituted Weeks Baked Apple for GA Gingersnap in the strawberries and flowers. I used the Gingersnap in the house. I also used the DMC conversion in the shaded part of the house. In the chart, the initials in the upper left hand corner were charted as a single initial. I changed the font and stitched both initials 1 over 1. I was able to fit the finished piece in a standard 8″ x 8″ frame I bought at Michaels.
My next pieces are all patriotic finishes. Some have been waiting to be finished for several years, others I’ve finished in the past few months.
First up are the Triple Play – Summer Basket by Hands On Design. I finished the center stitching on one of these in 2024 and finished the stitching on the other two in 2025. I saw an Instagram post of someone finishing one of these as a sawtooth star. I really liked that and finished two of mine that way. To keep the flying geese measurements standard, the finished top size is 10″. Cathy’s pillows finished at 9″ so my other Triple Play pillows fit the form a little better.
The cross stitch pieces are stitched on 32 ct Platinum by Zweigart, 2 over 2. I changed the blues to more traditional blues rather than the teal colors that Cathy used. I used a Sulky 12 wt and a Valdani 12 wt thread for the big stitch quilting. These will go into a wire basket that I keep in front of the fire place. This is the third set of pillows I’ve completed and it will be the last. I’ve finished the Autumn and Spring sets, but will skip the Winter set.
My next finish is This Land by Shakespeare’s Peddler. It was released last year and I ordered the PDF version from Theresa’s web site. It’s stitched on 40 ct Affogato by Fiber on a Whim, 1 over 2. I used all the called for floss and finished it in a similar manner as Theresa did. She added the borders, but then framed hers. I have this small hanger that’s perfect for This Land.
This photo contains all kinds of stitchy goodness! We’ll go from left to right.
The framed piece is American Eagle by Blackbird Designs from the book “Sweet Land of Liberty”. It’s stitched on 36 ct Affogato by Fiber on a Whim. The house color and flag are stitched in DMC 3865 and I changed the green to Weeks Oscar. I stitched it in January and February of this year.
I ordered the frame from Michaels which I like, but Michaels will not cut a frame smaller than 7″. That’s why there is so much space around the stitched piece. I have several others that aren’t framed yet that I had to use a larger frame than what I wanted. I will try somewhere else when I have a smaller piece to frame.
I love Freedom Flock by Plum Street Samplers! What’s better than a trio of stacked eagles and the baby on top is so cute. I stitched this on the called for 36 ct. Hazlewood by Fiber on a Whim, 1 over 2. I used all the called for floss and stitched it in March and April of this year. I may need to find a permanent place for this one after the patriotic season is over.
I stitched Summer’s Swan by With Thy Needle and Thread in the summer of 2024. I was thinking of finishing it as a hanging pouch, but I then decided it just needed to be finished. It’s stitched on 40 ct. Light Mocha by Zwiegart, 1 over 2. I substituted Colour and Cotton Pearl White for the Weeks Arrow which didn’t show well on my fabric. The Pearl White is a nice bright white and I think I should order more of it. The cording is premade from Hobby Lobby and I hand sewed it to the pillow.
I have several more patriotic pieces to frame and one I’m working on. I may start one more in the next few weeks, too. I usually decorate for late spring in early May through the first part of June, but I think I’m going straight to my patriotic quilts and stitching in mid May so I can enjoy all my new stitches and hopefully a few new quilts for the 250th Anniversary.
I would have had this post out a little earlier, but my daughter called yesterday afternoon with a problem with her machine. I believe I have told you has started to quilt and now she is working on some machine applique. I sent her my Machine Applique workshop handout that I’ve taught a few times and she did a really nice job on her first applique (after some practice). The problem was when she changed from using the rayon thread she used for this shell back to her 40 wt Mettler thread she was using, the tension was bad on her straight stitches. We spent over an hour on Facetime trouble shooting. She had loaded her bobbin in the wrong way, but that didn’t help when she fixed that. We do think she was using the wrong size bobbin, but after switching to one that came with the machine, she still had problems. She switched to another bobbin and thread she had been using and those worked fine, same thread just a different color. She changed needles, cleaned her machine, rethreaded, nothing seemed to work. I finally suggested she take her thread and bobbin out, turn the machine off and come back later. She texted me last night, that when she tried again, the tension was good, but the needle broke. I haven’t heard from her today, but if the needle broke, there may still be something wrong. I told her we’ve all been there with our machines. Nothing we do makes things better. She has a Brother SM3071 that she bought at JoAnn’s. I told her it could be time for a visit to a machine shop.
I hope you all are enjoying some nice spring weather and getting in lots of stitching and quilting. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Hello Everyone and welcome back. Today I have a quilting update for you. I haven’t been in my sewing studio as much as I like, but I have been able to work on a few things.
Since my last quilting update, I started and finished the Virginia Star Mini by Laundry Basket Quilts. I ordered it as a kit and it came with strips of the blue and background fabrics and a panel for the corner units with the stars in them. The kit also came with the backing and binding fabric. The mini version finishes at 28″ x 28″. There is also a large quilt in the same pattern.
If you look at the pattern cover, they cut the corner units with multiple stars showing. Unfortunately, because of the repeat of the pattern, the star points were cut off. I decided to fussy cut the panel with one star in the middle and then have the points of the other stars showing around the edges. It will be fun to quilt the corner units.
I love the finished piece, but after a few rounds of the pieced star, I decided I really didn’t like making this little quilt. Every seam had to be very precise or the block grows or shrinks! I really don’t like sewing log cabin blocks for the same reason.
Speaking of being precise, these 16-patch blocks are the same way. I’ve had to resew a few seams to make sure the block finishes at the correct size. This quilt is a modified version of the Lincoln Quilt by Barbara Brackman. I’m making mine with Fig Tree Fabrics for a softer vibe. I have 22 blocks made and I need 64 8″ blocks for the quilt. I’m trying to make 8 blocks a month and I’m sewing along with my daughter. Next time she sends a picture of her blocks, I’ll show her progress and colors.
Another new quilt I started is the Fireworks quilt by Camille Roskelley. I made the mini version years ago and you can see it here. I’m making the full size quilt with a few changes. Instead of 16 blocks, I’m only making 9 blocks. I’ll be adding a small sashing between the blocks like the Jubilant Star quilt by Wendy Sheppard. Wendy has recently recolored the quilt with patriotic fabrics which is how I found the quilt. This is my test block. It’s the only one that is made with fabric other than Primitive Gatherings American Gatherings III fabric. The blue is Red, White and True by Riley Blake Fabrics from several years ago.
The block in both patterns is the same, just different colorways and sizes. I also changed how the units are made. In Camille’s pattern, she used flying geese units for the square in the square units. I’m using the Square in a Square paper from Fat Quarter Shop to make my units. It makes the piecing much more precise. I’m also switching the outside corner to a 4-patch instead of the half triangle as in the original pattern. I have all the units made for the blocks and hope to have them finished in the next couple of weeks.
That’s it for now. I will continue to make the Fireworks and Lincoln Quilt blocks over the next few weeks. Once I finish the Fireworks top, I’ll quilt both the Virginia Star and Fireworks quilts and hope they are finished for the patriotic season. Until next time, enjoy your quilting and stitching and thanks for stopping by.
Hello Everyone! It’s been over a month since my last stitching update and I have lots to share. I have finished a few things and have started all the patriotic to celebrate America’s 250 anniversary.
I’m going to show you my non-patriotic stitching first.
First up is Where My Heart Blooms by Blackbird Designs from the book “A Heart Remembers”. I really liked stitching this until I got to the house. It took almost two two weeks to stitch just the house. It’s stitched on 40 ct Winter’s Brew by R & R. I changed Gentle Arts Gingersnap in the flowers to Weeks Baked Apple. I did use the Gingersnap on the roof and door of the house. The words and my initials are stitched 1 over 1, otherwise the rest is 1 over 2. I’m hoping I can find an 8″ x 8″ frame for it.
I’ve made progress on Seasons Greetings by Shakespeare’s Peddler. I’m stitching it on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of each month. Just a side note here; have you noticed that the designers are going to full page printouts of their charts? That means more pages and more room for errors crossing those pages. I have found that if I start on the right side and stitch to the left side of the page without crossing into the shaded section, I do better. This chart has six pages, three on top and three on the bottom.
Anyway, back to the design. Seasons Greetings is an exclusive chart and can be found at The Silver Needle. I’m stitching it on 36 ct Mellowstone by Atomic Ranch, 1 over 2. I’ve substituted the called for Gentle Art Oatmeal with Cosmos 2500, which is still ghosty, but not quite as bad.
Now for some patriotic pieces.
I believe I started and fully finished Thread, White and Blue by Hands on Design since my last stitching update. It’s a shaped pin cushion stitched on 32 ct mystery linen. I used the called for floss and stitched it 2 over 2. In the bottom picture is 4th-Block Party also by HOD. The Block Party’s are larger and the construction is slightly different. Somehow, I ordered a second set of pins from Just Another Button Co, so I added the eagle and shield to Thread, White and Blue.
This is probably my favorite new start, America Two Hundred and Fifty by Plum Street Samplers. This is an exclusive to The Attic and unfortunately, it is out of stock right now. Paulette released A Worthy Patriot sampler at market if you are interested in a similar design.
I’m stitching it on 40 ct Cream and Sugar by Fiber on a Whim (FoaW) using almost all of the called for colors. I did change those little blue stars. They are supposed to be DMC 3865, but it didn’t show, so I changed it to DMC 927. I have really enjoyed stitching this design and it’s my morning stitch so maybe I can finish it before the 4th of July. This chart has 10 pages, so I’m working from right to left.
Plum Street Samplers had so many new patriotic releases at market, it was hard to choose. I really liked the Freedom Flock, so that’s what I got and started. I am stitching it on 36 ct Hazelwood by FoaW (the called for) 1 over 2. I’m using most of the called for floss, except I had to substitute the blue for the DMC.
I’m also stitching This Land by Shakespeare’s Peddler. Teresa released this some time last year. I’m stitching it on 40 ct Affogato by FoaW, 1 over 2 using most of the called for floss. I like how she finished it with the fabric around it. I think I have some of that blue star fabric, too.
Once I finish one of the two smalls, I’m going to start Quaker Snippets No. 3 by With Thy Needle and Thread. I’ll be stitching it on 40 ct Dirty Road by Seraphim. I am loving all the eagles I’m seeing in the patriotic charts. I also have a few more patriotic charts in my collection that I may start, too.
I haven’t had much time to sew, but I am in the process of cutting out a new quilt using Primitive Gatherings, American Gatherings 3. I will share my progress in my next quilting update. I hope you are getting in some good stitching and sewing time. As always, thanks for stopping by.
Hello Everyone and welcome back! Today I’m going to share my Holly Jolly Trails Finish.
This quilt is a revised version of Pomegranate and Pine by Fig Tree Quilts. I received some of the fabric and pattern in a Little Box of Figs in 2024. I had the quilt finished before Christmas 2024 but just quilted it in January. Those big blocks of fabric are leftovers from the first Christmas Figs half yard bundle I bought when the fabric first was released. Some of the other fabrics are also from that bundle. The red and green chain are Fig Tree Eyelets that came in the box.
I kept the quilting simple, quilting a cross hatch in the chain squares. After some drawing out sample quilting designs for the large open spaces, I decided to go with a simple orange peel design. I drew a grid in each of those blocks with an air erasing marker and free hand quilted the curves on my domestic machine. They are not perfect, but I’m very happy with them. I used 40 wt polyester Glide thread for the quilting. The batting is 80/20 Quilter’s Dream cotton.
I had almost three yards from the Christmas Figs 2 collection, but not enough for the backing. I ended up piecing it with some other fabrics in my stash.
I’m very happy with this quilt and it will be great to have as a cuddle up quilt next Christmas.
Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t posted in just over a month. It’s been a rough month and a half for me and my family. We lost my father in the middle of February. He had several health issues that came about quickly late last year. They just became too much for his body to handle all together. Before he passed and since that time, I’ve been spending time in Fredericksburg. My sisters and I are helping my mom to adjust to her new life. In 2017, I wrote a post on Father’s Day where I shared some thoughts on my father. He was a loving and generous man and will be greatly missed.
When I’ve been home, I have been quilting and stitching and still have lots to share. To be honest, I haven’t felt like sitting down and writing a blog post, and I’m not sure when I’ll be back. I’ll update you on my projects as I can and hope life settles down soon.
Hello Everyone and welcome back. Today I have three cross stitch pieces to share that I finished in the last month. None are fully finished because they need to be framed.
The first finish is P Buckley Moss’s “The Skater”. The last time I showed it to you, I just finished the backstitch in the house. It took another week or so to backstitch all the tree branches and the skater. I started this in February 2025 and finished it in January. The cover shows it framed with an oval mat, but I’m not sure I want to frame it that way. It will fit into an 8″ x 10″ frame, but some of the branches on the side will be cut off. A little bit of the branches were cut off in the oval, but not as much as a regular frame would be. I will probably have to order a custom frame for it or I may decide to frame it like the cover.
The Skater is stitched on 36 ct Antique White linen by Zweigart, 2 over 2. There are some blended threads in this chart as it seems like in most older charts.
My second finish is also a long term project. This is Heart and Home Patchwork, a combination of five different charts. It’s from Blackbird Designs “A Heart Remembers” book. In the book, it was stitched on five different pieces of linen, but I stitched mine on one piece of 40 ct Affogato by Fiber on a Whim, 1 over 2. It’s approximately 17.5″ w x 5″ h. I started it in April 2025 and finished it on January 31, 2026.
I did make several floss changes. The strawberries and flowers were supposed to be GA Mulberry and GA Gingersnap like the letters are, but they were too brown. I changed them to be Weeks Baked Apple and Weeks Cinnabon. I also changed the bright teal color of GA Peacock to CCW Rain Shower for the blues. The color of the fabric is somewhere between these two pictures. I plan to frame this and hang it across from my sewing table.
My last cross stitch finish is Blackbird Design’s American Eagle from the book “Land of Liberty”. I started this in the middle of January and finished it last week. It’s also stitched on Affogato, but 36 ct, 1 over 2. I used most of the called for floss except changed the white to DMC 3865 and the green to Weeks Oscar. Also, I added the year in the top left corner (1 over 1), there was no date on the chart. This is the first patriotic stitch finished to celebrate America’s 250. I will continue to stitch some smalls to celebrate the anniversary through July. Unfortunately, this will not fit into a 5″ x 7″ frame, so I’ll have to order one for it, too.
I’ve decided to add in one more small finish into this post…
It’s Block 1 of The Raven by Blackbird Designs. I reduced the block size by half so instead of a 20″ block, mine is 10″. I’m using a combination of Fig Tree and Wild Orchid fabric by Blackbird Designs for most of the applique pieces. The background is from the New Dawn collection by Margie Hockman for Marcus Fabrics. I went back and forth on which applique method to use, but in the end, I’m doing needle turn. It’s been years since I’ve needle turned and I definitely improved as I went along. I’m using Invisafil 100 wt thread by Wonderfil in Off White and Brown/Gray to stitch with. This past week, I got block 2 ready to go.
We’ve been a deep freeze like half of the country and still have most of our snow from two weeks ago on the ground. I’m trying to take advantage of the cold to get some good sewing time in. I hope that you are also able to enjoy some stitching and sewing time.
Hello Everyone and welcome back! Are you in the path of the snow and ice storm? We are and have about 10″ of snow on the ground, but as I’m writing this post, it has become a mix of snow and sleet so not accumulating like it was. I was looking forward to about 15 or 18 inches of snow. We may still get a few more inches of accumulation before it’s done, I just hope we won’t get much of the freezing rain.
This is how it looked at 8:00 in the morning. We have private roads so the community pays for snow removal; they started at 3:00 AM! Good service, but it was loud and they came back through about every half hour. We will have a very cold week coming up. Brrrrrr!
Last fall, I got on the band wagon and purchased a bundle of red and a bundle of green fat quarters from the Merry Little Christmas fabric by Tilda. I started thinking about how to use it, and came up with the idea for a bed runner. I have the one for Fall and I used the same double star block, but wanted to find an alternate block. After looking through several books, I found the Christmas Star block from Joanna Figueroa’s “Christmas Figs” book. It was the same size block, so it didn’t need any adjustments. I didn’t use all the fat quarters in the bundle and added a darker red Moda Grunge. The background is really pretty and went well with the Tilda Fabric. It’s called Wild Flowers – Flower Field by Smithsonian Institute for Marcus Fabrics. The backing is another Smithsonian Institute fabric called Sage Floral Silhouettes Botanical Journal, a very pretty light green.
Here are some closer looks at the fabric and the free motion quilting. I used Glide 40 wt poly thread for the quilting and Quilter’s Dream 80/20 for the batting.
You can see the pretty backing fabric here and some more details of the quilting.
Now, I’m quilting the Holly Jolly Trails quilt finished in November 2024. I never posted a finish of my quilt! This is close, I added a 3″ cream border all around. I’ve done about half the quilting now, some walking foot and some free motion.
This week, my plan is to select fabrics for this quilt, The Lincoln Museum Quilt by Barbara Brackman. You can read about it here. My daughter saw this somewhere and sent me a picture. She said she wanted to make this quilt in similar colors. I told her I would quilt along with her. The book is out of print and very expensive on the secondary market. I’ve revised the quilt into smaller blocks and plan on using my collection of Fig Tree fabrics, hoping for a vintage vibe instead of civil war.
A few weeks ago, I Facetimed with my daughter and we went through my fabrics. This is what she selected. I sent them to her and she has bought a few more to go with them. This will at least get her started. We’re planning on making a few blocks a month and making it a year long project. If you want to join in, send me an email and I’ll send you the revised block size measurements and cutting info. I’m hoping to use up some of my older Fig Tree fabrics.
That’s it for me today. I hope that if you’re getting snow, you’re enjoying it and hope that you don’t lose power if you get ice. For all others, have a great week and thanks for stopping by.
Hello Everyone and welcome back. Have you been in the organizing and planning mood? I have been doing both with cross stitch and quilting. Earlier this week I decided it was time to put my flosses back where they belong. I had about 10 rings of floss that I had thrown into a basket after finishing a project. A few went back to last summer. The overdyed flosses weren’t too bad, but I probably had over 50 DMCs to put back. I kitted a new project yesterday and it was so much easier to find the floss then going through all those rings.
Today, I have two finishes, two new starts and a new project bag to share. Let’s start with the finishes.
I finished Christmas Tree Farm from the December 2008 issue of “Just Cross Stitch” magazine. It’s stitched on 28 ct Antique Blue Jobalan, 2 over 2. The fabric is more blue than what is showing here, and it’s just my type of scene, a snowy night in the mountains. There are beads and some DMC Light Effects in it. I was also able to pick up the moon and star Treasures at Liberty Hill Needleworks when I was in Williamsburg. I finished it after Christmas, but I did see if it would fit into a 5″ x 7″ frame and it just barely will. If I have to move the moon down and cover a row of those tiny little stars, that will be okay.
I also started and finished “The Pleasure of the Fleeting Year, # 6 in the Loose Feathers Series for the Birds” by Blackbird Designs. It’s stitched on 36 ct Hazelwood by Fiber on a Whim, 1 over 2. I changed the white to DMC 3865 and changed out the blues for the called for DMCs. I also changed the feathers on the peacock. The squares were in the same color as the brown in the body and after looking at pictures of peacocks, I wanted them to be more blue. I think this will fit into a 6″ x 6″ frame so I may be able to use one that I already have, if not those are easy to find.
On Christmas day, I started “Seasons Greetings” by Shakespeare’s Peddler. Right now, this is an exclusive for The Silver Needle shop in Tulsa, OK. I ordered it and got it in time to take to Williamsburg so I could get fabric and floss. After Christmas, I made a new bag for it.
I used the Bosal 2 1/2″ grid fusible interfacing and a mini charm pack to make the front panel. After placing the fabric on the fusible, it sewed up so quickly. This YouTube video from Shabby Fabrics had some good tips for using the grid. The mini charms are Berry and Pine by Lella Boutique. I found an older piece of green in my stash that matched it for the top and back.
I worked on it between Christmas and New Year’s and got a good start. My plan is to work on it for about three days a month around the 25th. I’m stitching on 36 ct Mellowstone by Atomic Ranch using the called for flosses.
I also started American Eagle by Blackbird Designs. It’s from the book “Sweet Land of Liberty”. This is one days progress. I’m stitching it on 36 ct. Affogato by Fiber on a Whim, 1 over 2. I’m using the called for colors if I have them, then using the DMC if I don’t. I am switching the house color to 3866 and will be changing the darker red, but have two choices pulled. Once I finish the windows, I will decide which red I’m going to use.
My plan is to try to keep a patriotic piece going for our 250th Anniversary. There is one more project in this book that I would like to stitch, and I’m sure there will be more patriotic stitches coming out as the year goes along.
That’s it for my stitching today. Next week I’ll have some new quilting plans to share. I hope you all have a great weekend ahead. As always, thanks for stopping by.
The Quilting Nook 
