Pooh Parade - L, J, and B

Success!  I was able to finish all three letters with time to spare!  This is my second cross-stitch finish.

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching.

Pooh Parade - L and J

How time flies!  I thought I had shared the L when it was finished, but apparently I forgot.  Whoops!  So now I've got two finished letters to show off!  Only one more to go!

Today I'll be working on the last piece.  This one has parts that stick up way above the actual letter, but hopefully I'll be getting to the letter soon!  It's looking like finishing before Christmas is a real possibility.  Finger's crossed, for sure!

Linking up with Slow Stitch Sunday.

A New Cross-Stitch

Since I finished my sampler of critters this year, it was time to choose a new slow stitching project.

While I was looking around, some very cute Winnie the Pooh letters jumped up and called out, "pick me!"  And now the first letter is almost finished.  Pooh's tummy needs a little extra honey filling, and then there will be just a little bit of outlining to do to clear up his edges and give him a happy face!

Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday.

Woodland Sampler - A Finish!

Twenty-nine months from the first stitch, my woodland sampler has drawn to a close.  This is my very first cross-stitch finish!  Next up is looking for a frame so that I can hang it up on my sewing room wall.

The way that this sampler was partitioned into small sections worked well for me.  Most of the pieces may not have been finished on the one month timetable intended, but having small goals to mark progress along the way kept me from getting overwhelmed and helped me towards the finish!

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching.

Woodland Sampler - November

Moving backwards a bit from Christmas, I thought it was time to finish my November stitching.  Only one more row remains, so hopefully the next couple of months will see a finished piece!

For the time being I left out some of the single stitch snowflakes, because I wasn't sure of a good way to secure the metallic thread.  In my experience, single stitches aren't very secure and metallic thread does like to unravel!  But regardless of what I decide to do about the flakes, I've still got one more cute critter!

I saw a squirrel!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Woodland Sampler - October

My motivation for this piece is back on track with the end in sight.  This week a cute little owl has joined my menagerie!  Only three blocks remain, and I can't wait to see this hanging on my new sewing room wall!

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching.

Woodland Sampler - September

One month closer to the end of the year on my woodland cross-stitch.

The wind swirls were stitched with a white metallic floss that makes me think of bubbles! 

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching.

Woodland Sampler - Three's a charm?

With the completion of the August block, 2/3rds of the year are finished.  I've also been working on this piece for two years.  Might year three be the charm that finishes it up?  I hope so!

All of the remaining blocks have been outlined and are waiting to be filled with cuteness!

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching and Let's Bee Social.

Woodland Sampler - July

I finished another month on my woodland cross-stitch.  More than half the year is done now!

The flowers ended up slightly different from the pattern.  I chose a pale pink floss for the flower heads instead of using white, and I redesigned one of them.  I don't know what happened to my ability to count while working on this block, but I sure need to be more careful in the future!

In addition, I went back and changed April's antlers.  I am much happier with Mr. Jackalope now!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Woodland Sampler - June

I finished June's little bug!

And with the last stitch placed to close June's jar, there are none of the smaller square sections left.

Throughout this process I've been struggling with how the light floss colors look on this oatmeal Aida.  Next I have to decide whether July's flowers should stay white or pick up some sort of hue.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and WiP Wednesday.

Woodland Sampler - Back in Business!

After almost twelve months of waiting, my Frosted Pumpkin Woodland Sampler is finally seeing some new love.  It's nice to have a portable project to work on when life gets crazy!

Stealing a few minutes of stitching in the car!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and WiP Wednesday.

Woodland Sampler - May

Both of my card trick blocks have been assembled and quilted.  There has been a lot of learning happening during the process, but all's well if it ends well!

Starting the Quilting

Binding Pinned

This was my first time quilting using a walking foot and, though this wasn't the simplest first piece I could have tried, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.  However, I do need to look into why my machine has taken to skipping stitches.

The first potholder went through a lot of stitching and un-stitching (and possibly some yelling...) on the way towards getting the ends of the binding joined, but the second one went a bit smoother.  Hopefully the next set will be even easier still!

All that's left is a bit of hand stitching to finish off the binding!


I also picked up my Woodland Sampler again.  This cross-stitch fell off of the to-do list back in May.  I stitched the May box in July, and over Thanksgiving a gnome took up residence there!  I'd like to finish half the year before 2015 rolls around...  Only one more small square to go!

May Gnome

Linking up with MOP Monday, Slow Stitching, and Let's Bee Social.

An Interesting Day at the Beach

I believe I was one of the odder sights at the beach we went to this weekend.

Initial Plan

Coming up on the to do list is a neutral log cabin.  So I pulled out and started arranging some tans I purchased recently.  (I must have a deadline I'm avoiding!)

First there are some darker tans.  I think I bought them planning for the floral fabric to be the lightest in this set.  However, despite the pale flowers, I think it reads a bit darker out of the store lighting.

New Plan?

So I tried laying them out another way.  There are so many different shades in that floral piece that it's hard to figure out where to put it, but I'm leaning towards this second layout.

Then there are some lighter tans.  These fell into place much easier.

Now I just have to pick a center for my cabins.  I'd like to follow the neutral theme, but I'm still not sure whether I should go light or dark.  Perhaps a cream solid would work...  Now there's an interesting idea.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and WiP Wednesday.

A Little Bit of Everything

I worked on a little bit of everything this week.  Everything, that is, except for getting the borders on my maple quilt.  That's okay, it's not like I'm bringing a finished top to a quilter this Saturday.  Oh, wait...

So instead of working on the maple leaf borders, I started pulling fabric to make borders for a baby quilt that has come up.  It took a bit of finessing, but I'm finally happy with all the color transitions.  Now this quilt is waiting for me to want to make little HST.  So much for swearing off triangles after all those maple leaves.  It didn't take me long, the maple quilt isn't even finished and I'm back on the wagon.










Next up I started cutting fabric for a quilt that was supposed to be made at a mystery weekend two years ago!  I was sure it had been patient long enough.


I do like my rainbow palette, but you probably can't tell.


Last but not least, I'm still trying to finish April on my cross-stitch sampler.  I gave my little critter a face and now he needs ears.  Almost there.  I might not even get to May before the end of the month at this rate!

Linking up to Let's Bee Social and WiP Wednesday.

Woodland Sampler - April and Completed Leaves

It's time to show some progress on my woodland critters.  I'm really lucky that May didn't start until Thursday last week or I would have had a really paltry showing.  Most of my progress has been made in May.  Oh well.

Even with the extra time I wasn't able to finish the whole square but I'm happy with my progress considering how much time I've put in on another little project I've had going...

So without further ado, I'd like to show you some leaves!  Ta da!

Very Nearly Finished!!

I played around with the blocks and decided to have like leaves touching instead of having all the blocks going the same direction.  I thought it looked better this way.  However, I find it interesting how different something can look on a screen versus in person.  Those paired leaves really stand out in this picture!

Now I just have to decide on border sizing and call the quilter.  The top contender is a 2 inch inner border and a 6 inch outer border.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and WiP Wednesday.

Woodland Sampler - March

March's mushroom is done and, since it was a small block, I made some progress on January as well.

After all that agonizing I decided to stick with white for January's snowflakes.  The white is more visible in person than it is on the computer (depending on the light) and I wasn't thrilled enough with any of my other options to warrant un-stitching.  Especially not since my top choice was such a pain to wrangle.

I did use the sparkly white for the reflection on the glass in March though.

It's been a slow week because my nemesis tooth is no more.  That means I win...  Or I will have won after my jaw stops hurting.  That mean old tooth is getting in a few last licks.  In a few more days I hope to get back to my 15 minutes a day of quilting.

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday and Let's Bee Social.

Woodland Sampler - February

After not one but two fabric cutting mishaps, I hung up my rotary cutter for the weekend and worked on some cross stitch instead.

Ta Da!!

Even though I technically didn't finish in February, I did finish before my first March post so that counts for something, right?  He's peeking!  I love this sampler so much.

Original white on the right.  Test subjects on the left.

My family has assured me that the original white (on January's snowflakes) isn't as bad as I think it is and, depending on the light, they might be right.  But I still made some test stitches with my various white alternatives. 

Light Grey, Light Effects White, Winter White (L-R)

Winter white is right out.  I want more contrast, not less!  The Light Effects floss is cool, but has the downside of being metallic floss.  And after all of February's stars, I'm looking to use as little metallic floss as possible!  It frays like mad and goes every which way but the way I need it to go.  What a pain in the rear!

I'd love to hear what you think...  Which floss would you choose?

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and WiP Wednesday.

Last Minute Medly

I'm lucky this set of blocks had two snowballs, because I may or may not have been assembling a leaf and a snowball block this morning before heading to work.

Last minute or not, I did manage to get three blocks made this week and that's what counts.  It's finally starting to look like a quilt and not just a random collection of blocks!

I had the opportunity to wander around a new quilt store and, despite all the tempting fabric, I only came home with this metallic and green Stonehenge.  How was I supposed to turn down a sale like that?  But I have a Christmas wall-hanging on the to do list this year, so it should be used shortly.

Last but not least I picked out some new floss to try in my cross-stitch sampler; there's a very light grey, a shimmery white, a silver metallic, and a softer white (winter white).  Snow white didn't show up on my Aida too well, so hopefully one of these options will do the trick.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Woodland Sampler - January

After my flurry of productivity last year, I've been rather unmotivated about making headway on my quilt projects.  Instead, I've started the Woodland Sampler from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery that everyone else was making last year.

I haven't finished my January block yet because I'm worried about how poorly the white floss is showing up on my oatmeal Aida.  I'm trying to decide whether to continue on with the white floss or choose an almost white color that might show up better.  Some months will be getting a color substitution, but maybe the snowflakes are okay being very very subtle...

In the meantime, I started the border for February.  I'm not too far off the timeline yet!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Giving Thanks and Productivity

What a productive holiday I've had.  In between long bouts of relaxing, eating, and the occasional walk, I've made some granny squares...

...and after people threatened to use them for coasters several times, I made some actual coasters for my parents' new house.

I worked on quilting a certain wall hanging.  Two sets of trees down, but there's still a long way to go.  I sure hope I can have this done in three weeks.  I have to get a serious move on!

And last but not least, my little scorpion was given a tail!  I've started a couple of cross-stitches but have never finished one.  Finishing a cross-stitch is on my bucket list, and there's no time like the present to start working towards it!

(Before and After)

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday and WiP Wednesday.