Slow Stitching Update

My week has been filled with all kinds of things. Overtime at work, general house cleaning, and of course, a new start because look at this beautiful fabric.

This is from Fabrics by LJ, who sells hand-dyed fabrics on Facebook. He only posts what is ready to ship and they are all one offs - first come first serve. This is 32 count linen and I've never worked with anything that small before. I think I may need to get a magnifying glass for this one. It took just about a week to get my fabric after it was ordered and paid for.

The pattern is The Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations by Nikki Northrup.

Can I just point out here that I love supporting small businesses? The customer service is phenomenal.

I have my eye on a couple other silhouettes from Charting Creations. Honestly, I never would have thought that I liked stitching all the same color of thread for a whole pattern, but Tribal Otter taught me differently. Its very nice not to have to worry about matching colors to symbols.

I'm interested in this one, Imagination Unleashed. I would love to stitch this on a dark fabric with different colors for the scrolls coming out of the book.

I have been working on some older WIPs also. The Fairy Spell got some love this week. There's a little hint of red on the right side and I'm excited to get to something other than blues.

It will be fun to get to the second page of this because it has the little Pegasus (Pegasi?) on it.

Today I have a busy day - painting with the girls, a visit out to Nana's, and out of town visitors. Tomorrow, church, laundry, and hopefully finish an embroidery machine project. Monday is work and my first martial arts class.

Linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

Just One July Finish

I have a second cross stitch finish for this month! I have completed Library Kittens.

"Curiosity" a kit by Janlynn

I have washed it and conspired with my niece on how to finish the project. She has chosen to have it displayed using bell pull hardware instead of a frame, so I ordered this set from Nordic Needle.

I did wash the project and am having a little trouble with bleeding dyes from the reds around the border. I've soaked it again and I'm hoping that most of it came out. I'm not surprised, because the kit was older. 

My table runner is also completed and is brightening up my dining room table.

I suppose now that the dining room table is cleared off, I have an excuse to keep it clean? 

Slow Sunday Stitching

Aside from racing to get my seasonal Diablo III character through all five Acts before the end of the season, I have been working furiously on a couple projects this week. The first is a table runner made from leftover blocks of my rainbow Dresden Plate quilt. 

I am doing matchstick quilting on this, a dense time consuming pattern that is actually quite easy. The bonus is that the lines don't have to be straight or a set distance apart. I'm stitching them in colors that match the block fabric at an angle. My sewing machine was fighting me on this and I eventually figured out how to adjust the bobbin tension. Its not perfect but its good enough.

I stayed home from practice yesterday and attempted to get some garb and laundry done. I did succeed in taking the awful white trim off the green hood that Jack picked up at Ragnarok, but that is as far as it went because I was really interested in finishing the Library Kittens cross stitch project. I'm estimating this at about 94% complete. Wheeeeeee!!!

I was attempting to finish it yesterday but I lost about four hours when I took a nap and woke up disoriented and confused. It took a few hours and a meal for my brain to reengage. I guess long naps on Saturdays are a bad idea. So in addition to the laundry and things, this will be my Sunday post church project.

Linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

Crochet Lessons

I had plans to spend yesterday with my younger cousin and give her a crochet lesson, so I picked up a set of ergonomic crochet hooks for her.

The hooks were nice but the case that they came in was lacking, starting with the Engrish on the cover.

 "Takes a walk in the zoo is the proper matter." I haven't figured out what they were trying to say yet, but I'm sure it was translated using a website.

When I put the hooks in the case, they didn't fit very well in the elastic bands and it was very hard to get the case closed and snapped. I finally decided just to make her a new case.

Not too bad for working without a pattern. Next time I make one, I think I'll put interfacing in to keep it from shifting and make it look nicer. However, this one did exactly what I needed it to, and my cousin was thrilled with it. 

I had invited my niece along also and she came over and even participated in the crochet lesson, which I wasn't expecting because she normally has little interest in crafty pursuits. I taught them to chain and single crochet. They both went home with yarn and hooks and I promised my niece her own set of hooks and carrying case. Heck, I think I'll make one for myself while I'm at it. Next time, we'll cover double and triple crochet stitches and once they have those down we can talk about gauge, reading patterns, and stitch combinations. 

Today will be church in the morning and some Slow Sunday Stitching in the afternoon. I hope you have a relaxing Sunday.

Linking up to Keep Calm Craft On

A Dresden Plate Week

Over the last week or so I've been chain piecing Dresden Plates.

And attaching them to the colored squares.

Now, voila!

It will be a small quilt, about 4 ft by 3 ft without borders. I still have a few of the plates to stitch on before I can connect them all together.

One of these days I really need to start quilting all the flimsies that I have ready. I think I have three or four that could be quilted. Maybe soon I'll set aside some time to get rolling on it.