Friday Finishing #2

 So far my plans for finishing stitched projects from last year are going well. Each week I take a look in the little basket sitting on the shelf in my craft room/office and pull out something to "finish" when I get to my sewing machine on a Friday afternoon. 

My latest finished objects are:

Christmas Typography by Pine Mountain Designs - stitched on 32 count white Belfast linen using most of the recommended DMC threads. I purchased this chart as a PDF download from the Fat Quarter shop website. 

Made into a small ditty bag, this will be the perfect size for a small Christmas stitching project.

Next up, minus buttons and the hanger, is Spirit of Christmas, a red work stitchery by Natalie Bird, the Birdhouse Designs.

The pre-printed design panel came with the pattern and I used DMC 321 thread. 

I haven't done very much red work stitching lately but have a few designs all traced out ready to go when I feel like working on some.

Many thanks for stopping by - see you soon xx

Sew by Row Progress & Books

Here's the latest update on Sew by Row, a pattern by Lori Holt. I'm trying to spend a few hours each week on it but missed last week as I'd pulled out some knitting to do, I've done very little knitting since last winter so felt like a change. My hairdresser is having a baby in a few months so I'm planning to knit a couple of hats and some booties.

It's quite hard to tell from this photo but the fabric is more blue than it's showing.

This is a fun project so far.

Here's February's choice of books - one new book and two that have finally come in for me at the local library. I've already finished the Nora Roberts, the first in a new series, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

See you soon x

Friday Finishing

My sewing machine is back out for 2021 and first up, some recent finishes, made into simple pillows.

 

Merry and Minty, a free design offered by Brenda Gervais in December 2020.

Merry & Bright, by Pineberry Lane. This can be purchased from the Pineberry Lane website in PDF file.

 

I've got a little pile of stitched things from last year to finish so I'll try and make a dent on this over the next few weeks. 

See you soon x

 

All the Blackbirds

The dahlias in the garden at my work have been stunning this summer, and they are almost to the end of flowering. One of my staff members left these ones on my desk earlier in the week, just gorgeous.

Over the past few weeks I've been spending a bit of time each week on some of the Blackbird Designs I'd started last year and others that have been languishing in my stitching basket.

This is not my usual stitching basket, but I thought I'd better give some of these WIPs a good iron before taking some progress pics to share, ha ha!

Merrily Merrily We Welcome Spring, fabric is 36 count Oaken linen by Picture this Plus. This has been on the go for a couple of years now.

Oh Joyous Day, started back in our spring time September 2020

The Last Ripe Berries, 36 count Wren by Picture this Plus, started last April 2020.

Winter Rose Manor, started a few weeks ago

All Joys for Thine, a 2020 Stitch Maynia start, fabric is vintage mocha belfast.

It sure feels good to have made a tiny bit of progress on each of these!

See you soon x

Stitching on Sundays & Mondays

Here's the first of the ornaments I've stitched from Spirit of Christmas Set 2 by Lila's Studio, so sweet.

I'm stitching on 36 count Summer khaki linen with most of the recommended threads. The plan is to stitch one of these lovely designs every month, there's 8 in total.

Next up for #santasundayxs and #merrymondayxs is Merry Old Soul by Brenda Gervais.

I've been wanting to stitch this for absolutely ages. I'm using most of the recommended threads and the fabric is 32 count Smokey Pearl Belfast linen. 

For tomorrow's post I'll have an update about all the Blackbird Designs I've been working on over the past few weeks.

See you soon x

Beach Fun

As it was a public holiday here on Monday, we decided to have a small break away at the beach, our last trip out there this summer.

Despite the rain on Friday and early Saturday, the skies cleared, and Sunday and Monday were beautiful days.

The sea was a bit rough for swimming and fishing but that didn't stop the guys from having a try!

Looking back towards the farm where we stay, such a gorgeous spot

It was a very chilled out weekend, my parents and our friends and kids were with us so lots of good chats, hilarious games of petanque in the paddock, walks along the beach, delicious food and as always, lots of laughs. My heart is full.

See you soon xx

This Week

Just like that, it's February! We have a long weekend coming up so we're heading to the beach for our last stay there of the summer. I'm looking forward to some chilled out days and I've packed plenty of stitching, including a new project to work on.

Last week I was happy to see Sew by Row by Lori Holt had been released as a PDF chart. I found a piece of 28 count ice blue Lugana in my stash and I'm going to use the suggested DMC threads. This will be a fun design to stitch.

 

I forgot to share this little finish the other day, Merry and Bright by Pineberry Lane. I stitched on this during my summer break. I used most of the recommended threads and the fabric is 36 count Light Examplar I think?

The new school year started for Hannah this week and her usual activities are underway again - swim squad, dance classes, orchestra, etc. Year 8 this year and off to high school next year, where have the years gone?

See you soon xx

 

 

Recent Finishes

I had a few stitching finishes in January, so first up, the 2020 Santa by the Prairie Schooler, stitched on 32 count vintage mocha Belfast using the recommended threads.

A quick weekend project, Eat Sleep Stitch by Lori Holt. I used most of the recommended threads on white Lugana fabric.

Merry & Minty, a free pattern offered in December by Brenda Gervais. Stitched on 32 count cream linen with mostly DMC threads.

One weekend soon I'll try and get to my sewing machine to actually finish these off.

Have a happy week - see you soon x

Cosy Stripe Blanket

Started way back in June 2018, the Cosy Stripe blanket was finally finished before Christmas, just in time to give it to my Mum. Not that a blanket is needed here during summer, ha ha. My Mum was absolutely thrilled with it, she couldn't believe that I'd made it for her.  

This is the third crochet blanket I've made by Lucy from Attic 24, and once again, I totally enjoyed this. The colours are so pretty, made me very happy every time I worked on it.

 

I asked Hannah to pick out the border colours, and we also picked out the Meadow green for the edging as it's one of my Mum's favourite colours.  

 I purchased the Stylecraft yarn kit from the Wool Warehouse in the UK, the yarn is so soft and squishy.

See you soon xx

What I'm Stitching

Over the past few weeks I've been stitching on a few left over projects from 2020. January is usually the month each year I try to set up a plan for my stitching, as I mentioned yesterday, and have a bit of fun, pulling out of my stitching basket each day, whatever I feel like stitching on.

I'm going to continue with the #santasundayxs and #merrymondayxs stitchalong, which is on Instagram, and first up, the 2020 Prairie Schooler Santa, which I'd started last year.

Blessed Bee by Brenda Gervais was a restart last year as I decided to change fabrics.  I'm using the lovely project bag my friend Val made me, I love the stitchery design and the fabrics Val chose.

During my summer holiday each year I always sort out threads and patterns used the previous year and file them away, and put in back my thread boxes, etc.  While I was doing this I thought I'd look for all the threads for Winter Rose Manor by Brenda Gervais to see what I had and was surprised to find that I had most of them.  I had leftover 32 count Wren fabric from the Jack Frost series project so before I knew it, it was underway!

Such a lovely design to stitch.  I've popped this away for now so I can concentrate on getting a few WIPs finished.

Whew, it's a scorcher here today - its currently 34 c and we have a few more days of high temps to get through.  Our swimming pool is in good use this week that's for sure!

See you soon xx