February 23, 2020

February HQAL and Slow Stitch Sunday

I have been having great fun with my hexis in these last three weeks! I have done lots and lots of cutting:

Hexis for flowers and

For the green leaves/vines. There has been lots of prep:

Still loving this little tin for my sewing supplies!

This has been full, empty, and full again over the three weeks. And lots and lots of sewing

It is now so big that I can’t fit it all on the table for a photo!! Remember the last update? There were only three flowers attached to each other. Now there are seven total and I’m working my way around with the green. It is really fun to see this grow! There has also been another whole flower done:

And a close up of those cats:

I know I’ve only been doing flowers for this quilt, but I couldn’t resist these cute little kittens. I’ve been following a few hexi quilters on instagram and they do fussy cutting. I thought I’d try my hand – not perfect, but good enough and I love them. However, this was a slippery slope, I now have earmarked several other animal fabrics to cut for this quilt! Then I managed to get another flower started:

I’m loving the bee pattern. I made dresses for my girls when they were younger out of fabric very similar to this.

This Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt has been inspired by Kathy. She started this HQAL (Hand Quilt-A-Long) and I am finding that I love to see what each of us who participates has done over the last three weeks. A little more about the HQAL below.

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan, Nanette, Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Kathi, Bella, Daisy

As usual, I’m also linking up to Slow Stitch Sunday. A little bit of slow stitching everyday soothes the soul!

February 16, 2020

February SAL and Slow Stitch Sunday

Three weeks have flown by!! I’m slowly working on the Christmas stocking for my oldest son. This is where I was three weeks ago:

1/26/2020 SAL Update

I had been working on the separations between the panes of the window. This is where I’m at now:

2/16/20 SAL Update

I’ve finished most of the bars and have moved to another section of the stocking. Here is a close up:

2/16/20 SAL Update-closeup

I should be able to make some quick progress for next time as there is quite a bit of the same color. Please take a look at what some of the others are doing and if you’d like to join us please contact Avis (she’s the first one on the list below)

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny

I’m also linking up with Kathy for Slow Stitch Sunday.

February 2, 2020

HQAL and Slow Stitch Sunday

Since I accomplished very little on the Grandmother’s Flower Garden, I decided to pull everything out and see what is there.

I have these three that are attached with the green “leaves” between.

Three flowers ready for attaching and more of the green.

Another three

And another three … that is 12 total flowers complete.

This is the next green I have chosen for leaves. This is truly a scrappy quilt. Some of the fabric was purchased to match what I had on hand (the white), but the rest is all fabric that has been lying around.

The only actual sewing progress this month. All the rest of the pink are sewn together as well as two of the outer color. However, the rest of the hexis for this flower are prepared. Hopefully by next time, this flower will be done and a whole gob of the greens will also be done. Who knows, maybe they will all be attached!!

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan, Nanette, Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Kathi, Bella, Daisy and Connie

I’m also linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitch Sundays. Today will definitely be a Slow Stitch Sunday as we will be watching the Super Bowl with cousins. I’ll be working either on this project or the new pair of socks that were started earlier this week.

January 29, 2020

Camel Stitch Cloth

The third block of the 50 stitches CAL is complete. This time we learned the camel stitch.

Camel Stitch – 3rd block for the 50 stitches CAL.

Making the stitch itself is a little bit fiddly – you have to go into the “third stitch” – I had to watch several youtube videos to figure out what that is!

Camel Stitch Close-up

I do like the texture of the cloth. The cloth itself is very flexible and not stiff at all and the stitch pattern give it texture and interest. It took quite a while though!

January 26, 2020

January #2 SAL Update

I’ve been plugging along slowly on this project, letting other things work their way into my stitching time, but I do have a bit of progress to show. This is progress from last time:

1/5/20 Update: After the backstitching

I had just finished that square including the backstitching. This is where I am today:

1/26/2020 SAL Update

I’ve been working on the stitching between the panes of glass in the window. I’m enjoying the rhythm of the half stitches and also the texture given by the different number of strands of floss used.

Please take a look at the work made by the other member of this SAL – lots of talent shown on their sites!! If you’d like to join us, please click on “Avis” below, she keeps us all organized!

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ

I’m also linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitch Sundays.

January 23, 2020

Crochet Bobbles

I’m finishes with block 2 of the 50 stitches CAL – the Bobble/Puff Stitch.

Bobble/Puff Stitch – 2nd block for the 50 stitches CAL.

Observations of this stitch:

*I found making the bobbles in crochet to be much easier than in knit as I didn’t have to keep turning the piece front to back and visa versa.

*I did not care for carrying the yarn from bobble to bobble as I could see the carried thread through the other stitches.

Carrying thread visible

*One of the other member of the 50 stitches FB group recommended cutting the yarn for every bobble. This appealed to me as there were no visible threads and I thought it looked much better from the front.

Ends galore!

*However … that left a boat load of ends to weave in. Definitely NOT fun.

Stack of yarn ends.

I know this doesn’t look like very much, but it took about 2 hours to weave in all the ends.

Back after ends woven in.

Ahhh … much better. All in all this was a fun experiment and I love learning new to me stitches especially in crochet where I am not as fluent as in knitting. I LOVE the look of the different color bobbles against the solid background. I’m not sure I’ll do this again. Maybe if I had committed to weaving the ends in as I went, it would have been better!

EDITTED TO ADD: I’m sharing this on Moogly Hookin Up On Hump Day

January 21, 2020

50 Stitches CAL

I also found out about the 50 stitches CAL from The Cool Crochet Society FB page. What a group of talented crocheters! Kelly is hosting this CAL so that we (the participants) have the opportunity to learn new crochet stitches (or combination of stitches). For this square, we learned the Seed/lemon Peel Stitch. This stitch is a combination of single crochet and double crochet and has a really nice look.

50 stitches CAL – #1

My block is a completely different size than it should be. I chose to use Sugar’n Cream Cotton with a size G hook. I actually really like it quite a bit, but have not decided what I will do with it. The next block we learn bobble stitches. I have never done these in crochet so am excited to learn.

Connie's Creations

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