I have not stitched on my SAL project for this update.  I am still excited that I found a solution to the challenge of placement on the fabric and I will be stitching again this week.  Here is the picture from last week:

What I had been doing instead was getting ready for our yearly family backpacking trip.  We gathered all our packs and gear, inspected them (some repairs were necessary – good hand sewing skills come in handy!) and then purchasing the rest that we needed.

We backpacked in the back country of Yosemite and it was gorgeous!  There was really no one else there – we did encounter one family on the way out and one on the way back, but it was super easy to distance.  Here are a couple of photos from our trip:

This picture is actually at then end.  We went int and out of this trail head.  I couldn’t find the picture from the start of the trip where our smiles were much bigger and we didn’t look quite so tired!

This year I used hiking poles for the very first time and they made such a huge positive difference!

Chain Lakes on our first night.  Such a gorgeous place!

Morning time on the second day!  Right after this photo was taken, two of the kids jumped into the lake and swam out to the island in the middle.  Such a fun time!

I should have more to show at our next update.  This is such a fun group of stitchers to be working with.  We are from all over the world and touch base once (or more!) every three weeks to show progress on one of our projects.  I am so grateful to everyone!  Please take a look at the other talented stitchers participating and if you’d like to join us, please contact Avis at the link below.

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

It’s time for an update on the Christmas Stocking I am stitching for my son.  I had discovered a pretty significant error when I started the second set of “windows” and started looking ahead to the toe part of the stocking.

That looks pretty good, right?  Well… when I started this project, I wanted to start in the top left hand corner instead of the center.  I like to go from left to right, top to bottom and lots of the color was the same in the beginning – to me it just made sense.  I counted, recounted, counted again.  Did some math.  Counted, recounted and did more math and was pretty certain everything was good to go.  Then I started the stitching.  Those of you who have been part of this SAL know this has been a very long term project for me.  I am not a quick stitcher, I am quite slow.  That does not bother me – I love stitching.  This project has gone on timeout and come out of timeout more times than I can count.  I have stitched and un-stitched.

Well…  this error is not something I can unstitch without scrapping the whole stocking and starting over.  The toe of the stocking is on the left of the stitching.  In other words, I am too close to the edge of the fabric on the left – WAY too close, 3 inches too close in fact.

Once I realized that, my stomach sank and I sat there looking at the stitching for awhile (probably longer than I want to admit) and then had a really, really good cry.  Then I set it on the table (not back in the bag where I keep it to be safe) and walked away.  I went out to garden, took a shower and made dinner.  All with that piece of stitching on the table.  My kids and husband knew something was wrong.  My youngest son (15), kept coming up to me and giving me a hug telling me that it would be ok and I would figure it out.

I left that stitching out all night on the table which is unheard of.  We have three cats and a dog.  I did not sleep well at all.  Then, I did have an idea.  Because I started close to the left hand side, I had quite a bit of “empty” fabric on the right side.  I decided to try something out (something I still don’t know if it will work right).  I measured, counted, did some math (we all know how that works for me).

And cut my fabric at the top right of the project.  A big enough piece to overlap on the left with enough to stitch the toe and have a margin.

Then I pinned it to the right section.  Pinning was not enough so…

I added basting stitches to hold everything in place all lined up.  That looks pretty easy, but it was really a bear and took HOURS.  Originally, the holes didn’t want to match so when I put the needle down from the top, I had to flip the fabric and make sure the needle went into the correct hole on the bottom.  And then I had to repeat the process again from back to front.  All in all, it seems to be working ok now.

Stitching on the double piece is still a little fiddly.  Even though it’s all lined up and held together with those basting stitches, I still have to flip and check to make sure I’m on target for almost every stitch.  It’s really SLOW going.  I am hopeful that this “patch” will work and wont’ look too wonky when it’s complete.  Only time will tell.

There are lots of more talented and creative stitchers who are a part of this group.  Please take a look at their projects if you get a chance:
Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

It’s time for my SAL Update.  I belong to a group of stitchers online and participate in a stitch-a-long.  This stitch-a-long is different from most in that each member chooses their own project to work and posts updates every three weeks.  I’m working on a Christmas Stocking for one of my sons.  Here is where I was at the last update:

5/31/20 – SAL Update.

And this is where I am now:

6/21/20-SAL Update

I have been finding a little bit more time here and there to work on this and I’m quite pleased with my progress.  With a little bit of stitching time each day, I’m hoping to be done with this window pane by the next update.

If you have time, please take a look at the other stitch-a-long members and their progress (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,  AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Sherrie, Helen