Weights and Bag

I finished the Stitchmap course! The last step was making a drawstring bag to hold all the weights. I learned a lot from this course. I usually buy kits and use the stitches chosen by the designer. To make them beginner friendly (I assume), they typically only include back stitch, outline, and variations of satin stitch. Blanket I was familiar with, as I use it for applique. The rest were quite fun to learn (open and closed chain, stem, and split to name a few) and it was great seeing the different uses for the stitches, past what I normally work with.

For the new baby quilt, I have made a bit of progress and am now on ironing this pile.

Fat quarters do not divide up into squares. To offset the rectangle, I used a blue and white blender that nicely matches with everything. The pile are all HSTs, going in 2 directions, to create a cross pattern around the zoo centerpiece.

This one is an almost finished.

There is just a little bit of brown in the lower right and a little back stitching for edging on a few areas and then a frame. Intended for my MILs birthday.

Minor Updates

Lately this blog looks like I win things all the time, which is not true. I just don't post that often. I have several UFO's and they get worked on as time permits, but posting is something that I seem to not have time for. (sometimes I just don't know what I want to say or I don't feel a project has enough progress to warrant 'look at me!")

The first update is for the lovely scenic applique quilt. I ended up removing the clouds and replacing them with more cloudy clouds =)

They are edged in a light grey blanket stitch for a cloud with a silver lining. (Please ignore the hair in front of the camera. hehe)

The revised 2x size Sweet Pea quilt is still in the cutting pieces phase. I have discovered that I will need 132 HSTs so this part is taking a bit of time. Particularly since I am also pairing fabric with fussy cuts at the same time. I ended up not grouping them with safety pins since they became a nuisance and I doubt the fabric pieces will travel much.

My last update is a counted cross stitch lighthouse. These come in kits and I love making them, they just seem to take quite a while to finish. I have one that remains a UFO and has been for at least 5 years. I also love the kits with scads of details, so that might be why they take awhile =)

I would love to say that my New Year's Resolution is to blog more. Unfortunately until my college semester ends in early May, finding the time to even work on projects is difficult. To give you an idea.. I enter my Senior year this fall for a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration, with the Individualized Option in Accounting. I am taking 5-6 classes a semester (for a total of 15-18 credits) to graduate next Spring. The Pennsylvania State University decided to add presentations to every class, which has increased everyone's homework. Hard to say by how much, but our usual homework is Read a Chapter and Answer a Few Questions or for english we may have a paper to write and for math a list of problems to solve. Normal homework. Presentations are a bit more complicated. They are akin to writing a report, usually require a powerpoint slide and that you talk in front of the class. These are not really a big deal, but they do take up more time then my usual homework assignments. Adding them to every class, even English and Accounting courses was not a welcome change. 

Quiltiness

Obviously I don't update often. This is not because nothing is going on. The opposite is true. Things get done a little at a time and I post here when I feel ready.

This lovely is my applique quilt and my current large project.

Comes with a hot air balloon (me mums fav, she always wanted to go for a ride)

 and a kite. If you can get the pictures a bit bigger (they shrank when I loaded them) the hot air balloon has stitched basket weaving and the kits has pearl cross strings.

The argument I'm having with a couple friends is that no one likes my cloud. They think it looks like a lake when I was trying for a sky scene. So if anyone wants to give an opinion I'd appreciate it. It's almost done, but I don't want to be hearing about my sky lake forever. Esp once it's quilted and I can't fix it.

Summer of Stitchy Love

This was my entry for the Summer of Stitchy Love contest on Flikr. The contest has ended and I hope I get a door prize. There are 8 of them, so I have a decent chance. The patterns are from Hoop Love Vintage Transfers Flikr Group. You need to join to see them, but they have over 7500 patterns! I am planning on making this project into a tote bag, but that will have to wait until I get the other side stitched up. Currently deciding if I want to stitch up another flower bowl (since they came as a pair) or do something a little different.

Lovely Embroidery Thread

A few weeks ago I received some silk thread from ArtNeedlepoint.com.

They graciously handed out these threads to many people like myself. They called it a giveaway, but just about everybody who posted received some skeins of thread. Unfortunately i have a collecting tendency, so I am not sure how long I will take to find a project to use these on. They are really really nice threads though and will be absolutely beautiful when used. Just a little thanks to ArtNeedlepoint.com for giving me some really nice silk thread.