NBOTB

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's quite the lovely spring day here (finally!).  In addition to my round robin project, I've been working a little on my quilt.  After I got my blocks completed, I laid them out on the bed according to the pattern (don't have a design wall) and then carefully sewed them together in strips.  Well, when I went to sew strip #1 to strip #2, I sewed them together in the reverse order, so I had to "unsew" that long seam...

As you can see, I've gotten the strips almost separated--only 1.2 more blocks!  It's amazing how much longer it takes to unsew than it does to sew strips together!  I'm definitely out of my comfort zone any time I use my sewing machine, so after I get the strips separated, I think I'll take a short break from this piecing project and do some stitchin' instead.

Speaking of quilting, the cryptic title of my post refers to a New Blog on the Block that I want to introduce:  Prairie Quilts and Other Things.  Shirley and I go way back--all the way to high school--and she is a much better quilter than I am!  If you have a minute, please click on over to her blog, take a look around and say "hi."

That's it from here.  Hope you all had a great weekend.  And thanks, as always, for visiting!

March Stitch from Stash

Hey Blog Buddies,

Mel over at Epic Stitching is hosting the Stitch from Stash SAL this year.  We all have $25/month to spend for new stash.  Obviously, the goal is to stitch from stash as much as possible.  So, time for the monthly SFS report.  My purchases for the month so far are three packages of beads for a blackwork freebie that I plan on starting later on in the year.  

You can find the instructions for the piece over at Blackwork Journey.  It's gorgeous and looks like a lot of fun, but it's yet another really large piece--it's called Save the Stitches and the directions are coming out in installments.  

I also got some fabric from JoAnn's.

This will be the backing for a lap quilt that I started a couple of weeks ago.  The pattern is called Semaphore and it's from the Fall 2013 issue of Easy Quilts.  Here's a photo of the model:

All my blocks are sewn. I chose an autumn colorway:

So, beads:  $4.50; fabric, $15.70.  Deduct that from the $25.00 spending money for March, and there's $4.80 left over.  Add that to my $35.08 carry-over, and I have $39.88 going into April.  (Too much math!)

I had a birthday this month, so I got some stash as a gift.

These are GHI and JKL of the Prairie Schooler Alphabet series.  There's also a little seasonal chart from Heart in Hand called A Spring Day with a cute bunny and flowers.  I still need five charts from the PS Alphabet series.  I plan on stitching them as one large piece.  Not this year, though.   (smile)

Finally, I participated in a workshop this month hosted by my Guild.  The piece was Carrots by Jennifer Riefenberg, and the pattern was so cute I couldn't resist...

See what I mean by cute?

Here is where I'm at.

Other than that, I've been stitching along on my rotation

which seems to be filled with BAPs at the moment.

This week I'm stitching on a round robin piece

which unfortunately I won't be able to show.

So that's it from here.

Hope everyone is having a lovely spring or fall,

depending on where you live.

It's technically spring here,

but we're expecting more snow (and cold) tonight!

Thanks for visiting!

Throwback Thursday: Golden Hands and Sunset

Hey Blog Buddies,
Thought I'd do a Throwback Thursday this week, not with adorable toddler or awkward teenagers photos, but with some of my favorite stitchy stuff from back in the day.

How many of you remember Golden Hands?  They were crafting pamphlets available for purchase in grocery stores (and probably craft stores, too).  They came out weekly in the early 1970's.  You could buy a vinyl-covered binder...

...to keep all the pamphlets in order.  The pages were numbered consecutively like a book.  There were instructions in all kinds of topics:

 Sewing!

Cross stitch!

Knitting!

Crochet!

Needlepoint!

Embroidery on Netting!
(This one I haven't tried.)

Smocking!

Tatting!
(Haven't tried this, either.)

Macrame!

(Yes, I dabbled in that back in the 70's)

There was literally something for everyone

in these wonderful periodicals.

My store stopped carrying the installments rather abruptly,

so I was not able to collect the entire set.

I believe there were supposed to be five books in all--

I have three.

One of the reasons that I've kept these books all these years is this...

Blackwork!

I still love those fish--they'd look great in my downstairs bathroom.

The article doesn't contain any chart, just the photo.
But it really shouldn't be that difficult to do.

Maybe someday...

I'll leave you with a Sunset kit.

Sunset made kits, sold at US craft stores like Lee Wards,

that could be made up into small (5"x5") cross stitch

or needlepoint pictures or pillows.

They were wonderful learning tools.

Here's one of the first needlepoint projects I stitched:

Great variety of stitches, and I still like the design!

This is circa the early to mid-70's, I believe.

Hope you enjoyed this blast from the past.

Thanks for visiting!

We Have a Winner

Hey Blog Buddies,

Last week I offered the Cool Cardinal chart to anyone who was interested.  More than one person expressed an interest, so I had a little drawing.  Before I reveal the winner's name, I'm going to make you look at the piece one more time, because it's now back from the framer's.

 I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.

I'm not interested in seeing more snow this season,

so the piece will be put away until next winter.

And the winner of the chart is..

Calamity, Jr.  (no blog)

Please email me your snail mail info, Calamity,

and I'll send the chart right off to you. 

Have a wonderful weekend, people.

Thanks for visiting!

 

March Turtle Trot

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's the tenth day of the month, so it's Turtle Trot progress time.

Turtle shell deep in the snow in March--how sad is that?

Moving on...

First up, we have the ever-popular canvaswork pumpkin.  Here is where I was at last month:

And here is where I'm at now:

I hope you guys aren't getting too bored with this.  It's gonna be a long haul.

 

And a close-up to add a little interest...

Next, we have Cool Cardinal:

last month

 

...this month.  A finish!

In the third spot, we have Mates:

...last month...

...and this month.

As I look at my monitor,

his eye looks like it has maybe three colors,

but that's not the case.

It has a minimum of 20 colors--all in one tiny space.

I'm glad it's done!

Finally, I dragged out my hardanger piece.

 To refresh your memory since we haven't played with it for a while,

here is what it looks like--

kind of ugly since it's been folded up in a bag

since 2006.

I worked a little on the satin stitches in the center

in January of 2013.

This is where I left off.

Here's where I'm at now.

I'm actually surprised the satin stitches lined up!

I also did a bunch of eyelets in the lower right triangle.

Not too much progress,

but any progress on this piece is good.

And for the hardanger mavens out there

who are wondering why I am doing the eyelets

after I started cutting the ground,

all I can say is, I originally decided (in 2006)

that I didn't want the satin stitches and eyelets.

Now I've change my mind.

Wish me luck that the cut ends of the ground don't come loose!
(There are a lot more eyelets!)

Hope your weekend was good.
I went to yet another workshop which was really fun,
but more on that later.

Thanks for visiting!

Cool Cardinal

Zero with a hundred percent probability

is cool, man, cool,

even when you're wearing your red flannels.

Air traffic's grounded,

feeding station's socked in.

You can't stuff your gizzard in a blizzard,

so how do you survive?

Hunker up and sit it out,

rationing your reserves,

moderating your metabolism.

To put it another way,

when there's snow on the roof,

how do you keep a fire in the furnace?

Cool it, man.

 ...Charles Harper

 Harper in Stitches' Cool Cardinal
Started:  11/21/13
Finished:  3/2/14 
Fabric:  32-count gray linen, 2 over 2
Threads:  DMC 310, 317, 326, 498, 783, B5200(!)

If anyone would like this chart,
please let me know in a comment on this post.
If more than one person is interested,
I'll have a little drawing sometime next week.

Thanks for visiting!