Hi and welcome! The daylight is getting shorter, the nights are cooler and I'm a very happy stitcher. I've been spending lots of time in my backyard - a little bit of gardening but mostly enjoying the wildlife and stitching quietly. This is what I envisioned retirement to be. 😎 Let's see what I've been up to.
Floral Fusion
This is a sew along with Denise of The Quiltery. I try to participate in Denise's events whenever I can. Floral Fusion is perfect for me - appliqué, simple and scrappy. I've made the first set of blocks and am in the process of getting the second set done.
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| Block 10, the first two |
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| Four of the first block (10) that was released |
Join in the fun - there are many blocks left to go!
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| Floral Fusion |
There's not much to say about the process except that I dug into my "floral bin" of fat quarters and choose some older fabric that plays well together. I'm hoping to have enough but I may have to raid other bins. I have floral fabric in pretty much every bin but the "floral bin" contains mostly the fabrics that have multiple colours, so don't really fit in my bins by colour.
I have had to re-do a few of the fusible webbing since I sometimes forget to place it on the back of the fabric! When I get lucky, I notice before I've ironed it on!!!
Hand-stitching/Embroidery
I hesitate to call some of my hand-stitching embroidery because I kind of make it up as I go - so some of the stitches are not recognizable as specific stitches - and I'm totally OK with that!
Stitching on paper
A few weeks ago I eco-printed on paper. Since the eco-printing is pretty good, but not as a composition, I've cut out some of the prints to stitch on. This is the first one.
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| Stitching on my eco-printed paper |
Almost Daily Stitching 2024
This started as a Daily Stitching project in January but it didn't take me long to realise that when it comes to my art, daily is not in my vocabulary. I do what I want, when I want and I am all over the place - that's me and I've stopped fighting it.
So, I did a post in January and then mentioned the project in my First Quarter Check-in. There hasn't been an update since my first post, so here are some of the blocks. I am now more than a quarter (25%) done.
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| This is what the tablecloth looks like now |
I took a few pictures on my swing.
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| The left side of the tablecloth |
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| The right side of the tablecloth |
The pictures below were taken as I was stitching outside this week. For inspiration I looked on the web and found Kitty Wilkin's (aka Night Quilter) #1yearofstitches from 2017. I absolutely love the work that she did and have used some of her stitches as inspiration. The top block is inspired by her while the block underneath are stitches that I've done with extra thread. I'm having difficulty threading a needle, so I try to use it all up before changing colours. This worked out really well.
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| Learning the Hungarian Chain Stitch |
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| Two completed blocks |
Here is a close-up of some of my stitching.
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| Close-up of my Almost Daily Stitching 2024 |
What I learned
- I've really enjoyed making the first block of the Floral Fusion pattern. I do have to remember to iron the fusible web to the back of the fabric!
- When stitching on eco-printed paper, I mostly follow the lines, but I realised that I am free to stitch anything, anywhere. That is very liberating!
- You may notice that I'm all over the place when it comes to projects and techniques. What can I say....I get bored and distracted easily 😁 I have decided though that I want to keep working on and learning more about hand-stitching and embroidery. Before committing to an expensive course (that sounds amazing!) I want to spend time to see if my interest will last longer than a few days - so far so good.
- As I mentioned above, I don't try to do anything "daily" anymore. I do what I want, when I want and I am all over the place - that's me and I've stopped fighting it.
- I hope that you'll check out Kitty Wilkin's (aka Night Quilter) #1yearofstitches from 2017. Her work is colourful, all over the place and gorgeous! The links to her website and Instagram are below.
- For stitching on my tablecloth, I now use a hoop. It's not for the tension - it's to help me find where I am on the piece!
Related links
- Floral Fusion Sew Along with Denise at The Quiltery
- Eco Printing on paper and Free Motion Mavericks, August 15, 2024
- So much slow stitching going on, January 09, 2024
- First Quarter Check-in, April 15, 2024
- Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch Video – NeedlenThread.com
- Kitty Wilkin's (aka Night Quilter) #1yearofstitches from 2017
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties including Denise's Floral Fusion linking party . You may want to check them out! Remember to link up below 😊. Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Midweek Makers, Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Beauties Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2024, Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching,
I'm linking up this post to Tips and Tutorials on the 22nd
Free Motion Mavericks
Welcome to week 497 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a lovely productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.
Gail of Quilting Gail is now an affiliate with Silly Moon Quilting rulers. She highlighted some of the quilts that she's done with the various Silly Moon rulers. What not check them out and see if you'd like to use Silly Moon Rulers too!
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| Row by Row quilted with the "Beanie" rulers to make a Baptist Fan design without marking! |
Vicki from Vicki's Crafts and Quilting made this really lovely Pumpkin Mini. She stippled the background and then did lovely dot-to-dot FMQ in the stars and pumpkin. I love what she FMQ in the leaves!
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| Vicki's Pumpkin Mini |
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| Vicki FMQ some lovely flowing lines in the leaves |
Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts has her Diva quilt pattern available in her Etsy Store. This is a lovely, colourful quilt that was in the Make Modern magazine. She finished it using her signature squiggly stitch.
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| Preeti's Diva quilt |
Melva from Melva Loves Scraps finished a customer's Baby's First Year quilt. It's so lovely - what a great memory quilt.
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| Baby's First Year Quilt by Melva |
It's now your turn
Your flower Fusion blocks are really cheerful and I like your stitching on paper. Your table cloth is looking great too. It will take as long as it takes it will be all the better for being worked on when you feel like it, rather than daily :)
ReplyDeleteI do love your Daily Stitching project, it is going to be beautiful. Your Floral Fusion blocks are dreamy, thank you for sewing along. When finished you will be able to enjoy and indoor garden even when the weather is gloomy. Thank you for the linkup and always sharing in Put your foot down.
ReplyDeleteI love your attitude of "do what I want, when I want and I am all over the place", Andree. Flower Fusion is going to be a beauty. I look forward to seeing some more flowers growing on this pretty quilt. Oh, how creative and lovely your blanket is, with so much visual interest.
ReplyDeleteVery fun projects. Your almost daily stitching project is really fun and very cool looking. Happy stitching this week.
ReplyDeleteOh, je suis contente de voir l'évolution de ton ouvrage de broderie, c'est un projet que j'aime beaucoup ! Bises
ReplyDeleteI love your flower blocks and that tablecloth is so much fun. Daily is a hard commitment, but the progress is stunning. I love Kitty's work, hope to meet her one day on the coast of Maine, since we are not too far physically. Thanks for linking up to Tips and Tutorials!
ReplyDeleteI love that daily embroidery project - and Kitty's work as well. I think you can call it my "When I Can" project! Not all of us are cut out for a daily discipline. Also love your version of Denise's new project...and thanks for being so good about linking up to tips and tutes!
ReplyDelete