Since it's the beginning of August, it's time to:

Clean my machine (I do this at the beginning of each month),
Write about my August One Monthly Goal (OMG), and
Update you on my projects.

One Monthly Goal (OMG) for August

I started another project (yes, I know...it's getting a little ridiculous!) It's the result of the many workshops that I'm following virtually! My OMG for August is from last week's TextileArtist.org's workshop with Haf Weighton, a textile artist from Wales. Our assignment is to stitch up a medal or other embroidered piece using words and appliqué.

I'm making a mini wall hanging for my daughter - with a saying that we've seen around and have been using to encourage each other: "ça va bien aller"

Mini wall quilt for my daughter

I found an amazing background fabric and added some of her favourite fabrics. Here is a detailed look at the applique and stitching.

Close-up of "ça va bien aller"

I have been doing a lot of hand-stitching but I just don't have the energy or time to do this one all by hand. I used some lovely, fine silk thread to stitch down the appliqué. The piece is now ready for batting, backing and free motion quilting (FMQ). I will probably add more embroidery and maybe some beads - we'll see if it needs it and if I have the time 😊

This is where the saying comes from - I think that someone's artistic grandchildren in the neighbourhood drew this in late May. Chevy wasn't impressed but she did wait for me to take a few pictures.

The first time that I saw the expression, "ça va bien aller"

Slow Stitching Update

This next piece is from the workshop of a couple of weeks ago with Gregory T. Wilkins (it's the subject of my last post - see Related links below). I made the marks on eight panels using the Colour Vie pigment system and anything I could get my hands on such as a fork, a silk flower, stamps and stencils.

I've been working on Panel 4 ever since and I have to admit that I'm really, really loving it. I think that it's even better than regular embroidery because I don't have to be precise 😊 (and we all know that I'm accuracy challenged!)

Marks and Stitches in progress

Enjoying the randomness of the stitching

Two daisies embroidered with my hand-dyed thread

The only other piece that I've worked on a little bit is my Traveller's Blanket.

Traveller's Blanket update

I've been working on a few additional meditation stitches pieces as well as hexies to add to the blanket. I'm looking forward to adding them to it.

Dyeing more gray fabric

In my last post I said that I would like to dye some more gray fabric - well I did. I ended up dyeing a good piece of cotton that I knew would hold the dye. Even though this new fabric was in the dye bath for over 24 hours, the colour is a lot like the last one except that some yellow managed to peek through! I also ended up dyeing more perle cotton which turned out a lovely blue-gray colour. The fabric underneath it was a white-on-white.

Gray fabric with streaks of yellow

White-on-white fabric and perle cotton now a lovely gray

What I learned

The two gray fabrics above are more closely related in colour - it's the daylight that affected the pictures - so who knows what the colour really is😊
I left my Marks and Stitches piece in the living room with my threads so that I was able to get to it often during the last few days. It's great to have a project on hand to play with. I will probably rotate them so that I can work on more than one!
Can you tell that I'm really liking all of these projects? This week is my turn to host Free Motion Mavericks so after cleaning my machine, I'll have to FMQ at least one star. Remember to come by to check it out!
I have so many projects on the go that I've decided to TRY to avoid starting new projects. It's too bad because Cas Holmes is presenting this week for our Stitch Club 2020 but I can get to her workshop later. I just have to give myself more time to get a few things finished.

Traveller's Blanket

So what it a Traveller's Blanket? If you google it, you will find links to Dejanne Cevaal's work. Dejanne has made a number of Traveller's Blankets - blankets that might have been made by travellers to depict what they had seen during their travels. I follow Dejanne on Instagram and saw that she was offering an online course. Since I've really enjoyed meditation stitching, I thought that this would be a great way to display them.

I'm using a very fine piece of cotton that I dyed a couple of years ago. I love the colours and I'm sure that it will make a great background to my small meditation stitched blocks.

My dyed background piece (39" x 25")

The idea is then to attach pieces of fabric to the background and to embroider them on and around them.

First block stitched down with a blanket stitch
and then adding seed stitches

I finished the first block and then attached the second block last night. I also pinned an embroidered hexie that will be stitched down next.

Two blocks stitched down and the hexie pinned

For the online course, so far Dejanne has sent us a couple of PDF lessons and we are sharing on a private Facebook group. It's a lovely group of ladies from around the world.

Here are some of my favourite meditation stitching.

Impressions of Dried Flowers

Star Light

Web in the Flower of Life

Orange, Pink & a feather

Pretty Moon & Stars; Angles; Green & Blue with Bark; and Shining Rose

Here are some of the hexies that I embroidered. The spring bulbs have now gone but they were lovely a few weeks ago.

Embroidered hexies in the spring garden

Close-up of embroidered hexies

What I learned

In the first meditation stitched block that I attached, I ran out of the pink embroidery floss that I was using for the outside chain stitch. As I was posting my pictures on Facebook, I realised that I could leave the chain stitch open and have a few seed stitches spilling out of the open frame.
I'm not a big Facebook fan but this is a lovely small group so things can easily be found.
It's really fun to see other participants' work. The fabrics that are being attached to the blankets tell a story. Either they were acquired while travelling , hand-dyed, etc.
I have quite a few meditation stitched pieces done but will be making more to add to the blanket.
I want to stitch a border around each block. It's fun that I can add more stitching to the borders later.
I'm looking forward to seeing how my hexies look when interspersed around the blocks.