Blackwork Update - 10.5.24

   Happy weekend everybody!

   I hope you are enjoying your weekend.  It has been warm here in Arkansas and the cats have been enjoying the outdoors after the yard got cut.  

   I don't blame them  The area where you see brown spots is not as large as it appears in the picture.  Dan's yard guy(kid) brought over weed killer and with what he had leftover after spraying that little(?) between the neighbor's fence and my house he used around the tree and sidewalk and water meter.  Now the weeds are dead there and it is easier for the kid who sometimes stops by to mow

   That wasn't all that I got done.   I managed to finish the quilt block for the exchange which will be malted out on Monday but perhaps more importantly, I got caught up on the blackwork.

This was important since now I can start working on the right side border.  I probably won't get to that this week since I already have a lot to do, but soon I will be doing the final row on the center section as well as on the border.  :)

   That's about it for now.  I just wanted to share.  I hope everybody has a wonderful weekend,

 

The layout for the red hexies

 Hi everybody.

   This is quick since I'm behind on a lot of things but I did snap a quick pix of the red hexies that I'm working on,  I have them all basted and soon, maybe tomorrow, I'll start to sew them into their individual flowers.  I have a lot to do yet on various projects.  Oh heck!  I just noticed I have another hexie that I haven't basted.  Well I guess that loner will have to be put on another post.  Here is what I have basted down so far,.

ignore the green leaves sticking out

They will soon be added to the growing supply on my design wall.

  That is it for now.  I'll put up another post later in the week for now I have to pretend that I'm busy quilting.  LOL.

Another block finished and prepping for hexies!

      Hi everybody!

     I managed to finish another Words to Live By block and picked out fabric for some more hexies.  Want to see what I picked out?

  First up is the finished block.  :)

I can't believe that I only have a couple more blocks to go before  start to think about putting it all together!  I still have plenty to do so I won't be idle.  LOL.

     One of the other projects involve hexies.  I have various pix of hexie patterns that have inspired me but currently I am working on hexie flower  I am thinking of doing a hexie border or row between some other blocks,  Who knows what I will end up doing.  Some of the pix that I have saved for inspiration and ideas are?  Well I couldn't find my pictures so that will have to be another post,  Here are some pictures that I have found for other projects.  Might not make them but they do inspire me.

    Did I tell you that I am hand stitching my Arbor leaves together?  It will be completely hand sewn.  I might need therapy after doing this.  LOL  So far I have four of the columns stitched.  After that I will attach the brown column which are to represent a tree trunk?  Who knows what this table runner, or possible wall hanging, well end up looking like.

     I did cut and marked more fabric so that after giving my fingers a break, I can get back to basting up some more hexies.  I decided to work on some purples which I HAVE to have in it since my friend Susan loves purples.  What other colors should I look for in fabric?  Let me know.

   That's about it for this post.  I hope you all have a great day!

There be dragons!

      Well to be more precise there are some dragons at least.  I finished Blackie so I thought I would just put up a picture of all dragon blocks I have done so far.  Since I am posting this after midnight I guess that makes it I'm posting this early on Wednesday.  LOL.

     So here are my finished dragon blocks.  I have around 3 more left and the next one up is the lavender one.  That will be a bit later though since I need to work on another Words of Wisdom block next.

Oops...Forgot a couple of pix

 This is just  couple of pix that I talked about but forgot to attach the pix.  Here they are...

I also saw this pattern (hexies) that was in the American Quilter Magazine,.  I will make it sometime...forgot to post it also.

I'm doing pretty good ...

 on keeping up with some projects so ...

    For instance, I caught up on my blackwork, stitched up some Arbor leaves, and worked on the Candlewicking more.  I also picked out another project to work on soon-ish.  So that is this weeks progress in a nutshell.  Tomorrow is my monthly SCA meeting so I might be online much and I am hoping Dan will put together the weed wacker that I ordered and it came in.  So just let me post up some pictures, sorry no new ones of the kittens, but still progress pix.

   First up is my blackwork.  It is coming along nicely,  It won't be long (about another month) before I will start to work on the border.

   Here is my progress pix of my Candlewicking.  This is as of this morning so you get it hot off the press as the saying goes,

   What is nice about this is that I get to change to the darker color now and work on the roof of the house,

     I can't forget my update on the Words of Wisdom blocks.  This one is done but I won't start on the next one for a bit.  I think another dragon, Blackie, is calling to me to get her/him done first.

     Next up is the Arbor leaves,  These are two stacks of 3 (all the same color/fabric).  I will be working on another purple colored one next.

     I received my July American Quilter magazine the other day and I found this pattern in it.  I am thinking of making it sometime.  It will take me forever to do it so don't expect it anytime soon.  LOL

     That's about it for my updates.  It wouldn't be an update without tonight's kitten pix.  It is harder to get their  get a pix of them in this cooler weather.  Their energy isn't as zapped as it was earlier and they are practicing their pouncing.  So far just on each other's tails and on bugs.  Sometimes they get courageous and pounce from the porch step.

     I hope everybody has a great night/day.  

Update time!

    Yes it is that time again...it is update time.  What I have been working on?  Not much new since most of my current projects are UFOs.  I did start a new UFO, if I can call it that, called Arbor.  After many restarts, I have the blocks fused down and now I can start to stitch them.  The background fabric wasn't my first choice but quickly found out that I didn't have enough background fabric so I had to substitute with another fabric.  I think this will work.  Here is a pix of my blocks waiting to be stitched.  The yellow post it notes have the DMC floss number on them that I chose to stitch with.  These are seven inch blocks that are supposed to be cut back to six and a half.  I'll see how much shrinkage I'll have after stitching.

 As a reminder, there will be 4 columns of petals in total.  Each column will have 6 petals.  That will be three on each side of a so called stalk.  I'm not sure yet how wide that stalk will be.

     I have also started on another block for Words to Live By.  This one has four birds on it and three of the four are small birds.  I am doing French knot for the eyes on the two smallest one.  That has been stated.  Here is a pix of the blocks that I have done so far.

   My blackwork SAL might not get done this week.  I have two blocks waiting for me to do but Wednesday a new block comes out and I might find myself soon with three blocks needing to be done.  That is ok.  Just as long as I don't go to four blocks behind  

   I did mail out my block exchange block today so that is one thing to check off my list of to dos.  

   I haven't been doing my Fleur since my eyes have been bothering me a little bit.  Nothing serious.  I know it is just eye strain and working with black thread on black fabric wouldn't help.  

   I also haven't worked more on the Candlewicking since I have to pull a lot to get the strands of fabric through the fabric.  My fingers are stiff lately due to the weather so I'm not working on that project for a bit,  

   I actually went outside today to tackle a bit of the high grass/weeds by the house.   That is the side between the house and the wooden fence.  It didn't last long,  But I did manage to pull off some of the vines that love to grow on the fence and stick to it as well as cut (with a pair of scissors) around the water meter.  Tomorrow I might rake what I cut down and put it out by the curb since I'm expecting the city to come and haul that type of stuff soon  My neighbor has a lot for the recycle guy (lawn and tree waste) usually drives around on garbage day to get an idea of where he should stop and pick things up.

   I am saving up to get what I call a weed Wacker to take care of a lot of this stuff.  I might not get it this year but I will definitely have it next year.  This is one that doesn't have that twine that can get all jumbled up but instead runs off a battery.  The price is pretty good but on limited budgets, it will still take me a bit.  It is a matter of what do I want to do without if I get that.  I'll figure it out,

   That's about it for a quick update.  I hope everybody has a great week.  

    Thank you my friends!

There be dragons!

      Whew!  The red dragons are finally done.   could have done more but after 4-6 restarts, I am stopping here.  Yeah they know they gave me a fight.  Loo at those smirks on their faces,.  That's o.k.  

     That isn't my only finish this week.  I finished up my block for the August block exchange.  It will be mailed out to my partner sometime in the first full week of August.  I will have to trim it down a little bit but that is o.k.

     I was pretty excited to find a border pattern on Pinterest that I think would be pretty.  

     Well that is about all I have to share this time.  I am continuing working on Fleur blocks and Blackwork.  Perhaps the next post will have an update.  It's time to get back to stitching.

     Enjoy the rest of your week.  

YIPPEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Today was a great day.  This will be a short post but since a couple of people were asking how my doctor's appointment went, I'll post.

   First of all...I had the last appointment at the wound doctor's.  Yep that is right.  I don't have to see him again unless I get another wound, etc.  :)

 So this is the news for this post...

    1.  Dan didn't have any problems with his vehicle and picked me up to go to the doctor's.  Considering that he was on an 1/8 of a tank for gas, I was holding my breath.  While I was at the doctor's he filled up the tan  He even got a pack of sigs and a new lighter.  He had forgotten them at home.  He timed it well so that even though we went through some heavy rain, it let up by the tie we arrived at the doctor's.

   2.  The doctor's visit went very well  In fact, I don't have to go back unless my foot gets wore.  H and his nurse both reminded me to be careful of space heaters.  I told him I will.  I will have to get extra warm slippers and socks for the winter.  

    3.  Dan then took me out to eat and boy did we eat.  We both had leftovers.  I had fajita nachos. I've attached a pix of what I ate.  LOL.

   4.  I weighed in, with all my clothes on as well as my shoes on, and I am under 200 pounds again.  not much under, but under nonetheless.

   5.    I even managed to get some stitching done on my swap block.  It was a great day.  I hope everybody else had a great day also.

DMC all sorted out!

    Yes, you read that right.  I finally managed to catch up on refiling my DMC floss.  I will admit it...it took a bit but it is done for now.  I have a couple of potential cross stitch charts that I had earlier pulled floss for and I don't think I will get to them anytime soon.  A couple of them have been pulled for a couple of years and I still haven't started it.  Time to be realistic.  I can always pull the floss when I actually get to the chart again,  In the meantime I have it organized again.

     In the picture you can also see my colorful block that I will soon start stitching on.  It will be sent to my swap partner in August.  This one will take a little bit to finish so I am starting it now.  Tomorrow I will start matching up my colors and then I can start to stitch it.  I will first stitch on the hearts.  Instead of going through three layers for stitching, I will do the red on yellow heart first and then sew that onto the blue and THEN sew it on it to the background fabric.  I should be able to start stitching tomorrow.  I like to stitch on Sundays.  It reminds me of hen mom would sit us down with her and we would work on stitching.  It is a good way to relax...until you get knots in your fabric that is.

   I am still working on my usual blocks:  Fleur, dragons, Words of Wisdom, blackwork, etc.  I also am working on the small table runner.  That came to a halt when I noticed one of the blocks has a red line on it that looks like it would be the stem of the maple leaf block.  I need to figure out what I will use.  I had thought about  perhaps putting it in with embroidery but I'm not sure.  If I do some applique on it, it will be fatter than the drawn in line.  Of course I'm still searching for the backing fabric so I have some time.

   Then I have the Arbor table runner.   will get that cut out soonish.  I also, finally, got my Storm at Sea pulled out and organized so I know what I need to do.  I will start pulling out the fabric  that will go with the paper pieced blocks.  I have the paper pieced blocks separated by rows so I can work on one row at a tie.  I have six more rows to do.  After getting one row done, maybe after getting three rows done, I will add them to the first three rows I already pieced together.

    On a side note, I saw some picture of a couple of projects that I'm thinking of doing.  This first one I would do in a different colorway.  

      This second one is a bit crowded for me but it does give me an idea to use part of it.  Not sure yet.

   That's it for now.  I am getting into the mood to dig out the sewing machine again so perhaps the hand work will have to go on hold for a little bit,  Maybe sew the blocks for one row and then switch over to some stitching on another project before going back.  That way I won't get bored always sewing on the same thing.

     Oh...wait.   I have kitten pix to share with you.  Enjoy and have a great day.

   NOW I'm signing off on this post.  Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to me!

      It has been a quite day and I really don't have much to report.    It is in the mid 90s and just too hot to car to do anything,  LOL.  I did get a great package from my friend Susan and her family.  It had lots of goodies in it.  Her daughter put in some handmade stuff and she also put in lots of goodies.  This is a pix of some of it.

     I know it is hard to see, but next to the pattern is a cross stitch key.  Here is a close up of it.,

     It will help me get organized with my aida cloth.  Also in that picture, on either side of the cross stitch key,  is a pattern that Susan put in and a beautiful coaster.  Well that jeweled coaster is too pretty to use as a coaster but it works wonderful as something that I love to rub my hands over it.  It is like a worry tone.  I love the feel of it.  And yes, that is a plug Grogu next to it.  He is helping George watch over everything.

    In the front row, is some stationery as well as a couple of plastic boxes filled with needles.  It came at a good time since I had to recently throw out some old ones which are no longer sharp or are bent.  Susan knows me so well and knows I am constantly using notebooks and stationery so she put in some of that as well.  You might also see a pressing sheet in that front row as well.  She didn't know it, or at least I don't think she knew it, but my old pressing sheet was on its last legs.  Not pictured is a beautiful writing pen,  It is glittery and aqua in color and I have been using it almost nonstop.

     My birthday box wasn't the only package that I received.  I also received an envelop that had some beautiful fabric in it.

    Isn't that beautiful?  I can see so many possibilities!

      That is about it for this week's update.  I did some more work on the Candlewicking but it is slow progress so I will take another pix and share later.  The red dragons are fighting me and I haven't done any more work on it.  I will get back to it after they are in time out,.

     Until next time - happy stitching and remember to take time out to relax.  :)