A couple of finishes

 Yes you read that right.  I finally managed to get back into the stitching mode and had a couple of small finishes today.  So, of course, I wanted to share with you.

   The first finish was for my December block Exchange.  I started it with one design but didn't like how it was coming along so it is set aside and I went back to a favorite of mine...the Noel redwork block.    I don't think I ever get tired of doing the Noel bock.  

   The next thing that I finished was another Words of Wisdom block.  This time it was the Integrity block.  I only have one more block left before I need to figure out how I want to put it all together.

Did I show you my latest progress on my blackwork?  Here it is.  I'm getting into the home stretch and I can't wait.  

   I just noticed that I haven't posted a couple of other pix that I don't think I have posted.  This is sort of hard to see but it is my pix of me trying my hand a Kumihimo braiding.  I have to get some end caps before I can finish it  but it is a start.  Wish me luck.  I will need to get the end caps as I mentioned but I also need to get some jewelry pliers to close the end caps etc.  Slow progress but I think I like it.

This next picture is some of my redwork from years past.  I will reduce it  to 9 blocks so that I have a more realistic chance of finishing it.

This picture is my block from my October partner.  I love how it looks.  :)

  That is it for this trip.  I hope to be able to post more often but with the holidays...no promises.  :)  If I don't post before Thanksgiving, please enjoy it with your family and friends.

Updates on Projects - 10.26.24

      Let me see on what I have to report on.  You might have already seen some of this stuff but I'll mention it anyway.

     First up I found out that we can vote early so Dan picked me up and we went to vote.  He needed to go to the county seat anyway to renew his driver's license so we sort of made a day of it.  He managed to get his license renewed and the person gave directions on how to get to the place to vote.  We found it without any problems and then spotted the decorations on this vehicle that was parked outside of the voting place.

It was good to know that the skeleton wasn't from somebody who was waiting to vote.  LOL

We did get to vote though and then he took me to a favorite restaurant and we had homemade pie  :)  A good reward.

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   Next up is Amethyst, the purple dragon.  The next dragon will be a teal one but I have to find the right floss for that before I start working on it.

   That brings me to my blackwork.  I am now starting on the final row of blocks which means that I can also start on the final border.  That is why it looks so jagged.  LOL

I am also working on another blackwork called Relax in Olive Green.  As you can see from this picture, I am not doing it in Olive Green.

I will start on my other blackwork project that a friend gave me but it uses the same blocks that my first picture uses so I am waiting, after three restarts, for the finish of that.  Then I will switch my method of quilting the other pattern called Geometrica.  Then I will not start from the center, where I get mixed up a lot, I will start from one of the corners.  Hopefully that will work better.

  

   I will also do some blackwork or cross stitch projects for Christmas.  Probably ornaments but I have to put them together?  Yuck.  Of course I might just send the finished stitched piece and let my crafting friends figure out how they want to finish it.  Is that bad of me?  Maybe.  Who knows.

   That is enough for an update for now.  I am working on other things but not enough to update you on them yet.  I hope everybody has a great day!

PS:  Isn't that a cute cake?  I couldn't resist sharing it.

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.