Is it just my imagination or is counted cross stich making a big revival lately?
Over 40 years ago I did a LOT of counted cross stitch. It all started when I was the project "engineer" on a job site in Iowa and we got rained out one day. I wandered around the Main Street area of the small town we were working in, and ended up walking into a yarn shop. They also had lots of kits for small counted cross stitch and I bought one to take back to my motel room for something to do. The next week I went back and bought more. It was such fun, and it gave me something to do in the evenings in my motel rooms because I traveled a lot for work at the time. That first project was this farm scene plus the 4 seasons pieces that went with it. I had them framed.
We all need an occasional change of scenery, even if it’s just for an afternoon and evening. My husband had a meeting yesterday afternoon and was then going to stop in Sioux Falls to watch our 4th grade grandson play flag football at 6:30. And I decided to ride along.
I took handwork along with to work on while he was in his meeting. So from 2-4 in the afternoon I sat in his vehicle with the windows down, stitched and listened to the radio, and enjoyed a beautiful October day. I did take a little walk along the Main Street and stopped into an interesting little shop as well. All-in-all it was a relaxing afternoon. And a great evening watching flag football and getting hugs from from a couple of grandkids.
Hand quilting was finished and the binding is nearly done on the little guild challenge project.
A couple of small Halloween projects are on my design wall. One of them was on my October goals list, and the other one should have been on that list.
Our guild quilt show is in 2 weeks, and I’ve been working on my entry for the Challenge project. We received a charm square (5”) of a Halloween fabric (black with grey and orange bats) that we must use in the project - and it has to be recognizable. The project can be anything, as long as it isn’t larger than 100” circumference. I’m working on using that piece in some appliqué, but I’ll have to wait until after the show to post a picture of the finished product.
The project that was on my list, was the Pillow of the Month that had a Halloween theme. All of the appliqué pieces are fused onto the center, but I’ve only begun to do the blanket stitching on the edges. Then there will be some half squares triangles framing this center section. And I have no clue yet how I want to quilt this pillow front. This series of 20” pillows come in kit form, so I can’t take any credit for the design or fabric choices. This one is pretty cute.
OK, it’s not really an absence of color, but considering my love of bright colors it’s pretty close.
This 32” square wall hanging is all black, grey, and several shades of beige/tan. It was a pattern and mini charm pack that I picked up on the shop hop I did a couple of weeks ago. It’s basically a 36 block center - set on point - made with a mini charm pack. Then it’s turned into a square-in-a-square using triangles. And the whole thing is used as the center of a big churn dash.
This was a 2 hour project including the cutting and sewing. The cream background and the black churn dash fabrics were in the stash. The black print has bees or maybe flies on it. I'm not sure what kind of bug these are. But is more cute than creepy. And that little touch of yellowish beige picks up the "color" of that center block.
The final week of September hasn't involved a whole lot of orange, but I had touches here and there. And I'm ready to make the switch to the new color for October.
I made 8 individual Tulip Time blocks this month and sewed them into 2 "quad" sections of 4 tulips each. And both sections had a bit of orange - by accident. I have 32 of these sections made, and am currently aiming for 42.
A new month and a clean set of goals to play with!! And my head has been spinning lately with ideas for new projects. I couldn't possibly live long enough to make everything I want to make.
One main thing that I want to happen is to quilt and bind the Fish School quilt. I searched high and low for a "fishy" print to use on the back of this one, and finally found this one called Aquarium - Under the Sea by Timeless Treasures. It even has the same pale aqua in the background that is in the fish row of the quilt - and most of the bright colors from the strips show up too. My plan is to quilt this one myself and I have a plan already. Wish me luck!!!
