Wednesday 29 March 2017

Simply Pinwheels Quilt

A while ago (months ago really, but who's counting) one of the ladies in our guild kindly lead a sew along for one of the Schnibbles patterns.  This little quilt is the result.

I made it using a solid I had in my stash along with a Simply Style charm pack.

 Here's a photo of the back.  When I make quilts with charm packs, I usually end up piecing the back out of leftover squares.  This really helps keep all of those random square that I'm not sure how to use from multiplying.

Here is a close-up of the quilting.  I was stalled at this stage for a while - just couldn't figure out what to do!  Finally I realized that I liked the pinwheel feel of this quilt and wanted to emphasize that.  With that inspiration, I went to town.

Linked up at Sew Fresh Quilts - Let's Bee Social.

Monday 27 March 2017

Daily Threads - Week 3

Have I mentioned lately just how much I'm loving these daily threads?  It has been amazing to see this project grow with just a stitch here and there any moment I can sneak one in.  (Even with a busy week like the last one.)

Here is what things looked like last week.

And now!

Merry Christmas!  (What God Jul translates to) and it's not even July. :)

Linked up at Slow Stitching Sunday.

Sunday 19 March 2017

Daily Threads - Week 2

It's funny, one thread a day doesn't seem like much.  Yet I've made more progress on this table runner in the past two weeks than I have since I started it.  It's amazing what a stitch here and there throughout the day can accomplish. 

As a refresher - this is what it looked like last week:





And here it is now!  The letters are in satin stitch, that always takes a little lot more thread than stem stitch does.  Once I get back to the stem stitch part it will probably feel like it's moving at warp speed.

Linked up at Slow Stitching Sunday.

Wednesday 15 March 2017

Welcome

This table runner was finished last summer.  It says "Welcome".  It was one of several embroidery projects I've picked up when visiting family in Sweden. 

A friend of mine has the most interesting way of counting how long a project has taken to complete.  In the case of this table runner, it took 12 years and 3 months.  The 12 years is how long ago it was started and the 3 months is how long it actually took to finish when I finally picked it up again.

Here are a couple of close-ups.  

The table runner only uses two stitches - stem stitch and satin stitch.  This was my first project with satin stitch; my late grandmother was the one who sat down with me to teach me. My work is still not up to her standards, but it is improving.  (Being honest here - I'm showing you close-ups of the side I finished with and *not* the side I started with for a reason :)  

Now whenever I sit down to do embroidery, I remember that trip with the evenings spent visiting with my grandmother and learning to stitch. 

Where did you learn your crafty skills?  Was it something passed on in your family or are you the role model in your family?

Sunday 12 March 2017

Daily Threads - Week 1

Let's try this again!

TL:DR- Life packed quite the wallop this past year and while I've been getting some stitching in, I was a lousy blogger.  Things still aren't great, but I miss connecting with all of you wonderful people on the interwebs.  So here's to a little more blogging consistency, a better 2017!, and lots more fabulous creations.  If you stuck around through the radio silence - Thanks!

Onto the stitching:
I've been working on this tablerunner since January, slowly stitching away on it here and there.  It's coming along nicely.  However this past week I wondered what it would be like if I was a little more consistent (here's that word again) so Ive challenged myself to do one thread a day.  Here are the results after one week.  (It would have been much more impressive if I'd thought to take a before picture - lousy blogger strikes again.  Next week will be better for comparisons. :)

Linked up at Slow Stitching Sunday.