Feburary floss, finishes and flusters

 My new grandson is due mid-march, with a possibility of arriving much earlier.  I realised the pattern I wanted to make for his quilt was more in my head than under my machine needles, so have spent the past couple of weekends cutting and preparing a flotilla.
The pattern is Ahoy Sailor from Suzy Quilts.  I've cut enough fabric for two flotillas because I wanted all my sailboats to be different.   This pattern has a lot of reading twice before you cut..... well perhaps I should have in a couple of instances..  grin

I've laid it all out on my bed, I have 18 sailboats, four more than called for the pattern.  I'm working out if I need them all and which ones I want to cull.  I've changed the layout slightly, using a thinner strip of 'water' under the boats.  At least one, if not all the strips of 'water' will be full of sharks.  So with a bit of luck, this quilt top will be finished this coming weekend, ready for quilting.

I've really not done a lot of stitching.. have not caught up much on the English Floral Sampler...  Finished the K - Kniphofia the red-hot pokers, and started on the L - Lily.  That has been put away until the 1st week of March.

2nd week of the month, I work on my TOL 2020 Mystery SAL.  I decided I needed to stitch a second version of my pattern, and this is what I have offered up.  If you want to stitch along with us with this free chart.   There is a link on my page to the chart.

 Week 3 is supposed to be Christmas Stitching.... fell through the cracks because I spent this week after work being a socialite.  Birthday Week started with a birthday dinner with my partner (feb 13) and my son (feb 19). 

We were able to sit on the deck in the summer sunset and enjoy a lovely meal.  Monday night was a scout meeting (I really should get those minutes sent through) Wednesday 19th was a birthday lunch, with Pizza with my workmates.  Wednesday night was also Birthday Dinner at the restaurant my son works at - well it was the only way were were going to see each other for our Birthday.  Bonus points to me - it's a Japanese restaurant and I ate Japanese food including raw fish.  I also finished off a small bottle of Sake (- it tastes like warm gin)  Thursday night was a cub scout Grey Wolf presentation with Friday night being a quiet day at home.  No stitching on the weekend, as Saturday was spent at my girlfriend's home, celebrating 12 months in her new location. 

Sunday, Allan surprised me with tickets to see Chicago.  I had long given up nagging to see it, so was happy to sit in the Gods for the last matinee show.  A bit of a happy sunny walk in the City and suddenly it is Monday all over again.  Tonight it is a catch up for blogging and to re-set my brain...


This week is Harriet Salt stitching.  I ordered and received Murano fabric in a mottled grey.  It is a much tighter weave than the original fabric I started with and I plan to stitch this 32count fabric using one strand over one thread.  I need to spend a bit of time preparing the fabric and finding the place to start, then I'll be working on Harriet this week when home from work.

Tossing my HATS in the air!

Not sure what to do about Harriet.

The only piece of fabric I had in my stash big enough was a 30 count loose weave fabric.  Stitching 2 threads over 2 strands will mean the finished sampler will be about 25 inches square.   That's HUGE!
The other option of using one thread over one strand is not pleasing to me

I will contemplate my options over the weekend.  I may have to invest in about $40 of fabric to purchase a tighter weave fabric - 32 count or more and resign myself to stitching over one.
I have done this before, so am not feeling daunted about stitching over one....  It's just made the whole project feeling a bit blah!   I've invested too much already to give it up entirely.  This is the most costly sampler I've stitched before.  I guess I've been blessed in the past to have been gifted charts or been part of an online SAL which produced magnificent samplers. 

I see by my schedule planner, that I had thought to run a monthly giveaway on the first Wednesday of each month....   Possibly this time around will be some printed charts which were freebies online about 10 years ago.  They may still be available, but some may no longer be available.   I'll have to look through the pile.  If you would be interested in such a givaway - please let me know in the comments.