Mid-April weekend of finishes show and tell.

It's been a busy weekend again.
I managed a few other finishes.  First I sorted my batting scraps, and using the inspiration from 'Just Get it Done' tutorial, made up some Frankenbatting. 

All those strips of batting left over from quilting projects, trimmed and stitched together.  It gave me a useful table runner sized piece to use.     

I found a table runner I put together some New Years Day a couple of years ago, after somebody on some Facebook group asked where to get the pattern.  I looked at the picture and figured out the pattern pretty quickly.  The reason this one is special, is that the yellow floral fabric was once a favourite shirt. 

The butter yellow linen was so soft, and when one or two rips became evident, the fabric made its way into my stash.
So it's quilted and bound, tonight I'll be stitching the binding down and tying off all the quilting thread ends.   Then it will make it's way into my gift giving basket.
I also managed to simply quilt the disappearing Shoofly mini quilt - made up last weekend after watching the Friday Missouri Star tutorial.  See, I tend to make their quilts in miniature, because I don't need to make a big quilt at the moment, and I just want to try a new technique.  
This has a recipient and will make it to her home shortly.  I didn't take a picture of the coaster using the same fabric as the binding.
Oh what else do I have to share?   What about some detail of the April TOL SAL.  Check out this blog page on the 20th of each month for the monthly pattern release.  This is the 2nd colourway I've made of this pattern.  I've not updated the lilac version yet.
Who knows what next week holds??  Enjoy your week everybody

Easter Basket Flurry of Finishes

So much fun participating in the Easter Blog Hop. 
I spent Saturday, finishing off a few smalls out of my overflowing basket of finishes.

I have sorted them by size, and leaving aside those finishes which need to be framed, and the larger finishes to be made into cushions or wall hangings, set about making small fobs or pin cushions, slightly larger cushions and padded ornaments.  I selected a few to be turned into mug-mats. 

Those of you with eagle eyes may notice some of those finishes from the Easter Hop are now finished and ready to be gifted to friends.

A lot of these were practice pieces and I have no information on the source.  I guess you can spy a Lizzie Kate.  In the larger pillow section, there is a carnation which I stitched in 1981.  It was from the background of an Assisi piece which now sits on the wall of my parents house.  This would have been my first experiment in applying my own colour shading to a pattern as the original was outline only.  Bronny's sheepie farm was an original design by myself in 2011
In amongst the mug-mats is an applique sheep, I rescued this from an op shop some years ago, but buttons and all, will make a fine mug-mat

Later in the evening, I turned my head towards my English Floral Sampler - to finish off week 1 in rotation and finished "M" - Morning Glory.  I've been looking forward to this one, as I love the blues/lilacs.  This means I'm now half-way through the alphabet and therefore the sampler, so a bit of happy dancing being done here right now.

Today's plan is to play with a couple of small patchwork projects which have been living inside my head for a few weeks.  I hope to have these done, so tomorrow I can move onto attempting to finish a couple of backs for existing quilts.

I hope the Easter Bunny has been kind to you all and your needles have been productive.

Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2020

Here it is, my first every participation in a Blog Hop. Jo at Serendipitous Stitching has organised a lovely Easter Activity.  Hop over to her blog and read up all about it and follow the blogs to find a message that will be hidden on each participant's blog post on Easter Friday.  

The theme is Easter or Spring, and the idea is to share pictures of such themed stitching...   Why not? I thought, I can do this..  Surely I have in my mountains of stitching something Easterish or Spring Like...    Head first into the basket of finishes I delved....  Band Sampler after Band Sampler, Cats, Snowmen, oooo I'd forgotten I'd done that, ornaments waiting to be finished into something to hang.  Cushions waiting to be finished, some specialty stitches waiting to be framed (really MUST do that soon) - surely I had something with bunnies???  Easter Eggs???  What am I do to?   Of course!  SHEEPIES !!  Sheepies are spring time.

Starting with the banner across the top - I remember stitching that in 2011 and now plan to finish this into a bolster cushion to send up to my Granddaughter, because I know she can count up to 5.

Do you like Lacy Lamb?  This deserves to be stitched into a small cushion  (stay tuned folks for all the finishes that will happen over this holiday isolated weekend)  I think it was a chart sent to me in 2011 - the Year of the Sheep.  So many sheep were stitched that year.  

I did mention band samplers - here is a group of 4 - Not sure who designed these either, but how should I finish these?  I might stitch these 4 together in this sequence for yet another cushion cover  Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter  - I don't know if they are Lizzie Kate, but I had a thing for her samplers some 10 years ago

2011 - one of my first sheepies - it is a wee thing. Dated MMXI - destined for a scissor fob or pincushion methinks - teenie sheepies

Another couple of samplers - A day in the country stitched in 2011, Black Sheep - stitched in 2008 and Home is where you hang your Quilts stitched in 2009.  All have springlike essences.  You in the northern hemisphere, must remember, we here in Australia have just hit Autumn, Spring won't be here until Halloween  - lol

Do you like this little stitch?  I think it was a freebie from Frimousse a decade ago.  I think it might have been one of my first forays into variegated thread - Needle Necessities, or as it has become, Threadworx.

I'm determined to finish this sheepie sibling bookmark this weekend and send it on to somebody!  Let me know in the comments and I'll pick a name on the 20th April to send it out.  I'll post anywhere.

Before I get onto one of the first stitches I ever did, I will share for you MY letter as part of the Treasure Hunt.   Jo allocated to me, the letter  

Go ahead and have a look at all the other blogs in the Hop, leave a comment so we know you are playing and work out the secret message.    The next blog can be found here

I"ll leave you with one of the oldest finishes I have in my basket  - a bit of Spanish Blackwork

  I first started cross stitching in 1975 at school and enjoyed it.  I remember stitching on the train, heading to work in 1981.  This pic is somewhere in between, possibly 1978 and one of my High School assessment pieces.  It had been finished into a cushion to enter the assessments, but I brought it back to just the fabric before the cat could claw it to bits.  So this bit of spanish blackwork has been sitting in my 'lets finish this soon' basket for 42 YEARS !!!!    

(can we spell P R O C R A S T I N A T I O N ???)  

Happy Easter Everybody and Enjoy your Stitching.  Looking forward to Hopping across to all the Blogs in this Treasure Hunt.

The People's Choice SAL

2020 The People's Choice SAL

Having fallen into this SAL - following Jo at Serendipitous Stitching who was asking about Modern Samplers.
I have a lot of traditional samplers as it turns out, but I feel a modern sampler can still hold parts of traditional samplers, but without the biblical verse.
Well I was dipping into my basket of finishes, looking for items to show for the Easter Blog Hop (come back here on 10th April) and I found these  items....

Quiet Please, stitched in 2013 was, from memory an online freebie.  I stitched it in dark and light olive green DMC and I think needle necessities variegated.  The fabric is more vibrant yellow than shown here (pic taken under lamplight) and the variegated is similar in shading to gum leaves.

Coffee - well this was most definitely an online freebie... and was finished when I had a different surname in December 2004 - a lifetime ago and I've yet to finish the design.  

How could I have forgotten my own design?  I designed this and released the pattern on 123 Stitch.com way back in 2007.  I've used this sentiment again on another, more traditional sampler later in the same year.
 
I think, after rifling through my finishes basket, that I might make a few cushions and wee ornaments over the Easter weekend and empty the basket somewhat

Don't forget to come back on the 10th - I don't know yet just what I'll be sharing....  This will be my first blog-hop!

Harriet Salt Quandry .. . ..

Happily stitching away this week on Harriet Salt.  Stitching the first row of Alphabet... going quite well I thought, until I realised that I had stitched past the half way point, with still a considerable amount of alphabet remaining for the first line.

I remember working out the full chart stitched over two would result in a large stitch around 2foot square.  This would pose a problem framing and hanging such a sizeable design.  Simple, I would stitch the whole thing over one thread.  I bought new fabric just for that purpose.  

At what point did I realise I was stitching over two threads and not one???
Yep.  You guessed it.  When I'd finished the letter I


Quandry.  Do I continue this alphabet over two, changing just where I start the second line - changing the design entirely.

OR

Do I just start this row again, from A - stitching over One as intended and unpick what I spent stitching another time.

I have enough fabric length-wise to start again.  I'm just somewhat embarrassed that I did not pick up my goof earlier.   I'm now at the end of the week, so it will be another 4 weeks before Harriet comes back into rotation.