It's been awhile.... let's sit a spell and chat...

Hello everybody.
Since reviving my blog, it was not my intention to leave it so long between posts.  The last few weeks have been interesting and I seem to have a lot to chat about.
Lets see... what have I got to share..
Quilting
Cross Stitching
Me behind the scenes
The world and the current environment
And in no particular order.

I have blue hair .... and a brand new grandson.  I was due to fly up to Townsville to help look after my Mini-me while her mum was in hospital.  Unfortunately, my flight was 7am Wednesday, and the borders were closed due to COVID-19 at midnight Tuesday.   Lachlan was born 27 March - and I changed my hair to a vivid blue to celebrate.   It is slowly fading, but it is such a lovely shade, I'll be getting it re-done in a few months, in time to visit when the borders are re-opened in Australia.

It's a Buoy!

I made a baby quilt for Lachlan - it is titled "It's a Buoy!"  I had fun creating this quilt - referenced SuzyQuilts Sailboat quilt pattern.
After the quilt was finished, I then used the Just Get it Done tutorial and made an 'After Quilt' 

This I had a lot of fun with and I really like the way the spare sailboat sails now look a bit like bunting. And the border was stitched with prairie points, using the information from Sew Easy tutorial.  It really sets off the whole quilt

The next quilt which captured my attention, as part of my "Finish it off" obsession was a hand pieced quilt.  My first quilt.  

1985 Sampler quilt

detail of hand piecing

I had attended a night school in 1985 and this was the result.  Yep.  1985.  This quilt top has waited since 1985 to be finished.  (35 years....)  Trying desperately not to overthink things.. I failed majestically. 

Batik pieced sampler back

 I started by drawing out 12 patchwork blocks that I thought would look good.   6 basic 9-patches and 6 basic 4-patches. It was my intention to sash it with dark green and border it with the orange fabric... but I changed my mind at the last moment.  The orange fabric will be the binding too when my machine comes home and I can finally quilt it.

I had a load of batik FQ's and using quilt math, with only a few re-do patches, spent time working out the best method of HST that was economical for my fabric reserves.  I carefully pieced and measured and made sashing and borders and now I have a quilt top and bottom for a double-sided quilt.  It is so near completion, but my sewing machine had a hissy fit with all the sewing and is now in the service centre, getting a tweak and a push and shove and a gentle massage before coming back to me next week


This month in cross stitching I had an epiphany in regard to HATS Harriet Salt Sampler.
Firstly I couldn't find fabric which was 'right'.  I found some online and ordered some lovely 32count floss.  When I finally started Harriet in rotation, was happily stitching the first alphabet and got to the end of the fabric before realising I was in error, stitching the design over 2 threads instead of one.  Slightly frustrated, I flipped the fabric over and started again.  I barely got through the 'A' when I realised I was not enjoying the process, nor the look of the result.
I made the decision to stop stitching Harriet.  I may take her back up again another time, or I might make use of various alphabets in other designs.  The floss I will use in another single colour stitch of my own choosing in another time.  I do have a lot of choices of charts.  The fabric should suit another Mirabilia mermaid, or will be put to use on another design.  The time allocated to Harriet in Rotation, I will change to Shores of Hawk Run Hollow.
 

As for the rest of my stitching in rotation... The English Floral Sampler has now completed to N - Nasturtium
I get a lot of pleasure knowing this is growing and I'm now more than half way...


Today is the 20th of the month and my TOL 2020 SAL section for MAY will be updated on the page.  There are a few people stitching this, and it is lovely to see each version and how different but same they all are.

Despite 2020 being extreme circumstances for most people worldwide.  I had earlier this year determined that 2020 was to be a good year for me - I have a new mind-set and am working hard to re-set my work/life balance.  I am one of the lucky ones, I work M-F from 9-5 and that has not changed.  I work for a company which has been determined to be an essential business.  Social Restrictions have meant traveling from home to work and back again, and I've spent most of my home life sewing and stitching.  I have been keeping in touch with my friends and family through phone and video calls.  However, late April, I had a major panic attack, brought on by work stresses from July 18 to Dec 19.  As this has been resolved, it was as if I was wound up and after relaxing, a spring went off be-doinnng!  The bright light in all of this, is finding out my heart is sound and healthy and there is no evidence of a heart attack.  I know the triggers now and after a few after-shocks am healing well with confirmation that the mind-set I started in January.  It did, however, mean that I avoided most social media, including facebook and blogs for a few weeks
I feel much better now and am catching up... hence this lengthy catch up 
If you are still with me... thank you. 

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.

Blue IS my colour ....

My Grandson, Lachlan John Bacon was born on Friday 27 May.  Due to COVID-19, I had to make the heartbreaking decision not to travel to QLD.  Doing so, I would have had to have traveled through 3 airports and ran the risk of transmitting the virus to a newborn.
So I have stayed home, and to celebrate his birth, decided to colour my hair blue.  

Fluro Highlighter Blue!

It is supposed to wash out after 5-6 washes, but as my base colour is white and very porous, the colour hangs on and I can expect this to slowly fade over the next 4-5 months.  I am happy to have hair that provides a positive impact during this global event.

I'm not on lockdown yet, having a secure job in facility management.  Should I have to reduce my hours, I have plenty of stitching ahead of me to keep productive.  I might even turn to Craftsy to discover a new craft or technique.

 

I also have finally made a start on Harriet Salt.  One evening's stitching completed the letter 'A'.  I'll see how far I progress during this week along this alphabet line.





I'm contemplating stitching bunnies for 2021 - along the line of 2011-The year of the Sheepie!  So, will spend the next couple of months sourcing some charts, in particular, something simple to stitch on the 21st of each month.

Hoping you are all keeping safe and isolated.
We are strong, we can craft our way to sanity.

If you are reading my blog, drop a line to say hello!

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.

This was the week that was.... First week of 2020

HI friends,  I have spent the past 2 weeks in organising heaven.  I am determined to be more organised in 2020, and have a scheduled amount of sewing to get through.  I have 4 SAL's, a baby quilt, a wedding quilt, Christmas Stitching, and a pile of WIP's to get through.  Add to this, October and November will be spent touring the USA...  I have THAT to plan also.  

I have spent a lot of time sorting all those magazine and freebie downloads I'd kept from about 10 years and more ago.  I've sorted them into display folders by type and theme, and using excel (bless it's little cotton socks - I LOVE excel) have made indexes for each book, which is now labelled and filed in my cubes.  The total of display books is currently 15, but I have a big box of quilting patterns and another couple of saved boxes of mostly Halloween, Christmas and samplers to sort through.   I hope to run a couple of giveaways this year for those who are interested in my excess patterns and charts.

English Floral Sampler

This is one of my WIP's.  I refer to it as my English Floral Alphabet Sampler - I started it around 2005.  Found it, and the charts during my clean up and have put it on high rotation.     The patterns were issued in a series in the English CrossStitcher magazine in 1993.     I participated in a round robin in 2005, and stitched the W - Waterlilly for my part. (if I think hard, I should be able to find my round robin item - it was teapots)   The flower was easy to stitch and I thought how nice it would be to have the full alphabet as a banner sampler.   My plan is to stitch this at the very least, the first week of each month.  It is to be my fall back sampler stitch for 2020.   I finished the K this week - today I will kit up the floss (DMC) for the letter

T.U.S.A.L. 2020

 In preparation for T.U.S.A.L. 2020, i had to empty my special jar.  The floss inside had gathered there from at least 2017 and also at least some 2018 stitching.
As I had done some intensive cross stitching in the last 3 months of 2013, the orts had been gathered in my little fabric box by my chair.  It was fitting that they had their photo taken in my TUSAL bottle.

If you wish to participate in the TUSAL for 2020, click here for the link to my TUSAL page which explains all.

Speaking of SAL's  - please feel free to join in - here are the links to this year's SAL's (so far)

Harriet Salt - A SAL from HATS - stitching a reproduction Sampler and hoping to finish in 2020

TOL 2020 Mystery SAL - Threads of Life - an online group I've been part of for over 20 years.   This year, I'm offering a 20 line sampler over 11 months.  Each section will be released on the 20th of the month.

NFSAL 2020 - Following another blog Magical Quilts and more - This SAL is for using up the neglected floss I've collected over the
years 

Not much action on the sewing machine so far this year, but there is still another 50 weeks of the year to go.  After all, there is still a couple of quilts to produce at the very least.   Time now to go and see what all of you are blogging about.  

See you all soon with another Bronnys Sewing Nook update.