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!

A crafter's self isolation solution

March update on stitching and crafting.

We crafters have been practicing for self-isolation for years.  I am lucky as I am still working and likely to remain so, while the building is operating.
However, It is Saturday here in Sunny Australia and on Wednesday at OMG-o'clock, I have plans to fly interstate, to act as carer to my not quite 2yo Granddaughter.   Why?  Because on Friday (if not before), My wonderful Daughter-in-Law is booked for a C-Section on Friday 27 March and we are waiting eagerly to greet my new Grandson.  While My son is allowed to visit, young Claire is not able to visit due to Covid-19 restrictions. 

I have taken all precautions and have been given a clean bill of health from my doctor and will be flying up to help out for two weeks.   I have also prepared a Grandma bag of crafty bits to take with me and am looking forward to Tea-party with dolly in the park, painting the driveway with water, drawing on the footpath with chalk, (as little miss is not allowed to use texta or crayons at the moment!), many little craft ideas to keep her occupied and hopefully not missing mum too much.
I'll be looking forward to my few days holiday on the way home!

I have been stitching, although by looking at my TUSAL jar for March, you wouldn't think so. 

 
  

I've finished L for Lily for the English Floral Sampler  - really pleased how it is progressing after all this time.   
 







 
Keeping to my planned stitching list I've managed to finish the March Section of the TOL 2020 Sampler - Lilac version and well through the Blue version.

I'll be taking both of these with me for some downtime stitching while away.   Poor Harriet Salt may be passed over again this month. 

Well that is that,  I haven't got a progress shot of the quilt but that will be shown off when I've got a Grandson to complete the photo-shoot.

Wherever you are, and whatever you do, please try to stay positive and follow directions.  This is an interesting time and we will live through it.  Virtual Hugs from me and mine to you and yours.

February - how my year is progressing

It's been a full-on February
Many birthdays in the month to celebrate, and preparation for a new Grandchild who may show up early (due on 20 March) 

To this end, I've been stitching a quilt - mostly on weekends. 

I selected a free quilt pattern - Ahoy Sailor - online from Suzy Quilts and started with the blocks, these ended up 8" square    
I changed the shoulder blocks and the size of the 'water' blocks under the sailboats, added a strip of sky and found a great border print.   I even made up a buoy block. 

I have therefore titled this one "It's a Buoy!"  So have hung it out on the clothes line (as you do), to take a picture which really serves to show all the seams up well.  When it is quilted, it should be a better photo.  One of the strips of 'water' is full of sharks.

Stitching today, I've been watching you-tube channels and am picking up some great tips to try out - have binge-watched Just Do It Quilts and now that the top is done, (and because I cannot learn to stop before I make quilts too big - its a 60" cot quilt) I"m making an after-quilt for the back - using up as much of the scraps as I can.   I plan to make a prairie point border after watching Sew Very Easy tutorial.
Cutting the border fabric here I am using a vintage hot iron to weigh down the other end of my template - This idea came from watching Donna at Jordan Fabrics

I've been so busy that I now need a new iron!  The teflon coating has given way and is peeling off.  Allan tells me that I can use his, so it's not all that bad.

Embroidery Update for February

I've got my new fabric for Harriet Salt and have so far, only gridded it out ready to start stitching.  

However, due to my plan for the year, tomorrow, I will be back to stitching on the English Floral sampler - I've made a plan and it's only fair that I try to keep to it

• First Week is English Sampler
• Second Week it my TOL mystery Sampler (so I can have it ready for the 20th)
• Third week is Christmas stitching... hmm 2 months down and no Xmas stitching in progress.
• Fourth week is Harriet Salt.
• Weekends and daylight is left for Quilting 

 

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.

T.U.S.A.L. - JAN 2020

TUSAL - JAN 2020

Here is my first offering to the TUSAL gods for 2020.  In this meager selection, I have orts from the English Floral Sampler, Harriet Salt, TOL mystery SAL.  I have spent more time this month planning and preparing stitching than actually stitching, but it's a good start.   I have used this container for my Orts since 2010 and recently found ziplock bags with orts from 2012 and 2015.  I've kept them to fill ornaments I hope to stitch this year.

As it is New Moon today - it's time to share your TUSAL containers - Here is a link to my page which explains it all.   Join in.
TUSAL - Totally Useless Stitch A Long

Time to release the first part of my 2020 Mystery SAL.
I'm stitching on a random overdyed 14 count Aida from my stash.
I'm stitching in 2 colours, using Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Hand Dyed Floss - Purple 113 and a random Deep Sage green (have lost the tag - sorry)  I have also selected Mill Hill Glass Seed Beads to augment the design.  I prefer beads to french knots, but it is up to you.  Purple 00252 and Green 02031  
The first picture shown is without the beads and for some reason shows the colour of the fabric better.  The second photo with the beads is washed out somewhat, but I'm really happy with the way the beads have made that design POP
 

Look for the pdf of this mystery SAL on the dedicated page.
Send me a picture of your progress and I'll add it to the page as we travel through the year.
Look for the next part of the SAL on 20 Feb 2020 

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.

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