June 2021 WIPGO Goals Review

 Numbers called for June's WIPGO board were #1 and #17.

My first project was Valentine Bakery from Stitching with the Housewives.  I bought this around Valentine's day and added it to my WIPGO board in the hope of having a little Valentine finish for next year.  The 10 hours of stitching time was enough to start and finish this pretty stitch.  I stitched on an 18 count aida that I hand dyed with Vintage Blue Nylon and briefly dipped in tea/coffee solution afterwards.  Not entirely sure I like the tea/coffee mottle - having trouble convincing my brain that it doesn't just look dirty.  But I guess by the time I cut it down and stitch into a little display pillow, I won't notice it too much.It's only small at approx 2.5" x 3" or so.

The Original - not my stitching

Number 17 is another new start project on my board.  It's the Love Lives Here pattern by Country Cottage Needleworks.  I love that house, the two sweet trees and the four birds on the fence.  Would quite like to live in a cottage like that - looks like a happy kind of place.  

This is what my 10 hour start achieved.  Not too bad and certainly a very pretty WIP to add to my ever growing basket!

I wonder what numbers July's draw will call for.  

Catch up on cross stitch finishes

I've been stitching a little faster than I've been blogging recently, so I have a few finishes to catch you up with.

True Friends is the design from my first ever Cotton and Twine Subscription Box back at the end of January.  I absolutely loved stitching this and enjoyed everything about the subscription box, from the pattern and threads to the frame that was included and the little sweet treat and gift heart too.  I will gift this to a friend later this summer, but for now I admire it as it awaits being passed on.

This design is from a new-to-me designer called Jeannine McGowan who designs under the name of The Blue Flower.  Jeannine released a number of patterns at this year's Needlework Online Expo in March and this is just one of three that I purchased.  It's called Language of Flowers: Spring.  

I stitched with the DMC alternatives to the silk recommendations.  It was a little too dense perhaps to use two threads on this 20 count fabric, but I needed double strands for the blended colour ways that were charted.  Next time I'll know better.  Gives it great texture and it still looks nice.

I also achieved a finish on the Shine On Sampler cross stitch SAL a teeny bit ahead of the Fat Quarter Shop SAL schedule.  I love that Bonnie and Camille made a cross stitch design of their new sampler quilt from the Quilt Bee book.  It was deceptive though - so many more stitches than I had imagined are in that piece, but I don't regret a single one. And, of course, the actual quilt sampler from the book is on my to do list, hopefully for 2022 ;-)

Embroidery Trio for a little corner

 

Finishing up this adorable Un Chat dans L'Aiguille pattern has been an absolute pleasure.  This is Quand Salome se promene a velo (When Salome Rides Her Bicycle).

As you can see she has been finished in a wrapped hoop (pretty co-ordiniating Tilda fabric for the win) and joins two previous finishes from Un Chat Dans L'Aiguille in the play area of our living room.

Enjoyed every stitch of making this corner pretty!

Cross stitch Stitch Along - La Finestra del Tempo

From the minute I first saw these Crocette a Gogo calendar months, I have been itching to stitch them.  

Currently, there are two releases of these La Finestra del Tempo (Time Windows), January to April in part 1 and May to August in part 2.  

I think they are beyond adorable, and I can't wait to see what the September to December release will bring!

So, I decided to invite my new Flosstube friends and you, too, to join in stitching them with me in a casual little SAL.

The plan is to start on Sunday 1st August, stitching one calendar chart per month, starting with January. We'll be sharing progress on IG using the #finestradeltemposal. I can't wait to see everybody's stitching and any colour changes, little tweaks along the way.

So, can I tempt you to join us?  

If you'd like to stitch along, just pick up the patterns from the Crocette a Gogo Etsy shop, kit them up with fabric and floss and have your needle poised for August 1st.  

Hope to see you then!

WIPGO update April & May 2021

My goal for WIPGO this year is to work 10hrs on each project in the month in which it is called, and so far I've been managing to keep up with the stitching, even if I am late sharing it here with you.  

WIPGO numbers called for April and May covered these projects:

#3 - Square Tile Sampler - might not look like much but this was a 10 hour start on this lovely tile motif design.

#21 - Celebrate Spring - this beautiful pattern from Madame Chantillly was a real pleasure to work on.  I hope I can get back to it soon.  That little shepherdess needs her sheep!

#19 - Create Every Day  - this little stitch has now been fully finished into a project bag which I have written about here in more detail.

#22 - MFE 2020 SAL - I was sneaking in the stitching when I could to make the 10 hour goal on this one.  When Little Miss was happily absorbed by the Smurfs I managed to tick off the last hour for this WIPGO goal.

I have now moved on to my June goals.  Both of those called are Valentine patterns and I'm going to enjoy them very much.  WIPGO has certainly been motivational for this early part of the year.  Hoping I can keep it up!

Being sewciable again

As some of the Covid restrictions are slightly relaxing here, it has been lovely to finally be able to get together with friends inside again to stitch together. 

My friend and I are meeting weekly, when we can, to stitch up some of Lori Holt's Great Granny Squared blocks.  My trusty Bonnie and Camille stash has been dipped into again and I'm building a nice little collection of blocks for what I hope will be a quilt for Siblings Together sometime later this year.  It has been lovely to work on these without pressure of a particular deadline and just enjoy the fabric choices and taking time to get all those seems nested well.  There's a lot to be said for slow sewing.

My friend was wanting to try out a little zippy cosmetic bag too, so we stitched little pouches one afternoon.  In full disclosure, mine had to be totally unpicked and re-stitched.  I had switched to first time varifocal glasses that week and I couldn't get used to them at all.  The resulting sewing was not pretty.  I may have had a little huff at the prospect of all the unpicking, but I did eventually return to it and fix things up when I has worked out how exactly to see through my glasses for sewing at the machine.  Ah, the trials of middle age ;-)

Sewing with friends makes me very happy, and I am so glad things are opening up to allow that as a possibility again.  I even have plans to travel to England in July for a lovely, long mid-week stitchy holiday with my beloved TATS buddies.  See you all soon, ladies!!

Create Every Day

Create Every Day - how many of us wish that every day was a day to create, to stitch, to indulge our passion?  Well, it might not be exactly possible, but we could try for as many days as we can, right?  It's good for our brains, good for our emotions and helps balance out our mental health.  I'm ALL for giving it a go ;-)

This cross-stitch pattern is a freebie by Teresa Kogut which I found on the Fat Quarter Shop website here.

Stitching this was the first time I ever stitched with Sulky 12wt thread.  This is a blendable (the Sulky name for variegated) thread from a mixed pack of Sulky Petites.  Each single strand of Sulky floss is said to be equivalent to 2 strands of DMC floss, so with Sulky there's no having to separate strands of floss, you just pull off the spool and go.  I was really impressed with my experience of this thread.  It stitched beautifully, had lovely coverage on the even weave fabric I used and was a gorgeous colour.  It was also a great feel to stitch with, so there will definitely be more Sulky stitching in my future.

I used the cross-stitch piece as a panel for a project bag because what could be more perfect than a project bag encouraging you to stitch more?  Paired with floral Liberty of London and some Essex Linen in Oyster, I love how this large pouch came together.

I trialled the Sulky for quilting this project bag also and it stitched beautifully.  It's a nice change for a slightly heavier weight look in quilting, perfect for a little embellishment on pouches and small stitchy pieces.

All in all, I love everything about this little project, and of course, it won't be long before I have another new start project to put it to good use!

Flosstube Beginnings

I've been busy stitching away here and making sure I keep up the content for my new sewmesarah Flosstube Channel.  Moving into Flosstube has been a steep learning curve but it has been such a great experience and I am so glad I made the leap, even though initially it terrified me.

The flosstube community has been hugely welcoming, encouraging and supportive of my baby channel and I even managed to hit 1,000 subscribers in just two videos!! Stunned doesn't even begin to explain how I feel.  I kind of thought a few of my best stitchy friends would pop by, say Hi and occasionally dip in.  But, the flosstube community has really shown up, engaged, shouted me out on their channels and totally accepted everything I've had to show - cross-stitch, embroidery, quilting, whatever.  It has been truly a lot of fun.

Of course, hitting the 1,000 subscriber milestone deserved a little giveaway opportunity for those who have supported me.  So, with Christmas in July stitching just right around the corner, I made a small Christmas patchwork project bag with co-ordinating needle minder and included the sweet 'Snow Joyful' Christmas ornament cross stitch chart by Homespun Elegance.  If you haven't checked out my flosstube yet and might be interested, please pop over there and take a peek.  While you're there you can enter the giveaway - just follow the instructions on the video.

A huge thank you to all of you who have popped over to the blog from Flosstube.  Thank you for following, for wanting to find out a little more about what I'm up to and for engaging.  It has been a fun start to this new journey.  I am looking forward to seeing how it goes from here.

Spelling Bee - Progress 7

It's been a while since I updated you on the progress of my Spelling Bee blocks.  There are a couple of reasons for that.  Firstly, I've been pretty busy with other things, but secondly, when I did have time to give to Spelling Bee, I spent a lot of it cutting!

The result is that I only have these to show you - 

I love the fabric combinations in these O, I and parentheses blocks.  This quilt is perfect for playing with fabric combinations.

It's ok that I only managed to make 4 blocks recently, because I have another 7 or 8 blocks in little ziplock bags ready to be stitched together.  Hoping to open a few of those fabric packages this weekend ;-)