The First Moving It Forward Monday For November

 Ahhh, another month has started and we are moving quickly towards the end of the year.  So it's time to see what I have going on for this month and what I hope to get done before it ends.

Quilting

On the quilting front there are a few things that I hope to push to completion by the end of the month.  For starters, I haven't even begun to decorate for the Fall.  Part of the reason is that I really want to finish this "Thankful" wall hanging to start that off.  

As I reported in my last post, I had taken the center of the top which was finished last year with me on our recent vacation.  I had managed to put the borders on while away and now that we're back, wanted to really try to move it forward.  

Today I made the backing for it.  I had a nice piece of fabric but it needed additional strips at the top and bottom to bring it to size and allow for extra for the quilting take up.  I did that and added in a light piece into the bottom strip (the background fabric used in the blocks on the front) for a label area.  

I also gave some thought to how I wanted to quilt it.  I think I want to try curved cross hatching in the setting triangles since I've never done that before.   Next up will be layering it and then hopefully I will get this quilted in the next week or so.

A Bunch of "3 Yard Quilts"

Also while away, I had started work on a Fabric Cafe 3 Yard Quilt that started with fabric I had leftover from a previous project.  I had originally thought I was going to make this in their usual lap size.  However, after realizing I had quite a bit of the "focus fabric",  I decided to enlarge it to Twin size.  I had finished piecing the blocks by the end of October and in the first few days of November, got the top all sewn together.

This is the "Heartland" quilt from the "Pretty Darn Quick" book.

I already have the backing for this but don't think I'll quilt it just yet.  I also have another 3 Yard Quilt top that was made while I was away but it too will have to wait its turn for quilting.  The reason for that is that I have yet another 3 Yard Quilt that would be great to finish for Fall decorating this year.

This one is their "Checkmate" design (link is to the printed pattern but it's also available in digital form).  I had purchased this as a kit when I Shop Hopped with my MIL in 2022.  I finished the top that year but it has just sat since then.  I've gone back and forth about how to quilt it:  a simple straight-line cross hatch or something special?  While I'm still trying to decide and since I already also have the backing prepared for it, this is the next one I'll baste and then it too will be ready for quilting and display for this season.

The Quiltville Mystery Season Is Almost Here!

Any Bonnie Hunter fans out there?  If so, you know her annual "mystery season" is coming up!  Bonnie has already released the introductory post for this year's mystery named "Indigo Way" which was inspired by her travels to Vietnam.  

As always, I will be excited  to see each clue drop and see if other quilters have changed the colors used and what their progress is each week.  As tempted as I am to do this one (as it's in one of my favorite color schemes: Red, White and Indigo Blue), I had already planned this year to finally get all of my accumulated mystery tops quilted.  

Clockwise from top left:  En Provence, On Ringo Lake, Old Tobacco Road and Double Delight

I have four so far so I know that is a big task but it needs to be done.  Since the holiday season last year, I have also been trying to focus on completing the fifth one:  Bonnie's "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll".  It has moved along in dribs and drabs since I started it in 2018 and I am pleased to say that right before October ended I had leader/endered (yes, official quilting term) the blocks and rows to complete the center of it.

Also over the past few months, I've also completed the pieced units that will make up the outer border.

Those now have to be sewn together to be added to the center along with a green inner border which I also have the fabric for.  Last thing will be to make the backing.  The fabric is also already in house for that so hopefully by the end of the mystery season, this too will be ready to be quilted. 

As of right now, the (very ambitious) plan is to spend each week of the mystery working on finishing one of the quilts.  It would be exciting for me to get them all done by January when the mystery season ends.  So this month, I have until the mystery starts on Black Friday to get myself prepared.  After that, we'll see if I can stick to that plan!

Cross Stitch

When I started cross stitching, I had said that I didn't expect/want it to become the obsession that Quilting is for me.  Yeah, that is quickly falling by the wayside, LOL!  Much like with quilting, you see something, say "Ohhhh..." and before you know it, another WIP is in the works!  

That happened to me twice in October and both are the fault influence of Helen D's Flosstubes (love 'ya Helen!!)!  Helen lives in Maine and I have already stitched one of her designs as a memento of our trip to Acadia National Park in Maine although it still needs to be "fully finished".  While I was at my MIL's last month, I  watched one of Helen's videos where she showed this Halloween piece:

I really, really liked it but figured I didn't want to go shopping for the fabric to make it right now.  Yeah, right, never tempt the Crafting Muses like that!  So of course, I'm Shop Hopping (in a quilt store mind you) with my MIL and I see this in one of our stops:

Found @ The Broken Needle

Immediately, I thought of Helen's piece!  Okay the fabric is a little darker but I was intrigued by the idea of adjusting the called for threads to make it work.  Fortunately, at that point we still had another Shop Hop stop to make and since buying cross stitch stuff was not the priority on this trip, I decided to pass on it in favor of the other purchases I was making at that shop and to save some money for the next Shop Hop stop.  

Well, I didn't spend as much as I thought I would at that next (and last) stop sooooo.....of course it was back to the previous shop for the cross stitch fabric!!  Since we were returning home pretty close to Halloween, I knew I wouldn't have time to fully kit up and start this one.  Now that the fabric is in stash, it can wait it out until next year.  I already have another Halloween piece partially kitted up (and come to think of it, that too was influenced by one of Helen's finishes!) so those two will be set up for working on in time for that holiday next year.

However that is not the end of the Cross stitch journey.  I had noted in my last post that I had worked on my "Open Your Heart" piece on the drive home from our trip.  I hadn't gotten much done on it from the previous time I worked on it in July and didn't get all that much done in the car either.  But once back home, I was able to go back to stitching on it daily in the evenings.  I'm pleased to say that as of last night, another page of it is now done!

I've finished page Six (the right side) after starting the design on page Five (the left side).  I did that because these sections of the design have the most color changes in them.  Next I will move onto page Four which will fill in the rest of the left side and complete the bottom half of the whole design.  

However, that is not what I will be working on for cross stitch for November.  That project will be this one:

Which can be seen in this video.

Yes, I'm starting yet another cross stitch project!  Okay, but this one has a quilt angle.  When I finish quilting the "Thankful" wall hanging that I talked about at the start of this post, it will replace the wall hanging currently here:

In the past when I have hung quilts in this space, I have had partner pieces hanging on the adjacent wall to the right of there.

I actually have one for that RWB Log Cabin quilt but it still needs to be quilted (the story of my life).  I would definitely like to do the same for "Thankful" but in a timely manner this time.  I had considered doing another quilted wall hanging but when I once again watched a Helen D. Flosstube and she showed the "Give Thanks" piece it was "Ooooh, I love that and check out that circular frame!".  After stitching the cross stitch piece, Helen had gotten the frame from her mother who had gotten it in a box of frames given to her by a friend.  I had also seen another absolutely stunning circular piece Helen had done for Halloween this year (which is actually by the same designer as the Thanksgiving piece).  She framed it in what had formerly been a mirror frame!

Helen shows how she did the framing process in this video.

When I started this new hobby, I found myself as intrigued by the ways the stitched pieces are finished for display as much as I am by the stitched designs themselves!  I did some research and while I couldn't find the frame she had used for the Thanksgiving piece, I did find an Etsy shop that sells wooden frames that can hold an embroidery hoop as the "backing" for the stitched piece in the frame.

I fully intended to go that route.  After purchasing the pattern*, I found that I already had a fabric for this project having purchased it as part of a discounted pack of fabric when I was sourcing supplies for the cross stitch workshop I led in the summer.  I also already had nine of the thirteen colors of floss needed for it in four other "Haven't Started Yet" projects I have kitted up.  

Prior to embarking on a trip to the local Michael's for the rest of the floss and the embroidery hoop, I looked up "circular frames" to see if  they had any in stock I might like.  There were frames listed but most were either not the size I needed or were a little more than I wanted to spend for a piece to be displayed only once a year.  However, I also saw these:

Grapevine wreaths!  Oooh, how cool and seasonally appropriate it would be if they had one the size of the finished piece that I could frame it with!  At the store I did find one so at least for now, I plan to use this for the framing.

*Note:  As of the time I post this, the link to the pattern is for a "combo deal" for the "Give Thanks" and the companion "Autumn, Please" pattern.  However, both patterns can also be purchased separately. 

So I will stop work on "Open Your Heart" once again in favor of trying to get this one stitched up and "fully finished" in time for Thanksgiving display.  As always, so much to do, so little time!