Slow Sunday Stitching: "Christmas In July" Stitching Has Started!

I'm checking in for the first time this month over at Kathy's Quilts for "Slow Sunday Stitching"!

In my report for the end of June,  I talked about unfinished projects for that month and the plan to start on projects for "Christmas In July".  Since July 1st was on a Tuesday,  my hope was to use the last Sunday and Monday of June to finish up the stitching of at least two of those projects.  Good news, one of them -- Primrose Cottage's "Home of the Brave" -- did get done!

No plans as yet as to when I will "fully finish" this one.

Then we had a camping trip over the 4th of July weekend to Letchworth State Park here in New York which was great!  It is known as the "Grand Canyon of the East" for the large gorge that was cut through the area over time by the Genesee River that bisects the park.  

These are the "Middle Falls" and there are an Upper and Lower set as well.

A view of another part of the gorge from one of the outlooks.

On the trip we learned something new to us:  the Genesee actually flows north from Pennsylvania to Rochester in Northern New York State to empty out into Lake Ontario.  That makes it one of the 48 rivers in 16 different states that do that.  This happens because rivers flow downhill so they will flow towards the lowest elevation which can sometimes be north of the river's source or headwaters.  

The Appalachian Mountain range (the "Rocky Mountains of the East") extends from Alabama up to Canada and this part of New York State lies west of the range so the land in the Genesee Valley area slopes from there.  

Image courtesy of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Mount Morris Dam exhibit

On the trip I took my "camping project":  Emma Congdon's Stitchrovia "Open Your Heart To New Adventures".  I have been working on this one since 2023 and on our last trip for Memorial Day I had stitched half of a page of it (the fourth one I've worked on of this six page pattern) so had hoped to finish that page on this trip.

I did get the page done but only got to work on about half of that remaining half page during one campfire session and the drives up and back during the portions when I wasn't driving.  I finished the rest of the page once we were back home.

Now this project will be put away again until our next trip in late September.  My hope is to complete whatever is still unfinished after that during our annual Fall trip in October to visit my husband's mother in North Carolina.

With all that aside,  I was then ready to start back in on my "Christmas In July" stitching:  the Fat Quarter Shop's "Letters to Stanta"!  

I had expected to be "monogamous stitching" on it this month.  However,  I only had some filler stitching left to do to complete another June project.  So instead,  I worked on both in the hope of completing them both by the end of the month.  So there's more good news now because the "Craft Supplies Lies" project from June is also now done!

Although I have to say,  doing the filler stitching in that bottom box wasn't easy!  In a recent "Two Tall Stitchers" flosstube,  Carol and Jen's closing "Viewers Poll" question was:  "Do you love or hate stitching big blocks of the same color?".  In the past I would have said that while it can be a little boring, it is a necessary evil.  

However, for some reason (probably the "Are We There Yet?!? of it all),  this took so much longer and was harder to do than anticipated!  Not to mention, I kept getting off count on the Linen threads as I filled in the black stitches around the letters.  It got to a point where I only felt up to stitching on it for no more than 30 minutes at a time and often wanted to stop at fifteen!  It wasn't until I was down to the last word that it finally clicked in and I was able to get through it less painfully than the way it started!!  Now I'm glad that's over and I can go shop for a frame to finish this in.

As for the holiday project, after the last two months of stitching on Evenweave and Linen, the return to working primarily on Aida -- even if it is on a dark Charcoal fabric which usually has it's own challenges -- is a pleasant and faster-to-stitch reprieve!  So as of today,  I've finished another page of it and now only have one more left to do:

So that's it for me this week!  My quilting plans for "Christmas In July" have taken a bit of a back seat to cross stitch as the hubby has been home on vacation this past week and will be so this week as well.  With only a little less than two more weeks of the month to go,  I hope I can squeeze in some time for that either in between or once this last bit of cross stitch is completed!    

Now to go check in on what goodies others are working on this week at Kathy's Quilts for "Slow Sunday Stitching"!

To Do Tuesday: Plans for July

Another new month already?  Guess that means it's time to join everyone and check in with this week's "To Do Tuesday" over at Carol's Quilt Schmilt!

A Recap of Unfinished Things from June 

During June I had hoped to "fully finish" "United We Stand" which is a cross stitch piece and put together the parts for a quilted pillow cover made in fabrics from the MODA "Seeds of Glory" line. 

Neither got done as I spent most of the month focused on my cross stitching.  I had wanted to try making that edge finish on the little cross stitch pillow first and if successful then try it on the larger pillow cover.  

However,  after I trimmed the cross stitch in preparation to finish it,  I lost a piece of piping trim that was already prepared and which was leftover from a project from years ago.  I had hoped I'd eventually find it but still haven't so now will have to make more.  I'd still love to get both of these finished but admit I haven't made any definite plans to do so this month.   

I also had planned to finally layer and quilt a top I call "Modern Bohemia" for Rebecca's Sugar Sand Quilt Co. "Misson UFO" challenge.  

Well only two things for that got done:  I decided on the quilting plan and I reviewed the backing fabric I had purchased for it.  The good news is that the quilt is a lap quilt but the backing fabric had been purchased during a sale on 3 yard Wide-back packs at Keepsake Quilting.  I found in my notes that I had actually planned to split the backing between this project and another that also needs to be quilted so I got that done too.  

The last of the unfnished June plans were to finally start (or even finish?) blocks for a Red, White and Blue version of Edyta Sitar's Laundry Basket Quilts "Alaska" design.  The plan was to leader/ender the making of those blocks with putting the blocks together to complete the top for a wallhanging.  I had finished up the blocks for the wallhanging back in May and it has been sitting on my design wall ever since.  

The top 12" block is the smallest size I could make pieced triangle units with the Large Kaleido-Ruler.

I only got as far as making up the test blocks for the project.  I am making the Kaleidoscope blocks for the design using Marti Michell's "Small" and "Large" Kaleido-Rulers.  I've owned the Large one for years but soon realized I needed the Small one to be able to cut the parts for the pieced triangles for the size block I planned to make this in.  

That ruler didn't arrive until the second week of the month and I cut the pieces for the test blocks in the third and then didn't get around to stitching them up until the last week.  So this is a good time to start in on the plans for the month and for this week!

The Start of Christmas In July!  

For this month,  the primary focus will be on holiday projects for "Christmas in July".  I don't dare start any new ones but I can't promise that won't happen --- you know, squirrels and all of that, LOL!!!  So for "CIJ" I need to:

• "Fully finish" my little "Christmas Log Holder"  cross stitch piece 

• Finish stitching my "Letters To Santa" cross stitch piece

• Quilt the two Christmas tops finished last year:  "Letters To Santa" and "Christmas Trip Around the World".  In both cases the top, backing and binding are already prepared.   

I should note here that since I also have the same done (well, not the binding) for "Bohemia",  I'm thinking that maybe I can also plan to quilt it along with them. 

• Continue and hopefully finish the top for the "Scrap Squares" quilt started during last year's "CIJ".  It was inspired by Pat Sloan's quilts in this design and incorporates panels from MODA's "Cheer & Merriment" line.

• Oh wait, there is a possible new start laying around:  I had kitted up a project during my "7 Days of  New Year's" quilt-a-thon.  The pattern was in the December 2024 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  I saw that it could utilize some of the stash I already had out from the "CIJ" projects and the dwindling stash of red fabrics still around from my Red & White Holiday Quilts adventure from 2022-23.  I was able to order the same feature print used in the published design and additional green coordinates for the block piecing from the same fabric line. I also found a suitable tone-on-tone background print to fill out the stash needed for that project. 

I can't promise I will get this started but I can't promise I won't, LOL!!

What's Up For This Week 

1. Since I have quilts I need to layer and baste for quilting, a big priority for this week will be to start clearing off my cutting table so that can actually happen!!   
2.  I also need to clear my design wall so I can put the "Scrap Squares" project up and finish the layout of the squares.  That will require that the top laid out on it now becomes a leader/ender for something.
3. I want to start making the blocks for "Alaska".  However, since this is not the priority project for the month (in fact not for the next few months as I had already planned out what I want to do during those as well),  I've decided to do this project as another self-styled Block of the Month (BOM).  It should be noted that "Bohemia" had been one of the projects I had tried to do this way in 2020, all the others of which are still UFOs.  If I can keep up on "Alaska",  maybe I can eventually put the others back into rotation and finally zero them out as well! 
4. Most notably for this weekend, we will be headed out on another camping trip for the Fourth of July weekend.  As has been my habit whenever we go camping,  I'll be taking a hand work project with me for the long drive there and back and for some "around the campfire" stitching.  For our last few trips, I have been taking and trying to finish my "Open Your Heart" project which is camping themed.  I actually got half of a page of it done during and after our last trip for the Memorial Day holiday so am looking forward to finishing that page on this trip.

Other Plans For the Month

1. As noted earlier, I have a wallhanging top that needs to be put together.  I will leader/ender it with either the "CIJ" projects and/or the "Alaska" blocks so I can clear it off the design wall to make space for laying out the "Scrap Squares" project. 
2. If time and projects permit this month, I will also try to continue the two cross stitch projects left over from "May-nia" and "Red, White and June":  "NY Skyline" and "Right To Vote".

"Skyline" will probably get priority there since it is the easier of the two to work on and when finished is destined for a decorating spot I've long wanted to fill.  

So that's more than enough to keep me busy this month as well as a few things identified specifically for this week.  Let's see how I do!  Go see what others have planned for the week ahead by heading over to Carol's at "Quilt Schmilt" to see what's popping up in quilt studios around the world!