Slow Sunday Stitching: A Cross Stitch Update

I'm joining everyone today at Kathy's Quilts for "Slow Sunday Stitching" to share a recent cross stitch finish!

This is Erin Elizabeth's "English Tier" just one in a series of designs that are in this format but have different themes like "French", "Stitching", "Summer", "Baking", ect.   I was attracted to this one in particular because years ago I had picked up this in a thrift store:

At the time my DH and I had been bingeing on "Dr. Who" episodes so it was a hoot to find this jewelry box that looked like an iconic London Police call box.  I've had it on display with other themed minatures and loved the idea of making an England themed cross stitch piece to hang from one of the knobs.

After purchasing the pattern I hadn't made any specific plans to start it until Pat Sloan, one of my favorite influencers, announced back in the Fall that she was going to do a sew along for a London themed quilt project!

That was just the nudge I needed to get this underway!  The plan was that when she worked on her blocks,  I'd take a few stitches in this.  Although it was patterned to be stitched on a 14 count fabric,  I planned to stitch mine on 18 count to make it smaller.  That's about as small as I'm able to go at this point in my CS journey.  To go smaller would mean stitching on very high count linens and I haven't even finished the projects or mastered the technique of stitching on the low count ones I already have in progress! 

I was about this far by the end of 2024.

 In recent weeks, Pat made a push to finish up her blocks so I pushed to finish up my stitching too.  In the end, adjusting the size did and did not work:  it is smaller but not as small as I had hoped. 

 Albeit in the finishing, I could have left a lot less space around the stitching.  I also find that I don't love the coverage I get on 18ct with DMC which requires stitching with a single thread rather than two which is something I learned when I stitched on that count fabric previously.  I recently read about a thread brand called "CXC" that I might try getting as it is supposedly a little thicker while following the same color numbering as DMC.  That would make it easy to substitute when needed for this count fabric.

With regards to the "fully finishing":  I already had the "London Toss" fabric in my stash so knew I'd use that for the backing.  I had purchased it to make a mug rug for a gift some years ago but I never got around to that project.  When I finished the stitching, I felt like it was going to need some kind of trim around the edge.  Fortunately I had just the thing:  some time ago, I discovered that my local Joann's would often package up remnants of trims the same way they do fabric remnants and like those are 50% off.  I realized these were great opportunities to stash bits for cross stitch finishings and the trim used here was one of those.

The empty bag was the one used for this project!

Unfortunately, with Joann's going out of business that source won't be available much longer!  This trim was pretty thick so I had to stitch it to the front by hand in order to manipulate the cord to go around the corners and then stitch the backing to the cording on the back.  The real challenge was finshing the ends.  Not perfect but it'll do!

Considerng that this is my second "England themed" cross stitch piece, does this make me an Anglophile?!?!    

Now to decide on what to work on next.  It'll be one of these:

I've been considering starting both of these since January.  I did start a review of how to reformat the first pattern but am still not sure about how I want to center the words and images of it.  The orginal design is one horizontal patterned piece but I want to display it in the frame shown as three individual pieces.  

There's also this one:

And another attempt at stitching on Linen!

I had started it while we traveled last month.  It is the one I'm making for myself after making one with a similar theme (but much less "snarky") for my MIL as a Christmas gift.  

If you want to see what everyone is keeping their hands busy with as we start to move into the Spring season, head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what is sprouting in craft rooms around the world!

July Recap: Part 2 - Christmas In July: Quilting and Cross Stitch

In my previous post I talked about having plans for doing a lot of quilt stitching.  However, also in July I followed along with the crowd and got this year's Christmas projects underway for holiday decorating.  Two are quilty ones and two are cross stitch projects.  I should note here that I had really planned to start these along with another really big cross stitch project at the start of the year but you know how that goes....

Quilting for Christmas

The primary project I worked on for "Christmas In July" is "Letters To Santa" from the MODA Fabrics quilt along from 2022.  

For the quilt along, MODA had designers make up the letters in their signature Bella Solids and used the lettering designs from Primitive Gatherings Mini Alphabet Quilt pattern.  I recognized the letters as half size versions of the same ones offered by MODA during their "Spell It With MODA" Bake Shop pattern series back in 2016.   

The good news is that I still had the patterns I downloaded from that earlier quilt along.  I also had experience in converting the letters -- which were designed to be made from Jelly Roll strips -- into half size letters using 1-1/2" strips.  In 2019, I had used the half-size letters to make Vanessa Goertzen's MODA Bake Shop "When Life Gives You Scraps" pattern as a wall hanging for my MIL for a Christmas gift.  I'll note here that my lap-size version of the same quilt using the full size letters and that I started that same year is still a UFO, sigh!  

Since I was already used to adjusting the letter patterns which would give me a result similar to the Primitive Gatherings letters,  I was "all in" when the new quilt along was announced!  I started corralling fabrics for it from my scraps and stash, pulling together any Christmas or Red or Green fabrics I thought might make suitable letters.  

However, my plans that year changed when I decided to instead make Red and White quilts for the holidays.  As I had shopped for fabrics for those,  I found a background print that I wanted to use for this one so stashed that as well.  I also pulled some of the leftover Reds from the R&W stash into this project.  As time went on, I picked up more things as I came across sales on holiday fabric.  I will note that different from the MODA quilts, all of my fabrics are prints and some offered opportunities for fussy cuts.

When I finally went to start this, I was caught up short:  I had not looked at my notes for this since I had first decided on doing the project back in 2022.  Clearly, in those notes it said I had planned to purchase fabric to expand the width of the patterned quilt to be wide enough for a bed quilt.  However, sometime between then and now, I had decided that I was making this as a wall hanging for the wall at the top of our entrance stairs.  On the downside, that meant using far fewer words.  Fortunately, MODA provided a planning sheet during the QAL which helped me map out what I wanted to "say" in the amount of space I had:

Using the layout map I made, this is how far I got with the words:

Please excuse the wonky layout!

With the words all finished, I still needed to make the pictorial filler blocks to go between the words.  I continued working on this into August and managed to finish up the center of the top.

At this point I still want to add a small border and already have my binding picked out.  I intend to do a pieced back using two colors  of the "post-marked envelopes" print from Riley Blake's "Nicholas - Letters to Santa" by J. Wecker Frisch line that I have.  I will also be adding a few more words into it.  

I'll probably go back to work on this in November with the goal of having the top ready for the start of December at the latest (she said, fingers crossed)!  The other good news is that given the now expanded color scheme of Red, Green, Gold and Black,  I don't need to make a coordinating tree skirt since the first one I made all the way back in 2010 already channels that!  

I did still need a "back of the couch" quilt and I've already got a handle on that too.  I've long wanted to do a 2-1/2" scrap squares quilt like Pat Sloan:

I could never decide on the color scheme I wanted to do for one so embarking on "Letters" this year is perfect to help with that!  As I made the words and filler blocks, I started cutting squares from the stash gathered for "Letters".  Sewing pairs of squares was a great "leader/ender" for the word sewing.  

Then I saw a great Christmas panel of larger squares that had the perfect colors for incorporating into the scrap squares layout.

MODA's "Cheer and Merriment" Panel

Once again Pat is my inspiration in doing this.  She incorporated a large applique block in the center of one of her quilts and a large unicorn panel in the center of another (yes, she has made a lot of these, LOL!).  

To date, I still have a ways to go in laying out the squares for mine:

I love when a project can accomplish multiple crafty desires!!  

Cross Stitching for Christmas

On the cross stitch front, the "Christmas In July" project plan also started with a "Letters To Santa" project that was also inspired by another stitch along!

This Fat Quarter Shop stitch along was also in 2022.  I had first seen it on Pat Sloan's daily videos (of course!) but waited to buy the pattern until I was ready to actually make it.  I even purchased the FQS DMC floss kit since I didn't have any of the floss colors for it already on hand.  What was harder was getting the Charcoal Aida cloth for it but I eventually found that on eBay.  

Back in June, I saw this pattern on the Annie's Catalog site:

Is this just too cute?!?  I love ornament designs so this was right up my alley!  What I loved even more was that Cinnamon sticks will be used for the "logs".  Luckily for me, when I was ready to set this up along with the FQS piece, a few of the floss colors for it were the same ones called for in the "Letters To Santa" piece.  I was able to gather all the rest of the supplies for it from my small (but growing) cross stitch stash!  This is where both are now:

So I am happy to say that Christmas is already well underway and I look forward to being ahead of the holiday game for once!!  Stay tuned, there's more Summer recap coming!

February Recap: Part 4 - Quilt Con!!!

 If you saw the icon on my side bar these last few months, you know what was the special event I came down to North Carolina for:  I attended Quilt Con for the first time!  

When we learned last year that it would be coming to my MIL's neck of the woods, she and I immediately made plans to go.  Since my DH and I usually go visit my MIL this time of the year, it was a perfect fit!

If you have ever been to Quilt Con or any of the other big national shows, you know how phenomenal yet overwhelming attending can be.  We had four days of viewing quilts, attending lectures and watching a few live vendor demonstrations, admiring the "attendee fashion show" that flowed past us daily,  shopping the vendor booths and having more than a few "sew-lebrity" sightings!  Click the links for better reports of some of those than I can provide here.

All the "hands on" workshops were sold out by the time we registered so we were were only able to attend lectures including Jacqui Gering's keynote address.  

All of them were great!  David Owen Hastings lecture on Quilt Labels and Christa Watson's lecture on planning your quilt stitching gave me some ideas I hope to try on projects I already have going at home.  The lectures on working "improv" and exploring color had me itching to want to try to structure some time for trying some truly creative (aka no pattern) work.  Although, the reason I rarely do that was also addressed in the lectures: some times it takes a lot of time for inspiration to hit!  However, I also realize that these are projects or sessions I have to approach with no deadlines in order to give myself time to see where whatever I decide to do takes me.  I also learned about a new-to me sashiko-style hand stitching technique from Diana Fitzgerald that I'd like to try as well.  

Even better, we met great people and had great quilty conversations while standing in line waiting for the lecture hall to open for each session.  So if you are afraid of going to these big shows because you have to go by yourself, I say don't be.  We're all there because we love quilting so just turn to the person next to you and strike up a conversation!  You will be surprised to find that you either have a lot in common (happened often) or that you are kindred spirits in the things you've discovered about quilting or about yourself as a quilter.

I had mentioned to DH that I should have brought a notebook down with me to take notes at the lectures.  While making a trip to the local Walmart, he bought us both some, bless his "good quilt husband" heart!  So the other pre-show quilting project that I did was to make a quick Quilt-As-You-Go Note Pad cover the night before our first day at the show.  

Good thing one of the projects I brought down with me was one using scrappy strings!  

Needless to say in a show with aisles and aisles of vendor booths, ya' know there will be haul!  I did come to the show with a list of specific things I was hoping to stock up on.

In the picture above, the Kaffe Fassette and Marsha Derse fabrics on the left that I got from the Villa Rosa Designs booth were just the inspiration I was hoping to find for Pat Sloan's "March Block A Day" project starting this month.  The low volume fabrics on the lower right were pieces I had hoped to pick up for a "Lozenges" project that will be teamed with leftover red and black fabrics from other projects and were purchased from the Web Fabrics booth.  The other bundle of low volume prints (also picked up from Villa Rosa) I am hoping to use as backgrounds for the "Stronger Together" quilt project I spoke about back in Part 1.  

At the top, the denim backed cork is from Sallie Tomato, a vendor I hadn't heard of before and will go towards a "Barbados Bag" project I've long wanted to make from recycled denim.  Ironically, I had been directed to check out their booth after a conversation with a nice saleslady at the Handi Quilter booth who liked the bag of the same style that I was wearing and that I had purchased on Etsy a few years back.  

The Quilt Con pin was one of four show swag items I purchased.  I also picked up a project bag (good for quilting or cross stitch!) and two pairs of MQG socks.  Unfortunately I missed out on the show t-shirt as they sold out and MQG did not get enough additional orders to do another print run.  So if you go to the show and want a shirt, buy that first!!

I picked up Cindy Grisdela's "Adventures in Improv Quilts" book from the C&T Publishing booth.  It is one that had been on my wish list for a long time and with 20% off I decided to go for it since it might add to the lecture concepts I was learning.  But it got better:  I purchased it on Thursday and was told by the woman manning the booth that Cindy herself was going to be in the booth on Saturday so I could have it signed.  Cool!  Well, on Friday we were scheduled to go to the "Evolution of Quilts and Color" lecture to be given by Sarah Bond.  It turned out Ms. Bond couldn't make it and guess who subbed for her that day?  None other than Ms. Grisdela!!  So I not only was able to get the book signed right after the lecture but I got the bonus of getting to hear her speak on the topic of color as she uses it in her improv work as well!

The Quilt Alliance also had a booth at the show as they are based in North Carolina.  Speaking of those lecture hall waiting line conversations:  I had one with a woman who had quilts made by her grandmother.  As I am a big proponent of using labels, we had a long discussion about how she might document the quilts for her family's future generations.  I only wish I had remembered about the QA booth in that moment and could have directed her to visit it for more ideas.  For myself, I picked up one of the label cards they were giving out...

...and this time I didn't wait to get a t-shirt!  

Another thing we learned at the show is that next year's event will be going back to Phoenix, Arizona and they have already decided to return to Raleigh, NC for 2026!  I'm already looking forward to it!! 

Once the four days of the show were done, it was finally time to tackle some of the projects that I brought down with me.  While I didn't get to work on many, I did get some significant work done on two of them --- but that is a story for tomorrow!

February Recap: Part 2 - A Little Valentine's Day Prep

 More on the February doings:  After enjoying Pat Sloan's Red and White quilt display at the beginning of the month, I realized that my own display that was up at the time needed some enhancement: 

So at the last minute I decided to make a little Valentine's Day wall filler using Pat's "Hello Luv" design.  Although it later appeared in her "Holiday Celebrations" book, I had originally picked up the pattern when she made it for the Fat Quarter Shop's Button Club back in 2019.

Pat's Button Club version

My addition to my Red and White display!

For the block units that make up the larger four patch "Hugs" and "Kisses" blocks, I had gone the die cutting route and used my Accuquilt 4-1/2" Finished Signature die and the 3" finished HST triangles on my Churn Dash die to cut out the pieces.  That made my blocks and wall hanging a little larger than what's patterned.  

Updated 3/6/24:  Now a smaller version of this same design is one of the blocks in Pat's "Block Wednesday:  What's In Your  Your Closet" mystery quilt along! 

Where Pat had used the buttons from the club to decorate  the X's and O's,  I am only now noticing the buttons in the center of the X's so didn't do that.  I did put something in the centers of the O's though.  Continuing with the "make it fast, cut it fast" scheme, I picked a heart applique to put in the center of my O's.  Originally, I thought I'd use the 2" Heart from their basic "Heart" applique die but instead chose to go with the Heart from the “Heather Feather #2” die by Sarah Vedeler.  

To further hasten the finish, I once again decided to save some time on cutting and assembling binding and pulled out my usually trusty "Quick Easy Mitered Binding Tool"....

....to turn the simple backing (with label area added) to the front! 

I say "usually trusty" because when I tried this technique back in January for my "Old Tobacco Road" quilt, it was the first time it did not work for me.   

I had started this one a few days before Valentine's Day and finished it up right on the holiday!   However, the holiday was only three days before we were scheduled to leave so it was now time to focus on packing!

There still a lot more to February, so watch for more posts this week!

To Do Tuesday: From Cross Stitch Back To Quilting

Checking in for another "To Do Tuesday" with the crafters who gather over at Quilt Schmilt!

Diverted by Cross Stitch Finishes

So I mentioned on last week's list that I had finished stitching a Valentine's cross stitch project and purchased the finishing supplies.  Well now that project and another cross stitch piece for Thanksgiving are "fully finished" as the cross stitchers say!

"My Heart Is Yours" and "Give Thanks"

So while the good news is that these two are now done (and way early for their respective holidays for a change), the bad news is that meant I didn't work on anything else.  Well, during the day that is.  In the evenings I've continued with my next cross stitch project: the "Year of the Dragon" piece.

Now that the project slate is a little clearer, maybe it will allow me to focus on some quilt projects!

Now Back To Quilting

So first off, I will be finally getting back to the blocks and finishing one of the tops for the two raffle quilts I need to get done by April.

I still have to stitch down the edges of the applique motifs for the blocks already prepared.  I had debated about adding flowers to more of the baskets but looking at the layout, I may try to make a few motifs to go in the half rectangles on some of the row ends instead.  

Since I have to stitch down the motifs for this one, I'll also finish stitching down the motifs for the applique blocks for the second dark quilt as well.  However, putting together that second top will have to wait until this one is done. 

From the UFO list, I was also supposed to work on my Fig Tree BOM project using various lines of their fabrics.  Funny thing though: when I pulled out the fabrics I had purchased on the Shop Hop back in October and looked through them to catalog what lines they were from, I realized I had made a mistake!

Unfortunately, these are not all Fig Tree!

The fabrics on the left are definitely Fig Tree and all but one is from the "Strawberries and Rhubarb" line.  The ones on the right are from another designer entirely:  "30's Playtime" by Chloe's Closet which I believe is a "basics" 30's reproduction line from MODA.  They had all been sitting in the same area in the shop so I guess this means I don't know the Fig Tree "look" as well as I thought, LOL!  Fortunately, I do have a stash of 30's reproductions that these will fit in nicely with anyway.

I did take one of the new Fig Tree prints and put it with two others already in stash to use in the next block.

I already had the deep burgundy print picked out for the trunk of the tree block and I've been using the "Fig Tree Cream" solid on the left as a background in all the blocks, interspersing it with other light prints depending on the block design.  Joanna Figureoa did this with the book's cover quilt which seemed to make the blocks "float" in the layout.  I'm hoping to achieve the same effect with mine.

That's Not to Say New Stuff Doesn't Come In....   

Another reason I got so off track this past week is that the "squirrels" have been coming in hot and heavy!  I have two new things I hope to begin working on, the first of which can be stitched as a leader/ender as I put the raffle quilt top together:

1.  Alycia of the Quilty Girl Alycia blog and who hosts "Finished Or Not Friday" has a new mystery quilt being released.  It starts off with Log Cabin blocks which have been an obsession of mine for the last couple of years.  Alycia's designs these to encourage people to make Quilts of Valor tops which is something I still want to do in my community so I just had to join in.

The strips for the first blocks are already prepped.  Well, the lights came out of the box where I put scraps for making LC blocks so they were already cut to size.  I had to mine the red strips from the stash of fabrics I have leftover from making red and white quilts for the holidays in 2022.  

2.  Pat Sloan's Breakfast Club is one of her current mystery sew alongs.  I've always wanted to make a quilty wall hanging for the kitchen.  When she started it, I liked the first block and saw I had a place to display this one with one caveat:  I'll be making mine a mini!  This will be an applique sampler and since I had really liked the fabric line she was using and found a good deal on it, I scooped it up.

I will also have to pull bits from my stash for some of the food motifs.  This is a "block a week" sew along so I hope I can both space out the work and keep up.  At least for right now, this is another one where I can stitch down the motifs along with the raffle quilt blocks.  

But Wait There's More!

Added to all of that there is also a lot of fun stuff I'm following.  While I was tempted to join in, I think I'll just watch these from the side lines.  Are you checking any of these out?    

Project Quilting - Season 15:  Challenge 1 has already been completed and the winners chosen.  Challenge #2 was just announced yesterday.  Will you be joining in?

Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR):  I've followed this one for a few years now and hope to do it one day.  I even have an orphan block I could have used but it's applique so I wasn't confident about being able to interpret pieced rounds with it.  I know I should have just dove in but with so many other things on my plate I think it's better to just watch and learn again this time.  The first Round has been announced on this one so go check it out if you think you might want to participate!

It sounds like a lot but with some focus it should be doable.  Or is that "famous last words"?!?  In any event, I'll head back over to Quilt Schmilt and see what everyone else is up to this week!

Finished Or Not Friday: Two Fall Finishes

 This week I have a pair of finishes to add to the viewing queue at Quilty Girl Alycia's for: 

First up is a wall hanging that was supposed to have been a "quick make" for decorating last year.  As always, better late than never!  

This is my interpretation of Pat Sloan's "Thankful" quilt (scroll down to #85 on her 2022 gallery section) that you can find in her book "Holiday Hoopla" which was published by the dearly departed and missed Martingale and Company.   

When Pat showed her quilt last year when her book quilts were returned to her by the publisher,  my Fall Fabrics stash had been on my mind.  I had recently gone through it looking for things for two other projects that I wanted to do at the time.  When I saw her quilt, I knew I had enough in house to make it and still not deplete that stash of fabrics so I could also do the other projects as well.  

As I said, I figured it would be quick to make so got right to it.  I did finish the center of the top in a short time but debated about adding additional borders to make it larger.  

Then I moved on to working on holiday quilts and figured with the top mostly done, this would be a quick finish this year.  After I settled the border debate (adding one inch finished borders), then I couldn't decide how to quilt it.  

Pat (or Pat's long-armer) had done straight horizontal and vertical cross hatching on hers but I had initially envisioned Feather Wreaths in the setting triangles.  I tried sketching those out but it wasn't clicking and I wasn't sure what to do for the trees along with that.  Cross hatching kept popping up as the best option and then I got a brainstorm:  I've always wanted to try free-motion curved cross hatching with a ruler.  I sketched that out and decided it was the way to go!  

I combined that with diagonal cross hatching on the trees and now this one is finally up for display! 

The second one is another top from last year that is just now getting the finishing treatment.  This was a Fall-themed "3 Yard Quilt" kit that I picked up during the "All Carolinas Shop Hop" last year.  

3 Yard Quilt kit, backing and thread.

My MIL lives in North Carolina and I learned about the Hop that premiered in 2021 while visiting her.  We usually plan at least one of my husband's vacations each year to coincide with the Hop since my MIL is also a quilter so it adds to the "mini quilt retreat" I have with her when we visit.  

This is the second of the three kits I have purchased (one each year) from the Quilt Lizzy shop in Wake Forest, NC.  They always have a great selection of beautifully coordinated kits and just like when you purchase them from Fabric Cafe, you can pick up a free pattern to go with it.  I had seen a pretty Fall-themed kit in one of the Fabric Cafe videos shortly before the Hop and was thrilled when Quilt Lizzy had just what I was looking for!  Even better, I got the backing as a freebie from my MIL who had picked the fabric up from her guild's "fabric exchange" table.  I made up the top around this same time last year.

When I returned to it this year and even though this is one of the simpler Fabric Cafe designs,  once again I was not sure how to quilt it.  Again, cross hatching was the first idea and seemed fine for the Checkerboard rows but I wondered if I should do something "a little more" for the Pumpkin fabric rows.  When deciding on the quilting, it's always a matter of trying to balance the desired design with your skills and the time you have to work on it.  I really wanted to do something that would be relatively quick.  

Eventually I realized that maybe along the lines of cross hatching, I could use the Checkerboard piecing as the "dot to dot" starting point for a very simple "Zig Zag" motif!  I loved the idea since I could just do that right across the width of the top so wouldn't have to quilt the borders separately.  

I stitched the lines on my DSM with a walking foot and did have to do some marking of the "pivot points" in the Pumpkin sections in order to keep the pattern spacing even.  All in all, it only took about four hours to stitch up the whole thing.  Perfect and now also finished!

Front

Back

With these two done, now I can start putting out the rest of the Fall quilts!  Additionally, I am also still working on a Thanksgiving-themed cross stitch piece that I want to hang on the wall next to the "Thankful" quilt.

 This has been a daily stitch for the last week.  I am not sure I'll get it finished before Thanksgiving but my goal is to continue working on it and "fully finish" it this year so it is ready to be promptly hung up next year.  So I am thankful for my fabric stash and thankful for my crafts!

Edited 11/20/23 To Add:

And thankful to now have a cozy Fall stitching spot!

Let's also be thankful for Alycia continuing to host these "Finished Or Not Fridays" so we get to see what bountiful creative pieces crafters from all over the world enjoy making!