My Bluebird of Happiness!

As I have said previously, I signed up for a year of Threadhouse Academy classes this year and have been working away at several, but not all of the projects.  This month's project is Folk Art Dolls taught by Jo Avery.  They are too cute to resist so I decided to make a bird first.   I used a piece of felted wool for the beak and hand stitched it down with pearl cotton blanket stitches.  I embroidered the eyes and the X's as well as the fly stitches on the body. The legs, feet, and wings also have some hand stitching.  The pieces are quite small, so its a bit fiddly to get everything put together and stitched but I am delighted with the finished bird.  The fabrics are all from the Fablism line of wovens.  You can see they have a tendency to fray... but I managed to get the project put together neatly. 

I'm calling him the "Bluebird of Happiness!"  

I've started a second critter but you will have to wait until next week to see it. There are lots of pieces to keep track of...

I finished off the cross stitching on my Funky Rooster this week and hope to get it assembled next week. I have some felt to use for the beak and waddle.  I plan on putting my name and the date on the blank section in the middle. 

We had a really weird thunder ice storm this past week.  The ground was covered in ice balls the next morning.  They were all melted away by the end of the day. They sure made a lot of racket when they were being lashed upon us from above!

Finn had a haircut this week.  Here are  the before and after pictures. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique again this week.  Happy stitching!

 

Lots of Little Projects this week

I tried to get into my sewing room every day this week and managed to get lots done.  First up, I finished the rest of my green blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I have to look and see if there are enough darker green scraps to make a 5x5 HST block.  I don't have a lot of dark green fabric in my stash.  

Next up-- I shortened a pair of jeans for my husband.  He received them as a Christmas gift and, now, he can wear them.  I also added a hanging sleeve to my little sashiko wall hanging and it is now on display.  I have two open wide zipper pouches to make as gifts and got one done.  I picked the fabrics for the other one but did not have the right colour of zipper for it.  I will pick up a zipper this week and get that one done.  The sharp eyed among you might notice I have the fabrics in the wrong spots on this bag...the patterned material should have been on the top...oh well...  I still like it!

The Funky Rooster stitching is down to three colours.  I try to do a bit of work on this every day. 

The colour of the month for our guild's colour challenge is pink.  Here is my block. The bicycle fabric is fun. 

A friend has a new baby girl so I made a cloth book from a panel for her. 

Happy Valentine's Day!  My husband and I went to see "Song Sung Blue" this afternoon for our Valentine date.  Excellent movie...We went to a Neil Diamond concert several years ago.  It was "so good, so good, so good..."  The cookie came from the farmer's market this morning. 

The backyard squirrel was up to his/her usual antics this week...

We had ice fog one morning this week which gave me opportunities for interesting pictures when I was out walking one morning. 

Finn has decided to take up skiing... I'm not sure he will win any olympic medals though!

If snuggling was an olympic sport, he would win all the medals!

I will link up with Kathy, Frederique and the RSC group.  Have a good week!

A Birthday Gift, The Rooster and Green Scraps

My friend, Ann, is celebrating a special birthday this week so I made her an open wide zippered pouch using this pattern from Noodlehead.  Since February is green month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, this project fit right in!  The lining is white with green polka dots. Ann is an avid gardener so she loved the fabric I chose.  

I rummaged through my green scrap bin and cut up lots of 2.5" squares and HST's for my 3 rainbow scrap challenge projects for 2026.  I made 6 checkerboard nine patches. I have not cut out the white background for the HST block and the shoo fly blocks.  That will be on deck for this coming week.  We are supposed to be using darker shades of green but I have very little dark green in my stash.  I will see what I have when I am done sewing up the blocks using these greens. 

The Funky Rooster got lots of attention this week.  I am well on my way to finishing this side of the rooster.  It will be fun to put it together into a 3D object when I am done with the stitching. 

My husband and I belong to the local hiking club and try to go on their weekly hikes.  It was cold but sunny with blue skies.  The snow was powdery under our feet.  It was a very enjoyable hike!

The trail goes along a creek and we could see lots of animal tracks on the snow covered ice.  They were mostly deer prints. 

Meanwhile, we had a backyard visit from this very fluffy squirrel this week.  He was sitting on our fence. 

Finn likes to lie in this chair and watch the squirrels in the backyard at my daughter's place.  He never barks at them, unlike many dogs. 

I started this blog in 2008 as a way to keep track of and document my projects.  I have come to know many lovely people through my blog, but I have never met most of them in person.  I just wanted all of you to know that I appreciate your support and comments on my blog. Maybe someday, I will get to see you in person and we can enjoy a cup of tea and some in person stitching together...  In the meantime, another friend who I have never met in person sent me this one day this past week and I wanted to share it with you.  

I will link up with Kathy and my Slow Stitching friends,  Frederique and her gang, as well as Angela and Rainbow Scrap Challenge folks who try in vain to use up their scraps, just like me!

Back to Hand Quilting, Funky Rooster and Summer Sorbet Sampler

After a few months of no hand quilting, I finally got back to working on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge pineapple log cabin quilt. I had started the quilting but decided I didn't like it so let the ideas simmer for a while until I figured it out.  I got most of the pink block done today while stitching with a couple of friends but quit when my underside finger got sore. 

In the sewing room, I made three more blocks for the Threadhouse Academy Summer Sorbet sampler quilt. You can see the layout in the fourth picture below.  The last three block patterns will be released in April. 

I also put lots of stitches into the Funky Rooster project this week. I am working on the mirror image of the finished section on the left of this picture. 

Today, Frances worked on her mosaic rug hooking class project. 

Elaine is embroidering a baby quilt. It is a stamped cross stitch kit. 

When I was at the farmer's market this morning, I bought a small cinnamon coffee cake for us to enjoy with our tea while we stitched.  

Frances and Elaine brought along some baking too.  We each had a small piece of each of the coffee cakes (cinnamon and rhubarb) in the morning and then Elaine's delicious cookies after lunch. 

We have had lots of snow and cold weather in the last week.  It's fun to see different animal tracks in the snow.  We think this zigzag trail on our patio was made by a raccoon. 

This squirrel with the snow beard was sighted on our walk at the park one morning this week. 

A fancy new birdhouse was installed at the park this week too.  

These tracks are also in our backyard but we are not sure what made them...something that hops, perhaps but it seems wider than our wild bunnies that tear around the yard. 

My husband bought me tulips this week as an early birthday/Valentine's gift.  I love spring flowers but for now, I am enjoying the winter weather. 

Finn likes to nap on the pillows on the couch behind my daughter after breakfast on a Saturday morning.  It's comfortable, cozy and ever so close to his favourite person. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique.  Have a good week and stay warm if it is cold where you are.