Showing posts with label hand stitching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hand stitching. Show all posts

Saturday, May 23, 2026

Cross Stitch, Crochet and Orange

 I must admit that adding stitches to the sky in my current cross stitch project is not that exciting...I try to break it up by adding stitches to the bottom part of the picture too.  You can see from the picture that progress was made on both fronts this week. Someone asked about stitching on perforated paper--the paper is quite thick and I have not had any issues with it tearing.  I have had to unstitch in a couple of spots and did not have any issues.  



My daughter has been working on her crochet in the evenings this week and has added a few more borders to her project.  The coral and green chains between the flowers will eventually be covered up by the next border.  She's learning lots of new patterns/stitches with this crochet along. 



I finished off my orange rainbow scrap challenge blocks for May this week. I had to dig into my orange fat quarter bin to add some variety. 



The Oxford Guild has been doing a colour challenge this year--pick your own block and make one with the colour of the month.  I picked a really simple block and decided to make an I spy baby quilt with my 12 blocks.  The fabric in the middle of the picture below will be used for sashing and borders.  I used fabrics from my solids collection to frame each of the I spy fabrics. I am only using stash fabrics for this quilt. 



I bought some rhubarb at the farmers market last week and made rhubarb blueberry crisp (the blueberries were in the freezer).  There was enough for dessert for three nights.  Delicious!


It seems the rabbits in our neighbourhood are not easily spooked.  This one boldly sat on the sidewalk while I took its picture. 


Finn got to go to one of his favourite places this week--the pet store.  He knows the way and walks very enthusiastically on the way there, but is not so keen on leaving to go home.  Must be the treats that the owner of the pet store gives him while he is there....  A nap is required when he gets home. 



There's lots of action in the gardens these days.  The deutzia bush is starting to bloom. 


The seed heads on the Pasque flower are intersesting. 


This peony is getting ready to put on a show.  This plant came from my husband's grandmother's garden.  She died in 1964 so this is a really old plant.  


My species tulips are tiny but a real bright spot in the garden. 



My columbines self seed all over the place and this one has picked a spot near our patio to put on a show.  


I planted chives, parsley and bay leaves this year.  


The patio and porch pots are all planted as well. I picked a hot colour scheme this year.  They will fill in over the next few weeks.  


I will link up with the Slow Sunday Stitching crew, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge folks and Frederique.  

Saturday, February 21, 2026

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!