F.N.S.I.

It’s the third Friday of the month which is Friday Night Sew In hosted by Wendy at Sugarlane Designs.

Hubby and I will be leaving late this morning for a long weekend of camping in Arya the Airstream.

Here is what I am taking to stitch tonight and over the weekend.

 

Hoping to make some progress on May Calendar Crates by Stitching with the Housewives.

And I’m starting a new project. This is a Stitch Along (SAL) hosted by Nichol Spohr on YouTube.  She is celebrating her Flossiversary by stitching one of the seasonal basket charts by Hands on Design. Nichol is going to teach us how to fully finish the stitch into a biscornu, even though the chart is not designed for such a finish. I’ve never attempted this before, and it looks quite daunting. However, Nichol assures us that we can do it.

Image borrowed from Rainburst Embroidery on Etsy
Sample of a Biscornu Finish

I’m stitching the Autumn Basket since I already have the chart. I pulled the DMC floss and some fabric from my stash as well.

Since the campground we will be at this weekend is further up in the Smokies, I won’t have connectivity. So, please come back on Tuesday to see my progress.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Sewing, Stitching and Baking

Hi, Friends.

Is it my imagination or do the weekend days pass more quickly than the weekdays? Or perhaps I try to fit in more on the weekends?

There were a lot of domestic duties that had to be fulfilled last weekend; a trip to the farmers market, bakery, clothes shopping for an upcoming wedding and major league baseball games to watch. Maybe that last activity can’t be classified as domestic but it is a necessity this time of year.

 

I enjoyed time sewing up my Gene’s Flying Stars.

I’m using a layer cake of Miss Kate by Bonnie and Camille for Moda Fabrics. I’ve had this for a while, and it makes me smile.

I’ll have to put these aside (not back in the box) for a few weeks.

 

In the hoop is May’s Calendar Crates by Stitching with the Housewives.

 

This is the monthly cross stitch piece that is placed on the board next to the garage entrance. 

I have to stitch and fully finish May, June and July. All other months are stitched and fully finished.

 

I also baked some of the best cake-like cookies we’ve ever had, and you KNOW I love good cookies. They are sour cream cookies with buttercream frosting.

You can find the recipe here at Preppy Kitchen.

 

As we were sitting in the downstairs family room, watching baseball of course, we noticed a rather large bird at the feeder. He was actually eating off the ground underneath the feeder.

I suppose he thinks it is safe since Thanksgiving is still seven months away.

 

I’m also very happy to report that I didn’t kill the hydrangeas.

I hope their blooms will be as impressive as their leaves.

Spring is finally sprouting here in the mountains.

 

Speaking of spring, hubby and I are off this weekend in the Airstream to get her de-winterized and cleaned up for the camping season.

 

I’ll be away for the next five weekends on some trip or other. I’ll do my best to share the journey. This most likely means that there will be more cross stitch and less sewing to show, but you never know.

 

I sure hope you are having a great week so far. 

Best Wishes!

 

Sawtooth Stars – Gene’s Way

Hey Y’all!

I’m excited to be back at the sewing machine and excited that I’m getting reacquainted with some older projects.

When my Mama helped me organize my craft room recently, I found a box labeled “Gene’s Flying Stars.” I shared about this project a long time ago so I’m essentially going to start over.

My friend Gene Black has a way of making the Sawtooth Star block using flying geese. He calls this block Flying Stars.  And since I’m making them, I call them Gene’s Flying Stars. He taught me through his YouTube video how to make them, so he gets ALL the credit.  Check it out here.

The box was filled with fabric precut to make several blocks.

Gene suggests chain piecing, but I wanted to make a test block first. I needed to check my machine settings, which foot I used, etc.

Well, I’m glad I did because the first block was a failure.

I adjusted the machine settings and changed the foot I was using. It worked because the next block came out much better.

I took a photo of the machine settings for future reference.

Then I prepped the remaining fabric for chain piecing.

Now you know what I’m doing tonight. I have an idea what I’m going to make with these blocks but need to do a little math first.

What are your plans for the weekend? Anything creative?

Whatever it is, I hope it is enjoyable.

Framing, Tomatoes, Strawberries and A Loaf of Bread

Hello and Happy Monday, dear friends.

If I cross stitch something and feel that it needs to be framed, then I like to do it myself. Sometimes, a piece finishes in a size that doesn’t fit a standard frame that is readily available to me.

 

Flea Market Flowers is such a piece. I recently took advantage of Michael’s big framing sale and had it framed by them.

I chose a frame that closely matched the outside border.

It is stitched on 25 count lugana, Vintage Cloth by Lori Holt, using the called for DMC thread. Lori Holt also designed the chart. This is a poor picture…sorry!

I cross stitched so much last month that I got a knot in my back and shoulder, so I put down the hoop and rested throughout the week. It was killing me to not be creative, so I turned to finishing.

I wasn’t sure if I should use the perfectly colored (but difficult to work with) chenille or rick rack on the Keeper of the Pins pillows.  I put a poll in my Instagram stories and the rick rack won.

I placed them in Mama’s sewing box. She decided she didn’t need it any longer and was going to throw it away.  Can you see me now, having a fit?!? Well, I kept it…broken and all.

While I was waiting for the IG votes to come in, I sorted through some cross stitch kits that needed to be put away. I found a kit for a cute little strawberry that I received at a retreat a couple of years ago. 

I attended a stitching event at The Silver Needle in Tulsa, OK and Samplers Not Forgotten was one of the featured designers. She had given us this and I figured I may as well finish it up.

Well, that turned into a few more…and there is going to be so many more to come.

It sure felt great to be back at the sewing machine again. I had intentions to do a bit more sewing Sunday but then my sweetheart and I went out for a loaf of bread.

There is a fabulous place in Asheville called Crust Never Sleeps Bakery that has delicious sourdough bread. Well, they also have pretty tasty morning buns, pretzels and other stuff.

 

We decided to take the Blue Ridge Parkway home…

It will be interesting and fun to see how the mountains change over the coming weeks.

Have a wonderful and blessed week everyone!

First Quarter Wrap-Up

The calendar has turned over to a new month.

April Calendar Crates
by Stitching with the Housewives

Since I am counting stitches for the stocking SAL, I thought it would be interesting to see how many Xs I cross on all of my cross-stitch projects. So, I started counting them at the beginning of the year.

 

2024 Stitches

January = 10,955 stitches on 5 projects

February = 7,343 stitches on 7 projects

March = 10, 382 stitches on 5 projects

 

February’s projects were mostly smalls which is why there were more projects but fewer stitches.

 

Four out of the 7 projects were from this book…

Keeper of the Pins
by With Thy Needle and Thread

Needle and Thread

Red Sampler Pincushion

Dame of the Needle

Threads of Time Pincushion

One of these was stitched during March…

The Sewing Bird

Stitched on 36 count linen, Vintage Country Mocha by Wichelt. Used the called-for threads and beads.

These will be made into pillows for my dough bowl.

 

I completed March's blocks from the two monthly series I’m working on.

 

Snow Village – Frozen Hot Chocolate Shop

Prim Stitch – Peace and Plenty

I decided to use the white frame for this one.

If you missed January and February blocks, you can find them here  and here.

No new progress to report on Olga's stocking. I'll have some catching up to do this week.

 

We had beautiful weather on Easter.

Rosemary at The Knitting Quilter recently made a crustless custard pie and shared a link to the recipe on her blog. I decided to try it for our Easter dessert, and it was delicious.  Hard to believe something that is so simple to make can taste so good.

That is my first quarter recap. Now to see what April will bring… fingers crossed for a few days of quilting!

 

 

Snow Village by Country Cottage Needleworks

Happy Good Friday to all who celebrate Easter.

Today I’m showing you another monthly series I am working on.  It is Snow Village by Country Cottage Needleworks. And like the Prim Stitch Series I shared in my last post, it was a monthly stitch along (SAL) hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop. Each block could be stitched individually (this is what I am doing), or all blocks on one piece of fabric. The free layout is on the Country Cottage Needleworks website here.

The first month we received all of the fabric and floss we would need for the entire series, as well as the first block pattern.  The first chart was for the Snow Village Banner and I decided not to stitch this one first.

 

Like Prim Stitch, I saved the patterns and am working on one each month during 2024.

 

January’s block…

Snowflake Stand

February’s block…

Peppermint Parlor

The current plan is to finish these into flat folds and place them on a tiered shelving unit that Mom gave me for Christmas last year.  It is currently decorated for Easter.

I’ll show you March’s block for both Snow Village and Prim Stitch in my month-end wrap up post next week.

 

I should give you a few of the details on both series.

 

Snow Village is stitched on 16 count Aida, Country French Rain by Wichelt. The floss is a combination of DMC and Classic Colorworks. 

 

Prim Stitch Series is stitched on 25 count Lugana, Prim by Lori Holt. The floss is Aurifloss made by Aurifil.

 

Aurifloss came packaged in this cute box that contained two more cute boxes.

Aurifloss is 100% cotton thread, 6-ply like DMC but it is wound on wooden spools. Each spool holds 18 yards of floss. I’ve found it easier to remove the spools from the box and place them on an extra spool rack.

I mentioned before that I thought I would place the framed Prim Stitch piece on the gossip stand and change out the cross stitch monthly. Linda, asked about this piece of furniture so I thought I would share a few pictures.

My family always called this a gossip stand but I suppose it is really a telephone table. I’m not sure what happened to the one from my grandparent’s house but this one came from my husband’s childhood home.

In both places, a telephone would sit on top of the table and a phone book would be tucked inside the little cubby.

We are expecting a quiet Easter here. My young adults will not make the trek to the mountains so it will just be Mom, hubby and me.  Our meal will consist of smoked ham, deviled eggs, potato salad, green beans and buttermilk biscuits.  I’m not sure about dessert just yet but I’m sure it will be sweet, like the tea.

 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and Happy Easter!