I had a long and tiring week at work, but Saturday I was able to complete few projects!
- SYS2015 future projects - paused until September
- Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
- Block Swap Adventure - arranged next blocks with my Aug partner
- the SK project - no progress
- Tiny Quilt Challenge (American Made Brand) - no progress
- Zipper pouches - first big bag done! (see below)
- the Ender project - no progress
- Geese project - printed pattern, received fabric, ready to sew
This is my project for A Lovely Year of Finishes - Cross stitch scene - doooooone (see below)
- Americana QAL - got the next partner
- the 31000 Xs project - started!! more on this next week :)
The EverythingElse List:
- Embroidery calendar - no progress
- Animal blocks for charity quilts - paused for a while
- Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - no progress
- College Days Blog Hop blocks for tote/grocery bag - no progress
- Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
- As You Wish - no progress
- Happy Halloween wall hanging - final 2 letters done (see below)
- Crazy optical illusion - no progress
- Memory quilt 2 - no progress
- B quilt - no progress
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A busy week at work, meant little time and energy for sewing... but I managed to complete the last two letters I need for my Happy Halloween wall hanging!
Link it here and share it with me!!A busy week at work, meant little time and energy for sewing... but I managed to complete the last two letters I need for my Happy Halloween wall hanging!
Patterns by Jennifer, Harry Potter's Alphabet
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A busy Saturday made up for a unproductive week! I finished my first full size Sew Together Bag (by Michelle). I made few of the smaller version by Elizabeth (Mini Sew Together Bag) last month.
You can see the difference between the larger version and the smaller. They are all very cool and I will make more!!
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This is the Cross Stitch month for my Stretch Your Skills series, so I picked up this old project and finished it
Cross stitching project, from a kit
I will just frame it and call it done!
I learned a loooot of things with this project. I bought this kit ages ago, when I still didn't know anything about cross stitching... so these are the things I learned...
There are 2 kind of basic material: aida and stamped fabric. I thought that this, being stamped, with all the X printed on the fabric, would be the easiest for me. I was wrong :) Since the fabric is normal fabric, I had to use a sharper needle, which meant a lot of more finger stabbing :) plus I had to use the hoop (which with a stiffer aida I don't need). Plus since the X are printed, they need to be bigger than the small stitches on the aida, which makes for a cute X look, but not that tight and smooth as working on a 14 count aida.
And despite the fact that the X are printed, they had all the same color, which required me to use my "washable markers" technique to transfer sections of coloring to the fabric (so it didn't save me much time).
Finally, because I could see the X but there were not preexiting holes, some of the X are less uniform than others. I don't see those problems in the final piece, it's still pretty cute! But it's something to consider for my future projects.
About the colors... I assumed that floss in a kit was sorted and neatly packaged... I was wrong again!! The thread was all in this big blob and it was pretty hard to distinguish some colors that looked soooooo similar to each other (light grey, very light grey, pearl grey, ...). So some sections may actually have a "wrong" color, but since they are so similar, the overall design doesn't suffer from it.
However I learned that it's best for me to buy just the pattern and then buy the floss separately so I can sort it and store it in a nice way!
I already started my next project... a secret for now (and probably for a long time, given the size)... I will call it 31000 Xs because that's the size of the project. I am very excited to work on it and I've already started sorting the floss and marking the pattern. More on this next week!!
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And finally these are the blocks I received from my June partner in the Block Swap Adventure.
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How about you? What are YOU up to?
Now my Wishes quilt is complete. Time to pull out the cross stitch supplies to make a little something. It is always good when you have a productive sewing day and I was lucky Sunday was my productive day. Just a few loose ends to finish. Yippy!
ReplyDeleteI definitely prefer the counted cross stitch instead of the stamped ones. When I do buy kits, I allow anywhere between 2 - 4 hours just to sort and organize the floss properly, depending on the number of colors. Natural sunlight helps when trying to discern those super close colors, but it gets really challenging. And sometimes the color names are stupidly vague. I had one with Rust, Dk. Rust and Dk. Orange. I had no freaking clue which ones were which. Drove me insane!
ReplyDeleteLike you, I try to buy the pattern & floss separately now. I found an amazing store that is cross stitch heaven and they sell THOUSANDS of patterns and books. It's incredible!
I've been meaning to ask - do you know of any good quilt-related swaps that are currently open to join? I was thinking it might be fun to try a block swap.
ReplyDeleteErin, you are a no-reply blogger so I cannot send you the answers directly. If you want more details please send me an email at tweloq [at] gmail [dot_com].
DeleteI am participating in the Block Swap Adventure (on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/567794103364642): this is an "easy" swap, as you are required to make only one block per month to a different person. There are not too many people in the group, but it has been fun for me.
Another swap that I will participate is the Teal Mini Swap 2015 (details announced tomorrow here).
Ugh, I have no idea why I'm no-reply. It never seems to work when I link the wordpress account! Sorry about that! Thanks for the details! :)
DeleteNo problem! Yes, I know there are issues between blogger and wordpress, but I don't know if there is an easy solution. When I leave comments and I hope for an answer my easy solution that wins against those technical nightmares is just to put my email in the comment :) Human practicality wins against computer automation sometimes ;)
DeleteGreat idea to combine selvages with the sew together bag! Thanks for linking up!
ReplyDeleteYour finishes look great!
ReplyDeleteThose selvage bags are awesome. I have to try one. Maybe I should do it now that we're taking part in the selvage-along?
ReplyDeleteI love those small sew together bags! Such a cute idea for using up your selvages! Thanks for linking up with the Selvage Along!
ReplyDeleteGreat minds think alike. I made a sew together bag with selvedges too a little while ago. I chose all warm colours for mine.
ReplyDeleteSuch great sew together bags - I love the ones with the selvedges especially.
ReplyDelete