The Treehouse

Song of the Weather - March

I was in two minds whether to carry straight on with the March chart or have a change. I decided that as I had all of the stuff out that it made sense to carry on. March was a lot of fun. I already like Queen stitches and the Basque knots were fabulous to stitch - they are two rows of knots around the outside of the design. 

I sweated over the cutting - again! I'm not too sure that's going to wear off in a hurry in fact, as I get more bits stitched it might get worse...more to ruin if I mess it up! I really like the shape that the Klosters and the cutting make this month and the Square Filet stitch inside the middle holes is great - I used a sharp needle to do that, made it a lot easier. 

So here it is...

I put a piece of fabric behind the holes this time - it was a useful exercise. I now know that I will not be using any shade of pink fabric at the back!

Here are the first 3 altogether...

 

 Back to my  Nancy Drew stitching now - the hop starts tomorrow. You can find the full schedule here at Carol's blog.

Song of the Weather - February

In my enthusiasm to catch up on the Papillon SAL I forgot all about my February piece of the Song of the Weather SAL. I was so excited to get part two and get stitching away at it but I just kept on stitching the Papillon! Then half term came around and Catherine wanted to make a waistcoat so we got stuck into that and Matthew wanted to make a birdbox as well and my poor hardanger got totally forgotten about. I didn't remember until the email for part 3 arrived in my inbox on the 1st March.

It's stitched now though and I love it. I had a good session of sweating before I actually managed to do the cutting on this - I've had no experience of cutting before so I was very apprehensive. I invested in the special scissors which look at first sight like a pair of pliers and I'm glad that I did. They were extremely easy to use and also nice and sharp. The little bead stitch in pale pink gave me a few problems - I'm left handed and my thread was twisting the wrong way so that when I looped through the first start of the stitch it actually undid the stitch! Spent a rather frustrating hour or so trying to work out what the problem was but once I had, I was able to stitch along quite happily. 

I'm using the same threads throughout. I love the perle threads and I think there will be more of those in my future at some point. Here's the finished piece...

I need some more practice with the Dove stitches I think! I'm stitching these pieces on one piece of fabric as a kind of Hardanger sampler. Here's the story so far...

I'm going to get some fabric to put behind the pieces that have holes in them - probably an Oakshott to match the dark pink. I can order that up once I'm ready to order the fabric to applique my Hexy MF down. Part 3 has a few different stitches in it - including Queen Stitch which is a favourite of mine. I'm looking forward to stitching that - hopefully I won't forget again. For the moment I'm busy finishing off my items for the Nancy Drew blog hop which begins this week on Wednesday - my day is Friday.

A little bit of festivity

As promised yesterday, here's the picture of the little Christmas ornament that was my easy stitch on Saturday night. It's a chart by Joan Elliott and can be found in the 365 Cross Stitch Designs 2013 book-a-zine. There are getting on for 30 little charts by Joan with a festive theme and I fell in love with rather a lot of them - which is what led me to buy the book! This was a super easy one to stitch and I'm planning to stitch another one colour ornament next before I return to stitching Around the World.

I stitched this one on some lovely gold fabric that has a bit of 'glitter' in it - Karen bought this ages ago and split it with me. It's really rather pretty.

Quick! take a photo...

I've gone slightly off plan with my stitching! In fact, I'm not too sure why I make a plan because as soon as I make one - I go right off plan! The 'plan' with the Papillon Around the World in 80 Stitches was to slowly catch up by stitching on it at the weekends. That hasn't happened. No. Not at all. What has happened is that since my last blog post (ages ago!) I have stitched exclusively on Around the World and completely ignored everything else. My excuse? I was enjoying myself! I was enjoying myself so much in fact that I kept on stitching and forgot to take a photo at the end of each section.

So here's where I'm at right now - if you remember from the last post about this piece, when I went back to stitching it I'd not even completed stitching the second heart due to my inability to make a decision on threads colours.

I have that petal shape to complete and two more parts and then I will be up to date although I think we are due the next section very soon. I'm thrilled to have done as much of it as I have though and I love the way it's looking.

Part 2 consisted of the two tulip shapes...

Not brilliant photos I'm sorry to say - the weather is dull here this morning and I ended up using the flash. See the white bits? Well, way back when we started on this project I was tempted to use a different colour of thread because I worried that the white would stick out like a sore thumb. Instead, I think they give the eye a place to rest and I love stitching the white parts now - but then, I love using perle threads.

Part 3 was this four petal design...

Lots of Lazy Daisies on this part - I'm not too friendly with those, they're easy to stitch but tricky to make them look neat. I have been going a little off plan with the colours occasionally too - those lazy daisies should have been stitched in more colours than they are but it looked too busy to me so I didn't do that.

Part 4 was these two funny shapes...

No white stitching in this part but those leaves and the windmill stitches made up for that - I loved stitching those.

Part 5 was another odd shape...

LOVED stitching this part, some really fun stitches here.

Part 6...hmm, the camera rebelled here and told me that the battery wanted charging so I'll have to do a photo of that another day. It was a very fun and very quick part to stitch and there was a good amount of lovely white stitching to do. 

I'm currently part way through part 7...enjoying the white stitching, yum! I took a break at the weekend to stitch an easy little Christmas ornament while we were watching a film. I would show a photo of that but the camera says no!

Half term this week so my couple of hours stitching in the afternoon has gone by the wayside for now. Plus, I'm under pressure from Catherine to finish off her Grinch quilt but...my sewing machine says no! I'll be calling up my Pfaff dealer this morning to see if she can give him a look over to see what the problem is. 

Hopefully I'll be back soon with a photo of the Christmas ornament and some more progress on Around the World :)

Song of the Weather January and Lucky Stars Practice

I've just put the final stitches on the January piece for Song of the Weather. I can't possibly say how much I've enjoyed stitching this little piece. I had sworn off doing monthly stitches for this year other than the ones already underway and was seriously reluctant to take on another one. I'm glad now that Carole persevered with her temptations and that I finally caved in and decided to do this SAL. It really hasn't taken very long at all to do the stitching and the instructions are excellent. I only stumbled on the knots (in the middle of the daisies) and had to get out my left handed embroidery book to do those as the picture in the instructions was for a right handed person and my brain refused to translate! 

Here's the finished piece - I am using 25 count Lugana in ivory with DMC threads 600, 605 and 712.

Isn't it pretty? I can't wait for the February design to arrive in inbox!

Yesterday I did the practice piece for the Lucky Stars BOM (oh look, another monthly project - I thought I had sworn off those and here I am posting about another one :o ) All of these designs are foundation pieced - I thought it was time that I got this skill licked - I usually put the fabrics in the wrong place and end up with them not covering up what they're supposed to! Not so this time. I made the 6" version of the block and it went as smooth as silk, no hitches at all which bodes well for me making the January block - some time soon, before January is done and dusted!

I'm really thrilled that this turned out so well. It's destined to become a little pouch for Catherine in the near future :)

Around the World in 80 Stitches

I started this project last year after some encouragement from Carole and a peek at the first part of her project. I struggled to keep up with stitching last year as I wasn't enjoying very good health, there were a couple of months when I think I didn't actually stitch at all and this was one project that got left by the wayside. Well actually, it got put into the naughty corner. It wasn't the project's fault really - it was me, I just couldn't properly decide on thread colours. Anyway, it was on my list of things to sort out during this month and I got everything out a few days ago and had a good old sort out. I had already stitched the first heart and was onto the second. Having forced myself to make some final colour choices and undo the colours that I didn't like I set off toe finish heart number 2.

Heart number 1 - I can't remember what I enjoyed stitching on this one as it's so long now since I stitched it but I do recall having problems with the Berwick Stitch which should have been the stitch beneath the dark pink flowers. I think I resorted to backstitching instead - it looks no different to me.

Sorry for the quality of these photos. I've been waiting for the weather to behave so that I could take some decent pictures. I usually take photos in the conservatory where the light is excellent however, the weather decided to drop another 5 inches of snow on us yesterday so it's rather dark in the conservatory today! The husband and the son are currently trying to dig us a path up to the main road - yes, we live right at the bottom of a steep hill. Anyway, onto more exciting things, here is heart no. 2 - this picture is even worse but at least it gives a general idea...

On this heart, I loved stitching the big flowers - I think these are called Lindisfarne stitches. They were a lot of fun and I love the cute, cushions of the Scotch stitches. Notice that nowhere am I making mention of the Lazy Daisies. No. Keeping quiet about those. I must have stitched a gazillion of them on other projects but I can't seem to make them look pretty on this type of fabric. Humph!

Here's the whole progress so far - I have already stitched the outlines of the tulips for part two so last night I enjoyed doing the Hardanger in each tulip and then I started to do the Mordvinian Star pieces. Unfortunately, it was 10 o'clock and my eyes were saying enough, enough, enough - it's time for a rest. So I had to pack up and leave it to play with today. Those Mordvinian things are a bit fiddly to be honest and I was thinking what a heck of mess I was making of them but when I looked at them in daylight this morning they seem to look okay so I'll plod on with those this afternoon.

Now, Carole is an excellent friend and I am certain this in the past I have tempted her to many a book or sewing purchase. Currently, she is having a good run at tempting me to do stuff. I said last year that I wasn't going to do the Song of the Weather Hardanger SAL. I should have realised at the time that I was fibbing to myself when I know that I've wanted to do some proper Hardanger for a long time. Anyway, Carole persevered with the tempting and it wasn't long before I found myself clicking over to see what the first month's piece looked like. Not long after that I was clicking over the Sew and So to order up the necessary. Oops! Hopefully, this will be a healthier year and I will get more stitching done. I hope so - I've got plenty to do! Below are my supplies - I decided to use the cream fabric with a raspberry pink and a pale pink for the colours. I'm rather excited to get started but will wait until I've finished part 2 of Papillon.

Dare to Dresden Blog Hop

Welcome to the first day of the Dare to Dresden blog hop. A big thank you to Christine of Quilt Monster in My Closet and Mdm Samm for all the time,  hard work and encouragement that goes into making these hops work and be such fun.  

My project is from a free pattern that Jenny of Elefantz gave away some time ago. I love sunflowers so this wallhanging was perfect for me. The fabric is Charlevoix by Minick and Simpson - love those cherries and the faded blues and reds of this line.

I didn't have a thread that went nicely with the background red fabric so I quilted using invisible thread and I'm really pleased with the way it's turned out. I stitched all around the sunflower's head to make it pop - you can't tell from the photo but it has popped really well. 

This is the little poem at the top of the quilt stitched in a very pretty multi-coloured lemon thread and below is the close up of one of the bumble bees (I love bees) and the Dresden flower.

Thanks for visiting. Hope you've got a nice warm drink in hand so that you can sit and sip while you enjoy hopping along to the rest of today's participants.

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Apple Avenue Quilts

The TreeHouse <--------- that's me, you are here

Sew Mollie Sue, Quilt Much

Quilts My Way

Buzzing and Bumbling

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Selina Quilts

Quiltscapes

Hill Valley Quilter

Sew Incredibly Crazy

The Raspberry Rabbits

I Like to Quilt Blog

Cherry's Prairie Primitives

Spoilt Dog Quilts

 

New Year - New Start

I realised that if I didn't post on my blog soon then February would have arrived! December went by in a blur of activity and ended in a haze of illness! That seems to have mostly passed now and I'm back to stitching thank goodness. 

I'm not heavily into making New Year's resolutions but I did make myself a little January To-Do list. So far it's going quite well. I've some quilting to finish and some quilts to bind and then I'll be well on the way to completing my list.

My New Year start was the Around the World in 80 Days chart by Little House Neeldeworks. I'm stitching along with Carole on this one. The idea was to start it on New Year's day but as I was busy shaking and shivering and aching and whatnot that didn't happen! Then I wanted to finish off the part of the The Flock that I was working on before I started it. I finally put a few stitches into it last week but by that time I was heavily into finishing off the hexagons for my Hexy MF quilt! I have worked on it since and I love it. The colours are very similar, and in some cases the same, as The Library that I finished last year. I hope that the other charts in the series will appeal to me as much as this one does, it would look lovely with a little family of books hanging on the wall next to The Library. I must stitch The Bookshelf at some point to add to the scene!

Here's progress so far...

I'm hoping to get a bit more done this weekend.

I've been busily working away on my Dresden projects this week for next week's Dare to Dresden blog hop...

A bit of a blurry photo just to give a hint of  what's going on :) The blog hop starts on Thursday which is also my day to post so I'd better get stitching and finishing!

 

Holiday Lane Blog Hop - Grinch Lane!

Thanks for stopping by to visit me on the Holiday Lane blog hop. I have had such a great time with this lovely pattern. Huge thanks to Mdm Samm and Pauline for their time and work organising this fun event for us and another thank you - to Jill Finley  who designed the pattern and allowed it to be used for the hop. It has been an absolute pleasure from start to finish to make this pillow.

I started out by wondering what fabrics to use. I don't have a huge amount of Christmassy fabrics in my stash. However, one day much earlier in the year I was browsing Fat Quarter Shop's new in category (as I am wont to do in a spare moment) when a little voice piped up "ooh, the Grinch - I love him. Please, please can I have a Grinch quilt." Well, what's a Mother today when faced with a request like that! I secretly ordered the fabric and have been working on a Grinch quilt for Catherine for Christmas. A tricky business as my sewing room is downstairs and we spend a lot of time in there so - I've had to be very tidy with my secret sewing and make sure it's tucked away by school home time. Now, there were quite a few leftovers as I bought a fat quarter bundle so I hit upon the idea of using these to make the pillow and including it in Catherine's Grinch parcel for Christmas. More secret sewing during the day and hiding away at night! While I've been working on the pillow though, progress has halted on the quilt - but I will get it finished in time. 

As it's such a big pillow, it's a bit hard to photograph so I took a few close up pics as I was working on it. I wanted to add some sparkle to it and after some thought I dug out my Bejeweller gadget. I've not played with this for a while and had forgotten how much fun it is. I put red 'baubles' on the Christmas trees and a star on top of them. Then, I put some tiny crystals in the snow to make it glitter a bit, added a jewelled wreath to the door and finally, I put some silver stars in my black sky.

Silver Stars in the Sky

Glittering Snow

Wreath on the door

Blinged Christmas Tree

A flat picture before I turned it into a pillow. I quilted all over in matching colours. All of the applique is fusible web and stitched down at the quilting stage except for the felt which I just used a few dabs of glue to stick down and then stitched down by machine.

The finished pillow. Although I loved the flanges I decided to go with a wider pillow and so didn't do those.

The back of the pillow. There was a lovely panel in my fat quarter bundle which was perfect for the back of the pillow.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I hope my daughter will be too. I may even make another one once time is more freely available as this one was so much fun to make. 

I've been having a great time hopping around and seeing all the various different versions of Jill's pillow - it really is wonderful and inspiring to see everybody's different versions of the same pattern. 

Hope you've got a nice warm brew in your hands as there are plenty more blogs to hop to on today's schedule.

Living Life One Day at a Time

Polka Dot Classic

Sophie Junction

I'm Keeping Busy

Sunshine Quilting

The Treehouse <----- UR Here

Petit Design Co

Nunu's Quilt World

Ellison Lane Quilts

From This to That

Mary on Lake Pulaski

Loose Threads

Till We Quilt Again

13 Woodhouse Road

A Few Things...

First of all - next week is the start of the Holiday Lane blog hop organised by Mdm Samm  and Pauline

The hop starts on Wednesday 21st November (tomorrow) and clicking the link in my sidebar will take you to all of the details and links. I'm posting on Monday 26th November. I've had and am still having (yes, not finished it yet!) a lot of fun with this pattern...nearly there though.

I'm supposed to be stitching like a mad thing on my cottages at the moment but I did spare some time on Friday night to make a new pincushion - it turned out to be ginormous! I spotted the link on a blog and followed it. I thought it would be a nice quick make for a Friday evening - not taking away too much time from the pillow making and cottage stitching. Things were zipping along quite nicely until we had a surprise visit which although very nice took quite a chunk out of the evening. So the quick project extended itself into Saturday - it took me a long time to stuff this pincushion. I'm glad I persevered because it's turned out so pretty but goodness me there is a lot of stuffing inside it!

Wildflower Pincushion designed by Anna Maria Horner

I love pincushions - I think I'll make it my aim to make more of them in 2013 - I have a few in mind but probably no time to make anymore this year - we'll see though :)