The Treehouse

Summer Stitching

I didn't get around to blogging during the summer so this is going to be a bit of a catch up post.

 

My intention was to get up to date with the cottage stitching but...that didn't happen. Instead, I was overwhelmed with a desire to finish off the stitching of The Library by Little House Needleworks. I had had this on the go for way too long and get dipping in and out of it. It's finally finished and framed and I am thrilled to bits with it. I'm also excited about the new charts with book themes that Diane is designing and am looking forward to stitching Around the World in 80 Days with Carole next year.

I think a wall of book related cross stitching will look marvellous :)

I spent quite a bit of time preparing hexagons for the Fat Quarterly Hexy MF quilt along and enjoyed piecing the flowers together. I am almost halfway done with those. This is the latest photo that I have of them - the colours look nothing like this in real life, the photo does them no justice at all.

I'm thinking of putting them onto a rich purple background - probably an Oakshott one.

I made a few Great Granny Squares for Lori Holts quilt a long but getting time on the machine during the holidays isn't easy so a few is as far as I got!

They are really quick, easy and fun to make - I will be making more very soon.

When the recent issue of Fat Quarterly came out I immediately wanted to make the Keep Calm quilt and dove into the stash in search of red fabrics. I had enough and got them all ironed and ready to cut into. Then I showed the quilt to Catherine who is a huge fan (particularly around exam time) of the 'Now Panic and Freak Out' saying. A request was made and I found myself diving back into the stash for blue fabrics! Here's the result...

It's been washed since this pic and has crinkled up beautifully and has already been on a trip to France and had plenty of snuggle time! The Keep Calm quilt will happen eventually :)

Back to School time means new bag time and while the cupcake bag that I made earlier in the year is still going strong it was a little small and definitely not waterproof. Another request was made and the result was this gigantic, waterproof bag...

I bought a yard of two different Kokka laminates a while ago when they were on sale. I've never sewn with laminate before and was a little nervous of it to be honest until I read a very useful blog post by Kathy of Pink Chalk Fabrics which encouraged me to at least have a go. Kathy has a few posts on laminates and this post led me to her Pinterest board for laminated projects which led me to this tutorial by Cheryl of Sew Can Do for a large bag. It turned out a bit bigger than I thought but Catherine is thrilled with it and it even fits an A4 lever arch file inside so she doesn't have to carry two bags anymore! The laminate was easy peasy to sew with - I will definitely sew with it again (if only to use up the other yard to make myself one of these bags).

Finally, my stitch a long with the crop girls was completed - a bit late but better late than never. I just picked it up from my framer this afternoon and I think he did a great job...

Outrageous Owls by Glendon Place.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far, that was quite a long post. I'm currently in the mood for 'finishing off' things and so, inspired by Sinta's BOM rehab I am working on finishing my neglected Henrietta Whiskers quilt - I'm hoping to finish before the weekend is done :)

 

Oops - a garden of flowers!

I've been waiting to post until I had finished the first fifth of the library. I've not yet finished it. Why? I got a little bit sidetracked - nothing new there! I was feeling the need to stitch a few GFG flowers as I've not done any in a while - so I gave in to the urge and stitched 6 more flowers. It was immensely enjoyable and satisfying. I laid out all of my flowers to date so I could see my garden.

All made using Inklingo I love this method. So, you would think that having got that out of my system I would then have pressed on to finish the cross stitch wouldn't you? Hmm, no that didn't happen! Recently there have been several new Inklingo releases and I wasn't able to resist a couple of them...especially the Rainbow Flower design. I've been itching to make one since I downloaded and I could stand it no longer! Not sure where I'm going with this and how big it will turn out to be eventually but here's what I played with this afternoon...

I need to think about this a little while now and decide on size etc. I only have two fat quarters of that rather fabulous pink tone on tone so yes, some thought and planning required as those petals are quite big.

Here's the poor Library - it has progressed since I last showed it, I was trying to get those bricks finished and the leaves done for the first section before I got distracted! I will get it done before I start my stitch along with Karen - we're going to be stitching Country Cottage Needleworks Bunny Hop - I'd like to finish and frame mine in time for Easter.

(terrible photo of it!)

I'm behind with my book reviewing - I've my Feb reads to write up yet and 2 book reviews for the Historical Fiction challenge to write...one of them being my second Transworld Crime Caper book. Blame it on the hexagons!

The Library and Friday Night Sew In

On Monday the guilt finally got to me!

Last year I bought the pattern and supplies to stitch The Library by Little House Needleworks...I thought this to be the perfect stitch for me and was so excited to get stitching, I even signed up for a SAL on the LHN group. Everybody else has long since finished stitching their Library and probably had it framed by now. Where was mine? Sitting in the corner glaring at me. What went wrong? Well, it's a wide design so I thought it best to put it on a frame - huge mistake for me. Once seated behind the frame in my regular stitching spot I was trapped...couldn't exit without assistance :o I found it cumbersome to have to take my arm so far round the back of the frame to stitch. It took me ages to get everything in position and the stitching was going so slowly and the result was - abandonment! The poor Library was banished to the corner where it would every once in a while attract my attention and cause me feelings of great guilt. 

Meanwhile, I was busily accumulating more exciting charts to stitch. Was I stitching them? No! The Library was there glaring at me and I was telling myself no more new starts until you've done something on that Library (with the exception of that Thistle that I began which doesn't count as it's not 'just' cross stitches so therefore not a cross stitch project iyswim!). 

Finally on Monday I could stand it no longer and decided to pay some attention to it. I pulled the frame and stand out of the corner and tried for over an hour. Progress was slow, very slow. In the end I decided the situation was ridiculous and removed the fabric from the frame and got out my trusty hoop. I was happy as anything all of a sudden and many stitches were made. Here's the progress so far - it's a big project, I expect I'll be a while stitching it but at least things are on the move now...

Just the grass to finish and some little blue flowers (and a leaf that I noticed I've missed off the right hand tree) and this little section is complete.

Tonight is Friday Night Sew In night, to join in the fun you can sign up here and craft away to your heart's content. I'm going to finish off the last few crosses on this Library section and then set to work on this month's My Garden block - can't wait to see this finished, I'm aiming for it to be my March finish.