What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 I’ve missed a couple of weeks posting on my slow stitching progress, mostly because there hadn’t been any progress. It is renovation and gardening time, so not much stitching was happening. I tried to change that last evening only to have to take out most of the stitches I’d put in due to not looking closely at the instructions. There are stair step type satin stitches at the bottom the piece that were supposed to have five stitches in each group. I had only put in four stitches per group. I am hoping to change that today ...

 Noah’s Journey is completely finished, including hanging sleeve and label. Here it is. It is so lovely to have this finished!! I still have no idea what it is going to end up doing or being, but the whole process of making it was fun, so that will have to be its purpose for now. It is getting entered into a quilt show along with another quilt which still needs a label and sleeve, so that will have to be my slow stitching for the next week or so. There isn’t going to be a lot of time ...

 The quilting on Noah’s Journey is so close to being finished.

In the meantime ...

 I want to wish everyone who celebrates it a very happy Easter! Christ the Lord is risen today! Alleluia!!!

 I’ve been absent for the last couple of weeks. I didn’t really have any interesting progress photos or reports on hand stitching for last Sunday. After a while all the hand quilting starts to look the same. And then Wednesday we woke up to no hydroid our region due to the freezing rain during the night. It was out for maybe 18 hours total before coming back on right at supper time. So no blog post Wednesday either. I ...

 I’m still working on the big stitch quilting on Noah’s Journey. I think I’m almost halfway done. If I can keep going at this rate I will be able to enter it into the quilt show in June. I’ve got until the end of April to register quilts into the show, so I’ll know more then. 

These are the three sections I’ve finished this week.

 For my slow stitching I’m exclusively working on my Noah’s Journey hand quilting. Looking at this laid out on the floor makes me think I just might be up to the 1/3rd finished mark. I tried to get a picture of the whole thing, but all it showed was tons of wrinkles and no detail, so I took pictures of the sections instead. Here are the blocks on the top left. This is the ark. I’m so glad I went with the whimsical clouds in the background. And here’s the right side of the top ...

 I’m continuing with the big stitch hand quilting on the Noah’s Journey quilt. Most of the big ark block is done. I really like the depth and definition the quilting is giving. I decided to go with the idea of quilting clouds into the background. I have one cloud finished on the left hand side.I like the concept, but I’m not sure I like the way the actual cloud quilting looks. I’ve been doing a lot of the quilting in hand, without a hoop and for the most part it works well. But the cloud ...

 And now for something completely different from my usual slow stitching. I’ve started the big stitch hand quilting for the Noah’s Journey quilt. Being big stitch quilting, it’s going fairly quickly. Doing the pieced sections is quite easy, actually. The sections that I thought might give me trouble are the embroidered blocks. There is an extra layer of thickness in them due to the fusible backing that prevents the embroidery floss from showing through the fabric. And it is in fact a bit more difficult to quilt through. The big stitches are going to be bigger there ...

 When doing Slow Stitching it is always so exciting to have a finish. And I have one. Noah’s Journey is done..... or at least the assembling of the top is done. This is a design by Crabapple Hill Studios It still needs to be layered and quilted. But all the embroidery and all the piecing of it is done!! According to this blog I started this project in September of 2020, 3 years and 5 months ago. For such an intensely coloured and stitched and pieced project, that’s not bad, especially since it sat in it’s box ...

 I am down to the last of the Noah’s Journey stitcheries and also down to the last of the sections that need to be assembled. All I have left to do is finish the body of the rooster. So the embroidery should be done today and the actual quilt top just might be finished this week. I am finding this so exciting!! I can get it layered and ready for starting the big stitch hand quilting. Here is the latest section I have finished.

I received some yarn in the mail this week for some fun socks. I cast ...

 The disappearing nine patch that I started a couple of weeks ago is now a finished top. I love how fast this pattern goes together. I can take it with me tomorrow to our sewing group, weather permitting, and get it pin basted and ready for quilting. I need to stay stitch around the edges to make sure none of the seams pop open before that. I’ve also finished another section of the Noah’s Journey quilt. It’s cold and blustery and snowy outside today, so it’s a good day to do some more work on Noah ...

 It’s amazing how much I can accomplish when I focus on one single project at a time rather than multitasking. Last week I had just started the embroidery on the cows and flamingos for Noah’s Journey. I finished them in less than a week.

 Back at the beginning of January I articulated a goal to spend time on various hand projects in an attempt to get work done on them. I was going to alternate between projects. And here we have an example of why I don’t make resolutions. I have decided, for now at least, to continue with working on the Noah’s Journey blocks on an attempt to get them finished and sewn into their places in the quilt. The quilt is sewn together in segments with the piecing and the embroideries in very specific places. I have the biggest segment ...

 I finished off the quilt as you go piece. It has its binding on and has gone off to other hands which enjoy the hand stitching binding down process. It will then get added to the inventory of Prayers and Squares quilts for giving away to needy people. 

Since that is finished I’ve given myself permission to start a couple of new projects. They are the same pattern just done in different colours. I love Barbara Brackman’s Civil War blog and the block of the month designs she does, especially since she always has a history lesson along ...

 I seem to be on a roll with the Noah’s Journey stitcheries. I’d forgotten how fast these work up. The bears I started a couple of weeks ago are finished. I decided to keep going since I was in the mood to do these and finished up the block with the rhinos. And because I was still on a roll, last night I picked up the block with the zebras and just barely got it started. These will all eventually end up in a quilt that has quite a lot of pieced units in it, so last week ...

 I left off last week with a goal for my slow stitching projects. I was going to finish an element in my cross-stitching before I charged projects so that I wouldn’t forget how to do it. I met that goal yesterday. All the quilt blocks are now outlined and the basket bases that were a challenge to do are finished. That meant I could pick up my Noah’s Journey block - bears and ducks. These are fairly quick to do. I did most of the outline stitching on the bear in the back last evening. I think I’ll ...

 It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted, so I have some progress to show. I’m still working on the Harbour Village cross stitch. The harbour front picnic scene is starting to take shape. I’ve recently discovered a way to import the cross stitch chart into my iPad. I can keep it open beside me and zoom into the sections I’m working on which makes it much easier to see what I’m doing. Before this I had been using the chart on my computer and zooming in that way. But that was limited to ...

 I’m continuing the rotation of projects. I must confess that I really enjoy doing my projects this way. Each one gets its assigned day and none get left behind. I finished this month’s blocks for Noah’s Journey. Finishing that means I get more time to work on my Mandala Millefiori and more excitingly, my Family Sampler. 

Here are the sheep and the goats from this month’s Noah’s Journey.

The Millefiori Mandala step 5 is up in the top left corner of the finished design. I worked on it a bit last night after my eyes ...

 I’m back to rotating my projects again and it continues to work well. I have two more circles done on the Millefiori Mandala. I’m really enjoying seeing the different designs and details form inside each circle. I’d never done anything quite like it before, which was the original attraction of this piece.

I’m working on the goats for Noah’s Journey. It’s fun that one of the goats has spots that are heart shaped.

My favourite project though, is this Family Sampler. I am loving every minute and every stitch. I’m learning so many ...

 I’ve worked almost exclusively on cross stitch and embroidery this past week. I have four projects going now, one embroidery and three cross stitch. It’s a good thing I never committed to only doing one at a time because I would have broken that commitment by now. But I know myself well enough not to say that sort of thing.

The seventh release of Noah’s Journey came out at the beginning of the week. So I got it traced out and coloured. This is a two block section. I have one of them almost finished. I just ...