Floss Friday -- February Stats and Cross Stitch Progress

It dawned on me that I never posted my cross stitch counts for February. I more than doubled January’s stitch count with 5,180 stitches last month.

Valentine Alphabet was a start, finish and fully finish…

Parade Sam was a start and finish…

And I made progress on Salute to Abigail…

Progress as of Thursday, March 12th

Salute to Abigail was the only cross stitch project I worked on this past week.

Today is the day I am driving to Alabama to attend GaRon Stitchery’s Market Saturday. I baked Gary’s favorite cookies last night. His birthday was earlier this month, but we are celebrating this weekend.

I’ll be home Sunday afternoon and will keep my promise to make my hubby dinner. Part of it is already made and thawing in the refrigerator as of this morning.

The plan is to share my market haul in Monday’s post so stay tuned.

Enjoy your weekend and I’ll see you soon.

 

Sewcialites 3 – Block 3 and I Cooked!

Happy Monday, Friends!

Fat Quarter Shop released block number 3 in this year’s Sewcialites quilt along.

Cabin Life Block is designed by Robin Pickens.

Again, I am making the 6” blocks using Lyda Rose by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda.  And much to my surprise, the block actually measures 6-1/2” unfinished. Go figure!

I’ve mentioned in the past how my husband took early retirement in 2017. Since then, he has been the chief cook. He enjoys it and is much more adventurous than I. I am the baker and he enjoys that as well 😊

I told him the other day that I would commit to cooking at least one evening a weekend to give him a break. Sunday evening’s offering was grilled Cuban pork tenderloin with black beans and rice.

I also made a lemon butter cake for dessert.

I didn’t get to everything I had hoped to over the weekend, but it was still productive and enjoyable.

See you soon,

 

Floss Friday – Cross Stitch Progress and Nashville Needlework Market

Happy Friday, Friends!

I mentioned in last Saturday’s post, that I may stitch monogamously on Salute to Abigail. 

That is how I spent my cross-stitch time this week. Here is last week’s progress…

Here is this week’s progress…

A little wonky after coming out of the Q-Snap

This is four evening’s worth of stitching. I’m seeing good progress and will continue to work only on this piece for the next week. I am traveling next weekend and will take along something a bit easier to stitch on.

The reason I am traveling next weekend is because of an event that is happening this weekend.

Nashville Needlework Market is held in Nashville (duh) on the first full weekend in March each year. It is a wholesale trade show where designers of fabric, floss, and other accoutrements get together to sell their wares to our favorite needlework shops. Both online and brick-and-mortar shops attend.

Since this event is not open to the general public, many brick-and-mortar stores will host a “market day” at their shops the Saturday following the event. I will be driving down to Alabama to pick up my pre-orders, and likely do a bit more stash enhancement, from GaRon Stitchery. I don’t usually share “haul” but I may do that when I return home.

For my travel stitch, I was thinking of kitting up Primrose Cottage’s Free Stitch Friday chart they released yesterday. You have to sign up for their newsletters to get the free charts.

Isn’t it cute? That little house and those sheep warm my heart.

In the meantime, Sewcialites 3 – Block 3 has been released. I’ll check the Fat Quarter Shop's YouTube this morning to see which fabrics Kimberly uses in her block. Then I’ll spend some time this weekend putting it together.

What are you plans for the weekend? Hope it is something enjoyable.

See you soon,

 

Fat Quarters by the Dozen – Release 4 – Checkmate Blocks

Fat Quarter shop published the fourth release of the FQBTD quilt-along on Monday.

Two Checkmate Blocks that were supposed to measure 9½”…notice I said “supposed to?” Both of my blocks are about an eighth of an inch too small.

My cutting or stitching is off somewhere. But for that small amount, I’m not going to worry about it.

Here is a reminder of what the other blocks look like, as well as the layout.

Sampler Layout

Release 1 - Beams Blocks

Release 2 - Bluebonnets Block

Release 3 - Celebration Block

We recently discovered these frozen French green beans at Trader Joe’s.

We enjoyed them twice with just salt, pepper and a little olive oil. Last night hubby grilled some steaks and I made a lemon, mint, shallot dressing to go on the green beans.

They were delicious!

Speaking of lemons and mint...I drink a lot of water every day. I constantly have a bottle nearby. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve started making a half gallon pitcher of lemon, mint and cucumber water. I let it sit in the refrigerator overnight and drink it the following day.

This is something that I always do in the summer. I guess I’m wishing for warmer weather and starting early this year.

Thanks for the mid-week visit. See you soon!

 

Sewcialites 3 -- Block 2 -- Twinsies Block

Fat Quarter Shop released block two of the Sewcialites 3 QAL on Friday.

Block 2 is designed by Susan Ache and is called Twinsies.

It was a beginner level block and worked up quickly.  Like Kimberly Jolly, I am making 6” blocks using Lyda Rose by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda.

I was expecting the next release of FQS’s Fat Quarter by the Dozen QAL yesterday, but they said it will be released today. So, there is that to look forward to.

The remainder of our weekend was rearranging the garage to accommodate seasonal storage of some of my cross stitch pieces. We would have never considered this living in Florida and dealing with the humidity. I'm going to try it here. I'll keep a close eye on things and will make changes if needed.

Hope you had a nice weekend and are ready for the week ahead.

See you soon,

Floss Update -- Cross-Stitch Progress

No Friday update this week because I was trying to finish February’s assignment on Salute to Abigail.  I ended up feeling a little punky and didn’t stitch until today.

February’s assignment is finished just in time.

This is really a fun stitch and I’m wondering if I should just toss the monthly assignment idea and stitch on it until it is complete. I could then stitch monogamously on American Sampler until it is finished…I am woefully behind on the assignments for that piece.

I have two quilt blocks to make tomorrow. Fat Quarter Shop released another Sewcialites 3 block on Friday and they will release another block for Fat Quarters by the Dozen tomorrow.  I’ll show my progress on those Monday.

Hope you are having a nice weekend.

See you soon,

 

 

 

Sewcialites 3 -- Block 1 -- Idyllic Block

Hello Friends!

The second quilt along I am joining in 2026 is Fat Quarter Shop’s Sewcialites 3.  

This is the second time I’ve participated. I stitched along for Sewcialities 2 a couple of years ago.

I missed Sewcialites 1 but all of the patterns are still available on Fat Quarter Shop’s website if I decide to do it.

Block #1, the Idyllic Block, was designed by Chelsi Stratton. Chelsi is Sherri McConnell’s daughter. Sherri is the designer behind A Quilting Life.

I am using a fat eighth bundle of Lyda Rose by Bunny Hill Designs.

I’m making the 6” blocks which will yield a 42 ½” x 42 ½” quilt. We know what the layout will look like but I haven't found a good photo to share.

It snowed most of the day yesterday. It was the perfect day to have the blinds open and watch it come down as I organized and organized and organized… some really good progress has been made, and I hope to wrap up the craft supplies this week.

Have a great week and I’ll see you soon.