Floss Friday -- April Stats and Cross Stitch Update

Happy Friday and May Day, Friends. Are you dancing around the maypole today?

Here we are at the beginning of May already. This year is passing by quickly. I still need to put away Easter décor and get out the “May” pieces.

Before looking ahead, let’s see what I accomplished in April.  I had two starts and finishes…

Patriotic Pears Blue

Patriotic Pears Red

I had two new starts…

Summer Stamp by Melisa at Pinker n Punkin’ Quilting and Stitching

This week’s stamp is Summer Harvest. Melisa added straight lines to the carrot to give it more definition and also french knots to the strawberry to act as seeds. I may still include those at some point.

Patriotic Pears Red, White and Blue (pathetic start)

I touched one WIP…

Salute to Abigail

All of those projects totaled 3,643 stitches in April.

Cross Stitch plans for May:

• Finish stitching the last Patriotic Pear and fully finishing all three.
• Finish stitching Salute to Abigail.
• Continue stitching along with Melisa at Pinker n Punkin’ on the Summer Stamp. This has turned into my Tuesday evening stitching.
• Get back to stitching American Sampler by Crocette a gogo.
• Start Happy Day by Plum Street Samplers.

Happy Day will be stitched on 36 count linen by Fiber on a Whim in the color Silver Fox and using the called-for floss. I am stitching this with Christi of Java Girl Stitches on YouTube and Instagram.

Here are some nature photos from this week…

Mama, Daddy and babies resting in the shade at the lake.

Cardinal waiting for his turn at the feeder.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak on the feeder. He wouldn’t turn around so I could photograph his vibrant red chest.

My rhododendrons are in full bloom.

Fat Quarter Shop releases another Sewcialites 3 block, as well as a Fat Quarters by the Dozen block today. Hopefully, I will get those sewn this weekend and share them on Monday. The lake is having their annual plant sale on Saturday morning and I plan to attend. That may lead me down a gardening path…we shall see.

Enjoy the weekend ahead and I’ll see you soon.

 

 

Quilt Along Progress and Hiking

Fat Quarter Shop released Sewcialites 3, block #10 last Friday. Little Berry Block is designed by Pat Sloan.

The fabric I am using is the Lyda Rose collection by Bunny Hill Designs, and it doesn’t have any greens it. I copied Kimberly’s (Fat Quarter Shop) selection of fabrics so my strawberry stem is brown.

We didn’t see any wild strawberries on Sunday, but hubby and I took a couple of hikes with a local group. The first trek was off the Blue Ridge Parkway (MM431) to the summit of Richland Balsam Mountain.

We reached a 6, 410 foot above sea level elevation and had some amazing views.  I think you can see Table Rock and a few other “famous” peaks. I need to pay better attention next time.

After that loop, we proceeded further up the parkway to MM417 so that we could hike down to Skinny Dip Falls.  We passed a tree name “Dragon Tree.”

Skinny Dip Falls used to flow from way up in the mountain, but Hurricane Helene caused so much damage that it is now a series of just small falls.  It was still very serene and enjoyable.

At this elevation, spring is just beginning.

Rhododendrum

Red Trillium

We had lunch on the rocks before the day ended.

These hikes were considered intermediate treks, and they were fine. We look forward to joining this group again on future hikes at different locations.

I hope you had a lovely weekend and I wish you a wonderful week ahead.  See you soon.

Floss Friday -- Cross Stitch Progress

Salute to Abigail has been calling my name but I haven’t given her any attention since my last update.  Instead, I started stitching Patriotic Pears by Annie Beez Folk Art.

I finished the blue one…

Started the red one…

These are a quick stitch and I hope to finish the third one in a couple of days. Then I will attempt to fully finish them into pears myself, rather than sending them to a finisher. I watched a very good tutorial by Nichol Spohr on YouTube. Nichol does a fabulous job with her tutorials, and I feel this is very doable. I'm stitching Patriotic Pears on 32 count linen by Lapin Loops. I'm not sure of the fabric's color names, I'll have to ask Gary at GaRon Stitchery because he put the fabric pack together.  

I am also joining Melisa’s - Pinker n Punkin’ Quilting & Stitching – Summer Stamp Stitch Along.  You can read more about the stitch along on Melisa’s blog.

First the border was released… no progress photo 

Then the header was released… no progress photo... I started and just kept going!

And this week, she gave us “And the Garden Grows” Stamp 1

She will release one stamp per week, with the final reveal scheduled for June 27^th.

I am stitching mine on 28 count Mushroom Lugana by Zweigart, using Melisa’s suggested DMC floss colors. Stitch count is 107 x 132 and when finished, the piece will fit inside an 8 x 10 frame. I already have one picked out.

Melisa is very generous with her talents and offers her designs free of charge to all of us. Thank you, Sweet Melisa!!!

Are you stitching along with us? What has been keeping you busy in your crafty endeavors lately?

See you soon,

 

Quilt Along Progress

Our trip to Florida was productive, but not in a “crafty” way.  We helped our daughter and her family get settled into their new home. I explored their neighborhood and was able to get in a few long walks while we were there.

Since we’ve been home, I’ve been catching up on the quilt alongs hosted by Fat Quarter Shop.

Sewcialites 3 block #8 is Beacon Block designed by Amy Smart from Diary of A Quilter…

Sewcialites 3 block #9 is Daylight Block designed by Corey Yoder from Coriander Quilts…

As a reminder, I am stitching the Sewcialites 6” blocks using Lyda Rose by Bunny Hill Designs

The next block is the Fireflies Block from Fat Quarters by the Dozen.

I’m making these blocks from various lines of Lori Holt fabric.

I have a few cross stitch projects to share on Friday. I hope to see you then…

 

Hugs,

Quilt Along Progress -- Sewcialites 3 and Fat Quarters by the Dozen

Hello, Friends! 

Fat Quarter Shop published release number 6 of the Fat Quarters by the Dozen quilt along on April 1^st. Composition block is another big one measuring 17” square.

It was super simple to construct but I’m not sure I’d like to have a whole quilt of these blocks.

FQS also released block 7 of the Sewcialites 3 quilt along. Flower Block was designed by Elizabeth Harman.

I think it is so cute.

I’ll have some make up sewing to do when I return from Florida. Two Sewcialites blocks and one FQBTD block will be released while I am away.

I’m taking some cross-stitch with me but I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to stitch.

Enjoy the week ahead and I’ll see you soon.

 

Floss Friday -- March Stats and Cross Stitch Progress

Happy Good Friday, Friends!

Salute to Abigail by Blackbird Designs is the only cross stitch project I worked on in March. I put in 1,977 stitches.

This is where I was on March 31^st

Last week I planned to finish the border because I wanted to make sure it matched up at the end. Well…it didn’t and I frogged TWICE! I’ve decided to finish the motifs in the middle and then finish the border.  This is where I am as of last evening…

I fully finished two older pieces last month.

Fresh Cut was a Stitch Quarterly project from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Fresh Cut by Its Sew Emma

Fabric: 14 count Aida by Colour & Cotton in the color Bisque

Floss: Cosmo Thread (Berry, Rose, Straw, Light Green, Grass Green and Jade Cream)

Stitch Count: 99w x 127h

Stitching: Started April 1, 2021, Finished April 10, 2021

Sail Away was a mystery stitch along from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Sail Away by Its Sew Emma

Fabric: 14 count Aida by Wichelt in the color Touch of Blue

Floss: Colour & Cotton (Bing Cherry, Bumblebee, Delft Blue, Dark Indigo, Nickel, Silver Lining, Spectre and Pearl White)

Stitch Count: 131w x 142h

Stitching: Started May 3, 2021, Finished May 30, 2021

I’ll be taking Sail Away to my daughter in Florida next week. She wants it for her new home.

Wishing you a very Happy and Blessed Easter weekend.

See you soon,

 

Sewcialites 3 -- Block 6 -- Window Seat Block

Fat Quarter Shop published block number 6 of the Sewcialites 3 quilt along last Friday. Window Seat Block was designed by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic.

I meant to flip the bottom row so that the blue block was on the opposite side of the one in the top row.  I’m quite sure I will fix it in the future.

Linda at Texas Quilt Gal told me she is thinking about making the Spacious Skies Quilt by Lori Holt.  

I shared in an earlier post that I am going to make that quilt soon. I just wanted to make a test block first. Linda asked me how I liked Lori’s specialty rulers that are included in the kit and I thought I would give them a try this weekend so I could let her know.  Much to my surprise, the rulers were not in the box. I checked the ‘kit contents’ and they were most definitely on the list.  I called the store where I bought the kit last June, expecting too much time had passed and they wouldn’t be able to help. Well, the store manager checked the one remaining kit they have, and it is also missing the rulers. She said they would contact Riley Blake and let them know. She expects RB will send them the missing rulers and I should have them in a couple of weeks.  We shall see…

In addition to the Sewcialites block, I also fully finished some older cross-stitch pieces. I’ll have those to show you on Friday.

I hope you have a great week and I’ll see you soon.