Floss Friday -- Cross Stitch Update and Alaska

Happy Friday, Friends!

It has been a while since I’ve posted and visited my favorite blogs. I guess you could say I really checked out during vacation and was just living in the moment. It was fantastic.

Hubby and I took a 7-night cruise to Alaska. We flew to Seattle on June 7^th, boarded the ship on the 8^th and flew home on a red-eye flight the 15^th – 16^th. We are more exhausted from this trip than we were when we returned from Italy last September.

There was a cross-stitch retreat two of the days during the cruise. I had won the registration at a retreat last summer, which worked perfectly for our Alaska plans. The event was hosted by Anabella’s Needleworks and the featured designer was Stitching with the Housewives (SWTH). Priscilla and Chelsea are the mother-daughter team behind SWTH. Chelsea had a baby May 1^st and was unable to attend but Priscilla was there with us.

Priscilla and Chelsea designed a chart exclusively for the retreat attendees and provided finishing instructions. 

Anabella’s kitted the chart with fabric and floss. It became my focus stitching for the last week, and I’ve even fully finished it.

Chart: Stitch with Me

Fabric: 28 count white Monaco

Floss: Called-for Classic Colorworks

Stitch Count: 98 x 70

Finished Size: ~7” x 5”

I'll share retreat gifts and giveaways in a separate post.

When I wasn't stitching, Hubby and I were hiking, biking, glacier viewing, whale watching and eating…eating…eating!

I took way too many photos to post but here are a few from our trip.

Seattle was the only cloudy day we had the entire trip.

Yes, I bought fabric. More about that later...

A humpback whale waving...

We enjoyed Alaska so much that we booked a Land to Sea trip for next year.

The laundry is done and I am catching up at work. I’m also working to catch up on Melisa’s Summer Stamp Sampler.

Pinker N Punkin' Quilting and Stitching

I’ll be working on Sewcialites and Fat Quarters by the Dozen quilt blocks tonight. Can’t get too far behind on those.

Forgive me if I haven’t visited your blog for a while. I’ll get there, I promise.

In the meantime, enjoy your weekend.

My next post will be Monday, June 22nd...a quilty update.

See you soon.

 

Floss Friday -- Cross-Stitch Progress

Happy Floss Friday, Friends.

This week has been a good week for cross-stitch.

First, I finished Melisa’s Summer Stamp release for this week.

Home Tweet Home has the cutest little birdhouse and bees buzzing about. They were so much fun to stitch. Visit Melisa at Pinker n Punkin’ Quilting and Stitching to see more stamps she has designed. They are seasonal and so much fun!

Unfortunately, I will be behind when I return from vacation. I’m going to miss the next two releases and will have some catching up to do when I get home.

And…I have a finish!  Salute to Abigail by Blackbird Designs.

I had asked what you all thought about me replacing Abigail’s name with a date. I was encouraged to do so.

The details…

Fabric: 36 count linen by XJudesigns in the color Frappucino

Floss: Valdani cottons in Rich Wine, Withered Blue,  Tealish Blue, and one Aurifloss color #2311. I had a hard time finding a white to work on this fabric.

Stitch Count: 147w x 149h

Stitched Size: 8/17” x 8/28

With any luck, a 10 x 10 frame will work, and I can finish it myself.

Before I move on to looking ahead to the weekend…back to the Blogger issue. Linda, Linda’sRelaxing Lair, kindly sent me the link to the post I referred to on Monday regarding our posts not appearing in reading lists in a timely manner. And Linda, Texas Quilt Gal, was kind enough to leave a comment with detailed instructions on how to add a blog roll to your blogspot page. Go back  here  to read the comment.  Also, Terry, On Going Projects, was kind enough to send an email containing an article with instructions. That article is linked here. Thank you all for your help. I’m going to work on this as soon as I get home and settled from vacation.

Fat Quarter Shop releases Sewcialites 3, block 16 today. I’ll work on that as soon as I see which fabrics Kimberly Jolly uses for her block. Then I will be finishing some gifts for an upcoming retreat. Monday’s post will show those items as well as progress on the Granny Square afghan.

Enjoy your weekend and I’ll see you soon.

 

 

Quilt-Along Progress and Plans

Happy first day of June, my friends! Where does the time go?

Before getting into the quilt update, I want to mention a Blogger issue I’ve been having. Sweet Linda at Linda’s Relaxing Lair wrote a post about it a while ago but I couldn’t find it to link.

Posts do not appear in the Reading List right away. I have missed so many of my friends’ posts because they are either delayed or are not showing up at all in the list. Linda did mention that if you have a blog roll on your page, then that updates immediately. I must figure out how to add that to my blog, when I have time. I’ve noticed I have had a reduction in views, so I suspect my posts are not showing up either.

Now, for what you came here for…

The first block I finished on Friday was Sewcialites 3 block 15.

Split Star Block by Lissa Alexander.  I amazed myself when my directional fabrics came out correctly.

Fat Quarter Shop released the Fat Quarters by the Dozen block early. It should have been posted today but it was available on Friday, so I took the opportunity to get ahead a little bit.

Luminary block is another big one, measuring 15 ½” square.

I believe there are only a couple of block releases left and then we get the finishing instructions.

We leave next Sunday for vacation. We will be away about a week and a half. The plan is to have a cross-stitch update this Friday. Then I’ll have a quilt and crochet update scheduled to post on Monday, June 8^th. So, if I do not show on your reading list, please know those are my plans. I always have good intentions of posting while on vacation but have rarely done so. I'll likely post a few times on Instagram and then write a post recapping our trip when I return.

This is going to be a busy week with trying to finish some tasks for work and packing. I did have a successful weekend in giving the house a deep clean. Don’t ask me about the mounds of laundry!

I hope you have a great week doing all the things you love.

See you soon,

 

Floss Friday -- Cross Stitch Update

Happy Floss Friday, Friends!

It has been a good stitchy week. I have a finish, though not fully finished project, to share.

Before getting to the “FO”, let me give you a weekly update on Melisa’s  (Pinker n Punkin' Quilting and Stitching) Summer Stamp Sampler.

Pink Lemonade is this week’s release. 

Melisa even shared a recipe for pink lemonade on her blog here.

I must hurry and finish the last three boxes as we only have a few more weeks left of this stitch-along.

There was a good bit of progress made on Salute to Abigail by Blackbird Designs.

You may remember, I had to ‘frog’ and re-stitch a good portion of the border TWICE. I think I have it now.

All the motifs are complete, and I am working on the vine in the border to make sure it matches before adding the flowers. After that I will add the words and date. I’m thinking of doing a bit of recharting. I'll remove Abigail’s name and add “July 4, 1776” in that spot and then change the other side to “July 4, 2026.” What do you think?

I finished stitching the last Patriotic Pear.

Red, White and Blue

Patriotic Pears by Annie Beez Folkart

Now to get the courage to actually sew them into pears… That attempt won’t happen until the end of June, at the earliest.

Time to put the stitching aside for the weekend. Fat Quarter Shop releases another Sewcialites 3 block today. That means some sewing will need to happen. Then the plan is to do some house cleaning. 

What is on your agenda for the weekend? Tell me all the things!

I’ll be back Monday with a quilting update, and who knows what else. Have a wonderful weekend, my friends.

See you soon.

 

Quilt Along Progress

Oops! I am a day late in reporting my quilt along progress. I started a machine embroidery project on Sunday and forgot to post my recent quilt blocks.

First, Sewcialites 3 block #14 is Criss-Cross Star Block by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet Co.

Another quick and easy block.

Next is Fat Quarters by the Dozen release #9, the Halo block.

This block measures 18-1/2” square. This is a big block but also very fun to make.

Here are some bags I’m making for an upcoming event…more on this later.

I’ll leave you with some photos of recent visitors.

Spotted Eastern Towhee

He likes to hang out with Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal.

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