January Stats and a Big Finish

Happy Monday, Friends!

I hope you had a great weekend. 

I was just beginning to get over a head cold when the construction began on our upstairs floors and the dust took over...

 

The construction story will have to wait.

 

In January, I stitched 7,088 stitches on two projects. Slacking, I know, but between being sick and the construction, it was the best I could do.

 

Of the 7,088 stitches, I started and finished the English Rose Sampler, which I shared about previously.

The remainder of those stitches were part of the Witching Hour SAL which I will share with you on Wednesday. The Witching Hour Wednesday posts were delayed a week because Gary and Ronny needed to push their zooms back a week and I prefer to keep the SAL assignments the same as the zoom dates.

The big finish is Olga’s Autumn Stocking

The stitch along was to begin December 1, 2023 and end December 1, 2024.

 

Olga’s Autumn Stocking

Started: 12/1/23

Finished: 9/4/24

Fabric: 36 count linen by R&R Reproductions in the color Winter Brew

Floss: All the called-for Gentle Art and Weeks Dye Works threads

I had a very specific idea in mind for the final finish and knew I wouldn't be able to do it myself. I reached out to someone who would be able to help. Vonna at The Twisthed Stitcher is amazing. She listened to what I wanted and said she could do it.  She did!

This will be displayed year-round...once my house is back in order.

See you on Wednesday for the Witching Hour Update.

 

 

SAHRR – Week 3

 This is the third week of Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR), which is actually the second round of borders. This week’s prompt comes from Anja of Anja Quilts. She challenged us with half-square triangles.

I added Anja’s HSTs to Kathleen’s King’s Crown blocks from last week.

I’m pleased with the result and look forward to next week’s challenge.

Visit Anja's blog to see everyone else's round two progress.

I have a special cross stitch finish which I’ll share on Monday.  In the meantime, have a great weekend!

SAHRR – Week 2

Happy Friday, Friends.

Today I am sharing my progress on the Stay At Home Round Robin project (SAHRR). Gail at quiltinggail.com is hosting but this week’s prompt was given to us from Kathleen at Kathleen McMusing.

I previously shared my center block here.

Kathleen’s challenge for us this week was to incorporate a King’s Crown block into our first border. Or we could select any block whose name began with the initial of our first name. I stayed with the King’s Crown block.

My center block has been cut down to 10 ½” x 12”

I decided to add 3 1/2” (unfinished) King’s Crown blocks to each corner. 

And because the components are so small, I used SeamAlign glue instead of pins to hold the pieces together for sewing

I plan to add strips of coordinating fabric to connect the corner blocks to the center but want to see what next week’s prompt is first. I’m hoping to keep this small but who knows…

I’ve never done anything like this before, but I think it is a good challenge. I’m sure I will learn something along the way.

I’m behind on the Witching Hour SAL and will work to catch up over the next few days.

Enjoy your weekend!

FNSI, T-Shirt Quilt Progress and A Blessing Sampler Finish

Last Friday was 2025’s first Friday Night Sew In. I joined Wendy at Sugarlane Designs and friends for an evening of quilting.

I trimmed the blocks for hubby’s t-shirt quilt. Then planned to cut the sashing to attach on Saturday. However, I got started and before I knew it, the center was complete.

I am going to attach a smaller, maybe 3” inner border but can’t decide what color to use. I think the outer border will be 5 inches and I’ll use the same black tonal fabric that I used for the sashing.

I have some time to decide because my friend is helping me with a special smaller block that will go in the outer border. She lives in Florida, and I still need to send her the shirt.

The remainder of the weekend was spent stitching my blessing sampler. I first posted about this here.

I finished yesterday and can hardly wait to get it framed.

Chart: English Rose Sampler by The Proper Stitcher

Fabric: 36 count linen by Atomic Ranch in the color Mellow Stone

Floss: Victoria Clayton Silks

Started: January 1, 2025

Finished: January 20, 2025

Next on the list is SAHRR. The first prompt was released on Monday over at Kathleen McMusing. I’ll be back on Friday will my interpretation.

Enjoy your week, and I’ll see you soon.

SAHRR – Center Block

For those not familiar with the acronym, SAHRR, it means Stay At Home Round Robin. From what I understand, this fun idea came from Gail at Qulting Gail. It started in 2020 when it was deemed unsafe to pass around (round robin) a quilt for people to add to over time. You stay at home, follow weekly prompts given by the SAHRR hosts and add a border each week to your project.

Our prompt the first week is to select a center block. This can be a new block, an orphan block or, in my case, an embroidered piece from years ago. I was inspired by Diann at Little Penguin Quilts. She has used embroidered blocks for SAHRR a few times and her recent post reminded me of one I have in the “unfinished” projects box.

 

This is Bells & Bows, designed by Kaaren Johston. Kaaren used to blog at The Painted Quilt. The blog is still available to read but Kaaren stopped posting in 2016. She leaves the blog active so that followers can have access to her many free patterns.

 

I stitched this a while ago but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Kaaren’s pattern provided instructions to finish it into a little quilt. That is what will happen with SAHRR, the borders will just be a surprise each week.

I stitched this using the called-for variegated DMC 115.

I haven’t pulled fabrics for the borders just yet, but I do have something in mind.

This weekend is Friday Night Sew-In (FNSI), hosted by Wendy at Sugarlane Designs. I purchased sashing fabric for the Dad t-shirt quilt a couple of weeks ago. It has been washed, dried, and is ready for starching. I’ll cut the blocks and attach sashing Friday night.

Have a great weekend, my friends.

See you soon!

Witching Hour Wednesday – SAL Progress

The GaRon Zoom Friends’ Witching Hour stitch-along is still going strong. Today's assignment is to have the letters A through R completed.

Here are the progress photos received from the stitchers this week.

Connie S

Lisa K

Loretta M

Lynne D

Margaret D

Tara B

We are well over halfway through the stitch-along and already thinking about the next one.

 

See you soon!

Snowy Weekend

We were treated to a nice bit of snowfall beginning last Friday morning.

Everything was well covered by nightfall.

Can you spot the male cardinal in the tulip tree?

The front drive

I made a pot of chili and buttermilk cornbread for our supper.

The skies had cleared on Saturday but it was still very cold.

I peeked out the front door and noticed the neighborhood kitty cat had tracked across the front driveway.

Hubby bought himself a snow shovel last week, anticipating the storm. He was like a kid with a new toy.

I baked him a buttermilk pie as a reward for clearing the drive. And…to use up the last of the buttermilk 😊

Santa brought my husband a Bird Buddy so he can see who visits the feeders during the day. I’m sure these two were grateful they didn’t have to scrounge through the snow for some vittles.

I love this photo of our little town, still adorned with Christmas lights and a bit of snow.

Tomorrow is Witching Hour Wednesday. There are still quite a few stitchers working on the SAL.

 

Hope to see you then!

 

Just a Bunch of Numbers

I was preparing my December and 2024 year-end cross stitch stats and thought it would be interesting (for me anyway) to look back to when I first started this hobby. The purpose of this post is more for my records but maybe some of you are as much of a nerd as I am when it comes to keeping track of miscellaneous data 😊.

Before I get too far, let me tell you about December. I completed 5,651 stitches on 3 projects. Most of those were for the Witching Hour stitch-along. I haven’t stitched on it since last week’s update.

I finished Cocoa Quilt by Primrose Cottage. It is stitched on 32 count linen by R&R Reproductions in the color Vintage Homespun. The threads are my own conversion using Aurifloss and Colour & Cotton.

Then I had a tiny start on Fa la la la la by The Scarlett House. This is the chart that came in the GaRon Christmas mystery box. I am stitching this one on 40 count linen by Fox and Rabbit in the color Bake Clay. I’m using the called-for threads.

During 2024, I completed 84,474 stitches.

Below is a count of my cross-stitch hobby from the beginning.

This key will explain the columns on the table:

Starts = obviously, the number of projects started in that year.

FFO = projects fully finished (framed, pillow, flat fold, etc.).

FO = stitching is completed but the project has not been fully finished.

WiP = Work in Progress, stitching is not completed.

Read the chart like this example:

Of the 14 starts in 2019, 6 of those are FFOs, 7 are FOs and there is still 1 WiP left.

 

Year	Starts	FFOs	FOs	WiPs
2018	1	0	1	0
2019*	14	7	6	1
2020**	30	13	8	9
2021	36	23	8	5
2022***	24	14	4	6
2023	15	10	2	3
2024	34	20	10	4
Found project****	1			1
Totals	155	87	39	29

*2019 = Not included in the numbers above, one project requires a restart.

**2020 = Not included in the numbers above, one project is being abandoned.

***2022 = Not included in the numbers above, one project requires a restart.

**** = I track my projects in a book and in reviewing the details for this post, I realized I have one project that was not listed. I’m not sure when I started it, but it is still a WiP.

I hope this makes sense to you. I had to add the italicized notes so I will remember what this means in the future.

I need to spend some time planning how and when to finish the remaining FOs and what to do about the WiPs. Are there some that I will not stitch? My tastes have changed since we’ve moved and I’ve also “outgrown” some projects.

There are many projects that are either partially or fully kitted but not started…we won’t even get into those.

At some point, I will list and prioritize my quilts. There aren’t nearly as many of those projects.

If you read to the end, thank you! I’m off to get hot tea, this exercise made my brain hurt 😊