Still on a roll

with this cross stitch and as it has been a while since I was I don't feel too badly that it will delay the sampler quilt.

So yesterdays progress

Thanks to Doris

I have picked up one of my WIPs.  I was supposed to be working on it during the IHSW but I kept forgetting.  

Indeed it has been some considerable time since I have picked up this particular project. 

Here it is now.

Were you wondering who Doris is and how she inspired me to get back to this? Well, for a start the Doris in this instance is not a she, nor even a who but rather a what.  For on Thursday I was scheduled to be at my quilting group.  On Thursday however Doris arrived in England, storm Doris and with the storm came wind and rain and a whole shower of cancellations for the quilting group.

So with the quilting night cancelled and the bag I would have taken put away my eyes fell on this project tucked in its bag, and out it came. Had it not been for Doris, I would have been off to my meeting and this might have waited considerably longer before progressing at all.

Confession bagged

it is all finished, well the thread band is and now the lining is fully attached. I have not as yet started the next incarnation of parsimonious sewing thread usage.

You may have noticed I was careful there to say sewing thread as a distinct delineation between that and embroidery or cross stitch thread.  I may need to work up both my courage and possibly be nearer a finish on what I do with the bits from that side of my crafting persona before I share that guilty secret here.   

All made up..Sunday Stitching

Well here she is, all finished and ready for Christmas, although she does have a wait till then.  I will put her away with the forerunner of my go at vinyl aida,  Flat Santa Cone'd. (the mag and issue number is on the original post)

Christmas Fairy

Christmas Fairy in profile

Christmas Fairy wings

A lingering question was answered, having sewn this pattern all with the same needle, that the vinyl was not the cause of the exceptionally bendy needle that originally came with the kit. The needle this time remaining in the same state as it started and quite usable for another project.  Unlike the kit needle!  Actually it was so bent I am going to share it again......just because I can!

Bent needle

I am again dipping into the cover kit stash for my next Sunday Stitching, but this time moving away from the Christmas theme.

A Sampler quilt, tumbling blocks

Sewn on to the background the tumbling block is for now finished. Of course it is not completely never to be touched again finished . It will wait now for the rest of the blocks from the book to be finished, sashing chosen sandwiching and backing and quilting all still to go.

However, getting the first design in the sampler quilt feels like and achievement. 

That this journey has properly started

Tumbling Blocks

What was Sunday Stitching finished

A wise man once told me that reading (depending on the book) was a good way to avoid thinking!

Well under certain circumstances I guess so can stitching.

Sunday I did not get to Church as my mother was not feeling well. I did get to go out, although a trip in an ambulance taking my mother to hospital had not been on the plans for the day.  All has ended well and after one nights stay for tests ect she is home again.

But while she was not and the might be worries were trying to crowd into my mind I used this to stop me doing any negative thinking.

Not completely completed, the cross stitch and backstitch is now done and I believe the "what" of this piece is now understandable.  Not sure when I will take the final steps with it, it will depend where my head is at I guess.

A Sampler Quilt- a pile of cubes

Time to stack the cubes. The first three cubes went together OK, adding the bottom three was another matter. Possibly I was being overly optimistic in my last post about the percentage of persuasion compared to precision in piling my cubes together.

So with some joins and points totally reflecting my crafting moto,(see above). 

Here is the pile.

Blue topped patchwork cubes

Even with the struggles to get the edges to meet (bottom right set was the worst) it did not take too long putting them together. A single episode of Death in Paradise plus half an hour.  Of course difficult to estimate actual true stitching time when watching the telly as some bits need more watching than others (yup program and sewing alike)

Now the background is my carpet, it has made several appearances before, and the arrangement above, with the dark to the top, mid shade to the left and light to the right is the way it is set out in the book. 

I plan to attach the pile of blocks to a square of pale pink. Now the wondrous and yet also perplexing aspect of this design is you can rotate it. Oh rotations lead to decisions being required.

light from the left?

light from the top

Not sure which I prefer, not sure at all.

Must dig out the pale pink and try it against that, it may help me focus.

A Sampler Quilt - cubes.

Diamonds hemmed and turned into cubes.  They curved up sort of at the edges bit a nice hot iron sorted that.  

Next step, stacking the blocks into a tower.  Have you heard the saying about writing? You know that it is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration?

I have a quilting version.

 10% precision and 90% persuasion to get the corners and points to match.

Patchwork cubes

And am I enjoying this yet? Well not exactly, sewing the diamonds together might have been fun if waiting to see if the edges would match up had not been so nerve wracking.  Of course I should be enthusing over this so as not to put my friend off making a start.