Although at the moment its not that random as we are each sticking to the same project of choice, we just are not working jointly on a project.
I have made reasonable progress and this is an adventure as the illustration for the finished look is just that, an illustration not a picture of a finished piece.
As such the colours are being somewhat unexpected.
It is a little hard to tell here but those checked sections are in different colours.
On the illustration they look exactly the same.
I have added a close up for reference.
Doing the backstitch as I go is working for me on this so I will keep doing it that way..
Pop on over to my BFF's blog to see how things are going on her time sensitive project.
this week the additional tome is due to watching the remembrance ceremony at the cenotaph (other than the two mins silence of course)
I think it has gone from a bit scary to sad ?
I also did a little on the project I started on Wednesday BFF session. There is less to show than there was sewing done. Yes the frog had to help me out of a counting mistake. Ah well I enjoyed stitching it in the first place so I get double the fun having to do it again. I have also learned that with this pattern doing the backstitch as I go is going to help with the counting.
I thought I would do the next shade of brown, that there would be something viewable at the end. Oh and the brown stood out, erm perhaps a bit much. Oh too much, I had sewn with the darkest shade and it was the wrong one.
So out it came, faster than it went in, I managed to get all of the incorrect colour out and a little start on the right shade within my normal Sunday sewing time.
When I got home, and after lunch I went to take the update picture and there was not that much to show. I decided to apply BFF Sal rules when frogging has been required. Going back to where I would have been at the point the mistake was spotted.
However, I got a bit carried away as as those stitches were in the ! I will just finish this length of thread" lie popped into my head. Followed by "there are only a few stitches left in this section" on loop.
The result quite a bit more progress than I would have made within normal Sunday Stitchings time.
There was nothing made in our Primary lesson at Church today, but my candle is still in place.
Usually at this time of the year I join in the Trick or Treat Blog hop hosted by Jo over at https://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/ but organising the hop is a lot of work for Jo and this year life is busy so instead of the hop it is a link up.
I like to try and do something new for the hop each year and happily had something finished ready so it can be added for the link up.
It is a modification of a design in issue 350 of The World of Cross Stitching. One of four designs by Fiona Baker, intended to be a coloured cross stitch with a blackwork frame.
For speed I decided to just do an outline of the central image and added a little bit of gold blending filament I have a little bit of that to use up
after the picture there would normally be the letter for the hop and a link to the next blog. If you did not come here from Jo's blog then use the link at the top and see what other themed stitches are about.
If you are still craving more Halloween themed stuff you can link to previous years hops click on the Halloween label link at the bottom of the page.
Oh and I have shared this particular Forestella song before but as a ghost story it fits
it has been a few weeks without Sunday Stitchings due to a cold that settled in that I did not want to spread and then a migraine.
Its nice to be back at Church.
Added some light grey this week
not easy to see on this picture, but it is there on the ears and just a few stitches in the middle.
There was a bit of crafting in Primary as well, we were learning about letting our light shine and being like Jesus. So we made candles from sticky backed foam.
The children were tasked with pitting their finished candle somewhere they could see it to remind them to each day try and be a light to their friends and family by doing good things.
I got to make one for myself (in between being in charge of the scissors and cutting the pieces as instructed by the children who are mostly still too young for very sharp scissors) and of course I have the same task as the children.
I just happen to have a wall sconce so out came the wax candle that was in it and in went the foam one. Oh and the back of the card has a holographic surface you can see reflected in the mirrored section of the wall sconce.
I quite like the fake candle in place of a real one, although perhaps not quite the colour scheme I might have chosen, this was based mostly on the bits left after cutting pieces for the children.
Perhaps at some point I will make a fake candle more reflective of the sconce and the other items displayed on the same wall.
But for the moment it is certainly going to catch my eye and act as the intended reminder.
I finished that last little bit of sky off camera. Not that it looks like much difference from the last update but here it is ready for the backstitch.
I was quite looking forward to the backstitch and getting this into the frame I had measured my section to fit.
The best laid plans...
Issue one my BFF had other life things occur and let me know she would not be ready to backstitch in time.
That was fine, change of plan, I would work on the frame and sort out the mount.
Of mice and crafters...
The frame was a charity shop purchase and had been waiting in the loft for its opportunity. It had a print in it, "so many sales so little time" so taking that out to make way for a cross stitch was an improvement, well it might have been.
But it had been finished very securely on the back. Under the masking tape it was proper framer staple fastened. I have worked with such before successfully but this was not budging and I got the feeling if I persisted all I would end up with was a broken glass.
oft go astray..
and broken glass can have other consequences, so I have given up on that framing plan and the frame itself with its print, well it will be going to a different charity shop, perhaps someone else will want it for the print. I have not replaced the masking tape so that another re-framer will be able to see the issues with it for that purpose.
That leaves the question of what I did with the rest of our evening?
The answer is
any guesses?
as for my BFF well Click Here for a delightful double update.
you may notice that I am late with my blog post, that was due to a combination of our stitching session overrunning a little followed by my being ill the day after our stitch session and a catch up on the Friday.
However I shall consider it serendipitous as it means I am posting on the day that Forestella have released a new original song. So whilst my frame issue is not quite at the level of the title of the new song I shall shoehorn it in!
If you follow K-Pop at all you might feel that this is something that Hong Seunghan formerly of the group RIIZE might sing. It makes me happy that the fan group I belong to Soopbyeol is made up of a differently minded fan base that is supportive of the group being real people with lives and relationships.
Back to the stitching, as my BFF noted she has a scheduling conflict for next week, so that backstitching is going to wait a bit longer. Which will give me time to got frame shopping, initially in the loft and my stash, fingers crossed one of the frames I have will suit. If not it might be awhile finding one the right size.
how annoying is it when you know you have a particular shade of thread and it is not in its place in the box, or in any of the ongoing projects it might be with!
Very that's the answer to that. So there were substitutions and I am nearly almost done ! Ah so near and yet so far! All the full cross stitches are done, just half stitches in one or two strands of the same blue remain to do before backstitching can start.
The big white space, or slice of cheese as my BFF referred to it is now filled in and looking much more boat.
The little houses are all done.
I anticipate it will be backstitching next week and then we will change to BFF randoms till the New year I expect when BFF 17 will need to be chosen.
I am not sure yet if this is for me or if it will be gifted.
I might add a little something to the design either way, but the what is going to depend on the for whom!
Click Here to pop over to my BFF's blog for her update.
I have not posted for a few weeks, I had a cold and it rather interrupted everything including our BFF sessions.
There has been off camera sewing in dispensation time, and at the end of this evenings session we agreed to free stitching up to the backstitch stage and we will then pause and wait till we are both ready for that whomever gets there first. We get to that point sometimes on the joint projects when we want to be finished and on to something new even if what that will be is as yet unplanned.
So her is the progress up to this evening.
that half stitch sky, some in one strand some in two is most likely going the same way as the sky in the EasterBunnies .
I am very glad now I have less sky to fill in than my BFF.
It feels good to have more of the little houses done (i have done a little remodelling on mine , so you can play spot the difference between mine and my BFF's if you like.)
And at last with that line of blue I am making progress on the big boat at the bottom and getting rid of the "slice of cheese" as my BFF has been calling it.
I checked what thread I was missing and for at least one of them I will be doing a substitution rather than try and get just the one skein of thread .
CLICK HERE to see try that spot the difference on the houses.
We had another conversation about the passage of time, and our joint astonishment at being on BFF SAL 16, but then we have been doing this for 4 years now, wait what!
Gosh so we have. Mind so far stitched more than fully finished. I will have to check that and get some finishing done.
so as the 15th of the month falls on a Sunday and the item that I am currently working on on Sundays happens to be a kit gifted to me this post happily is both.
Still working in brown although I think I might have finished all of the stitches in this shade, there may of course be ninjas lurking about waiting to catch me unaware!
Ah and talking of ninja stitches today was also Stake Conference, its too long a combined time of sitting for my mother so we watched from home via you tube and I thought I might get out my normal conference stitch and work on that. On the World and THAT comet.
I did get it out, and each celestial body got a few stitches however, I am still struggling with "seeing" just where I am and what stitches need to be in what shade where! So I took the few as a win and turned back to something nice and friendly on 14 count.
CLICK HERE to go to the host blog and find other participating blogs (oh and for the rules on the GG posts click HERE as it is a much better explanation than can provide.
was still the go to shade set for me. Some area defining work and then just before we were done for the evening some satisfying filling it.
I think the rest of the filling in for this section will be something I can do whilst listening to a nice Forestella mix, perhaps even the ones for singing along to, although goodness knows what my mispronounced Korean, Spanish or indeed Italian is actually saying but I will have fun with it.
Click here to see my BFF's progress on her chosen section of the pattern.
You can almost see what the whole thing might look like.
but still working on the same shade. The left side is sorted but there is still more of this shade to go on the right side.
At the moment a particular breed of the animal emerging springs to mind. However, that is not the case at all.
Things went quite smoothly this week, I spotted a small miscount in the last four stitches from last time before it could grow into a bigger issue. That felt like a win.
missing bits. We don't plan it this way, honest we don't. We just stitch in whatever colour or direction we want.
And in this case also how much of the original pattern we want. That it ends up with my part being bits that are not as yet stitched by my BFF and visa versa just happens.
Although this time I am particularly amused that I stitched in the black bollards as jumping off points for the houses and steps and then looking at my friends update to get the link to add below realised that is the only bit of the houses and steps she still has left to do!
My picture is likewise a little less posed than usual, and you can no doubt see I don't leave a lot of room at the edges. It is rare that I do.
You will also note I now have five part boats, I really must get that missing thread.
To compare and contrast Click Here to see my BFF's current position.
Now it may not look like it but she is still closer to completion than I am so I still have additional allowance for off joint session stitching time.
Why, well Sunday I was not well and so no stitching occurred and as for the SAL it was one of those rare evenings when we just did not have the emotional or physical energy to do it.
It happens, and quite often when it does we are each feeling the same way, which ever one of us mentions it first.
I do however had that non camera allowance on this BFF SAL so I do have an update to share before next weeks get together.
Quite a lot of blue, some of it single strand but still a full cross stitch. And yet another "not all there yet" mode of transport.
You are right I keep forgetting I need threads for this.
At some point I wont be able to keep working around their absence and will have to get that sorted out.
I would note that the ohps has been successfully "fudged" inside that swathe of blue.
I have not quite worked around the ""ohps to the point it feels fixed but some off camera time and a productive night of mostly blue and I feel I am making progress.
Funnily although I have not stitched anything on the three boats in this image the blue around them has made them more there this week than they previously were.
I am still far enough behind in the area left to stitch before a finish that I retain stitch anytime dispensation on this project.
So of course I don't feel all that much like working on it. However I have stopped in such a place that there are good starting points for next time.
There is still the issue of threads that need to be bought as well, but at the moment I will just keep going with the shades I have.
Pop on over to my BFF's blog by Clicking HERE to see how she is getting on with hers.
I started this sampler quilt in 2017 Tumbling Blocks being the first of several new blocks I learned along the way. I finished it in 2022 and gifted it to my mother for Christmas that year.
But I never did get around to taking a good picture of the finished quilt.
The ladies organisation at Church (Relief Society) are having craft evenings, with either bring something you are working on, or try something that has been brought by someone else.
This week I decided to avail myself of all that floor space (and also a holding helper) to take some pictures of the sampler quilt in full. Oh and also to make use of the large table to get my blue Flimsy sandwiched. I did get it pinned and made a start at taking it together. I am using very thin wadding as an experiment.
Anyway that will get a post all of its own back to the Sampler Quilt.
And a side view, you can see the four "extra drunkards path blocks made their way into the corners of the edge sashing.
and of course a view of the back,
still hard to make out the quilting lines.
but a bit better, fingers and feet of my volunteer helper. I don't think he will become an internet star from this picture.
Oh and my mother said her favourite block is that first one, tumbling blocks so I made a little duvet cover to co-ordinate. However, stitching in secret I got a little turned around and made a mistake of sorts, I wonder if you can see what that was.
Pleased to finally have a proper finished post for this project even if it is rather late in arriving.
lots and lots pf Ps, which is the symbol for the blue I started on last time.
I did a little bit of off camera time as was allowed and then kept on with the blue.
much blue, I was feeling quite good about the much blue until I realised I was a stitch out somewhere in the blue
Hmmm, in this instance Mr Frog can take a rest, there was enough of that on the Sunday Stitchings.
At this point the blue being exactly correct is not pivotal .
Therefore my choice is to work up the left hand side in towards the blue and "fudge the join, then over the top of where the blue would go and get back on track that way.
I started the Sunday before last and did not get around to posting it, then missed a Sunday due to ill health and here I am back again.
So what did I choose, well a kit, with pre-carded thread, material to size, a needle and best of all no backstitch.
Its on 14 count so nice and east to see and the pattern is printed quite large.
So week one, colour one
week two ? Well I did some more in this shade and then moved onto the next colour at which point realised I had made an error, you know the kind, one stitch out which not spotted until later equals many a stitch out of place by one. Actually looking at the picture above I made that one stitch mistake the first week and almost everything I did this Sunday had to come back out.
So as to be able to sew again next Sunday I needed to get some help from The Frog and then take the project back to the point it would have been without the mistake.
The frogging and resewing took less time, than figuring out where the mistake was!
I have not cropped this picture so it is possible to get an idea of the finished size. I can see what it is going to be, but then I already know that. Any guesses?
There was a chat at my mother's group meeting about recycling and she came away with a free bag. One side with a pink decal covering the specific recycling it was promoting, the other side was blank.
Oh the possibilities of a blank space.
I happened to have a stencil I'd not used yet, you will be unsurprised by the focus of that design.
Used T-shirt pens and chose the colours to echo the printed side.
The added bits in Korean are via Google translate and hopefully I got it right. It has no particular significance it is just a space filler that felt right.
It was quick, it was fun and unlike on my mug the lines for the lettering stayed in their own lanes and did not merge. It will be useful and it filled in a moment of "want to do something crafty, don't know what and have very little time" so all good.
Oh and the "official side" just in case it is of use to anyone.
in my previous post a-relief-society-crafting-trip about painting underglaze on a mug I noted I would not know how well it went until it was fired.
Unlike my stitching projects where mistakes can often be corrected by unpicking or Frogging, what you get after firing is it.
So, I worried that the blue background might be too dark for the black lettering to show up. That was not an issue, it came out much lighter. I wondered if the little stars would show up, they didn't but that was not too disappointing. However a related issue is, the thin line of silver that made the F for the FS logo went the way of the stars and so the F , which was already a stylised letter is no longer an F.
Other issue is that two fine black lines in the lettering on the handle have merged to one thicker line. I have not as yet braved checking what that may have changed the word to!
On the positive side the motley effect of the blue, although not intended is rather pleasant, and the silver pale lilac on the moons are also effective and perhaps most importantly the mug is usable.
It does give me a reason to add another link to another performance of the song, just the three group members here, the fourth is serving in the Korean Army till May 2025.
Mind the title of the concert is a reminder there are no stars on my mug, sigh !
it has been three weeks since last my BFF and I managed our virtual sewing session, well we have missed three, this is week four. One week went to my being too tired after a trip to the office, week two to a holiday absence and week three to an important coming of age birthday. Not either of ours, sadly we passed those sort of landmark birthdays more than a little while ago, and the milestone age we are currently experiencing sort of together, as no two women meet this the same, is not feeling like something to celebrate just now.
We were both finding the sewing bug a little absent, but we did sew a little something. It was also a quiet week for things to chat about, I filled empty spaces with my fangirl observations and a laugh about my managing to mention Forestella at work in a group meeting with the big boss!
So this weeks progress, a tiny bit of a different shade of green, some white, some yellow and ok look a biggish bit of blue.
I needed that bit of blue, I'm not feeling this one yet, which might explain why I have used none of my allowed off screen time to try and catch up, that and I need to go thread shopping, which will help resolve that big empty space in the middle. It does look better in the picture than it does to me when I am working on it, so that's something I guess.
This is the second pre-printed bought panel I have hand quilted. It is a different mindset to quilting a patchwork top. In some ways it is freeing as it is just following lines and in others , well you have to decide which lines to sew or not.
In addition, when it is a pictorial image and the quilting will show on the back extra care is needed.
My BFF likes the back for hand quilting, and I would note that when gifting this the recipient saw the back first and was delighted with that before turning it over to the coloured side.
It was nice to gift this, I do have another panel the same but I am sure that the hand quilting placement will be different as I expect my choices of which bits to quilt and which to leave will change.
