BFF SAL 19 Nearly almost

 but not! Finished that is.

All the cross stitching is done, just the backstitch to go.

We will both be starting with that next time and contemplating number 20, if not starting it.

CLICK HERE to see how my BFF is doing.

Sunday Stitching June 2025

 After the last Sunday's sewing and my eye being in for the brown, I thought that it would be browns again this week or perhaps back to the purple and pinks.

In fact it turned out to be neither.

This week it was the mid and the lightest grey that drew my eye. I managed quite a bit before suddenly my eyes decided they had quite enough of "seeing" those symbols and colours.

It has made quite a difference to the face of the feline, it has a mouth now and a chin.

Today is Fathers Day, so the talks had a common theme but each had an aspect of the role of fathers  and I rather enjoyed them.

My Father rather enjoyed being gifted a Chunky KitKat by the Primary children.

BFF SAL 19 together again

 yet as always working differently.

Petals finished I am working on the centre from the edge in over.

I expect the middle will be completed next time, however how much mental energy will be available will determine if the backstitching is started at all. 

Click Here to pop over to my BFF's blog and see how her version is coming along.

Last time she was offering cookies, this week she had choc au pain however, Willy Wonka we are not so there was no sharing via the tech device screens. Sad that!

Oh it is so nice to be wrong

about being wrong.

Apparently I just couldn't follow the pattern down over, as I just kept getting it wrong, but up over and it is all fine.

Weird isn't it but much happier with this now. 

 

Lesson learned I will do from the right into the middle and up for the next quarter space.

BFF stitching time solo

my BFF is on holiday so no get together this week. I had thought if it was a nice bright evening I might try a little bit of the world on Millennium. It rained on and off all day and I lost my enthusiasm for that.

So I thought I would try and pick up Crown Cross from the Vickery Collection.

I had been making good progress, then I came to add the next section middle top left, and it did not fit in.

One of those the count is out but I can't find it moments.

And as I have been trying backstitch as I go well whatever it is it is staying put.

So on that basis I am going to try the section from   the middle far left and work my way up. So far that is working. Either I will reach the out spot and discover I was wrong about the miss count or I will have a design deviation to make it unique.

Not a huge amount added, just the pale blue but even picking it up and doing something feels like an achievement.

and the link, well as I did not get my sunny day I will have a sunny day song to make up for it.

Sunday Stitchings June 2025 eyes of

 blue are done, those little bits of light blue led me to finding some single stitches around the eyes then onto shades of brown.

It was nice to get back to the brown. I had just not been seeing it the last few times. Today it was the purple that did not want to play even though there are a few stitches with the bottom done just waiting on the top stitch ?

I will be interested to see which colour or area is feeling accessible next time. 

And this Forestella link just because it has been windy all week! 

BFF SAL 19 the sunny side

 and no cookies (see my BFFS update by clicking here for an explanation of that comment)

This remained fun and relaxing and sufficient for a somewhat tired mind.

There is a bit more of it than anticipated, we had agreed to stop about half an hour before our usual time. I only had about two inches of thread on the needle was feeling tired and we would swap the sewing for a shared enjoyment of a hot beverage of choice and chat for that last little bit.

That was the plan, but I was tired enough to be a bit on auto pilot, and realised I had without any awareness of it, threaded a fresh length onto the needle and was several stitches in. 

We did manage to stop and chat and for Roni to make some holiday stitching choices.

So there won't be a BFF post for next week, but we might find something else to do/ share for the space.

BFF SAL 19 Needing a rest

 from thinking and making decisions of any sort it was another cover kit that felt the level I could manage.

It is one of the advantages of both my BFF and I subscribing to the same mag, which amusingly enough tends to arrive in the post on the same day for each of us.

So the joy of a kit, everything is there, well except a needle, you used to get a needle but financial issues mean no needle anymore.

I find that funny, as I used to say I end up with so many needles they don't need to do that. Now they don't I am always looking for a needle, I know I have lots of needle cases, but I also have lots of projects on the go with needle living with them.

I am going to be good on this, just for a change I am not changing anything, it might be a strain but I am determined.

Once again although we started in the middle my BFF and I approached this differently, not planned but we did.

 

I managed not to mess with anything and it was a nice soothing stitch, lettering is not usually my thing but this is OK.

CLICK HERE to see my BFF's progress.

It is interesting to see the difference the surrounding colours make to the lettering.

FORESTELLA Soopbyeol EVOLUTION

 That is the title of this quilt, it is "probably" finished. I say that because it has been "finished" more than once and yet kept evolving.

It started as a simple top to use up some blue squares and some left over navy blue from other projects.

Click here for the starting point

It was supposed to be a practice piece for some free motion quilting.

It was supposed to be quick.

It Evolved from that.

I managed to stay on track with the simple for the piecing.

I managed to stay in plan for the free motion quilting in the squares, however things went a bit off plan thereafter.  I could not be "bothered" to sew around each of the squares, although it is an aspect of bother that applied it just felt boring to hand stich round square after square but at the same time trying to machine it did not feel right either.

It needed some extra quilting and I thought circles at the sashing intersections would be sufficient. At that point the working title of the quilt as fan quilt, referring to the shapes quilted in the squares merged with the other meaning of fan, someone who admires someone or enjoys something very much. 

In my case the Korean crossover group Forestella, who at the point I was thinking circle brought out a new song with its own new circular logo for the group. The idea of using that on my quilt stuck, even thought that changed my simple and quick plan for circles into something considerably more complicated and time consuming.

click here for details of that first fateful design decision

Like the thin edge of the wedge it opened the door to more additions and more and more quilting.

Adding the members names, then the groups name, then more symbols of the group and the fandom name.

click here for details of the names  and the added symbols

My BFF noted that it was growing like my appreciation of the group had, from one short clip of a song on Facebook, to full songs on You Tube to full concerts, figuring out how to make a playlist. Buying CD's (that had to come all the way from Korea) joining fan groups on Facebook to becoming a card carrying member of the official fan group. I even added an app on my phone!

So when I was thinking of what name to give this quilt she suggested Fan Evolution. I an not sure if it was total coincidence or if my fist CD purchase, which was mentioned on this blog was lingering in her mind that she suggested this, but that the first Forestella album is titled Evolution, well!

I had wanted rid of the fan quilt label so using the  Romanised versions of the group and fandom name alongside that album title felt fitting. Both to the quilt and to the journey I have been on with the group and this quilt.

So here it is, and a some what shaky video as it was tricky getting the quilting it to show up well in photos.

And to finish off a link to not just the one song but that whole first Album on their official You Tube.

And I will note that I am posting this today as once more they are able to be together as four. Each is an amazingly talented and skilled individual, but together they truly shine.

Welcome back Ko WooRim

and this is how it all started

Gifted Gorgeousness May 2025

 No Sunday Stitchings today, I was not feeling well when I woke up. My parents were able to go and when they came back announced that there was a gift for me!

Oh a box I do like a box, nice colour and leaves how nice that someone sent me a box.

Oh it has things in it! Wow I was happy with a box.

Sorted the threads into numbered and not

That's a lot of  numbered threads, it is the DMC numbering as evidenced by the 310 Black but I think it is the "other" three letter named number compatible range so that should be interesting.

And lots of random threads to add to my collection of those.

And the wool, well with the permission of the giver it might for obvious reasons find its way to another home.

A nice bit of thread sorting and being able to participate in this months link up with Jo over at serendipitous stitching cheered me up.

BFF SAL 18 plus

 after some discussion we did settle that this was a plus to SAL 18 rather than SAL 19. It is the same pattern, the same colours and whilst a different material as it was a direct follow on, 18 plus.

We each had a little bit of cross stitching to go on the second square and we had waited to finish that off on camera before finishing as scissor keepers.

Roni told me she had a scissor keeper all finished except for stuffing, closing and adding the ribbon or cord and as she would be getting out the wadding anyway she might work on it tonight.

So in anticipation of that and as this had been a fun stitch and there was room, I made a second set in a different colour way. Oh and this time I followed the pattern.

Normally I would do the right sides together and turn out, even if the finishing directions say otherwise. This time as it was so small I thought I would try something different.

Add the wadding to each half, turn the hem over the wadding then add the ribbon and sew the two sides together. 

So it made me laugh when this time Roni decided to do the turn out!

How did it go?

started OK

 hmm had more material on two of the edges than on the other.

added the ribbon for a corner hanging.  and things were going slowly.

and a bit frayed and uneven.

Added a six strand thread couched round the edge.

Not sure that was a good idea.

At about this point my BFF was just about finished addressing edge issues on her turned out version.

Here is mine finished with the original on wood and some small scissors for scale.

My BFF had turned her attention to her larger and much more involved scissor keeper which was waiting for its final finish so I moved onto the green set.

This time I would turn it, then stuff it and add the ribbon on the straight edge.

Right sides together.

Turning was hard work and halfway looked like a mitten for me rather than a sack.

however once it was turned adding the wadding, ribbon and sewing it closed was much easier and therefore quicker.

I like the ribbon from the corner but an edge is easier and neater for me to do.

CLICK HERE to see how the evening went for my BFF, and as she mentions we may not have quite finished with this little pattern yet. 

BFF SAL 19 or is it 18 part two?

 we decided to try the idea I had at the end of the cross stitching on SAL 18.

We would repeat the patterns on AIDA and make a scissor fob to go with the thread drop.

I found an off cut in white 14 count that would accommodate the 14 by 14 count of the pattern. Yes it is going to be a small fob for a small pair of scissors I guess. I thought that on this much smaller size and using two strands I might have enough thread left from the kit to do the fob.

I have had to repeat my design deviation to match the drop.

Looks like there will still be some thread left over once the fob is completed!

As you can see stitching on AIDA went much quicker than on the wood. 

In the same space of time one version of the design is completed and the other is over halfway.

We both agreed it was considerably easier on fabric, however it took a little while to get used to the counting on the changed base material. Probably because it was the same pattern. I had no trouble making the switch back to counting on AIDA for my Sunday stitching project.

We had a nice chat about this and that as we went as this allowed for that. Although at times we also had silence. Which I think was as we were both kind of tired and it was a "what were we talking about, lost our train of thought" kind of silence not a "need to concentrate on counting" kind.

We plan to have the requirements to hand to fully finish SAL 19 next week and perhaps have some time to fully consider what will be SAL 20 (unless we decide this counts as 18 part two and it is 19 we need to select).

CLICK HERE to see how my BFF has approached this, and how we have once again been the same but different!

BFF SAL 18 a functional finish

 I said we had a plan for the back of this project. Here it is, a little bit of felt (another Temu purchase a little pack of felt squares in various colours) it is that slightly stiffer felt with a little sheen to it. 

It is sewn on and due to the depth of the holes in the wood it was possible to start with a knot on the right side of the project without it being visible.

The section in the middle reflects the lines of backstitch required on the front, bur with care as to the positioning on the back and where transitional stitches would fall.

I quite like the way it turned out and the felt makes the back less slippery when putting the project down adding to it's functionality.

See how my BFF finished hers by Clicking HERE

Sunday Stitching with New Eyes

 well that is how it feels when I have new glasses to wear  with a change in prescription. So to give my eyes a chance to get used to them I stayed with adding the bright colours. 

The chunks of colour  are rather satisfying to do but getting back to the more blended section in my goal for next time.

And the glasses, well it was the distance part that was changed and I can now see a pattern at a little distance much better, so not having to pick it up and hold it close as I have been doing.  Hopefully in a few days my eyes will be more used to the change and straight lines on the left of objects will stop bending!

BFF SAL 18 Two hours or less

This is the "changed to" project I mentioned last BFF post. Still a cover kit, this stitch is on wood and neither of us has tried that before. I have tried perforated paper previously and there are some similarities in the way the needle has no traction through the holes and just drops. For stopping and starting the paper is a bit easier but for grip the wood is better. I was at least not worried about squashing it as it was being sewn.

The kit came with two colour placements for the same pattern, so I asked my BFF which she was going to do and I would do the other one. And then I started on the same one she did, ohps! Realised before I was four stitches in so took them out and started again on the right pattern.

The kit has no suggestions as how to start and finish a thread on wood. As the pattern called for two strands I thought I would try the loop start. It was an ok way to start and could also be used to catch in the end when finishing. However, as the lengths in the kit were quite short it made for a lot of stopping and starting.  I stuck with it for the dark blue sections.  Once I had that all done I remarked that the coverage was poor and I thought three strands would be better and it looked as if there was enough thread in the kit to do that. Roni started with the light blue and came to the same conclusion. 

For the mid blue I changed to three strands which gave me longer lengths to work with. The option for a loop start gone I was back to slip start and stops, but less of them with the longer lengths. That was just as well as it was much trickier than the loop. So which was best, it was close but less starts and stops was preferable but if I were to do it again I would want much longer thread and the loop if that was an option.

It did look much better with the three strands and there was enough thread. As I moved onto the last shade I realised I had made a mistake and added two stitches on two of the corners in the mid blue where they should not be,  so I went back and added the same stitches to the other corners. Unpicking was just not happening.  Completed the light shade and declared I was finished. Held it up for Roni to see and in that little corner view of myself on screen immediately noticed another mistake! Or perhaps I should call it the other half of the same mistake as I realised where those two extra stitches in two comers  had come from. I had missed two stitches from one place and added them elsewhere Ah well I just overstitched the light blue with the mid and all fixed. 

So although I had no intention of altering this pattern I did anyway.

This is the front.

and this is the back. We have a plan for the back.

The kit said it could be completed in two hours and it was. Indeed it may well have been quicker without the false start and the double ohps.

There are a couple of backstitches to do which will be part of the plan to fully finish them.

not sure yet if that will be added as an update here or get a post of its own at a later date.

It was interesting doing something different and something that could be just about finished in one on camera session. We have not been converted to the delights of sewing on wood, so I wont be getting my Dremel out and adding holes for sewing, Well not just yet!

We did quite like the little geometric pattern so perhaps we might sew it again as a matching scissor keeper maybe like the one I did on navy 18 count from a Charity shop purchase which might take us a couple of weeks to do. Must remember to suggest that to Roni.

So talking of Roni click here to see her very artful posed version.

As always we are delighted to receive any comments on our posts.

And yup I have a Forestella link as we move into the month KoWooRim will complete his military service and the Fore will be together again.

BFF RAL not SAL

 a double change to the plans for tonight, after a missed week that was my drop off due to there being too much going on in my head!

Anyway, we did have a next project planned for this week but I have suggested a change to that and Roni has agreed. We would have been trying something new to us both that looks like it might be quite quick and that I don't anticipate Deborizing. However, as Roni explains on her blog Click here to pop over for that,  circumstances change and so do priorities.

So this week became a RAL (random along) and whilst Roni cross stitched there was still a bit much going on in my head for any complex counting type stuff so quilting tonight.

You might be thinking it would be on my "fan quilt" (LOL that is a working title, not sure it will get that as an official name) but no, I am potentially finished quilting that. It will get its own post a little later once it has a name and a label on it I think, well unless I go madly off  on yet another tangential addition that is.

Tonight it was back to adding quilting circles onto the original bits-a-quilt. It would have been very soothing except my thread was feeling Knotty, yes with a capital letter! It was reasonable soothing as most of the knots came out eventually, otherwise it would have been all caps!

I managed four circles, the picture shows two of them.

One is on a previous added repair patch.

I have during the week done a little bit of sewing on Bits-a-Quilt number three (well sort of five but I count the blue and white one and the white and lilac satin as a separate category as they had colour restrictions imposed on them) and some work on the yellow and white bits-a-quilt which is very close to becoming a top.

But I didn't take pictures of those so updates will have to wait I guess.

With luck and a fair wind we will be both back for a RAL next week.

Sunday Stitching 20.4.2025

 I felt like colour today rather than the shades of brown. So I did some darker pink and the cat gained a little bit more nose in the process.

It looks a bit sad don't you think. 

BFF 17 A finish

 well sort of, all of the stitching part is done. There had to be some variation in the backstitch, Not just to accommodate the variation in the cliffs previously mentioned but because I ran out of the dark grey.

A change to black for the puffin was OK but used some lighter grey in the cliffs,

I would blame the shortage on having to do some unpicking and not being able to reuse the thread, but Roni had similar shortfall issues and she did not have the unpicking.

It is not however, full finished as it is not stuck in the card mount it came with just yet. Whilst I like this mount better than some that have come with kits I won't permanently set it until I know what I am going to do with it.

You can play spot the difference with the cliffs once Roni has posted her update.

There is a link to her blog in the blog list to the left.

We anticipate continuing with the cover kit theme for our next SAL for ease.

Perhaps we will try and plan something a bit more special for our 20th!

A touch of green

 and hearts!

Once again this is not the direction I had intended for this project. However it has evolved as it has progressed and this is the most recent set of design decisions.

Vertical sashing. 

You may recall I considered using this space when originally intending to add the groups names.

And if you don't well CLICK HERE for details.

I had no comments on my intended lettering there but did get some Facebook feed back about not using the vertical space. It was a bit distorting to the lettering.

Still once I had all the horizontal sections quilted, much as I would have liked to have been done, nope it needed more, OK I needed there to be more.

I thought about stars, four stars for Forestella, logical but the length to width of the space was still giving me issues.

Then just as I was thinking about it, and in the same fashion as a new logo appeared when I was just going to do circles, one of the Facebook Fan pages suggested that as part of the push to a million views before the group is once more united as four on a particular song we add an emoji comment of.

💚💚💚💚🍀

hmmm how about using that?

or a modified version 

OK that felt right, but just for the middle of the three sets of vertical sashing rows. 

However the idea of two then something in the middle then two also felt like a solution to the star issue.

I had wanted to add the fandom  name earlier in the process. Across the top alternating with Forestella. 

In this instance while using the Korean for the names had made them the same three batchim in length, Forestella and Soopbyeol  came out as five and two respectively and did not balance

So would the Korean for Soopbyeol work this time.

well I think it does.  As a side note upside down hearts points into the clover works for me, upside down stars pointing inwards somehow did not so they are all point up.

Not decided on the thread colour for the stars yet.

But I have for the Fore together hearts.

Green.

Amongst all that blue a bit unexpected perhaps.

I just happened to have the emoji shade of green in quilting thread (thanks once more to Mrs Jackson) and thankfully I think it is looking OK.

More design decisions as I stitch. Firstly to just outline the single hearts and use the dye pen to make them solidly dark.

Second to do the inner line on the clover as a continuous stich but to form the clover edge in just the running stitch.

For a sense of continuity I now intend to do the Stars the same way but remain uncertain of the lettering will be single strand or outlined.

That decision may depend on the colour and thickness of the thread chosen.

I am still hoping to get the "fan" addition quilting done for the reunion and listening to their music whilst I stitch might even help with getting those million views.

Now I have added the link to the You Tube video we are working towards the million before but I will add it again just in case you are new and missed it before, or you might like to see the proliferation of hearts that inspired me.

 

As a little after thought about blogging. There is a stats facility to tell me how may views by day and month etc. there have been and which countries they are from (and other technical stuff) but I am never that sure when those are real people or an algorithm of some sort. Single country visits feel like they ought to be people but sudden spikes of a few hundred or thousand from one place suggests to me that something computer generated is going on . So for today I have some hope that the one visit logged as being from South Korea was a person but that the 919 from Singapore much less likely. 

The only time I can be sure people read this at all is when they kindly leave a comment. Just a Hi would be nice on occasion. 

BFF 17 coining a new term

 we were both doing "filling in" tonight. And having a nice chat, my BFF even got to fit words in the right way and not just sideways.

I was mentioning that adding some stitches to the sky in addition to those on the pattern had crossed my mind but I was holding firm on not Deborahizing (aka adding things on and making things more difficult than they need to be) and my BFF noted she had been thinking in the opposite direction of leaving off the whisp of light blue cloud and the backstitch seagulls. We have therefore decided that leaving elements off without replacing them with something else will henceforth be called doing a  Roni. After all our word for complicating things is a lengthening of my name, so a word for simplifying is a contraction of hers. 

I finished all of the cross and half stitches this evening. Roni's eyes did not feel as cooperative as mine tonight so she did not quite get there. She has off screen time dispensation to get to the point of Backstitching and we will both be doing that next time. I say next time and not next week as we will have a two week gap due to other commitments of a Wednesday evening.

I have taken this weeks update snap in the frame that came with the kit, partly to see how the sky looks and if my shortened rocks gives too much sky that might need more cloud to balance it.

CLICK HERE to pop on over to my BFF's blog and her updated.

Sunday Stitchings March

 I suppose I could also link this post to the gifted gorgeousness as the pattern was a gift, but as it is currently my Sunday Stitching project it gets a post all of its own.

I started with a touch of blue, which let me back into the shades of brown in the edge of the eyes and then whilst that thread was in the needle then I kept going with that. It feels like it filled out quite a bit in the time frame.

 

Gifted Gorgeousness March 2025

 For an explanation of this link up (if you did not get here from Serendipitous Stitching) CLICK HERE  and if you are a crafting blogger perhaps you might like to join in.

You can find the rest of this months participants by Clicking THIS link

This delightful gift for my mother arrived quite serendipitously today, on the 15th of the month and the day of the link up so it certainly had to be shared. 

This was made by a lady I work with, but have never seen. We mostly communicate via Teams or e-mail.

At one point and I can't recall when our crafting was discussed and she does that magic with wool and a hook that I never have got the hang of. A later mention that my mother liked owls and this was the result.

 

He came with a little card with pansies, which just happen to be a favourite of hers. I took a quick picture, you can see a previous project on the left, which just shows I am still using them, and behind and to the right my current quilting project.

I told my mother she should have her picture taken with her Howlett, this is as much as she was willing to feature in a picture.

 

Thank you Elspeth.

BFF SAL 17 Sagt mir, wo die Blumen sind

 my brain offered up that phrase, yes in the German (where have all the Flowers gone) whilst I was stitching the pink in the section most impacted by the miscount of the grey. Which has resulted in there being less flowers on my piece than on the patten. 

And why that and in the German? Once upon a time in addition to French (which I struggled with) my school decided some of us would "do" German. So for a year I tried to do both languages. Not particularly successfully, and the teacher though that learning songs might help. So we did, Where have all the Flowers gone, which to be honest I thought was originally in German and translated to English and not as is the case the other way around. And an odd song that also circles back on itself about an egg stealing dog. Now in my memory that is 

 Ein Mops kam in die Küche,

Und stahl dem Koch ein Ei.
Da nahm der Koch den Löffel*,
Und schlug den Mops entzwei.
Da kamen alle Mops,
Und gruben ihm ein Grab,
Und setzten ihm einen Grabstein,
worauf geschrieben stand:

"Ein Mops kam in die Küche..."

Now I had to look up Mops tonight as I wondered if my memory was off as that is not German for Dog, but apparently it is for a Pug dog. So I guess the version we were taught was with pugs (ok I had to look up the everything past the first line ). Neither are what you would call jolly, and as a final song, well the teacher presented Elvis singing I don't have a wooden heart and noted his accent was perfect!

The year of German had a detrimental impact on my French and neither language continued after that experiment year.  

I find it very amusing that knowing I struggle with spelling in English (hooray for the spell checker, although I do occasionally stump it with what word I may have been trying to spell) and the sad state of my attempts at European languages, I am now trying to learn Korean!

So this evening sewing generated trip down memory lane for languages and a for song lyrics randomly generated by my brain. Sometimes my BFF and I have conversations that devolve into song lyrics, part of our same but different and also different but the same vibe CLICK HERE to see her progress and also see what I mean in the title of her blog.

Next session I have blue to sew and the backstitching if I get that far. 

Oh and that reason for trying Korean, and a link to their most recent original song 

Mind my language teacher may have been onto something about singing and languages, but perhaps not in the way she approached it. People who sing, hear the nuances in sounds and in hearing the differences perhaps they find it easier to then make the relevant sound. After all in English we say someone has an ear for languages not a mouth!

So on that thought a double video link , this one to a solo performance. Although I don't think he "speaks" all those languages he certainly sings them well.

Sunday Stitching into March

 and I thought I would do more of the cat, some of the shades around the white, to make those stitches more visible.  However, when I pulled it out that is not what my eyes felt like doing.

My eyes wanted colour, and it is not wise to argue with your eyes.

So a little more of the mid pink and a new shade were the order of the day.

At least it has stopped looking as if the cat is wearing a fez.

BFF SAL 17 A very Queen of Hearts solution

 to last weeks problem with the puffin...

Off with his head! Well that was the bit that needed unpicking, so at the beginning of this week  with off sewing time corrections I started here.

The evening was mostly shades of grey.

And finished with a little bit of colour at last.

Click here to see my BFF's Update

BFF SAL 17 Ah !

 Well, it transpires that last week I could not count. This week I can and have therefore discovered last weeks deficiency in my numerical competence.

At first I though it was just in the rocky foreground and I could work around that as I did not feel like unpicking it. So I then did the rocky background, in relation to the dark section initial sewn.

However, as I moved on the the next shade of grey it was to realise there was an error from the start.

At this point it stopping for the evening became the best option. Well after taking out that grey bit and the dark section on the right that I thought was the error but nope it was not alone! It is going to need a hard look and then a decision on which option is going to take more effort, unpicking to correct  or the mental effort of making adjustments to "fudge" the errors. 

My BFF happily was having a much better relationship with the counting and sewing this week.

She had not posted as yet, there is a link to her post on the right side of the blog..I will add a direct link later once there is one.

My current issues with counting and concentration level is making us rethink the potential SAL 18 as perhaps a bit more complicated than we want to take on just at the moment.

I think I am more inclined to the ease of quilting along predawn lines at the moment. No counting required,

BFF SAL 17 the post arrived

 for both of us on the same day.

We both started in the middle and with the same colour, and then both moved onto the same second colour!

The same yet the same! How weird, but worry not by the third colour we had each headed off in our own direction so the same but different vibe was restored.

We were both enjoying that and it felt odd after weeks of RAL that we would not be doing any off camera stitching.

The pattern estimates a stitching time of 8 hours, so approximately 4 weeks of SAL sessions.

However, at the moment with an initial speedy start we think that we might be done quicker than that, it might be deceptive we shall wait and see.

We also have a plan for SAL 18 and trying something we have not done before in a SAL. Indeed it will be something I have never tried before. Could be interesting. Just need to lay my hands onto the right size and type of material. I am fairly sure I have some in my stash.

CLICK HERE to pop over to my BFF's blog and see the bits that are the same and different.

Happy Valentines Day 2025

 apparently in Korea this is a day for the ladies to gift the gentlemen in their lives , it is the gentlemen's turn in March.

Given it is rather chilly still here at the moment and scarf and mitts are a good idea this felt like a good time to share this chap.

I have a red heart shaped hand warmer, so this makes me think of a warm heart.

Hope you all have a happy day being with or thinking about the ones you love..

Oh and a Forestella link I have just the one..

Ok never a favourite song for me and I have never watched the film  which is why I chose the link to the concert performance and not the version over the video of the film.

However, with some Forestella Magic vocals I could grow to like it.

BFF RAL Something new

 on something old.

I have had this piece of material for some time, so long I am not totally sure where it came from. It feels like it is a sample snatch but from where or why illudes me now.

It has been waiting for something just the right size and style and I think I have found it.

Of course there will be some colour tweaks but that is what I tend to do with something small, dip into the random threads.

So in out on camera session I managed the three shades of red, the darkest is a substitution the lighter two as per the pattern.

I am working one over two , I am not sure what the thread count is here, I will measure it for next time.

I am using a large eyed pointed needle as that works better on a smaller count for me.

I was rather enjoying this  so as it is RAL (random along) and not SAL (stitch along) off camera sewing is allowed I kept going after my BFF and I had said farewell for the evening.

The next three shades are all a deviation from the original pattern. White swapped for a very light silver blue, lilac for a lighter pinker shade and the blue is also shades lighter than the original. All three have a slight sheen to them which  I like.

I think that the pattern on the material shows up better in this picture.

The three shades added , not so much.

Hopefully they will show better once the full stitch plus backstitch is completed.

Whilst empty space is not usually my thing there is not a lot left to cross stitch here so it may well be finished before next week, but maybe not finally finished as I have not decided what it will be just yet.

Pop over to my BFFs blog by CLICKING HERE to see her stitching finish which is raising its own questions about the next step based on what it might finally become.

And if we are still RAL next time or SAL all depends on the postman.

And for the Forestella link , well I have been enjoying one of their original songs from the last concert of all four together. And as the fandom is hoping to get a million views by mid May well I will do my little bit to help it along. 

If you have read this far , it is a bit like staying till after the credits at the pictures...a little bonus addition.

Finished the rest of the stitching the next day and it came out like this. The blue top was too light, I keep forgetting once it is at one strand pastel colours become even lighter. I can see the three shades but they are not showing in the photo. I thought that the character on her own and the leaf print on the fabric would be enough. However, she is quite small in the space and it feels like it needs a something.  I shall press it, and block it a bit and contemplate it for awhile and see what comes to me. Suggestions would be appreciated, they help me focus on what I want.

The original has a nose and mouth in addition to the eyes, but it was not working, the single strand of black still made for too thick a line here. So nose and mouth left off for now.

Maybe later I might try my usual go to for very fine backstitch, well if I can find a strand dark enough, they are less prevalent recently.

A little help from Korean visitors

 is requested

Now Google stats tell me that I do occasionally get visits to the blog from people in Korea. I am hoping that is correct, and that those visitors might be able to help me with my Forestella fan quilt project.

Or any linguists that might be popping in.

So far it has the Apocalypse Logo quilted on it each join in the sashing.

But what I want to do is add the members names in Korean on the sashing. That means I have a restricted space for the lettering to go. If I was stretching and compressing the letters in English to fit, well I would know if it was still readable once done. I know that calligraphy can take some liberties with letter formation and indeed I have done so on past projects. However, doing the same in an alphabet I am less confident with is another matter and I worry that in contorting the letter arrangement to fit the space they are loosing the  integrity of the characters in the process.

So, before I go as far as making templates, let alone quilting them I would like your thoughts on the legibility, and as the size differs between the vertical and horizontal sashing your thoughts on trying to fit the lettering into the thinner vertical.

So here are the four names in the horizontal space.

Original intent is for the top two to be in this orientation and the bottom two to be on the vertical , but I did them on the horizontal as well just in case the vertical is not workable.

Comments on how the two different orientations  of these names work would also be appreciated.

Thank you.

It is now 16th Feb, and there have been no comments on the blog about how the letters look in either direction.

Happily for me the Forestella Together Fan page of Facebook have been a little more engaged and have answered me.

As a result I am proceeding with the letters on the Horizontal only . The templates are cut out, Yet another arrangement considered and the marking on done. 

I have the first three names stitched and only the third section of the fourth name to go..well for the first set that is. The current plan is for four, I don't expect that to change as I have marked them on with T-Shirt pens and not washable markers.

I have You Tube playlists for their songs together but I also have playlists for the solo songs of each, I might just play those whilst stitching individual names.

I am adding pictures of the templates and markings, but I don't intend to show progress pictures until all of the names are on and the next step is settled in my mind, yes those vertical sashes!

Weetabix boxes are so very useful, nice solid cardboard, I can keep these in case I need them again at some point.

Happily that was also true of the logo templates as I need to add another six, due to the rethink that just using the horizontal has required.

I do keep laughing at myself as this quilt started out as a quick tester and because I did not feel like stitching around squares has evolved into something more and more complicated on the quilting side.

Sometimes that happens, OK so with me sometimes is quite often, and my shortcuts end up being the long way around. I should just embrace my tendency to complicate in the first place, that would be quicker..