W.i.P. Wednesday

Considering we were out of town most of the last week, there has been very little sewing done. But I do have several projects nearly finished!

Completed projects
Quiet Book - This project, started as a Christmas gift, was almost done when we left on our little trip, so it didn't take much to finish it up! It'll get it's own post soon.

Ongoing projects
Woodland cross-stitch sampler - I managed to get January's frame and text done on the flight last weekend. Unfortunately, I made a little goof. Pretty sure I'll leave it and move on, hoping it won't be too noticeable in the big scheme of things.

Modern Crosses - This quilt arrived back from the quilter in record time {see progress here}, so I hope to get the binding started this week.

Scrappy Trip Along - No progress. snif. I'm really anxious to get to stitching these blocks together!

Triple-Zip Pouch - I've started but haven't gotten half as far as many of you!

Upcoming projects
* Hubby's Christmas stocking - no progress yet
* Binding for Mod Cross quilt
* plan for FAITH Circle's February quilt
* Emerald mini
* Mod Angles cushion
* flannel pillow for grandgirl
* table topper for mom
* scrappy Metrolink
* x and + blocks {#xplusalong}
* Polaroid block projects
* placemats

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday.

W.i.P. Wednesday

The last week has been a teeter-totter, the 'up' an unexpectedly delightful revisit to paper piecing, and the 'down' being some cross-stitch confusion. The constant pleasure has been my #scrappytripalong! The more blocks I've done, the more I love it, and I am so excited to move on to the #xand+along in February.

Completed projects
Lucky Stars BOM - I was able to complete both the practice block + January's block. These were great fun and I can't wait for the next one! Plus I'm really happy to have gone the 6 1/2" route and with the fabrics I've chosen.

Ongoing projects
Woodland cross-stitch sampler - Whew! After much encouragement, I have finally begun stitching!

Modern Crosses - This quilt's at the long-armer's. I might even have pics to share soon, and better yet, should have this back by week's end!

Quiet Book - I have made real progress on this project! Can't say it's the most fun I've ever had, but I'm on the downhill stretch. Just have had a few 'issues' along the way, and there's lots of fiddly pieces to deal with.

Scrappy Trip Along - This one may be the most fun I've ever had! The 30 blocks are done! There's not enough room on the design wall to show them all off, but I can live with that. There will be another row along both the side and the bottom (5 blocks x 6 blocks). I don't expect to be overly thoughtful about block placement for the final layout, so hopefully the top will go together fairly quickly.

Triple-Zip Pouch - The 3ZAL officially starts Monday, January 28. Meanwhile, fabric and zip choices have begun to pop up in the flickr group. Here's mine:

Upcoming projects
* Hubby's Christmas stocking - no progress yet
* Binding for Mod Cross quilt
* plan for FAITH Circle's February quilt
* Emerald mini
* Mod Angles cushion
* flannel pillow for grandgirl
* table topper for mom
* scrappy Metrolink
* x and + blocks {#xplusalong}
* Polaroid block projects
* placemats

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday.

The Beginning

Your response to A Halted Start several days ago was a very clear reminder of why this blogging thing we do is so meaningful. In the midst of my trepidation about starting on my Woodlands Sampler, your words of encouragement and good advice were downright uplifting. And it got me to the store, where I picked up appropriate needles, plus plastic floss bobbins and an organizer ring. Today, I stitched some markers, per Gnomeangel, though I admit even with reading glasses, it was a struggle for me to count the threads. I may be in for a workout.

But I was able to confirm from the many comments on that post that for linen or 28ct. evenweave, which I have discovered is what I am actually working with, you do stitch over 2 threads. That in itself was such a relief.

Several of you suggested taking a look at this post by Posie gets cozy, which I did find very helpful, and will definitely be referring back to. And Patricia of Tapestry of Dreams was oh-so-heartening, and went on to post on the basics {here and here}, which again, set me in the right direction, feeling more confident indeed. To start, I'm using a size 24 needle, and so far, I have found stitching in hand is working just fine for me.

Anyway, thank you for all the tips and opinions and such! It encouraged me greatly and got me going!

A Halted Start

At the risk of sounding like the complete novice I am, I have some serious questions about cross-stitching. And really, it's not that I'm a novice, but it's just been a very, very long time since I did any. And I don't think I ever used linen. So when this came to my mailbox the other day, I was excited, but.

When I pulled the beautiful linen out of the package, I noticed that *oh my those holes are close together*!

You see, I've joined The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Woodland Sampler, and I'm seeing all those "big girls" on instagram going gung ho on this month's design, and well, I'm pretty much scared to start. There I said it.

Source: oneshabbychick.typepad.com via Jen on Pinterest

So I started searching on the web and found these on stitching with linen and "stitching over 2":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpZV7DpVCuU

 

http://www.salt-and-pepper.com/Hints1a.htm

 

Also, something about where to start 'the first stitch' and beginning at a vertical thread:

http://www.gloria-pat.com/resources/basics_linen.html

And I'm realizing I should have paid better attention about what needles I should use, because apparently I don't have any of the right kind. 

BUT, I do have this very helpful post from GnomeAngel telling all about stitch markers, which I saw her share on instagram, and begged to know more about. I will definitely be following her lead.

Sooo - I'm off to work, will pick up some tapestry needles while I'm out, and then will start finishing the edges of my linen for safe-keeping and hunt down my frame. Meanwhile, I hope you can tell me I'm not the only apprehensive starter out there. And if you are using linen, are you stitching over one or two threads for each cross? Any other helpful hints and resources to get me going would be much appreciated. Cuz I really want to get going.

This and That

Quilting blogland seems a tad subdued, which isn't too surprising really, but still. Honestly, since the big rush of finishing presents and wrapping on Christmas Eve, I haven't been in the sewing room except to clean up the mess I'd made! Event-wise though, there's plenty going on - some wrapping up (no pun intended), and some gearing up for the new year.

The Ruby Star Wrapping Contest comes to a close Sunday night. Each entrant is allowed three entries, so I entered my Simple Drawsting Bag, the Melody-Didn't-Mean-to-Make-It Tote, and my lifesaver as far as wrapping went this Christmas - the Pillowcase Pouch. I was happy to see some of you bloggy friends had entered too.

And while on the topic of sustainable gift-wrap, look at these clever {and darling} gift-tags by amyinuk. Check out the tutorial on her blog, [Amy's] Crafty Shenanigans.

Now on to new challenges for the new year! Saw this today . . .

If you remember, last year's color was Tangerine Tango, and I had great fun creating Tangerisk.

When last year's challenge was announced, I had never even heard of Pantone's Color of the Year. And I definitely was not an 'orange' person. But I must say that after this last year, I love it, and have used it quite a bit. So we'll see if Emerald has the same affect on me. Not sure yet if I'll participate in the challenge or not, but I do want to at least try and incorporate some Emerald in my sewing . . . just because.

Meanwhile, there are a couple of personal challenges I'm looking forward to. One of those is venturing more into foundation paper piecing with Elizabeth of don't call me betsy and her block of the month club.

To start us off, Elizabeth gave us a practice block - and yikes, it's pretty impressive! I'll try to work on mine soon so you can see . . .There's an option of making either 12.5" blocks or 6.5" blocks, and I think I'll go with the 6.5". So there may or may not be a Lucky Stars quilt down the road - maybe some smaller star projects. We'll see.

AND I've been itching for a 'tv project', and I don't always have a quilt laying around to bind. So I up and joined hey porkchop's Woodland Sampler series. Are any of you joining in?

I'm sure there's plenty more goings on. I'd love to hear what you're planning on getting involved in or trying new in the next weeks and months . . .