September 2017

August flew by, didn't it?! Our family made a fair amount of progress with yardwork plans. The front yard is done. The backyard is a work in progress. We hoped to complete it tomorrow, but the temperature is supposed to exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit again this weekend. (Hmm... That sounds like a great excuse to work on crafty projects.) 


I do hope this cute little fellow decides to visit again soon!

Progress with my August goals...
I fear I spent the majority of my limited crafty time cross-stitching in August. You may see my full list of August goals here. 2 of the 7 goals I shared were completed.

#2 Complete a gift for a friend's daughter. I finished it on August 30th and will share it on the blog soon!

#5 Sun, Sand, and Sea Block of the Month Blocks 5 and 6 were completed. More photos and details are here.







Although the list of craft goals in my planner (shared in the photo at the top of this post) is 21 items long, I will not be attempting to finish all of them in September. However, I do plan to finish those listed below (and hopefully a few more!)

September Goals:

1. Make an eyeglasses case for my (empty) Etsy shop.

2. Create a wall quilt with the blocks from a Crazy Quilting International Heart Round Robin. (#2 on the APQ 2017 UFO Challenge, selected in May.) You may see all of the blocks here.

3. Finish embellishing the crazy quilt stocking I am making for my son. (#10 on the APQ 2017 UFO Challenge, selected in June.)

4. Create a purse with this block from the Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) 2014. (#5 on the APQ 2017 UFO Challenge, selected in August.) You may read more about this block here.

5. Embellish my CQJP 2014 December block and make it into a bag. (This is #7 on my APQ 2017 UFO Challenge and it was selected for September.)

6. Create block 7 from the Sun, Sand, and Sea Block of the Month hosted by Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy. My fabrics are ironed and ready to go! Amy created this darling block. You may read her post about it here. There is a link to the pattern in her post.

7. Create the darling flamingo block Carol of Just Let Me Quilt created for block 8 of the Sun, Sand, and Sea BOM. You may see it here. There is a link to the pattern, which is free throughout September.

8. Complete my first coloring class through Kit and Clowder. (I subscribed to a coloring class. Of course, I am planning to incorporate what I learn into coloring fabric!) There is a Kit and Clowder Facebook Group that I joined and this weekend there is a fun celebration of 15,000 members. If you want to check it out, the website is here and the FB group is here. (I am not affiliated.)

Please note, I may be sharing sneak peeks of my works-in-progress on Instagram or on my Facebook page throughout the month.

Top 5 Posts Viewed in August:

1. August 2017 - here

2. Twilight Duel Update #21 - August 2017 - here

3. QS Red Hearts Update - August 2017 - here

4. Sun, Sand, and Sea BOM Blocks 5 & 6 - here

5. Fractal White Tiger August 2017 - here

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you all have an amazing weekend.

-Renee

Snowman Zipper Pouch

This month, I created a zipper pouch using a bit of glittery snowman fabric I had in my stash.

Above is the front of the pouch and below is the back.

The bag was very fun and easy to make following this video tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.

You may see more items that other bloggers 

created at the 1 X-mas Item a Month blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Renee

Updated 9/1/17
I did an on-line search and discovered the fabric is 
Keepsake Calico Holiday Cotton "Snow Celebration".
I purchased mine at JoAnn Fabric a few years ago.

Fractal White Tiger August 2017

I am thrilled to share a page finish on my Charting Creations "Fractal White Tiger" cross-stitch that is based on artwork by Ricky Barnard. 

Page 6 is done!

3 of 30 pages and 21,712 of 174,300 stitches are complete. I will be filling in page 7 next.

1,818 stitches were added in August.

This is how it looked at the end of July. (The colors are more true in this photo.)

I seriously LOVE working on this piece. Once I finish one of my other large cross-stitch projects, Fractal White Tiger will be receiving a lot more attention.

(There is a complete photo of this project on the right sidebar.)

Note: There is now a Small Fractal White Tiger chart available at Charting Creations. I am working the regular chart. What is the difference? 
Regular chart: 350W x 498H (174,300 stitches) - 80 colors.
Small chart: 205W x 291H (59,655 stitches) - 64 colors. I believe the colors on the nose are toned down on the small chart, as well. 

Although I began this piece on January 1, 2016 to participate with stitchystart.blogspot.com, this is 71 days worth of actual stitching progress.

I am joining Monday Stitchery Link Party #125 at Super Mom - No Cape! I do hope you will pop over to see what others are working on.

If you have a blog and do any hand embroidery, I hope you will join the party!

Sun, Sand, and Sea BOM Blocks 5 & 6

Today, I finally finished adding buttonhole stitches to tack down the applique on Block 5 of the Sun, Sand, and Sea Block of the Month hosted by Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy.

This darling block was created by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt. I used Therm-o-Web's HeatnBond Lite to adhere the applique to the block and then used buttonhole stitches to secure the pieces in place for future laundering. Stem stitches were used for the window panes and details on the lobsters. And, chain stitches encircled the middle window.

I really enjoyed paper piecing Block 6 for this BOM. The cute fish border was designed by Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks and the directions included options to paper piece or applique the fish. 

In the quilt assembly stage, I plan to add buttons for the door knobs on Block 5 and for the fish eyes on Block 6.

Now, I just need to make Block 7 - a super cute block featuring an appliqued crab that was designed by Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy. Here is a link to a post on her blog featuring photos of each block and links to their patterns.

This is how blocks 1 - 6 look together. It will be such a fun quilt when it is finished! The ladies designing these blocks amaze me each month, making my first Block-of-the-Month experience amazing.

Related Posts:
Blocks 1 & 3 - here
Block 2 - here
Block 3 Progress - here
Block 4 - here

I am joining with Monday Stitchery Link Party #124 at Super Mom - No Cape! The free patterns available this week include some fun summer fruits. 

Thank you so much for stopping by!
-Renee

QS Red Hearts Update - August 2017

If you follow me on Instagram, you likely saw several updates on QS Red Hearts, the cross-stitch chart from Heaven and Earth Designs based on artwork by Ching-Chou Kuik over the past month. 

Thanks to the motivation provided by The Stitching Hour Challenge hosted by Ambitious Stitches on Instagram from June 1st - August 1st, I made a fair amount of progress in July. 

In August, the New Official Heaven and Earth Designs Facebook Group announced a challenge to stitch 10 grids of a chart in a diagonal or checkerboard pattern with a bit of feathering on each block.

I opted to park my threads along the way. About 4 blocks in, I nearly stopped and worked the parked threads in - I figured I could work the challenge on a project without as many colors. But I decided to keep going.

In the end, I added over 3,000 stitches just completing the challenge and working in the parked threads. Since my last update 7,026 stitches were added to this piece. 1,491 stitches were added in July and another 5,535 were added this month.

I will likely continue working the chart in a diagonal pattern. There is a lot of black in the bottom row that I do not want to become bored with. Working some of the darker colors below and then some of the brighter colors above should prevent that.

If I could keep up this pace, this piece would be complete within 3 months. I do not know how likely that would be, but I am aiming finish as many projects as I can this year.

The project is 59.62% complete. (It was 44.67%)

Pages 1-3: 100%
Page 4: 97.36% (It was 28.22%)
Page 5: 21.46% (It was 7.12%)
Page 6: 7.26%
Page 7: 14.77% (It was 0%)
Page 8: 0.04% (It was 0%)

I am linking with the Monday Stitchery Link Party #123 at Super Mom - No Cape! I encourage you to pop over to see what the free embroidery pattern is this week and to see what others have been working on. If you do hand embroidery and have a blog, I encourage you to join the party!

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee