TAST Stitches 64 and 99

It has been entirely too long since my last Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) post! 

Tonight, I had a bit of fun with a glittery variegated embroidery thread and DMC size 5 pearl cotton #4170.

TAST Stitch 64: Chained Bar Stitch

First, I worked the Chained Bar Stitch. 

TAST Stitch 99: Woven Chained Bar Stitch

Next, I worked the Woven Chained Bar Stitch.

TAST stands for Take a Stitch Tuesday. It is a personal stitching challenge offered by Sharon B. at Pintangle.com to learn a new stitch each week. 

This round of TAST will have 100 stitches. Stitch 99 was released this week, so next week will be the last one for this round. (However, I will continue working the stitches I have skipped.) 

TAST will resume in January. For those that have completed TAST in the past, there will be a new challenge called Beyond TAST. There are a few more details on this blog post at Pintangle.

Sharon has also created a Facebook Group for those that would like to learn to create a fabric book. You may find more details here. 

I would love to know if you will be joining TAST in January or if you are creating a fabric book. 

Thanks for stopping by!
Renee

Pink Zipper Pouch

A (long) while back, someone I know saw my work and asked if I could make a gift for her daughter. I happily agreed. 

She did not care what I made, and insisted she would be happy with anything in any color. Very sweet.

Unfortunately, I ended up with creative block. Most of my work includes beads, charms or buttons. This needed to be something without any choking hazards. There were too many options and too many ideas. Over time, I watched as this friend shared photos on social media and decided pink looked like a good color to use.

Using a stem stitch, I embroidered the young lady's first initial onto pink sparkly fabric with a variegated pearl cotton floss.

This pink butterfly print was used for the lining and the back.

I have one more project to finish up this week so the two items can be on their way to an adorable young lady!

I am joining Monday Stitchery Link Party #126 at Super Mom - No Cape! 

The vintage embroidery pattern shared at the party this week is a covered bridge. I am trying so hard to finish up projects this year without starting new ones, but I have soooo many ideas seeing this embroidery pattern. 

If any of you are interested in embroidering the covered bridge, we could do a little stitch-along, using that pattern in common and see just how unique our creations turn out. (Yes, I am looking for enablers to join me in some stitchy-fun!) Just let me know! In the mean time, I will be working on another finish or two to justify a new start...


Thanks for stopping by!
Renee

August Coloring Class

In August, I discovered Kit and Clowder. Alyce at Kit and Clowder offers monthly coloring classes for pencils and for markers. 

If you have followed my blog very long, you may remember I have made crazy quilt blocks featuring fabric colored with crayons, acrylic paints, and watercolor pencils. I thought it would be fun to learn some techniques that would help me with those projects in the future. 

I was not sure what to expect with this class, but I fear I may be hooked! I have a lot of room for improvement, but I learned so much and this is soooo much prettier than it would be if I tried to color it on my own. (My husband just said he feels like I should frame it or something!)

The August class works on coloring backgrounds and features the digital stamp "A Little Bit Grumpy" from The Paper Shelter. (I might have purchased the stamp for the markers class and a snowman stamp, too. They are sooo cute!) 

If you are interested in Kit and Clowder there is a party this weekend celebrating 15,000 members with the Facebook Group with a lot of giveaways. (Some go through September 15th.)

This class is available through September 14th at Kit and Clowder. I cannot wait to see the class that will be released on September 15th!

Please note, I am not affiliated with either company.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Renee

HAED SK Effects of Caffeine Days 16 - 18

On Thursday, my travel project was able to come out and play for a bit. That evening, I realized I failed to share a few days of progress. This is "SK Effects of Caffeine" from Heaven and Earth Designs and it features artwork by Randal Spangler. 

My last update was in January, but I have only had 3 appointments with time to work on it since then. 

February 8th was my 16th day on this piece. In 45 minutes, I added 63 stitches.

On March 4th, the 17th day, I was able to add 214 stitches in 2 hours and 45 minutes. A lot of confetti was filled in, completing most of the decor around the jewel on the spine of the book.

On August 31st, the 18th day working on this piece, I added 99 stitches in an hour and 5 minutes. 

Page 1 is 33.59% complete.

I do love this piece! 

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

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