Hexies galore

It has been a hexie week in my sewing room 💖

I started this project when in USA before Christmas and it has given me a lot of joy to handpiece the traditional way. My friends has been retreating in Shipshewana, IN, this week, so doing hexies along with them from a distance has made me feel connected.

The inspiration comes from Tales Of Cloth on Instagram and the hexies finishes 2,5" big.
The quilt will be 17 hexies down and 17 hexies wide. 

On the Chookshed Stitchers challenge list this one is #5, so it is not due this month.

It is time to give some attention to the projects on my April challenge list too. Times goes so fast these days.
The snow is finally gone. It has been a long winter in my part of the world. 

Have a lovely day where you are 💖

Hanne

April focus projects

 

# 9 is the magic number in the Chookshed Stitchers challenge this month 😍

My # 9 is the red stitchery with the yellow fabrics.

The stitchery is designed by Bronwyn Hayes / Red Brolly.
It is from back then when stitchery was so new in my part of the world that shops here did not carry any yet. These have no year printed on them. It would have been fun to know how old the are.

I found these on Ebay, from Australia,  and I can still remember the joy and the anticipation waiting for the mailman. I did not find all of the 4 different designs all at once, so I was often waiting for something nice to arrive. 

Postage was not so high back then, and fees and VAT on international private small scale shopping was not a thing yet. 

I love pouches and will turn this stitchery into a special bright one 💗💛

The square stitcheries I will turn into Christmas coasters.
Designer is Natalie Bird.

I have a little quirky plan to finish something Christmas-y every month this year, if I can. 
March did not deliver, but I can always do 2 this month or another month.

I will start April with these 2 projects and see where it brings me.

                                                                            💗

On another note....

I tried to delete many unused blogs and add some new blogs to my sidebar reading list yesterday. 
I used a lot of time on that, deleting, saving, deleting, saving, without any luck.  Whatever I did, the end result did not match the effort, and nothing could be deleted.
The widget I had was most likely outdated.
I deleted the old widget this morning and started a new list today, but it will take some time to put everything in there again. I did visit many blogs yesterday, and I met many that were not updated for years, some were deleted, at least one was red flagged by my security system.
The new list will be blogs that I want to read, updated through the last 12 months.

Have a good day where you are 💗 

Hanne

1st finish in April

Ever since I bought my first sashiko panel, I have been smitten - with the designs and with the process. 

I love dragonflies as you may know. I love how they look and the symbolism they have all over the world. 

This tote was supposed to be finished in March - it was on my Chookyshed Stitchers 2024 challenge list -  and since it had a deadline (for a gift) I had to just pull my socks up and do it. I finished it on April the 1st.  The tote is travelling to its new owner as we speak 😀
I am happy with how it looks. I love fabric totes and use them all the time myself, instead of plastic bags.

I am aiming for a productive April - more about my focus project(s) shortly 💗

Wishing you a lovely day

Hanne

March = no finishes

 

The best laid plans and all of that......

My focus project # 3 (my own priority) - turning the sashiko into something useful and pretty for a special person in my life, with a deadline, 
 and the project Deana drawn for us, #4, which turned out to be the Raspberry tea quilt from Sue Daley are not done.

I did join together the last 9 block square and cut fabric for the sashing around the focus block in the middle of Raspberry Tea quilt.  Other than that, nothing much happened on that project.

The sashiko - no progress at all in March.

Life interfered with my plans - and when life does that, I know it is good for me to relax, re-think and re-prioritize.

Come to think of it - I did have a finish in March 😃
I am still working on shrinking my light pink and peach fabrics. 
Chooky showed us a lovely table runner when we last had a Zoom meeting, and I just had to try the technique, since I already had that template, still wrapped in plastic 🙈

This quilt top is approx.. 55" wide and 65" long, and it is ready to be handed over to the next person in the charity quilt maker group, to be machine quilted.
Did it make a dent in the soft pink stash? I do not really see one, but I think it did, since I have been pulling fabric from here and there, from several boxes.

This project had some progress, 

this project had some progress,

and this project had some progress too!

All in all, in retrospect, I see that I have got quite a lot done, even if it was not on my original March to do list.

Wishing you a lovely day 

Hanne

The last day of February

 

The little candle mat is done, and I can put it away with the other Christmas things.

With only 1 thread of stitchery barely done, and lost in a bag of scraps,
I am happy I found it after several years....

The candle mat is a mix of 2 designers and patterns. 

The stitchery is from Northern Quilts in Norway, and the hexagon design and the rest is from Helen Stubbings, Hugs n' kisses in Australia. 

Over the last years I have made several of the candle mats, both with Helen's bird stitchery in the middle and with other stitcheries in the middle. I am sure I will make more in the future. They are cute around the house, and make beautiful gifts.

I am ready for what the Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge will bring tomorrow 💞

Happy leap year everyone! One more day to be creative.

Hanne

February Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge

 

The care quilt top I had as my February goal in the Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge is done, and has left the house for the next person in line doing the machine quilting.

My care quilt group meets about every 6 months for a 2 day gathering, in driving distance from everyone's home, so we all sleep in our own beds.

I have started cutting and sewing another top like this, from my own fabrics, with fewer blocks - 7 by 9, instead of 8 by 10. 
I am shaking my head about the fact that I must have had like 5 yards of the pinkish red fabric, French General.
Note to self - do not buy so much for future might-want-to-do projects.
Well - I think I bought all these French General fabrics in USA, where fabric prices still are much lower than here.
I do remember I loved that fabric, so it is a good thing to use fabrics when they are fresh off the bolt, and not saving it for the future. 
Taste changes over time, right?

Morning stitches adds up too 💖
More about that in another post shortly.

Wishing you a wonderful day where you are 💖

Hanne

February focus projects

 

Since I picked up this Ufo in January, I decided that it is it's time to be done 🎄
It's a candle mat - the hexies are 1 inch.

My main focus project for February - with a deadline - is this lap quilt top, 48" by 60"

It was never an Ufo, but it is on my to do list for my care quilt group's get together next weekend. 

We do have a lot of fabrics in the group the participants can pick from, but for me it feels better to use from what I already have at home.

I am sure I am not the only one having more fabrics that what I can use for many years......

These care quilts do not make the biggest dent, but it does make a difference in my fabric collection over time. Before, I used to make my care quilts A to Z, but I do not do that anymore.

We have some lovely ladies in our group being good at machine quilting, and have that as their task in the group. So, hence that, I can do what I like best, making quilt tops.

My arms do not like using the sewing machine for more than 1-1 1/2 hours maximum a day, so I have made a progression plan to be done in good time. It works like a charm so far 💖

Wishing you a wonderful day where you are 💖

Hanne

Monday focus

 

It is a good process, to go through my boxes and treasures, with small steps.

Since I have already finished my January challenge, and there are still 3 days left until the February challenge is drawn, I think I will focus on giving these 3 projects a push forward.

I found a red stitchery, with less than one thread done....... No stitchery stabilizer.... really? 

I've used a  very very dark red floss, not very Christmas-y...... It must have been laying around since before we moved, over 5 years ago.

What on earth have I been thinking?

The flower stitchery is a design by Rosalie Quinlan. I packed a kit for it during autumn, and have carried it around a few times without getting anything done. Now I do a few threads every day, and I have plans on what to make from it once it is done.

The Gratitude Hearts from Sue Daley have been neglected for a long time too. 

Wishing you a creative week 💖

Hanne

Another finish for January

 

This cushion has been finished for a little while (finished in January), and I am so happy with how it looks. It was so fun to make! The design is my own.

I also enjoyed the hand quilting with Aurifil 12 very much.

I will be teaching curved seams by hand this upcoming weekend,
and I needed more blocks, like in half size. 

The cushion blocks are 4 inches, the pouch blocks are 2 inches. I have even tried some 1" blocks, but they are quite small, even for me.

So for January I can check off goal #1, these projects, and goal #7, the stitchery from the previous post.

I will start on my project for month 2 of the Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge 

Wishing you a wonderful day where you are 💖

Hanne

First finish in 2024

 

This little candle mat was started in 2023. 
It did not get finished before Christmas, but now it is finished and ready for Christmas 2024 💖
The design is from Bareroots. 

It is part of my Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge list - #6 on my list, since Deana draw #6 as a suggestion for us all to work on in January. 
I am still working on #1 simultaneously, plus #5 and #10 - never a dull moment!

I have been going through my sewing room this week, and it is fair to say that I can keep working on different projects for very long without leaving the house 🙈

Well, I am not naming and claiming more projects for this month than what I am already working on 😁 Slow and steady, stitch by stitch, that's my plan.

Have a wonderful day where you are 💖 

Hanne