Some Cross Stitch Finishes and the Future

I have a basket of shame full of cross stitched pieces that aren't finished into either a frame, on a backer, or into a pillow.  There are a lot of cross stitchers that just stitch and then put their finished stitches in a basket or a drawer.  Mine are in a basket so I call it my basket of shame.  

Here is one that I finished stitching quite awhile ago.  

These are Robin Pickens Seasonal Couriers.  The one above is summer.  

In this photo there are spring, fall, winter and the bottom right stitch is Patriotic Typeface from Fat Quarter Shop.  Honestly, I finished stitching all of these awhile ago.

All 5 of these fit on the wooden backer from Chantelle's 141 Design Company.  The backer comes unfinished.  I painted it and wiped it down with a pecan stain.  I've put magnets on the back side of the backer and on the back side of the stitches so I can switch them out for the seasons.  

I glue the fabric to the foam board I order from Amazon.  Then I thread lace my stitching to more foam board.  I find that if I lace my stitching, it's easier to center it and get things even.  And if something happens to the fabric backer,.....well, there's always more fabric!

Here are 4 Patriotic stitches that I made into pillows.  So far I haven't even made a dent in my basket of shame.  I'll keep working on it.  

Do you have this guy where you live?  This guy is called Tally, and he goes through the grocery store taking inventory.  I don't see him every time I'm there, but he's in the aisles pretty often.  And he's stubborn.  I can walk right up to him and stand in front of him, and he keeps nudging forward.  I like technology, but I can't get used to this guy.  

That's all for now.  

I hope you're finding some time to stitch today.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  

Quilts, Hexagons. Cross Stitch and Shopping

Hello   I hope you are all doing well.  I've been busy with physical therapy and exercises, and in between I've managed to squeeze in some other fun things.  

This is my latest little quilt from the Simple Whatnots group.  Our group meeting was last week on Tuesday.  This one is called Prairie Pretties.  I just did some simple quilting on this one.  This stitch is made by choosing the zig-zag option on your machine and setting the stitch width and length wide.   

I sewed the binding on by machine and then I stitched it by hand on the back.  I think hand sewing the binding to do the last part of a quilt is kind of relaxing.  I know everyone doesn't agree with that.  

I've watched several videos on You Tube about crocheting an edge on a quilt.   I decided this little quilt was small enough that it wouldn't be a huge time investment to give it a try.  The video I watched used a backstitch on the edge of the binding,  I started out that way, but my backstitching on the quilt looked like my backstitching on an embroidery piece.   So I used a buttonhole stitch instead.  I'm kind of glad I did because it seemed like it gave the quilt edging more stability.  The buttonhole stitch is a bit tricky to put on the edge of the binding.  I kept trying different needles until I found one with a large enough eye to get the thread through and one that was sharp enough to get the thread through the binding.  I have no idea what kind of needle it was.  I'd guess a chenille needle????   I used Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread Fashion 3 (100% cotton) that I bought at Michaels.  I started with 2 rounds of single crochet to give the next round a good foundation.  Then I did a 4 double crochets, skip 1 chain, 1 single crochet, skip a chain then another 4 double crochets.  You continue that all the way around the quilt.  If you crochet, that's a pretty simple shell stitch.  

I've also made a few more 5/8" hexagon arches for my Avignon quilt.

I found a little zipper bag and had no idea what was in it.  There were more hexagons.  I think they just keep multiplying.  I pulled out sets of 6 and sewed them into a ring so I can put centers in them sometime later.  These are 3/4" which is the size I use most often.  

I make the ring leaving one side open, and then I find a hexagon from my box of centers and clip them together.  

Here's the pencil box full of odd 3/4" hexagons that I use to choose my centers.  

                                                   

I also found some time to meet a friend in Rushville at Mystic Fabrics.  We shop first then head over to Pizza Hut to eat and then we sit there and stitch.  The girl working there always comes over and says she loves that we're getting together to stitch.  Here's a few photos from inside Mystic.  There's lot of cross stitch patterns, floss, and some yarn.  

They have a lot more fabric than this.  Somehow I only took photos of the wide backing fabrics.  

I've made quite bit of progress on America the Beautiful by Stitching with the Housewives.  I'm working on the flag now.  I kind of like repetitive stitching so I'm enjoying this part.  

That's all for now.   Until next time.......

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

A Weekend Getaway

 We had a weekend getaway to Ohio at Hueston Woods Lodge in the state park there.  The room had a lake view, and the Lodge has a restaurant in house so it's just a nice place to walk around and relax.  And......

The Real Story:    We went for the hot water.   Yep.   Last Thursday I did a lot of laundry, and I noticed that the washer sounded like there was air in the pipes.  Then later on in the day I noticed that the same noise was coming from the sink.  Friday morning we showered and my husband drained the hot water heater tank thinking that if he drained it and turned the circuit breaker off and back on that would take care of the problem.   Well no.  The circuit breaker wouldn't turn back on so there we were with no hot water.  We called a plumber, and he came out on Friday.  He couldn't fix the old water heater......and he couldn't come back until Tuesday morning with a new one.  That's a long time without hot water from Friday to Tuesday.  Besides not being able to shower, your brain automatically makes your hand go to the hot water faucet whenever you wash your hands or do anything at the sink.  And then nothing comes out.  My son said we were welcome to go to his house to shower, but after thinking about it we'd have to take clean clothes, towels, shampoo and conditioner.  So I had the idea to go to a hotel for a couple of days.  We checked a few places, and decided to go over to Ohio to Hueston Lodge.  We stayed until Monday afternoon.  The plumber was here at 8 this morning, and after 3 1/2 hours, he had the new water heater installed.  When he left he said we'd have hot water in about an hour.  No.  My husband went downstairs to check the temperature on the new water heater, and one of the pipes was leaking.  The plumber just left (after his second visit today), and again said we'd have hot water in about an hour.  We'll see.  

Here are a couple more photos I took of Hueston Woods.  This was taken with the panorama setting on my phone.  It looks like everything is squished.  

This is the lobby where you check in.  For some reason I didn't take a picture of where the rooms are.  They are off to the right of the photo.  This is where I've gone in January 2024 and 2025 for the Keepsakes Stitch Away retreat.   It's especially nice in the winter because sleeping, stitching and the restaurant are all right there so we don't need to go outside in the winter weather until we're ready to head home.

The lobby is actually on the second floor.  Here is the big spiral staircase leading from the first floor up to the lobby.  

Of course I took along a hexagon project.  This is the layout for the Avignon quilt I'm working on.  The pattern is in the Feathering the Nest 4 book by Brigette Giblin.  This quilt will be totally scrappy using some new fabrics I've purchased and some of my old repro fabrics that I love.  That cheddar one down toward the bottom of that photo might not make the cut.  It kind of stands out too much from the rest.  I'll see when I add these to the others I have stitched.  These are 5/8" hexagons.  

I've also started a new counted cross stitch project with a couple stitching friends.  We take turns picking a project on our birthdays for all of us to do.   Some years we send each other a kit to stitch.  Other times we just pick a project.  I didn't pick a project on my birthday in April, but another friend picked this one for her August birthday.  This is America the Beautiful by Stitching with the Housewives.  This is a pattern that I've had for quite awhile and have always wanted to do.   Priscilla and Chelsea did their model stitch on black fabric.  They stitch on 28 count over 2 threads.  I decided to do something different so mine is on 18 count dirty Aida cloth.  The word America looks like it's stitched in black, but it's actually a dark navy.  It shows up better in person.  It's actually kind of fun to get back into cross stitch again.  

That's it for now.   I've got more stitching to show but I'll save it for next time.  If you're still reading, thanks for listening to my tale of woe about having no hot water.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you're finding some time to stitch today!!

Stonefield's Hexagons and How I Sew Them

Here are the hexagons that I have finished for the outer border of my Stonefield's quilt.  These are made from fabrics that are brighter than I usually sew with, but I think they will look nice on the outside border of the quilt.  Stonefield's is a pattern by Susan Smith, and I think the blocks kind of lend themselves to brighter, fun fabrics. 

I've had people ask how I can sew hexagons together so quickly.  I've tried different methods of sewing my hexagon flowers together.  This one seems to work best for me, and I feel like it's the fastest method.  (I'm not an expert.  I'm just sharing how I sew mine together. ) 

 

First I glue baste my english paper piecing.  I'm not doing heirloom sewing.  I'm just making quilts for my own enjoyment.  I use the Sewline glue pen, and I buy my refills from Amazon here.  

These are glue basted.  I cut a 3/8" seam allowance on my hexagons so if I've fussy cut a fabric I've got some wiggle room to center it.  I sew my hexagons using the flat back/ladder method.  There are a lot of good videos out there showing this method.  You can see by the position of my needle how this works.  I can start my hexagons this way, but if you have trouble getting started you can put the right sides of the hexagons together and take the first couple of stitches that way.  Then you can hold them flat like you see in the photo below.  Most every quilt with hexagons has 2 hexagons sewn together like you see in the photo below.  So I start by sewing a lot of sets of 2 hexagons together.

 

A hexagon flower has 3 sets of 2 hexagons sewn together so I start by sewing them in pairs.  

Now sew them into a ring leaving an opening.  

Now you can choose a center hexagon and finish sewing the hexagon together with just one thread.  This avoids the starting and stopping, and I think it goes so much faster because after you make the ring, you only have to thread your needle once to add the center and finish closing the hexagon flower.  I start at the arrow, go around and out where I left the opening.  

I keep a container of odd hexagons made from scraps or something that I think would make a good fussy cut center.  

Here are a few centers that I've auditioned from my container above for the center of this hexagon.  

And, here's the finished hexagon flower ready for my Stonefield's quilt.  

Here are a few more that I've sewn.  I know there are a lot of ways to sew these little flowers together.  This is just the way that I do it.  

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

This post contains affiliate links.  

Christmas Is Coming

 

The question of the day is:

Who doesn't need another Christmas quilt? 

That's what I thought when I saw these blocks on Joy's blog:   Days Filled With Joy

I've finished blocks 1 and 2.

Joy is generously offering these blocks as a free block of the month called Floral Baubles.  (Thank you Joy!)     Joy leaves them up on her blog free for a month. 

Joy is doing her star points scrappy, but I decided to alternate mine with red on the first month.

And, I did green for the second month.  

The blocks come out on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.  There will be 9 blocks in all, and they will finish at 12 inches.  They are quick, easy embroidery.  I don't usually do anything fancy when I embroider.  I usually just do chain stitch, stem stitch or outline stitch.   My backstitch never looks even so I avoid that one!

I've downloaded block number 3 and have started to chain stitch around the outside edge.  

These are the fabrics I've pulled so far to do my star points and background.  

This block of the month won't finish until February, but that leaves plenty of time to get the blocks sashed (or not), sewn together and quilted so it's ready to go for the next Christmas.  

Melisa of PinkerNPunkin blog shared her blocks on her post here. 

 These blocks are really a lot of fun to embroider, so I hope you check them out at Joy's blog.  Until next time.......

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you're finding some time to stitch today.  

Update and more Stonefield's Blocks

 Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by today.  Sorry for the absence.  I don't usually do personal updates, so I'll put that at the end of the post so you can skip over it if you'd like. 

Here is a little progress on my Stonefield's quilt.  These are blocks 7 and 8 called Pomegranate.  Looking at the photos, those melons in the center look a little lopsided.  I'll just blame that on my photography.  That sounds good anyway.  

I've been working on a new project called Avignon.  It's a pattern in The Charm of Quilts, Feathering the Nest 4 book by Brigitte Giblin.  I bought the English Paper Piecing parts when I first bought the book sometime in 2025 and then put them away.  I bought the floral fabrics on a trip to Tennessee earlier this year so I decided to use some of them in this quilt.  I love that hexagons are so portable.  

Our weather here has been wet to say the least.  We've had some rain every day for the last 7 days.  Where I live there is no flooding, but there are a lot of people here in Indiana that are flooded out and have lost everything. Thanks to those that have written to check on me.  

One night we even had hail.  This was really loud and sounded like someone was throwing rocks at the windows.  Of course we went out on the front porch during this to take photos.  

This was 11 o'clock at night, and the temperature was in the low 70s so it didn't stay around long. 

I enjoy the hummingbirds coming to the feeder.  This little guy is kind of unusual because he doesn't constantly flap his wings.  

He even lands on the top of the pole.  Most of them that come to the feeder are constantly in motion.  We have a couple of finch feeders and another regular feeder but haven't filled them lately because there are ducks in the pond that come into the yard and eat what the the birds kick out on the ground.  I met one of our neighbors down the street recently, and she said "oh your the ones that feed the ducks."   (Okay, at one time I counted 30 ducks in our yard.)   So for awhile we aren't filling those feeders so hoping to discourage the ducks.

All of the rain and storms lately have made some beautiful sunsets.  Here's one from a couple of nights ago.  

Update:  Again sorry for the absence.   For the last month my son, daughter-in-law, 2 grandsons and my daughter all went to Europe for 3 weeks.  They went to Germany, Austria, France, Scotland and Ireland.  They ended the trip in Aberdeen, Scotland, at the International Handbell Festival and then flew home from Ireland.  So while they were gone, we have been cat and house sitting.  My son lives just over a mile from us, but our daughter lives a half hour one way.  So I've spent a lot of time driving back and forth.   And I enjoy all of their cats so when I go, besides feeding, etc., I spend time playing and sitting with them.   I tried taking some hexagons to stitch on while I was at my daughters, but her cats soon knocked them on the floor to play with.  I did do some embroidery though.  More on that later on.  

The day after they got back I went to Simple What Nots club at Back Door Quilts and Knotty Girls in the afternoon with lunch in between.  That's always a fun time.  I've been working on the project for next month.  I'll post it when I'm finished.

And the day after fun at the quilt shop I had an appointment with my knee surgeon.   For those of you that don't know I had a right knee replacement July 21, 2025 so this was basically my one year check up.  I've had pain on the outside of that knee since last December.  I had an appointment with him in January and another in March complaining of knee pain.  The first visit he told me to exercise which I'd been doing.  The second visit he said to keep exercising and that he doesn't do anything in the first year after surgery.  This visit he gave me a shot of cortisone (with a really long needle) in the outside of my right knee.....AND, he's sending me back to physical therapy 2-3 times a week for 8 weeks.  No, I'm not thrilled.  To say I'm not thrilled is pretty much of an understatement.  But, I'll do it because I don't know what else to do.  So in between that, I'll just keep on stitching.  

I'm linking up with Judy for Design Wall Monday.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you're finding some time to stitch today.  

Back to Stonefields - Blocks 5 and 6

 Hello Everyone  

I hope you're doing well today.  It looks like we're about to have another thunderstorm.   We don't usually lose power, but just in case I'll get this typed and ready to post.  

Here is Stonefield's blocks 5 and 6 called Orange Peel.  You probably could have guessed that.   

 My pattern has pretty decent line drawings, so I'm able to put the pattern and my background piece on the light box and draw the applique lines.  Then I draw the orange peel shape onto freezer paper, iron it and trace around it with either a Frixion pen or a chalk pencil depending on which one shows up better.  Now I don't always trace 8 orange peels onto freezer paper and then trace around them.  Sometimes, I just draw a couple and hold them on my fabric with my thumb and trace around them.  (I know a lot of you are cringing....but, it works for me.)

Here are a few of the hexagons for the outside border.  They are 3/4" hexies.  I know some people that are making this quilt may not be doing all of the flying geese and hexagon borders, but I think that just adds so much to the quilt.   So I'll keep going.  This is a REALLY long term project.  I'll try and not get too sidetracked.  BUT, these blocks are a bit tedious so after awhile it's nice to work on something else.

So, here's the kinds of things that I do.  I was just looking for something when I came across this zipper bag with a container and another zipper bag inside it.  I guess for me, it's kind of out of signt-out of mind.  I found these 1" hexagons.  They are all sewn like I typically sew my hexagons.   I sew all 6 hexagons together leaving an opening to sew the center in.  

This is what was in the container inside the zipper bag.  These are 1" hexagons that I've collected to be sewn in the center of the ones that were there in that zipper bag.  The only thing I can say for myself is that 1" hexagons really aren't my favorite.  I really like the look and feel of 3/4" hexagons so that's mostly what I sew.  Maybe here is where I should say that sometimes I am forgetful.  

I have another container of 1" hexagons that are in bright fabrics.  It's probably time that I put these together into some kind of quilt.   I'm open to suggestions.  

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.