Slow Sunday and Another block completed and inside the gold box answered.

The weather has been cold and rainy this week in central Florida so I have been busily hand stitching. With this being the last Slow Sunday Stitching for the month and the last day of the month, where does time go, there are only 11 months left to 2016. Happily I have kept to my new year's goal of using fabrics from my stash for a new project. Isn't it fun when you rummage among your stash and find new old fabrics you forgot you purchased and some of those what was I thinking fabrics too. I am working on some UFO's I confess I don't have very many started projects but I have too many to count planned quilts I really want to start making this year after all I have more years behind me than ahead of me and I would love to see what I can do.

I have completed the hand embroidery on block number four of the Hocuspocusville Quilt. I bought the pattern in 2012 but didn't start tracing the blocks until last year.

block four

Block number 5 is waiting to be stitched. I'm so glad I decided to trace all the blocks before I began stitching it makes to easier to just grab the next block and start stitching, a friend of mine is making the quilt too and she was tracing one block at a time when she finished the third block she sat down and traced the rest of them now she doesn't have to make time between walking her dog, and playing with the grandkids.

block five

What was inside that gold box I planned to reveal on the first of January then forgot all about 

well better late than never inside the golden box is my treasure of 1.5” squares for a Postage Stamp quilt I planned to make over 30 years ago.

I began snipping scraps from all sorts of fabric, friends unloaded some of their scraps on me, attendees in classes gave me a few scraps too. But many of these fabric treasure go back decades. I even have the cardboard template I use for cutting the squares. To get an idea of how small these pieces are I added a quarter coin for comparison, to my youthful eyes 30 odd years ago these weren't so small, not so much now as I view them with my eyes at sixty.

The fabrics all askew are relatively newer fabrics than the original yet somehow they work well together, You can bet this quilt is being hand pieced I actually have several rows sewn together in my stash bin but I am too lazy to pull them out.  

A few weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a stack of 1930's reproduction fabric along with these 11 packs of  fabric squares I am trying to come up with an idea or two for them.  My first thought was 

to randomly stitch them together for a patch work quilt top, I'm sure I will come up with something but right now I am going to head on over to Kathy's Quilts and link up to Slow Sunday Stitching
http://www.kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/2016/01/slow-sunday-stitching-binding.html

Stitching Slowly Along on this Cold, Sunny Sunday

This week has been spent braving the cold temps, pouring rain and gray cloudy days, the perfect days for stitching a quilt block or working on a hand embroidery piece and spending more time then I should have online ordering patterns and floss for hand embroidery.

Since this is Sunday, let me show you what I'll be stitching today, Block four of the Hocuspocusville Quilt is coming along at a nice steady pace.

block 4

I did take a break earlier in the week to hand piece block number two for the Project 48 quilt. 

I am hesitant to make block three, it requires cutting of center to give it a wonky look. Sigh! I do that enough without trying.

Earlier this week I finally put together another jeans pocket bag, this one I made for myself to use roaming flea markets and festivals where I don't want to lug around my purse. 

front
I found the jeans with zipper pockets at a thrift shop a few years ago, I used the legs for tote bags and saved the pockets. 

back

I have made several of these bags over the years and others, when browsing flea markets I always keep my eye out for jeans with embroidery on the legs or pockets which make great purses once cut apart and sewn back together. 

lining

I have been making them for years through trial and error each one comes out better and a little different, now there are quite a few tutorials online.

These are the new patterns I ordered, the first is panel number 2 of the Mystery of the Salem Witches' Quilt Guild from Crab-apple Hill, I decided I am going to start tracing these onto fabric when I have all three embroidery panels, I don't know when panel three will be available I'm thinking in the springtime.

panel pattern number 2

Speaking of Spring, I ordered this sweet little hand embroidery kit from Chickadee Hollow, it comes pre-colored so all I have to do is add the embroidery and other embellishments. There is one for each season.

I also bought the first kit in the Bag Ladies series, also a pre-colored block and if I like how it turns out you can bet I will be ordering more 

I have to be sure I can stitch through the panel without any difficulty. Either way the panel would just make a sweet block for a quilt with or without hand embroidery. There are 10 blocks to the series. Here is a link to Chickadee Hollow I found the website last week while searching for Cosmo floss I needed for another project.  www.chickadeehollowdesigns.com

Well its time for me to go check out what other bloggers are hand stitching this week, I'll be posting over at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching. 

http://www.kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/2016/01/slow-sunday-stitching_24.html

Off the the Steampunk Show

Today I am off to Mount Dora Florida for a fun filled day at the Renningers Flea Market for:

Wednesday Reading Wrap Up

For the Cruisin' with the Cozies reading challenge to date I have read the following books:

Tapestry of Lies by Carol Ann Martin, this is the second book in a series, the main character owns and operates a Weaving Studio.

Trimmed with Murder by Sally Goldenbaum, this is a Seaside Knitters Mystery series, I began reading this author a few years ago and I love her books almost as I love the beach, each page draws me into the coastal town of Sea Harbor, no matter the season the story takes place in I am transported there, this book had me in the midst of winter and I could feel the chilly nip in the air and each cup of tea I drank while reading filled me with warmth I only get when I read her books.

For the I Love Libraries reading challenge I read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, this was a wonderful story from the first page to the last, I am an avid walker and hiker and all along Harold’s route I was silently cheering him on knowing first hand all the physical aches he was experiencing as well as the emotional toll a long walk can have on the soul. The mind does wander many times when a person has too much time to think and we tend to revisit events in our lives whether they are happy memories or things we would rather forget. As the story unfolds with each kilometer walked so does the events of Harold’s past life.

For the Color Coded reading challenge I chose the book Silenced Springs by Robert L. Knight because the cover was predominately blue, this book was a non-fiction read regarding the natural springs in Florida, since I hike many of the Springs here in Florida I wanted to learn more about the changes, conditions and what is on the horizon for these beautiful places.

The Color Coded reading challenge requires a specific color be in the title or on the cover of the book chosen, so the Trimmed with Murder qualifies as blue in the Color Coded and I Love Libraries Challenges, and the Silenced Springs also makes it to the I Love Libraries challenge.

Well those are the books I have read so far this month, what are you currently reading?

Stitching Merrily Along

Another Sunday is upon us so its time for some Slow Sunday Stitching, this week I have a few hand stitched items I was working on, today I will be stitching my embroidery on block four of the Hocuspocusville Quilt I would really like to get this block complete this week.

The hand pieced quilt block I made for the Project 48 Quilt, the 2016 mystery quilt stitch along I have joined this is my first ever mystery quilt and I do love the surprise of what block comes next,

I have to say I like this colorway better than the one I made on the sewing machine. Later today I will put together block 2 which is something called the disappearing nine-patch which is an interesting spin on a nine patch block.

I made more progress on the Celtic Knot embrodiery piece though not as much as I would have liked.

I am linking up here http://www.kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/2016/01/slow-sunday-stitching_17.html
why don't you drop by and check out what other bloggers are hand stitching this week.

The hand pieced block

Here is the hand pieced block I decided to try for the Project 48 Quilt,  I may continue to make a hand pieced block along with the machine pieced blocks for this project.

Hand Pieced

This is the machine pieced block I made earlier in the week, while I like the scrappy look of the block I think it would have been better with a different fabric in the center.

Machine pieced

This is going to be a good learning experience project for me, I am still such a novice at rotary cutting and I get so stressed when I piece on a sewing machine trying to get every seam to line up perfect that it tends to suck the joy from the entire quilt making process so I am hoping to get more precise with my cutting and sewing on the blocks I make with the sewing machine.

First Books Chosen for 2016 reading challeges.

This month is moving so quickly so I thought I better make my first choices for the books I want to read for the reading challenges I joined.

For the Cruisin' thru the Cozies challenge I'm reading the first in a series by an author I haven't read before:

And for the Color Coded reading challenge I decided to start with the color blue which is the cover

color chose to read a non-fiction book the subject is Florida's artesian springs, their former glory

how they became impaired and the path to restoration.  I hike many of the springs in Florida so I thought it would be an interesting read.

I have also added another reading challenge for 2016, The I Love Libraries challege, most of you know I visit the local library at least once a week, I have been using the public library system since I can remember, one of the first things I do when I move to a new city is obtain a library card, I support our local library with donations, shopping the annual sales and shopping in the used book store that is part of our library.  I make sure I check out books regulary because each time a card is scanned it aids in funding for the library.

The first book for I chose for this challenge is by another new to me author and from page one I was taken in. The level I am choosing for this reading challenge is chapter book which is 12 books for the year.