Cross Stitch – Page 2 – Kelly's Kwilts

Odds and Ends

I haven’t been doing much quilting lately, but I have been working to change that this weekend. After I finished making some masks for my sister and finished a small project for my dad, I decided it was time to work on my bow tie quilt. It’s been sitting around since before 2017 and I needed to get more done on it. So I stitched up all the bow ties I had sitting here already prepped and then finished all the alternate 9 patch blocks I needed for the border. I’m trying to do each bow tie block out of a different fabric, so I pulled out a large bag of scraps that I had bought years ago at a guild garage sale. All the squares are 3″ so I have to do some trimming before I can start sewing them together. I also need to cut some 2.5″ white on white squares, I will do that on the Studio once I’ve got the rest of the squares cut up. Hopefully I’ll have some time this week to cut them and get everything paired up so when I have time to stitch I’m ready to go.

I’ve been spending my time after the kids go to bed working on cross stitch. I have 2 wonderful teachers at school that are getting special gifts this year, one is finished and I need to get the second one started soon. I don’t have any pictures of the piece I’m working on right now, but it’s almost finished and I will post about it then. A friend on instagram had posted some Star Wars planets she was working on and she told me where to get them on Etsy. The first planet is almost done and Alex is quite thrilled with them getting done, all 9 will be framed and put on the wall in the hallway upstairs. I’m hoping that I can get the last 2 colors finished off tonight, depends on how tired I get after dinner. 🙂 That will be my Slow Sunday Stitching, check out what others are working on today at Kathy’s Quilts.

Since I got my cross stitching out again I found that there’s an awesome app that you can use to mark off what you’ve stitched. Unfortunately for me it’s only available for android, what’s a girl to do but buy a small android tablet for the app to run on? Pattern Keeper is a great app, but not all charts can be loaded in it yet. So I pulled up my MacStitch app and started putting some of them in myself. I also found that some charts on Etsy are already formatted for Pattern Keeper (PK) and if you ask nicely they might even add that to the download for you. I had one that I asked about before I bought and she saved it in the download for me. I can’t wait to start that one, it’s a Harry Potter Deathly Hallows piece, but I need to get the teacher ones and the Star Wars planets done first.

I need to get back to work on cutting up the 3″ squares, I hope to be back soon with some finishes.

Goodbye 2020!

Ugh, I was so hoping to get more quilting done this year! We had all this time at home and I could have done so much. However, I did have an absolutely wonderful year for my business and had lots of time spent with the hubby and kids.

I have started hand quilting my first hexagon quilt, it’s slow going because I have so many hand projects that I rotate through. I’ve only been working in the white areas, because I haven’t decided what thread I want to use in the hexie flowers yet. I figure there’s a lot of white and I can decide the other color(s) later. You should be able to see the detail if you click on the pictures. My stitches aren’t 100% uniform, but I’m getting the hang of it and as it’s not going in a show/contest I don’t care. It’s mine and it’s been 100% stitched by hand. I don’t think I’m going to put a regular binding on it either, I’m thinking of doing a knife edge to it – I think I’ll need to do the edges before I quilt that last border though.

In October I started working on the pentagon project. It’s changed a few times since I decided what I wanted to do with it, so now I have 4 pentagons with a square in the middle appliqued to a background. I’ve gotten enough done that I put together the first row, used a ton of 1.5″ squares from the bin, and there’s a lot more that will be used by the time I’m done with this top. I’m working on putting the sashing together while I put together bow-tie blocks and the 9-patches I need for the border on that quilt. It’s all pretty mindless sewing when I need it.

As if I didn’t have enough hand projects, I pulled out some cross stitch and started working on that again. This is a piece for Alex and I have one I want to make for Cassie as well as one I want to make for 2 special teachers the kids have had. I have a bunch of Star Wars ones to make for Alex and at some point they’ll get done. In the past I’ve done all my cross stitch with paper patterns, but lately I’ve wanted to do it with an ipad. The app that I really want to use isn’t available for ios yet, and the android tablets we have are WAY to old for it to work. So I found a pdf app that will allow me to annotate the file and we’ll see how that works. I just got it updated last night but didn’t have time to try and see how well it works, might try that tonight.

Kids are off until next Monday (1/4), and I’m hoping to get some time to work on quilting. I got everything ready yesterday, because I intended on starting the quilting until I realized I may have inadvertently tossed my quilting gloves! I ordered a new pair yesterday, but who knows how long it will take for them to get to me. I’ll have to start quilting without them I guess and hope I have enough black thread to last until the new spool gets here with the gloves. I know I won’t be able to finish it before the end of the year, but I’d still like to start working on it and maybe start the new year with a finish.

Here’s hoping that 2021 is a better year for everyone and that I finish some projects in the new year!

Updates in September

Wow, 5 months without a post! It’s been a whirlwind last 5 months and I just haven’t done a lot of stitching. We finished the school year at home with mommy as the teacher, Cassie did great and Alex just didn’t want to work on anything. Home just isn’t the right place for my kids and school. They just started back this week and we’ve had an eventful first week! Yesterday the phone rang and my heart always drops when it says it’s the school. Yep, Alex threw up at recess and had to come home from school. So I had to run up to school and get him. Let’s hope it’s the only time this year!

It was a busy spring and summer with orders, including one to Germany that took forever to get there! Everyone was shopping online for the end of the school year gifts and it definitely helped me! It’s been a slow start to fall, but that’s ok it will pick up in the next month or so for Xmas. Because I was so busy with orders the sewing machine sat idle for a long time. Plus we were doing a lot of camping and visiting with family in other states. We stayed in the whole time but had so much fun!

Now that I am starting to have some time to myself I’ve been working on Harry Potter SAL blocks. Just finished another one today, I only have 9 more blocks and I can get the top put together. Since our quilt show for 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19 I have time to get this and maybe a couple more quilts completed before our show in September 2021.

I have a lot of projects to work on when I’m sitting in my chair at night, cross stitch, all the various EPP projects, a new knitting project and I picked up a QAYG Hexagon template at a guild meeting a few months ago and have been hand stitching those and will be machine stitching them together when they are all ready. Hope to be back soon with a new update, hopefully it won’t be 5 months from now!

Knitting and some Cross Stitch

So over the weekend we were childless, my wonderful sister took the kids for the weekend. That meant Saturday night we could make a nice dinner (something the kids won’t eat) and start working through all the shows we needed to catch up on. While we were watching shows I was working on various projects and made a decision. Last fall I had bought 5 skeins of yarn that were on clearance and decided to make a blanket for Cassie’s former day care teacher that was having a baby in December. Now I am a VERY slow knitter, especially when it’s long rows. Saturday I decided that I hadn’t made a very smart choice to make her something and it was time to set that particular project aside for now and work on other things. I’m almost through with the 2nd skein and I’ve a long ways to go on the project. At some point I’ll finish it and give it away, but right now it just needs to be put away.

Once I got that decision out of the way I pulled out the dish cloth I’ve been working on since November 2016 and finished it. I don’t know why it takes so darn long for me to work on knitting, wait yes I do, I have too many projects that are hand work!!! 🙂 The yarn is Peaches & Creme in colorway Pink Lemonade that I picked up at Walmart just because I liked the colors. I’ll see how I like using it to clean the kitchen and maybe I’ll make more someday.

I mentioned cross stitch in the title, I’ve found a pattern that I was really interested in making in January and I kept going back and forth on whether I needed another project. No not really but I did it anyway! I bought the pattern and the fabric from the author and started in on it. It’s a small section a month, and once I’m caught up it shouldn’t be too hard to keep up with everyone else. I’m almost caught up now, once I get the rest of the title done and March’s block that was just released I’m golden! Hubby and I are BIG Harry Potter fans and I just loved the idea of having all the classes in a sort of sampler piece. No clue where it will go when finished, but that’s ok I’m making it anyway! Perhaps I can start working on other cross stitch pieces too, I have a Cleveland Cavaliers one and a Monopoly board around here somewhere to make!

Design Wall Monday 08/07/17

I’ve been slowly working on blocks for the #EPPParty and finished block 7 over the weekend. Block 8 is released today and I’ll have to start working on that this week. I have 2 quilts all basted and ready to quilt and I’m finishing up the binding on a Quilts of Valor quilt I brought home from the last meeting. School will be starting soon and I hope be to able to spend a little more time working on projects!

I’ve also had to put handwork to the side recently because I needed to get a wedding gift completed. It was delivered to the groom last week, so I can post about it now. We didn’tgo to the wedding because it was out of the country and there was just no way we could go, but we did still want to give them a gift. So I stitched up my usual wedding gift, a small cross stitch piece in a frame with space for a wedding picture. The groom loved it, so I’m happy!

Linking up to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Major Update!

OMG have I been busy lately! I entered some items into our County Fair and of the 3 items I entered I received 2 ribbons! Both were cross stitch pieces that I did a few years ago and was really proud of how well they turned out so decided they need to be entered along with a memory quilt that was made for my grandmother’s 80th birthday. Next year I hope to enter another of the seasonal quilts cross stitch and hopefully one of my hexagon quilts – if I ever finish one!

I enter a lot of giveaways and never win, well I can’t say that anymore! I had entered this one at My Quilt Infatuation and figured I wouldn’t win anything, lo and behold I received an email asking for my address! I love the colors and can’t wait to figure out what to make with the 10 fat quarters. Perhaps a Xmas gift?

I don’t have any pictures because it’s a guild challenge due in December, but I’ve been spending time working on a red/white quilt. The center and first border are done, the blocks for the second border are done and I am working on the applique pieces that go on the first border. Hope to have the top completed soon!

I also finally finished my second commission quilt, from what I hear the family loved it, I took a few pictures of it before I mailed it to my friend but I can’t find them right now. I might need to take them off the DSLR. When I find them I’ll make sure to post again!

Talk soon!

Cutting Review on Studio

I figured that since I was already going to be cutting fabric I’d do a little review on my new Studio. I love it! It cuts so much nicer than the Go, even with the Go dies! I have a bolt of Kona black that I’m using for projects that is 44″ wide. So since I want as many black squares as I can get, I cut an 8.5″ width and the length is the full 44″ (22″ since it’s folded on the bolt). I know it’s hard to see folded up on the die, but it’s folded so that there are 4 full layers and 2 layers that are partials. After I run it through, I have a stack of 48 2.5″ squares and a small pile of scraps. There’s almost NO waste! I did 3 of the 8.5″ strips to get 144 total squares. If I don’t need these for the 9-patch scrappy quilt, I know I can use them for the hexie diamond quilt. I worked on some hexies last night while we watched tv, I’m waiting for a shipment to come from 123 stitch with some Aida cloth. I’ve decided to put away my Cavs cross stitch and do my Monopoly board instead. I have almost all the floss, just needed a big enough piece of 18 count aida to work on it. When it’s finished it will be a full sized Monopoly board and we can play on it once it’s framed/mounted. I’ll post updates as I work on it. Time to get back to sewing, laundry is done for today (more for tomorrow), dinner is in the crock pot and Alex is still sleeping!

Busy, busy, busy!

It’s been busy around here the last couple of weeks. My son was the ring bearer in a friend’s wedding last week. He looked so handsome!!! We were very proud of him, he did everything he was supposed to do! I made the couple my usual wedding gift, cross stitch picture in a matted frame for 2 of their wedding pictures. I’ve probably made close to 10 of these for family and friends over the years.

Hubby helped me get my Studio situated yesterday. We had a table in the basement that he made years ago for his music keyboard that has just been sitting there. So I had him cut the legs down so that it would fit underneath my sewing table. You can see a couple of boxes under there, once I take care of those (documents that need shredded) it should fit nicely against the wall on the left. Haven’t used it much yet, just did a trial cut the night it got here. I do have a TON of black 2.5″ squares to cut, so it will get a workout soon.

I couldn’t decide what to work on today, hubby is busy with his business partner and Alex is napping, so after working on cleaning some stuff up in my office and starting the homemade chicken noodle soup I decided to pull out the scrappy 9 patch quilt I’ve been working on as leader/enders. All of the 4 patches are completed, just need to iron them all – so I started working on the 9 patch blocks. This is what I’ll need the black squares for. I think this will go fast, since most everything is cut already. Next I’ll need the 6.5″ black squares and I might wait to cut those until I can get the die for the Studio. We’ll see!

When we were cleaning out my grandmother’s house, I got a box FULL of buttons. I finally finished cutting them all off the cards or cutting them off strings and got them in a vase for on top of my cabinets. Then I decided to take another vase and put all the thread that I got from her house too. Since it’s been a lot of years since she’s sewn, I don’t really know how old the thread is. Some of it is on wooden spools! I decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to use it, I’d rather use it for decoration. Either way, it will remind me of her.

I think once I get the 9 patches done I’ll go back to the guild challenge quilt. Just need to decide on which color to do the sashing in so I can put it together. Shouldn’t take too long, I have just over a month before it needs to be done for our meeting. Hopefully back soon with another update!

New Purchase

OMG! I can’t believe I just pushed the button and bought the Accuquilt Studio! I have no idea where it’s going to live, I’d love a table that rolls underneath my big 6′ wide sewing table. That would be the ideal solution, I just don’t know if that will happen. I also bought a 5″ charm square die that cuts 8 at a time, I’m hoping to be able to cut charms and put them on etsy. I’d like to also cut other peoples fabric – maybe something like drunkard’s path dies, or winding ways, etc. I just don’t know if it would sell or not. I hope this isn’t a case of buyer’s remorse already!! 🙂

I hope to start working on some sewing this week, since I designed a few quilts this week while I was testing EQ, I have a lot of ideas! I also have to fix an embroidery order for my friends bakery, I guess pregnancy brain hit me early and I didn’t do the full design on her shirts. Logo is there, but the name of her business is not!

I did finish the cross stitch piece for the wedding, just need to get to Joann’s and get the frame. I’ll get a picture up once it’s framed.

Til later,

Design Wall Monday

Well I was able to get 2 diamonds finished this week. I have my baggies ready for the next 3, and need to get working on basting them and putting the diamond together. I was going to work on hand quilting my first hexagon quilt so I could put it in the guild quilt show, but with everything going on this summer, I know I just don’t have the time. I’d rather concentrate on finishing hexagon diamonds and get it quilted for the show. I took a break yesterday though and decided to do something different. I pulled out my Cleveland Cavaliers cross stitch piece and worked on it for awhile. I haven’t worked on it since January, but it was quite easy to pick it back up and work on it. There’s a total of 15 pages and I had finished 1 in January. So I started working on page 7, there’s a lot of solid color so I figured it’d be easy! So when I need a break from the hexagons, I’ll work on my cross stitch. Hope to have more diamonds finished this week so I can put it all together this weekend.
Linking up to Design Wall Monday at PatchworkTimes