Handwork Projects

 I officially finished the last vintage cross stitch kit in my stash by the designer, Sandra Cossolino.

"Making Gingerbread," is a tough kit to find but I snagged a new kit on eBay.

There are other enthusiasts who collect her kits and the internet has enabled us to find each other. 

This gives us an option to share out of print patterns. Below is, "Loading Sled." I have one more vintage pattern in the series in my files and am still hunting for yet one more in the series.

Luckily, Sandra Cozzolino is still designing three new Santa ornaments every year and I have started one of the new ones. This year's theme is, "Christmas Morning."

I am venturing into cross stitch designs by other designers. I follow a mother and daughter designing team on YouTube, Stitching with the Housewives. They release one or two designs a week. I am not even going to try and make all of their designs.

I finished, "Trick of Treat," a couple of months ago. Their designs are inspired by chalkboard art the mom has been drawing for years.

I am waiting for fall decorations to hit the stores so I can get some inspiration for finishing this piece. I don't want to do just a plain frame since the designers also have great ideas for alternate ideas for finishes.

My new DIL has picked out stockings for her and my son. 

They were married in Hawaii so an ocean theme grabbed her interest.

The toughest part of this stocking was definitely stitching the face. Plaid, the company that owns Bucilla, came up with the brilliant idea to include two copies of the felt for faces that are so finely detailed. Even with all my experience stitching these kits....I needed a second chance to get this face right. 

Then I had a second stumble...I ran out of sequins for the mermaid's tail. I raided several other kits in my stash but the sequins were just enough different to make me hesitate to add them to the tail. I called  Plaid and requested more sequins. 

The new sequins were not the same...so I spent two evenings carefully removing all the sequins. I mixed the two sequins and love the extra sparkly effect they make.

While waiting for the sequins, I started the companion ornament kit. 

I managed to get the first face stitch nicely on the first try. 

Very tiny stitching.

Quilting was very much on the back burner this summer. But I was determined to finish a blouse I had cut out months ago. It was a quick pattern to make and I like the design...

but too big.

 I tried taking it in but it just feels to big!

 I made most of my clothes when I was in my twenties and thirties...and I just went with the same size I always made...but I think the pattern companies have biggie-sized their patterns. I am going to keep trying...but next time I'm going down at least one size...maybe two. I just want to get a few blouse patterns I know work for me and make them. I can do this.

 Thankfully this fabric was on sale, half-priced, but it's pretty and I'm sad it didn't work.

I did it...two days in  row of posting. 

August is usually our rainy month...and we are getting the usual rain.

This week I quilted for the first time since April. 

More about that tomorrow. 

2021 Summer - Landscaping Projects

 Summers are always busy!

I obviously missed posting weekly (yes...I wish I posted weekly...doing very badly for 2021).

  To avoid an overwhelming post recapping my life, I am planning to post for the next three days. Maybe it will happen. (The weather forecast is rain).

First...the majority of my time has been spent on my landscaping projects. 

I tackled an area at the front of our acre. We have this boulder that was needing some company so I gathered hefty round rocks from around our lot plus every now and then a round rock got delivered with the fractured rock I bought.

It has been three weeks since I took the above picture and I can't believe how much the plants have taken to their new space.

My biggest project was to fix the part of our yard that was destroyed by the installation of a new septic tank two years ago. I am happy to say I have officially finished that area.

My septic engineer said it was fine to rock around the man hole covers so...I did.

The new raised bed at the base of the birch tree gets lots of sunshine so I put in 12 blueberry bushes. I have 11 blueberry bushes on the side of the house and there are never enough berries to freeze. I think blueberries are the favorite fruit in the Bailey house.

In the photo below, the mechanical box on the side of the house is the brains of our septic system. This whole section of my existing landscape got torn up in the new installation so I made some major changes when I reworked the space. I widened and raised the walkway so it was level with the rocked slope to the right. I also widened the fractured rock area and added metal tubs for some future plantings. I did add a few shrubs...we'll see how they weather the winter.

And here is the rock left over. I used all of the huge pile of gravel. 

I will use the leftover rock to start adding tiers for planting on the little grassy hill which I hope to get started this year. Mostly, it will be a big project for next summer. 

My garden has been very productive. I am able to grow beautiful broccoli but I only have a little bit left to harvest. I grew cauliflower for the first time but the slugs hijacked it...darn.

My red cabbage is slowly growing. August is our rainy month and sometimes the slugs ruin my cabbage. I have no idea what to do about slugs. Any suggestions for this year or upcoming years would be appreciated. I've tried to look online for ideas but I never feel like I've found a good solution. I don't want to use chemicals.

I have a large bed of carrots and beets. I'm so excited as I can see the little orange and purple tops of the plants poking out of the soil. I also started a strawberry bed and have gotten a handful of berries to eat. 

Last year I started a second perennial bed in our backyard. It's doing great despite the occasional visits from moose. They don't eat the plants but they do walk right through the middle of the bed and sometimes right on top of the plants.

I love my tub wall in the photo below. 

That was Phase I in my landscaping saga. I think I am on Phase XI now.

My first perennial bed on the left side of the photo is getting crowded. Next spring I will have to do some rearranging and dividing of plants. (I already did some of that last year which is how I started the second perennial bed).

I have a sloped area that I have been striving to clear for a couple of summers.

This little slope gets lots of great sun.

Right now I am leaning toward trying to propagate some more blueberry bushes from cuttings of my plants to cover this area.

And finally...a visitor. 

My DIL snapped this photo as she was going down our driveway. 

Funny thing is we had spent most of her visit outside walking all over the lot.

At least the bear did put in an official appearance for her. 

We've had three black bears regularly sighted on our street this summer.

The dogs have gotten a lot of barking exercise. 

Oh...and the other big summer project that only required money...was the installation of 22 solar panels on our roof. We can monitor our energy production on an app...pretty fun stuff.  One of our neighbors only had a $9.00 electric bill last month. It's a big expense upfront but we do plan to live here forever.

Recap of June

 No quilting of any kind was tackled in June.

I did finish two Bucilla stockings. "Winter Magic," and "Snow Queen." 

My biggest accomplishment was finishing my bag project, "A Place for Everything 2.0."

The front side...

the backside...

and inside.

This pattern from By Annie, is amazing. She has several videos to show her techniques. It took me a month to make this bag...I tried to take my time and work on it a little each day so I wouldn't feel overwhelmed by the challenge. 

I will share pictures of it all packed up with goodies for my next retreat in September. 

The 2021 Santa ornaments from Sandra Cozzolino were released in June.

 I am anxious to get started on this series, "Christmas Day."

I am spending most of my time outside...as it should be!

My blue Himalayan poppies are always the biggest attraction in my perennial beds.

Summer 2021 Underway

We had some visitors. I love it when the critters cooperate for photo ops.

This moose cow had her two-day old calves stroll through my yard. Because of photos from a neighbor's trail cam we were able to nail down when these calves were born. 

And...my other neighbor's horses came to visit...again.

Here's an official "before," photo of this summer's landscaping project. 

So...not much quilting planned but that hasn't stopped me from buying fabric.

I am spending a little time most mornings trying to tackle stitching parts of a fancy tote bag.

Evenings are devoted to handwork. I finished the stocking fronts of two Bucilla kits. The one on the left is the original design from 2008, "Snow Queen." An update to the style was released in 2020, "Winter Magic." I liked the update best. And there were two faces printed on felt so you could "practice." I only needed the one face but it sure was nice to have that backup face just in case.

Gotta run...the sunshine is calling me.

May 2021 Retreat

 I had a great retreat! Great fellowship and lots of accomplishments. 

It was my turn to bring the door prize for the retreat. I struggled for months with different ideas and about three weeks before the retreat I was reading the blog, Cathy Tomm Quilts and she had made a mini iron case that was a free pattern from lillyella.

It was challenging but totally worth it!

I had raspberry zippers by the yard from By Annie which meant I had to adjust the back piece to be about a half-inch taller. 

I'm definitely going to make another case for my mini iron.

We had fun project at retreat...we made a stand for our cell phones. Very easy! I love mine. I no longer lose my phone underneath fabric because it isn't laying flat anymore.

All it took was one piece of fabric, 8x10-inches, Stiff Stuff or Trim-tex for the flat spot which is the base the phone rests on and rice or crushed walnut shells to stuff..

I might have to make one for every room in the house...especially the kitchen.

But I came for the quilting...

After dragging this quilt to four retreats...and I did work on it for at least a day at every one of those retreats...I finished the Skyfull of Stars - King Blue Version. The center blocks of this pattern are a free pattern from Moda Bake Shop, Skyfull of Stars

I added an extra row of stars and three borders to make it king size...I couldn't help myself. As I was working on it I just knew it had to actually be a quilt on my bed for those long...dark...winter months.

I opened up my EQ8 program and worked out the borders. 

Such a help to work out the details with a preview. I was trying to hard to keep the borders simple but scrappy.

The next quilt I worked on was super fast to put together because I once again turned to EQ8 to figure out how to combine two panels. 

I learned how use the custom format and load photos and use them as fabric. 

I have a lot of embellishment plans for this top. I want name tags for all the dogs and some fun quilting to enhance the design. 

And my last project actually had to be finished at home. When I start working on borders it really frustrates me to have to stop and come back later so I came home determined to finish this quilt asap.

This is the original pattern, Royal Gardens, a BOM from Cozy Quilt Designs.

I finished the center of the quilt but just didn't love those strips for a border. It need more bling. I decided on a braid-like border.

 It really helps to work out the math and get a little preview by using EQ8.

I love this quilt so much...it will look great in my home.

And my favorite part of retreat is Show and Tell.

 I finished the hand stitching on the binding for this quilt at retreat. 

I am gifting this to my son who is in the Air Force, is a bigfoot enthusiast and does a lot of hiking. 

I predict very little sewing time in the future months...gardening season is upon me and I have more landscape projects planned for this summer...big ones.

April Finishes

Remnants of snow but mostly spring has officially arrived.

I finished quilting the Bigfoot quilt.

I had lots of fun with this one.

This will be gift...my son is going to LOVE this quilt!

I finished the set of twelve ornaments from Bucilla, a vintage kit from 1991.

The periwinkle blue from from Mill Hill is perfect for the Winter Wonderland kit. 

The hardest decision is always what to start next...

I’m going with two Bucilla stocking kits, one vintage and one an updated version recently released.

Sometimes I get lucky...I managed to snag this extremely rare cross stitch kit on eBay that was designed by Sandra Cozzolino.  There are at least three more kits in this series I will keep hunting. I do have two of the patterns which another stitcher shared with me but the kits have the charms which are not always easy to find. 

I am just a little over a week away from a Material Girls retreat. I have no idea what I am going to tackle but there are any number of UFOs that could attend the retreat with me...but it is so much more fun to start new projects.

April Snow Showers

I just want to make others feel great about their weather...cuz here in Eagle River, Alaska...we are still getting snow...and we already had plenty. It snowed most of yesterday and our temperature dropped to -6 this morning.

We are breaking records for the coldest March and April.

Woo Hoo!

 Might as well make our mark in history for something other than COVID related stats.

I have finished the cross stitching on my latest Mill Hill kit.

Time to add the beads and a little backstitching.

I've been alternating between my cross stitch project and my Bucilla project in the evenings.

Two more ornaments completed...very fun to have Santa's face hidden on the backside.

I did some quilting on pieces for the bag I am working on...wow...lots of preparatory work involved in this project. One of my orders that included the vinyl never showed up so I am awaiting the replacement package and then I can start making this bag.

 I'm trying very hard to stay on task and not get intimated.

I actually have a Sew-in Saturday tomorrow with my Material Girls retreat group...it doesn't take much to get me excited. I prepped the first border for my Sky Full of stars quilt and also spent some time with the EQ8 program determining additional borders to make this a king size quilt. 

So much for fighting my mysterious inner need to make every quilt bigger! 

Original size...64 x 80-inches.

My version, 104 x104-inches.

And while I was playing with EQ8...and awaiting vinyl...I started playing with ideas for borders on "Royal Gardens." I spent a lot of time in Pinterest trying to get a scrappy border idea. I found an idea that I think will be easy and accomplish the look I want.

The original finished size was 65 x 83-inches. This is a bit bigger, 83 x 100-inches. I think this will hang in my bedroom as I already have a king size quilt that will look great with this quilt! 

I'm very excited about my border additions. I managed simple solutions...no complex piecing but it gives me the scrappy look I want.