Progress on the t-shirt quilt and stocking

I am making steady progress on both the t-shirt quilt and the stocking. For the quilt I finished quilting the teal shirt, quilted the gray stripe at the bottom, quilted the gray strip between the purple and white shirt, and then quilted the purple shirt.

More was stitched on the Christmas tree. I think the thought of stitching that tree stopped me from getting this stocking done. Now that I am working on it, it's not so bad! Here is where I was yesterday and where I am today.

Quilting, stitching, and mowing - Oh my!

Gosh my evenings go fast. As soon as I got home from work (it takes longer to drive to and from work with having to bypass two road closings!) I gave the front yard a quick mow and trim. Then I headed inside. In the course of the next 2 1/2 hours I got some quilting done on the t-shirt quilt. The white shirt is done and the teal shirt is almost done.

I really like the quilting on the back. As soon as I get a few more shirts quilted I will start keeping track of my percentage complete.

I bought myself a present. Yesterday the mailman brought me a wool pressing mat that I ordered last week. I wanted one made with good NZ wool. I bought a 17" x 24" so half the width of fabric strips could be pressed.

I got a bit more stitching done on the stocking. Here is where I left off yesterday and where I am now. Apparently I can't count! LOL!! I am off a bit from the chart, but it is not the end of the world with the tree. It is easy just to fill in the tree when I have gone off track a bit.

I had to check out my cora bells to see how they were doing since they got a big drink of water this past week. The deer fence has made a HUGE difference! The four burgundy plants that I got in a trade for day lilies, are finally doing well since the deer are not nipping at them. I had planted a Lenten Rose in the middle of the plants hoping that would help keep the deer away, but it didn't. They carefully nibbled around the Lenten Rose thus the fence.

Here is what the bed looks like now versus a year ago at this time.

Thanks for all the good wishes with my leg. It is doing fine and looks to be healing nicely.

It's all good

I made progress on the t-shirt quilt; not quite as much as I would like.   I did get it pin basted and got started on the quilting.

I spent a lot of time resting per doctor orders. Thursday I had a spot on my leg - about 3" above the top of my knee - removed. The chunk she took out of my leg was pretty big and she put 6 dissolvable stitches in underneath and 6 on top. It measures 1 1/2" and the width of what she took out was 1/2"+. I was told to stay off my feet and rest. Well, I decided to mow the grass as soon as I got home since that area was still numb so I knew it wouldn't hurt. I kept waiting for it to hurt and it never did! The 24-48 hour window of wearing the pressure bandage was just about up so I had to put on my big girl pants on Saturday and take the bandage off. Not so bad!

Since I was resting I worked on the Xmas stocking. I made a lot of progress on it. Here is where I was on Thursday and here is where I am now.  I changed a few things from the chart.  There were suppose to be hearts on the tree - too many for me so I nixed them and will just fill in those areas with the different greens.  I also changed the stripes for the wallpaper.  Too much pink.

Sunday I went to a restaurant for lunch for the first time since December 2019 for Mother's day. It was a hibachi place so those big exhaust fans kept the air moving. The grapple finally stopped before I left. Grapple is not quite snow and not quite hail. It was gone from the ground by the time I got back home.  We had warmer weather in March than we do now!  I have a feeling it is going to go from this cold weather to hot without a slow rise in temps.  

Pin basting and stocking progress

Backing was pressed and taped down; I love my big table!

Smoothed out the batting with my trusty wooden yardstick

Spread out the t-shirt top and pin basted about 1/3 of it

Dropped down the leaf of the table so I can reach the next 3 feet. I will be starting to quilt this weekend. I am off work tomorrow so I should get a good start on the quilting.

Made some progress on the stocking. Right now it is all about outlining. I did make a change and did not stitch the hearts that were at the upper corners of the windows. Too many hearts on this chart for me. There will be a few more that are eliminated. Here is where I was and where I am now

Have a great weekend!

More 16 patch pieces, progress on the Xmas stocking

I finished up pressing the neutral 16 patch strips that were left and slicing them into units. There is enough pieces for 42 more blocks.

So with the 32 previously cut, that gives me 74 blocks. I need 30 blocks for a baby quilt so I will scrounge around for compatible fabrics and make another 16 blocks so I can put together three tops.

I cleaned off my big table and will be pressing the backing for the t-shirt quilt tonight. Maybe I will even start pin basting it.

I got a bit more done on the Xmas stocking. My sister volunteered to finish this for me, but since I completed my two counted cross stitch UFO's and completed two new starts, I decided I would go ahead and work on this since I have nothing else to stitch. I am trying to get the window area completed and started outlining the window and drapery. I still need to stitch the snow flakes. Here is where I was and where I am.

A blast from the past

Ok, I have got to get back to quilting. This detour I have taken with the cross stitch has got to be put on the back burner. I decided to start working on an old cross stitch UFO. I started this in the late 80's! Since it is a Xmas stocking, I have missed out on a lot of goodies from Santa Claus since the stocking was not finished and hung! Here is where I am starting and where I am after an hour's work.

My setup for stitching was a plastic easel with a magnetic board that I have had for decades so I can use the blue plastic guide to mark my place. I mark off the chart what I have stitched with an highlighter so I can see what I have gotten done.

I also went thru a bin of cross stitch pieces thinking I might unframe the old pieces that are awful and use the frames for new pieces. After looking at the frames, I don't really like them so that plan is out the window. When I started out cross stitching I would find a iron on transfer, iron it on muslin, and then stitch it. Some of the fabric is much yellower than what they look like in these pictures. I am not sure of the dates, but these have to be from the mid to late 70's or early 80's. Have a good chuckle; those squirrels are scary looking! LOL!!

A good weekend, sampler finished, cute tote

It was a busy weekend! There was mowing and trimming involved, cleaning house, a car appointment, and then spending Saturday with my friend. We had a good time sewing and talking. I helped her thru the steps of constructing a boxy pouch, she make some pillow cases, and I worked on the 16 patch strips. I got the strips sewn together into units

and managed to get some strips sliced into 16 patch units. Here is enough for 32 blocks. I have enough for at least another 40-46 blocks so I will get two baby quilts easily out of these blocks.

I finished the sampler. I decided to stitch one of the saying I have collected over the years where the name of the orginal maker was to go. The saying is from the movie "Broken Trail." That is stitched in the lower right, but it is hard to read.

My friend made me this tote bag. She had run out of fabric for the trim around the opening and I sent her a piece from my stash last year. Between the pandemic and her having the time to finish this tote, it was gifted to me this year. I love it!  The bottom and top band are mesh.

The backing fabric came Saturday. I threw it in the washer on Saturday so now I need to iron it so I can start pin basting the t-shirt quilt.