Ever since I bought my first sashiko panel, I have been smitten - with the designs and with the process.  I love dragonflies as you may know. I love how they look and the symbolism they have all over the world.  This tote was supposed to be finished in March - it was on my Chookyshed Stitchers 2024 challenge list -  and since it had a deadline (for a gift) I had to just pull my socks up and do it. I finished it on April the 1st.  The tote is travelling to its new owner as we speak ? I am happy with how it looks. I love fabric totes and use them all the time myself, inste ..read more

  The best laid plans and all of that...... My focus project # 3 (my own priority) - turning the sashiko into something useful and pretty for a special person in my life, with a deadline,   and the project Deana drawn for us, #4, which turned out to be the Raspberry tea quilt from Sue Daley are not done. I did join together the last 9 block square and cut fabric for the sashing around the focus block in the middle of Raspberry Tea quilt.  Other than that, nothing much happened on that project. The sashiko - no progress at all in March. Life interfered with my p ..read more

  The little candle mat is done, and I can put it away with the other Christmas things. With only 1 thread of stitchery barely done, and lost in a bag of scraps, I am happy I found it after several years.... The candle mat is a mix of 2 designers and patterns.  The stitchery is from Northern Quilts in Norway, and the hexagon design and the rest is from Helen Stubbings, Hugs n' kisses in Australia.  Over the last years I have made several of the candle mats, both with Helen's bird stitchery in the middle and with other stitcheries in the middle. I am sure I will make more in ..read more

  The care quilt top I had as my February goal in the Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge is done, and has left the house for the next person in line doing the machine quilting. My care quilt group meets about every 6 months for a 2 day gathering, in driving distance from everyone's home, so we all sleep in our own beds. I have started cutting and sewing another top like this, from my own fabrics, with fewer blocks - 7 by 9, instead of 8 by 10.  I am shaking my head about the fact that I must have had like 5 yards of the pinkish red fabric, French General. Note to self - do not bu ..read more

  Since I picked up this Ufo in January, I decided that it is it's time to be done ? It's a candle mat - the hexies are 1 inch. My main focus project for February - with a deadline - is this lap quilt top, 48" by 60" It was never an Ufo, but it is on my to do list for my care quilt group's get together next weekend.  We do have a lot of fabrics in the group the participants can pick from, but for me it feels better to use from what I already have at home. I am sure I am not the only one having more fabrics that what I can use for many years...... These care quilts do not m ..read more

  It is a good process, to go through my boxes and treasures, with small steps. Since I have already finished my January challenge, and there are still 3 days left until the February challenge is drawn, I think I will focus on giving these 3 projects a push forward. I found a red stitchery, with less than one thread done....... No stitchery stabilizer.... really?  I've used a  very very dark red floss, not very Christmas-y...... It must have been laying around since before we moved, over 5 years ago. What on earth have I been thinking? The flower stitchery is a design by ..read more

  This cushion has been finished for a little while (finished in January), and I am so happy with how it looks. It was so fun to make! The design is my own. I also enjoyed the hand quilting with Aurifil 12 very much. I will be teaching curved seams by hand this upcoming weekend, and I needed more blocks, like in half size.  The cushion blocks are 4 inches, the pouch blocks are 2 inches. I have even tried some 1" blocks, but they are quite small, even for me. So for January I can check off goal #1, these projects, and goal #7, the stitchery from the previous post. I will sta ..read more

  This little candle mat was started in 2023.  It did not get finished before Christmas, but now it is finished and ready for Christmas 2024 ? The design is from Bareroots.  It is part of my Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge list - #6 on my list, since Deana draw #6 as a suggestion for us all to work on in January.  I am still working on #1 simultaneously, plus #5 and #10 - never a dull moment! I have been going through my sewing room this week, and it is fair to say that I can keep working on different projects for very long without leaving the house ? Well, I am n ..read more

  No finishes yet, but progress is done ? I am jumping between those of my 10 projects that can be done by hand.  My shoulders are not up to sewing machine work right now.  This hexagon project got started in USA in October. The size of the hexagon sides are 2 inches.  It is a friendship project and it has been great fun. My friends are doing English Paper Piecing. I am drawing lines and doing traditional hand piecing.   The project is inspired by an Instagram account called Tales Of Cloth, called Secret Garden Quilt.  It is a free pattern on her website ..read more

  Sometimes it is hard to tell why a project was put to the side, becoming an Ufo. It just happens, in the best of sewing rooms.  Right now it is my sewing machine that is put to the side. I do enjoy the tranquility of hand work so much and hand work is easier on a sore shoulder. Being put to the side happened to this cute hexie diamond quilt, but the Ikea cart hides nothing, just like I hoped it would not. The quilt I will give some daily attention is #10 on my challenge list. A daily thread or two will not make this a speedy project, but every thread will move it closer to bei ..read more