Saturday, December 31, 2022

Happy New Year!

 Out with the old, in with the new. Are you ready for the new year? Are you ready for 2022 to leave? This past year wasn't as bad as 2020 and 2021. Hopefully next year will be even better for all of us!

This years finishes are few, but I do have finishes!

There are a bunch of links (they will open to a new tab), most free and I'm not affiliated at this time to any.

In quilts, Valentine's Day wall hanging, Oh My Stars table runner and I finally finished the Jelly Snowflake from last year... or was it the year before!? I still have to hide the stitches from the problems I had with my quilting machine. But I can get nice and cozy will I do that. Here's a picture of it, I'll have a better when when I'm finished with the thread mess.

I completed a flimsy of the String Bean quilt from Pat Sloan's block a day in March. She does this every year. I believe this was her third year and she is talking about 2023's block, or at least trying to decide which block would be good. She picks an easy block, beginner friendly and easy to keep up. I don't think I have a picture of it yet, but I will post one as soon as I get one.

Other projects are; several cloth napkins, Tilda Duck from Tilda's Hot Chocolate book and fabric eggs. I finished another Rhapsody shirts from Love Notions and in the crochet department I made the Chill Time cardigan.

For Cross Stitching I finished Chicken Love, Stitches in aquas and Little Quaker Christmas.

The Love Chicken pattern is free from Fat Quarter Shop. Head there for that and other patterns.

Stitches and Little Quaker Christmas are free patterns from Aurifil <follow that link to their site of not only these two but a bunch of cross stitch patterns that are free!



I have several QALs I've started this year, you have to add to the WIPs! Most are Pat Sloan's QALs including Sweet Dreams (4 blocks left), another String Bean Block A Day (10 blocks left), Summer Camp (all blocks done), Hometown Charms (3 blocks left). A couple through Fat Quarter Shop that I started but haven't quite finished are FlapJacks and Christmas Time Mystery QAL both are free quilt a longs. The Christmas Time mystery link will take you to a page that also has the cross stitch patterns, they are patterns are separate so you'll have to go to several pages.

I also started a pattern I designed and hope to get that up and available for you. 

That is basically my year in crafy review. This didn't include my drawings because I didn't track them, but I will from now forward! I'm hoping for more finishes next year, but then aren't we all!

The very best New Year to all! Love Y'all and thanks for stopping by!

Sheila

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Hi Y'all! And Merry Christmas!!!

 I know it's been way too long! I've been feeling off and overwhelmed, but I'm much better now! :D 

I've been tending the chickens and it sparked my love of drawing...

This is Dorothy she's a Mystic Marans. I'm still working on her, but wanted to share what I have done so far. I use mostly Prismacolor pencils on Cansons paper. I've been trying different types of colored pencils, Faber Castell for one. I use to do pet portraits and absolutely loved it. I plan on starting a youtube channel for those who want to learn about drawing and using colored pencils. Hopefully that will start the beginning of the year.

I haven't given up on quilting in case you are wondering! I just finished up on Pat Sloan's 'Oh My Stars' table runner. Something quick and easy to get me back on track. I'm also trying to finish up on her Hometown Charms QAL. The end of a QAL always has me dragging my feet! 

The table runner was easy to quilt, except my machine was acting up again. But even with the problems, it only took me an hour and half to quilt it. So here it is...

I had an issue with attaching the binding ends together and after 3x's I decided it just didn't matter! Of course the red flange really draws the eye to the misalignment. Even though I still like how it came out and I'm very happy with it. It fits on the coffee table perfect. Here is the back, which I think that side can be used as the top too!

 Here is a close up of the quilting. Notice the holly leaves and snowflakes, I had fun!

I hope you are enjoying the season. We are getting the arctic blast right now as I type! So I better get this uploaded before we lose power!

Merry Christmas all!

Sheila