Mount Desert Island, ME and Acadia National Park, Part 1

Hello Everyone! I’m finally getting a moment to write about our Maine trip. It’s been a busy week trying to get caught up with home chores, then we had my family reunion on Saturday. My brother was finally able to make it home, so all four of us were there which I know pleased our parents.

I’ll be dividing the trip up into two posts. The first one will be about the food and island adventures and the second will be about our time spent in Acadia.

We started our trip on Friday and drove about 9 hours to a town just east of Boston to avoid Friday afternoon traffic. Early the next morning we departed for Salem, MA. It was high on the priority list for my daughter to visit there. She is a big “Hocus Pocus” fan and Halloween is her favorite holiday (so she says). You can see she is wearing her witches dress in front of The Ropes Mansion which was Allison’s house in the movie. She had a list of places she wanted to photograph so we spent the early part of the morning doing that. By the time we parked near the downtown area, it was already getting crowded. We toured The Witch House where the witch trials were held and also toured the gardens in the back of the Ropes Mansion. We did a little shopping and Emily was not the only person dressed up. My husband and I didn’t know that was a thing. We were going to have lunch in town, but by that time, the town was so crowded, it took forever just to drive from block to block. We decided to have lunch a little further up the the road.

We found a place to eat on the water in Newburyport, MA, then got off onto the coast road (Route 1) just north of Portland. We thought we would have better views of the water following this road, but usually the only place it was in harbor towns. It was a pretty drive though and not boring like I95. We arrived on Mt Desert Island around 5:00. Here is a link to a map that will show you where the places I’m writing about are.

After stopping to pick up dinner, we arrived at our cottage in Southwest Harbor and had to take in the sunset view from the property. Our two bedroom cottage was on the harbor and we enjoyed sitting on the deck throughout the week when temperatures would allow.

Speaking of weather, we had cool nights and early mornings (40’s and low 50’s) with daytime temps between the mid 50’s and mid 60’s. Most days were cloudy to partly cloudy and we had one very rainy day and one overcast day where the mountains on the island were encased in clouds. The forecast changed dramatically from when I packed on Thursday to when we arrived on Saturday. Fortunately, I had lots of jackets and had brought a variety of clothes.

Of course, when you are in Maine, you have to eat the local food!

We started Sunday off with a brunch of Wild Maine Blueberry pancakes and they were yummy! We ate at Jordon’s Restaurant in Bar Harbor then went next door to buy groceries for the week. We fixed dinner most nights and made picnic lunches when we were out most of the time.

We did plan lunch in Bar Harbor on our shopping day and we had to have a Lobster Roll for lunch. This is the traditional way with a little mayo. Some places will also serve them with butter and lobster meat.

We had planned on Lobster one night and we were going to pick it up at the many, many lobster stands that are on the island when we found Beal’s Lobster Pier in Southwest Harbor. It was one of the piers that we could see from out cottage. I’ve had lobster a few times in restaurants, but this was the best that I’ve had. Probably just caught that day!

Another tradition that we didn’t pass up was eating at the Jordon Pond House in Acadia NP. They are famous for their popovers and tea. After our morning hike, we “popped” in to have a taste. We were there on the coldest and windiest day of the trip. They were delicious and the tea was tasty and warming. If you are making plans, you should try to make a reservation in advance. It was over and hour wait to eat inside, but because of the weather, we were able to get seated right away outside.

We had planned on Sunday being and easy day, but we decided to visit the Bass Harbor Head Light House since it was on our end of the island. The lighthouse is part of Acadia NP and has a very small parking lot. We waited about 10 minutes to park, then explored the main house, then walked out onto the cliffs to see it from there. We took time to drive around the west side of the island before heading back for the day.

Tuesday was the overcast day with some light mist on and off. That was the day we went to Bar Harbor to have lunch and do a little trinket shopping. The town was pretty busy but we were able to find a parking space about a half mile from the center of town.

One of the things we wanted to do was walk across the land bridge from Bar Harbor to Bar Island. Usually you can make this walk about one and a half hours before and after low tide. Not on the day we went though! We were ready to cross about one hour before low tide, but because of the small storm surge, we had to wait until low tide. While we waited, we watched the seagulls drop their crabs to crack them and played in the tide pools. In the picture above, we are on Bar Island looking towards Cadillac Mtn in the clouds.

The land bridge never fully opened up. There were too many people to take a picture crossing over to the island, but I was able to get one on the way back. We only stayed long enough to say we did it. I’m sure there were some people that got wet going back if they did the full hike around the island.

One of our favorite things to do is watch the sunrise and sunsets. Our sunrise was a bust, but we did manage to capture a couple of pretty sunset pictures.

I took this picture as we were leaving the Southwest Harbor on Wednesday evening. The picture doesn’t do justice to the stunning sunshine that was cast over the trees and boats in the harbor giving everything a golden glow. We had planned to go earlier that night but got delayed because we were talking to the owner of the cottage. We would have missed seeing this if we had left earlier. We did however miss the sunset that night.

On Friday, we made sure to go again and found a spot in Bass Harbor at the ferry terminal to watch the sunset. Again we saw the golden glow.

Watching the sunset was a great way to end out trip!

I’ll be back soon with Part 2 of our adventures in Acadia NP. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Cinnamon Stars Finish

Hello Everyone! I’m just doing a quick pop in today to show you my finished Cinnamon Stars by Plum Street Samplers.

I finished it earlier this week and I think I have a frame that I can use. I changed a lot of the orangish colors to brighten it up some and when I have it fully finished I’ll give you all the details.

We had a great trip to Maine and Acadia National Park and I am slowly going through all the pictures. I plan to have a post on the trip early next week.

I hope you have a great weekend and be safe if you are in the path of Hurricane Ian. Thanks for stopping by!

Brenda

Lots of Stitching and Finishing Going On

Hello Everyone! How has your week been? Mine has been very busy. Our basement repairs and the final cleaning was completed on Wednesday morning, so I’ve spent the past few days moving everything back into it’s place and doing a little organizing and decluttering along the way, too. It’s almost back to normal. I also picked up my sewing machine, so it’s ready when I am.

From left to right: Pumpkin Pageant by Louise Young, A Cardinal’s Carol by Misty Pursel, A Quaker’s Delight Scissor Fob by Jeannette Douglas, Autumn Well-Rounded by Hands On Design

As I’ve been waiting on the basement, I took some time to work on fully finishing completed cross stitch pieces. The top two above are not fully finished, but they are attached to the mat board. They still need a little work before displaying them. The Well Rounded piece (blue) is completely finished now and I will display it with the other two in the series. I think I mentioned that the scissor fob was a little large for that, so it’s finished, but I’m looking for a final way to display it, too.

I’ve been asked several times recently about my finishing techniques. If I’m not framing the piece or making them into pillows, then I mount them on mat board with a layer of batting in between. I will usually lace the back of the cross stitch piece. These are not my techniques, but things I’ve learned from watching videos or following someone’s written tutorial. Sometimes, especially in the case of Hands On Design pieces, the finishing directions are given in the chart. I plan to write an upcoming post about ways I finish and give you a list of my favorite tutorials, both in video and written format. In the meantime, you can see how I make a flat finish in my tutorial that I wrote for an embroidery piece when I was a featured blogger for Jacquelynne Steves. It’s the same technique that I use for all my flat mounted cross stitch pieces except I used glue there and now I mostly lace the back as shown above.

Above is the large piece from Let’s Talk Spring by Hands On Design. Since I’m stitching the seasonal series, I’m mounting each of them on the same background piece. You can see the magnet and washer system that I use based on Priscilla Blain’s technique. I have Summer to stitch in the series and won’t start it until next spring. Spring is stitched on 32 ct Charcoal Lugana, 2 over 2 using the called for DMCs.

I also fully finished the small piece from Let’s Talk Summer. In the post about finishing, I will show a few steps of finishing a round piece. Small Summer is stitched on 16 ct Chalkboard Black Aida with the called for DMCs.

I also fully finished Liberty and Bloom Chalk Full by Hands On Design and Priscilla Blain. I had previously finished Harvest and finished these two the same way. If you go here, you can see how I displayed Harvest last year. I’m not sure I’m going to continue to use the same picture frame or find something new. In that same post, I show how I finished another fall piece if you are interested. I still have things to finish that require a sewing machine, so I plan to get those done soon, especially the fall pieces.

I do have a couple of finished pieces. Above is The Blue Flower’s Seasons of the Heart from the Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher Magazine. I believe you can buy the chart now. It’s stitched on 40 ct Lt Mocha using the called for DMCs. I have Autumn left to stitch in this series and will be getting it ready to start soon.

I finished the stitching in Autumn Skies by Hands On Design. The felt came with the chart but I still need to stitch it down. I’m going to use some applique glue to hold it in place and use a running stitch to stitch it down. I’m going to finish this one into a small pin pillow. It’s stitched on 32 ct Platinum. I used the called for DMC except for the orange, it’s CCW Colonial Copper.

I’ve continued to work on Cinnamon Stars and am happy with my progress. This is the new morning stitch, but I have to confess to working on it in the evenings some, too. I’m really enjoying stitching it and would like to have it finished sometime in early October.

I can’t remember if I showed you Birds and Berries since I finished the green jar, but I’m onto the last jar on the right side. Once I finish that jar, I’m going to backstitch the jars and start on the sprigs that are in the jars.

Since I finished Seasons, I started I Love Fall Most of All by With Thy Needle and Thread. I am stitching with most of the called for colors, but my pumpkin stem is much darker than the cover photo and it is the called for. I’ll be substituting a few colors, including the pumpkin because I don’t have them and didn’t want to wait on an order.

As you can see, I’ve had a lot of stitchy things going on. I’ll be ready to get back to sewing soon. I hope to get a few Moda Blockhead blocks cut out this week, but I have a few appointments, too.

My daughter will be arriving soon and then we’ll be driving to Maine for a trip to Acadia National Park. I had just started planning the trip in 2020 when life paused for a while. We are looking forward to it. If I have time, I’ll be back before the trip, but if not, I should have some great photos to share when we return. I will start working on the finishing post, too. In the meantime, I hope you all are starting to enjoy a little fall like weather. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cross Stitch Progress and a Finish

Hello Everyone and welcome back! Today I’m going to share my cross stitch progress because there still is no sewing in the recent past and near future.

In case you are curious as to the basement repair, let me explain. In our section of new homes, the builder went with a new process to connect the foundation to the house. Instead of using straps, they used bolts. When a neighbor starting finishing their basement, they found bolts were missing. After inspecting several homes, they found it to be an issue in other homes, too. In some cases, it was the fact that the bolts were cut off in order to install the floor joists. So some were missing and some were cut. If you have a finished basement, the only way to know and replace bolts is to cut into the ceiling around the edge of the house and replace them. Then all the sheet rock work and painting has to be completed. The sheet rock is finished so now we are waiting on the painting and final cleaning process, which is supposed to happen on Tuesday. So there it is, it will be another week before I get everything back in order and ready to sew.

I actually have three finishes today! The first one is Flea Market Flowers by Lori Holt. I put the last stitches in on the morning of August 31, so I met my goal! I wish the fabric would photograph better than it does because it’s very pretty. The fabric is Soft Porcelain by Luminous Fiber Arts. I’m very happy with my changes using the dark blue instead of the medium blue. As soon as I get my sewing studio back in order, I’ll be working on a finish for it.

As I was pulling out things to fully finish this week, I found the last of the Well Rounded Fall piece by Hands On Design (on the left). I only had to stitch half the yellow stars and fill in the centers. It only took two nights so I don’t know why I didn’t finish it last year. The two smaller pieces are fully finished.

On the right is the Scissor Fob from Quaker Star Delight. I thought I was stitching it on 40 ct, but it’s 36 ct Soft Porcelain so a tad large for a scissor fob. I left off the border and will be finishing it in the round.

I continued to work on Seasons of the Heart – Summer by the Blue Flower. It will be the last summer piece I work on. It’s stitched on 40 ct Lt. Khaki using the called for DMCs except the reds. I thought the called for were too orange for a summer piece so changed them for more pink and red.

Since Flea Market Flowers was my morning stitch, I needed a new one. I pulled out Cinnamon Stars by Plum Street Samplers to work on. I would like to get it finished this fall. I have the right side of the fence and all the sky stars to do. I’m stitching this on 36 ct Sparrow by Luminous Fiber Arts and am stitching 2 over 2 for a more saturated look. I’ve changed some of the pumpkin colors, too, for a more vibrant look and will do the same with the stars.

So now that September is here, it’s time to think about fall stitching.

I pulled out three new things to work on, but haven’t started any of them yet. I’m going to start with the pin pillow in Autumn Skies by Hands on Design, so that should be quick. Next is Gathering Acorns by Luminous Fiber Arts. I completed the other four in the series and this is the last one. We will be traveling later in the month and the Gathering series are easy to work on in the car. The last one is I Love Fall Most of All by With Thy Needle and Thread. I’m ready to start that one as soon as I finish the Summer piece. I’m afraid if I don’t finish that first, then the fall piece will take over my stitching time.

Not that I’ve been working hard on it, but I’ve started the process of fully finishing that pile of stitched pieces. I’ve cut out the mat boards and have batting on the front of the ones to be used for the stitched pieces. The next step is lacing them to the mat board. That’s a slow process for me so I’ll be working on it this weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, I hope you have a nice weekend and enjoy the long one if you are in the states. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll have another update at the end of next week.

New Project Bags in Shop

Hello Everyone! Last week was busy! I had to finish my project bags by Wednesday because I was taking my machine in to be cleaned on Thursday. It needs it desperately, it hasn’t been cleaned in two years since we left Georgia. Then, everything had to be moved to the middle of my sewing studio and everything had to come off the walls for our basement repairs. Then our son was here for the weekend and we had a great time with him. In between all those things, I managed to get my new project bags listed in my Etsy shop.

Let’s start with the Tula Pink bags. These vinyl front bags are made with the Tiny Beasts fabric line.

These are the back of the bags. I was working with fat quarters and had to be creative with the fabric. The vinyl bags are 13″ x 13″ and will fit a full size chart and an 8″ x 8″ Q-Snap. If you are not a cross stitcher, they would be great for all your sewing projects, such as EPP, Applique or Embroidery.

This time I made three new types of bags with the zippers on top. These bags are fully lined and have enough interfacing so they are not floppy.

These fabrics are really cute, but I would not use them in a quilt for me so that’s why I decided to make some bags. These three bags measure 12″ x 12″ and will still fit your 8″ x 8″ Q-Snap. A full size chart may not fit perfectly, but the half charts will not be a problem.

Vinyl Bags

My next set of bags were made with Teresa Kogut’s Halloween Whimsy fabric.

There are two vinyl bags and one full size (13″ x 13″) quilted front zipper bag.

Fabric Bag

I also made a vinyl front bag from this cute birdhouse fabric I acquired in a fabric swap.

All these bags are now listed in my shop. I have a few older bags, mostly fall themed on sale, too.

I haven’t mentioned this in a long time, but for those of you who may be interested in making your own bags, I have a free tutorial that you can find here. This is my most often viewed post.

Thanks for stopping by today and I’ll have a cross stitch update later this week.

A Little Quilting, Hiking and Kayaking

Hello Everyone and welcome back! We have had another beautiful week here in the middle of August. We took advantage of it and took a couple of cooler mornings to enjoy the mountains and water. This week I also managed to sew four Moda Blockhead 4 blocks together and get a start on some project bags.

I finished blocks 17 – 20 using my lovely Bonnie and Camille collection. Block 17 – Shoreline was designed by Camille of Thimble Blossoms. She showed it in her new fabrics, Nantucket Summer. This block would be so pretty used as multiples to get that ribbon running around the stars. I’m still looking for a late summer design using the Nantucket fabric for a small mini. This could be it.

I’ve been working on the project bag in stages so I don’t get burned out doing too much of one thing at a time. The one thing that I don’t like about making the bags is fusing the fusible fleece and interfacing to the bag pieces. It gets monotonous pressing all the pieces at one time. This time, I’m trying pressing a little then sewing a little. It seems to help.

Early Thursday morning, we hit the trail and headed up to Buzzard Rock North, between Front Royal and Strasburg, VA. It’s close to home and was a fairly easy hike until the end. We were on the trail about 8:45 and were the only ones there. The trail takes you through the woods and across a few small streams as it gently climbs. Above is the first overlook and you are looking towards NNE. After this point, the incline is steeper and it gets to a point where there are large jagged rocks to climb over and around.

This picture is taken from the second overlook, looking east and towards the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah NP. There is still a little early morning fog coming off the Shenandoah River. From this point, you still need to keep going. There was also a big group of jagged rocks here, but it wasn’t open and I had seen pictures of open views, so on we went.

Above is the third overlook. This rock formation ran along the narrow edge of the mountain and needed to be climbed over to get to the top. It is well worth the small scramble.

This is the view North, through the Fort Valley. Signal Knob is the far mountain on the left and is supposed to be a difficult hike. It’s very popular, but we have not attempted that one yet.

This is the view looking straight down. Nothing but a sheer drop.

This is the view to the southwest. There are great views from here for just a little bit of effort.

The trail continued south at this point and met up with another trial that came from the Elizabeth Furnace area. We turned around here and headed back down the mountain. We had the place to ourselves and spent about 15 minutes resting and taking pictures. We didn’t meet anyone until we were at the first overlook, then met several groups heading up on the way down.

The hike was almost 4 miles out and back and the elevation gain was about 670 ft. It took us 2 hours and 40 minutes with the 15 minutes rest on top. It was a great hike and close to home. It would be spectacular in the fall when the leaves are changing. I hope we can make it back then.

It was another beautiful morning on Friday. We took the kayaks out for an hour long paddle and the lake was the calmest I’ve seen. Usually the wind blows here and there are ripples on the lake. It’s also been hazy and not very picture worthy, but that morning it was.

This will be my last quilting update for three or four weeks. We are having some work done on the outside walls of the basement and everything has to be moved. As you can see, this is where all my storage is so all the quilts have to come off the wall and everything has to be taken off the shelves so they can moved. Everything will be covered in plastic, so there will be no working down here. I’m not looking forward to it, but it has to be done. I’ll still be doing my stitching updates and I’m hoping to get some of my finished stitched pieces fully finished during this time. I’ll be moving a cart of finishing tools and fabrics upstairs to work on.

I hope you all have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

WIP Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Hello Everyone and welcome to Works In Progress Wednesday! Today I’ll share a combination of cross stitch and sewing projects from the past week. I didn’t have enough quilting for a full post on Sunday and I spent two beautiful days away from home on Friday and Saturday, so I didn’t really have time to write one. We are still enjoying some pre-fall weather with our high temps in the 70’s. You can’t ask for better in August. This week we are planning a hiking trip still to be determined, but are looking forward to it.

Most of my sewing time for the past two weeks has been used to make these bags for a local high school band. I ended up making 23 of them from old band uniforms. When I first “volunteered” to make them, I didn’t know if it would be for charity or not. I did find out I will be paid for them, so that’s a happy bonus. They are just simple zipper pouches with a lining, but I did have to deconstruct parts of the uniforms which took time and buy a package of black zippers. The rest of the materials came from the uniforms including the lining and the straps.

After finishing the band bags, I started cutting fabric to make some project bags to put in my shop. I will have a mix of vinyl front bags and whole cloth bags. The brightly colored fabrics are Tula Pink’s Tiny Beasts. I received a small fat quarter bundle in a Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop a few months ago and this is a good way to use the fabric. However, three of the prints are directional, so I had to be judicious in how I used the fabric. Those three bags will be pieced with some of my fabric and have a zipper on top instead of the front. The pumpkin fabric is Teresa Kogut’s Halloween Whimsy and I’ll be making a couple of bags from it. I expect to have the bags in the shop late next week.

I also started working on the four Moda Blockhead 4 blocks I had cut out a few weeks ago, but none of them are finished yet. And that’s it for my sewing!

I finished my August Cross Stitch Camp project hosted by The Colorado Cross Stitcher. Before I post pictures on Instagram, I do want to completely finish it as a pillow like it’s shown on the pattern cover. Those tiny little buttons came with the pattern. I would like to make the scissor fob, too. It will fit on that small piece of fabric, 40 ct Soft Porcelain, by Luminous Fiber Arts. I did find my small 3″ spring tension hoop so I’ll be using that when I stitch it.

I spent Sunday working on Birds and Berries, a Dimension’s kit. I finished the mug and started on the glass jar next to it. I was going to start on the backstitching for the mug, but the two are intertwined so I’ll wait until I have the jar finished to do that. I’m stitching this on 32 ct Antique White which I substituted for the 14 ct Aida.

Here is a reminder of what the finished piece will look like.

The last stitching piece I have to share this week is Flea Market Flowers. I finished up the bottom right block and started on the one next to the blue flower. I also took out the medium blue in the flower above that block. Next I’ll remove the other flower’s medium blue so I can restitch it in the dark blue, DMC 930. I have two more weeks of August and I still hope to finish it by the end of the month.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I went to The Emporium in Strasburg, which is huge. I was looking for a gift for my friend, a glass flower frog to put scissors in. I found one soon after we started exploring, but was also hoping to find one for me. After my husband saw what it was, he helped look, too and found a whole shelf of them on the other side of the store. Most were smaller than what I wanted but this one works well. I have it sitting on top of my thread storage units so it’s easy to grab a pair of scissors when I need them.

That’s it for me today. I hope you all have a good week and thanks for stopping by!

WIP Wednesday, August, 10, 2022

Hello Everyone! How is your week going? Ours has been hot! It’s surprising how fast you get used to different climates. At this time in Georgia, most days would be over 90. Here we get a couple, then it cools back down into the mid 80’s. This weekend looks fabulous with temperatures in the high 70’s and lows in the 50’s and 60’s. We will definitely get out and enjoy the cooler days.

This week, I only have three cross stitch WIPs to share. Let’s start with my new start.

I spent one evening so far working on Quaker Star Delight by Jeannette Douglas for August Cross Stitch Camp. I’m stitching it on a scrap piece of 40 ct Soft Porcelain by Luminous Fiber Arts. It’s going to be tiny. The entire piece will fit into the 5″ hoop. I’m stitching with most of the called for colors but am substituting over dyed flosses for the ones I don’t have. I have an even smaller scrap that I think the scissor fob design will fit on. I think I have a 3″ hoop somewhere that I would have to find. This is a very soft fabric and I can stitch in hand, but prefer a hoop.

I spent most of my evening hours last week working on Seasons of the Heart – Summer by The Blue Flower. This is also stitched on 40 ct, it’s Lt Mocha from Zweigert. I started with all the called for DMC’s, but then decided to change the reds out. They were way to brown for me to be used in a summer piece. The lighter red flowers are DMC 3328 and the darker berry (or tomato) is DMC 816. I was much happier when I substituted the colors. Of course, I had to re-stitch a few of them. I did a lot of that this week.

Late last week, I watched Lori Holt’s cross stitch video and in it, she showed her framed Flea Market Flowers. She had changed the darkest blue, DMC 322 which is a medium blue(the darkest blue in the other blue flower), to DMC 930, a dark blue and I really liked that. So I decided I would do the same thing. That dark blue is also shown in the pattern, so I wonder if originally it was going to be that color?

But wait, I also looked at Lori’s IG account to see a picture of her Flea Market Flower and I discovered that she had changed the color of the dark teal, DMC 3814 to DMC 597. I thought that color combination was so much prettier. You can see that I had almost the entire flower finished with the 3814. I had one more section to go, so I switched to 597 and loved it. So out it all came. I spent my Birds and Berries stitching time on Sunday re-stitching this flower and finished it on Monday. I am so much happier with that color combination and that’s what it’s all about.

I will take the blue DMC 322 out and replace it with 930. It really has not been used much, so shouldn’t take too long. I am also stitching this on 40 ct Soft Porcelain. Everything I’m stitching this week has been on 40 ct and even though I do use magnifiers, it has seemed easier to see than when I switch to 32 ct, then come back to a higher count.

That’s it for me this week. I will be finishing up those band bags today! Yippee! I’m sure the band people appreciate the help, but I have my own sewing that I want to get back to. I hope you all have a fantastic rest of your week and thanks so much for stopping by!

A Brief Sewing Update

Hello Everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend. This week’s sewing update will be brief. Mostly I’ve worked on the zipper pouches and I finally cut out the latest four Moda Blockheads 4 blocks.

I finished the first set of the zipper bags! I made 10 using everything from the band uniforms. That includes the lining and the straps. I used the lining in the sleeve and it was simple to cut out. I cut two pieces from one sleeve without having to rearrange any fabric because the size I needed fit perfectly on the front and back of the sleeve lining. Four cuts and it was done. The rest of the cutting was a little tricky. The name “Sherando” was at the top of the sleeve. To cut it so it was straight, it was not cut on the grain of the twill fabric. In fact to get the most out of the pants legs (the black), most of that was not cut on the straight of grain. It sewed fine and it lays neatly, but it sure made a mess with the little pieces of fabric everywhere.

I agreed to make at least 10 more. I picked up the rest of the materials I needed to do that and the next task will be to deconstruct the lining from the sleeves and start cutting fabric again.

After finishing the bags, I needed a little break from them so I decided to cut out the fabric for Blocks 17 – 20 of the Moda Blockhead 4 QAL. I spent about a day and a half cutting those out. I like to take my time selecting the fabrics from my Bonnie and Camille collection. Once that’s done, cutting them out goes quickly. You can see that I’ll be using papers to make some of the half square triangles. I think that will be a quicker way to sew and trim them when I need so many with the same fabrics. Once I’m ready to sew, I’ll lay them out on design boards and start making the units for each block. If you are interested in the free patterns for the MBH4 blocks, you can find them here.

Have you seen the new book by Lori Holt, “Scrappiness is Happiness”? I spent a fun few hours viewing all the projects in this book. I don’t usually cut up my fabrics the way Lori does, but I do have some older fabrics I might try it with so I can start using those fabrics up.

Also, have you seen the Prairie Meadow Quilt by Lori Holt? It’s an applique quilt using Lori’s Sew Simple Shapes. I’m so tempted, but I would use my extensive collection of Sherri and Chelsi fabrics. I have always loved this style of applique quilt. What do you think?

That’s all for me today. I hope you have a great week and thanks so much for stopping by!

WIP Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Hello Everyone and welcome back to another Works In Progress Wednesday. Are you are feeling like my husband and I are? It’s August already and soon fall will be here. Where has this year gone? It’s not like our days are packed all the time. They just seem to go by fast. And I still want to get some more summer stitching and sewing in before I think about fall. Maybe August will seem slower.

This week, I do have a new start and one I will start soon. And there is some progress on my WIPs but not as much as I had hoped.

I finished the top portion on Red She Said by Hands On Design. I need to finish the bottom part of the pennant which should only take one evening to do.

On Flea Market Flowers by Lori Holt, I finished the two right bottom flower motifs and started adding more of the framing. I think I’ll go ahead and finish the frames because that’s not my favorite to do then it will be done. I am really enjoying the flower stitching though. I’m stitching on 40 ct Soft Porcelain by Luminous Fiber Arts so it’s much smaller than the stitched model on the cover. I was going to frame this piece, but I’m rethinking that. You’ll have to wait to see what I do with it.

I was ready to start something new, so I selected Seasons of the Heart – Summer by the Blue Flower. It’s just a small start but I would like to get it finished this month. My copy is from Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher Magazine, Summer 2021 and it has been released as an individual pattern now. The fabric is 40 ct Lt Mocha linen and I’m using the called for DMCs.

My upcoming start is for August’s Cross Stitch Camp. It’s Quaker Star Delight by Jeanette Douglas. The theme this month is try a new designer or fabric or thread. I have never stitched anything by Jeanette and I really liked this design. I’m stitching the pin keep on a leftover piece of the 40 ct Soft Porcelain. I didn’t have all the called for colors so I substituted from my thread collection. You can see from the piece of fabric that it will not be very big and those tiny buttons were included with the pattern. I’m thinking this will be pretty quick to stitch and I’ll start it one day this week.

I saw several floss tubers show I Love Fall Most of All by Brenda Gervais and had to have it. I’m not 100% sure, but I think the only place you can purchase it is from Country Sampler. Since I was getting this chart, I went ahead and got Keeper of the Pins, too. There are several designs in the book that I would like to stitch. I wish there was an extra hour in the day so I could do everything I want to, though.

That’s it for now. I’m off to finish the band bags and I’ll have a few to show you on Sunday. I committed to making at least another 10 by the middle of August, too. And as of today, I’m now four blocks behind on Moda Blockheads 4. I don’t even have any fabric cut out. Maybe I can sneak in some cutting time over the weekend.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of your week.

Brenda