Progress on a few things

Here it is the start of another week and hard to believe that July is almost over. I know for me this month has been flying by and now to see what I have been able to accomplish.

This past week has been one of those weeks without a really focus so that means that there are quite a few projects work on instead of focusing on moving only a couple forward. The weather was also cooler than it has been so that meant being able to focus on things that I normally don't in the summer.

Wishful Thinking - this project did get a bit of attention, and I am finally getting closer to having the border completed. Getting the border completed would be nice and then I could focus on willing in the words and the rest of the design. The border is what is taking so long because there are lots of stitches in it, so getting it done would be great.

I am not certain if I will work on this piece this coming week, but we will see as I haven't put it away so that helps as it is available for some attention.

Star Touched Meadows - February - here is a piece that hasn't had any attention since early June, so I thought it was time for it to at least get a few stitches in on it.

I was able to work on it and my goal was to see if I could complete another colour on the piece and I accomplished that. It is an easy project to work on because as each quadrant is the same so once you do one section you know what you need in the next section.

Of course, this project didn't get a lot of attention as my brain wanted me to work on other things so we will see how things go in the next little while if this piece gets some more attention.

I am not certain what cross stitch is going to be getting the attention this week as there are a few that I would like to pick up and maybe work on but I guess we are going to have wait and see what gets attention and what is going to have to wait for another week.

Granny wrap - grey - here is one project that did get a bit of attention this week as it was a great project to work on while watching some videos. It doesn't look like a lot of progress, but I was able to get just over four rows completed so that was nice. The rows are getting longer so they do take more time to complete but I am enjoying this project and am still figuring out how large this wrap is going to be.

Other projects - this week I can say that I have been working quite a bit on my English Paper Piecing and it makes me happy. I have spent quite a bit of time moving some of those projects forward.

It has felt great seeing projects moved forward and I will write more when I write that blog at the end of the month.

I hope everyone has been having a good summer and you are finding that time to do the things that make you happy. Being able to at least do some things that make you happy is important. If you are dealing with storms or extreme heat, please try and stay safe. Before long we are going to be complaining that it's too cold and there is too much snow.

This week I am not certain what I will be working on as each day I just work on something that makes me happy. I hope to have something to show you next week and until then take care of yourself and I will be posting my English Paper Piecing blog on the 1st of the month and I will then be back next Monday with what else I have worked on this week.

 

Some good progress

Here it is the start of another week so it's time to show what I have been able to get completed in the last seven days. It was extremely hot and humid here which meant that I didn't get as much stitching done. We were also dealing with a lot of smoke from the fires in Northern Ontario.

Hopefully this coming week I will be able to get some more stuff moved forward as it would be nice to progress on a couple of things. I haven't decided what I am going to work on yet so we will see what comes out.

Wishful Thinking - this project didn't get a lot of attention this week, but I was able to move it forward a bit.

I have been trying to work on getting some of the border completed so that I can just fill in the sections. It is nice when I can pick up and work on this piece and see progress. I am not certain if this piece is going to stay out for this week or not. It is something easy to stitch on but there are other projects that are calling me as well so we will see what happens.

Stained Glass Orca - here is the cross stitch piece that got the most attention this week. I had wanted to try and focus on it for a while, and I am happy with the progress that I was able to achieve. 

I was able to finish the bottom three rows of black and then I started outlining some of the sections as I wanted some fill in stitching for this weekend. The areas that I filled in are navy so they don't show up very well in picture but that was lots of navy stitching the last couple of days. It was nice to get some of these sections filled in and I will see when I pick this piece back up.

Granny Wrap - here is the crocheting piece that I worked on this week. It would have had more progress on it but I found an error a row back so I had to pull it out and restitch the row. Well, I did that and thought I had corrected the mistake, but I hadn't so I had to pull out the row for a second time, and I am finally moving this piece forward.

I hope to be able to make more progress on this wrap this coming week as it would be nice to see it continue to grow and then I can figure out how large I want to make it. I know that I am aiming for at least 200 grams of yarn into this wrap, but we will see if it is even more.

Other projects - with the heat and poor air quality that we had this last week there wasn't a lot of energy to do much other than what I got done. Hopefully this coming week I can make some good progress on things.

I hope everyone is continuing to find that little bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy. Knowing that you can relax and recharge your personal battery is very important so that you are available for those around you. This week, I hope to be able to make some progress on one of my cross stitch projects and the granny wrap so should have something to show next week.

 

Another week and a bit of progress

Here it is the start of another week, and we are about to go back into another week of extreme heat and humidity. Hopefully the humidity won't be too bad, but we will just have to wait and see. 

Wishful Thinking - here is the cross stitch project that got the attention again this week. I have been trying to make a bit of progress on the entire piece so that I could start to see the actual size. I have at least been able to get to the top and the other side of the piece.

I had originally had this piece on a q-snap but moved it to a scroll frame and am finding it a little easier to work on. It also means that I can work across the entire piece and that makes me feel so much better. Just being able to see what the piece is going to look like is great.

This week I hope to be able to continue to move this piece forward, but it will depend on the weather and if sitting and working on this piece is possible. I would like to see how much more of it I can get done this week and then I think I will put it down for a little bit and work on another one of my projects.

Granny Wrap - grey - this piece also got a bit of progress as I have been trying to move it forward a bit at a time. It was nice having something that I could pick up and even get a few stitches in at a time. 

I am working on the second ball of yarn on this wrap, and I still have no idea how big I am going to make this. I am thinking at least four balls of this yarn so that would be 200 grams, but when I get that far I will figure out how much larger I want to make this piece.

Other projects - I haven't done much of anything else lately because it has been so hot and humid out. Hopefully the weather will cool down a bit, and I will start to work on things a bit more.

Hope everyone is finding that bit of time to do something that you enjoy each day even if it's only for a few minutes. If things go well, I hope to have some progress on something to show you next week.

 

A small finish, a new start and some progress

This past week was extremely hot and humid so that made it a bit of a challenge to get things done but I tried. Hopefully, this week will be better, and I will see some progress on things.

Nun's Stitch Castle - this is another project that was started many years ago and I knew it was time to get it finished. The worst part about this project is, it took me this long to get it finished. I started this at a Creative Festival in Toronto many years ago and finally I can say it is finished.

Once I picked it up this week, I knew that it would be a fast finish and it was. Not sure why it took so long to get it finished but at least, I know that it is now done and I will finish it up as a small magnet and then I can display it.

Wishful Thinking - here is a new start that I started on Saturday. As soon as I saw the pattern I knew that it was something that I wanted to stitch so it was figure out the colour of floss and fabric and then get it started. I am happy with the progress that I have made on the piece already and we will see how quickly it gets completed. It isn't that large so it shouldn't take long if I can stay focused on it.

The pattern is by Long Dog Sampler, and you can find it here and you can pick your colour of floss and have some fun stitching it.

Granny Wrap - scrap - this is one of the crocheting projects I worked on this past week as it was something that I could work on while sitting on the balcony. This pattern is so much fun to work on. Working on this project is enjoyable as I don't know what colour is going to appear next in this ball of yarn so that makes it an interesting project. I am looking forward to seeing how this one turns out, and I haven't even thought about the size of it yet as I am just enjoying adding on all the different scrap balls of yarn that I have.

Granny Wrap - grey - this is the other crocheting project that I worked on this past week. What I realized when I was working on both wraps this past week is I should try and focus on one of the wraps each week instead of trying to work on both. 

I am going to try and focus on one of the wraps this coming week and will see how much of it I can get completed. If things go well and I stay focused on one of the shawls I might see some good progress on it.

Other projects - I didn't work on any other projects this past week and a lot of that is because of how hot it was. I do have a few more projects that I would like to work on but for now I am going to try and stay as focused as I can and maybe see some projects moved forward.

I hope everyone has been staying safe and cool given all the storms and heat we have been dealing with. This week it looks like the weather might be a little nicer so we will just have to wait and see. If things go well, I should have some progress on things to show you next week.

Remember to take some time for yourself each day and recharge those personal batteries as it does help you deal with everything that is going on around you. Have a good week and we will see what I can get accomplished.

 

English Paper Piece - June progress

Here it is the start of another month and the wrap up for the previous month. This month (June) I was able to make some good progress on moving one of my projects forward.

Popsy's Throw - Me - this is the project that I have been focusing on and have tried to make as many motifs as I could over the last month. It has been nice to see that i have been able to get as many motifs made as I did. It was nice to see that I have been able to continue to get the motifs made and once the weather cools down a little bit I think I am going to be trying to add some of these motifs to the throw or at least that is my goal moving forward.

Kitting up progress on motifs - this last month I decided it was time to try and figure out how to manage all the projects that I have on the go. I decided it was time to just kit up each project and maybe see if I can move things forward. What I decided to do was to make a small kit for reach of the projects that I am working on so that I have everything for that that project.

These project boxes are basically a 4 x 6 inch photo box, and it holds all of the items that I need to work on making more motifs. I also have some of these project boxes that are holding motifs that have been made and are waiting to be attached to one of the projects. It is so nice having everything available to work on that step that is related to the bin. For the pictures you are seeing these are the bins that need motifs completed on one of two projects. It is nice to know that I can continue to move these projects forward even if it is a little bit at a time. 

I am not certain how I am going to be able to move these projects forward, but I think once I have got the motifs completed these bins will start to be used for the motifs that I want to add to the various throws. I do know that just being able to continue to get these projects moved forward would be great.

Making motifs is wonderful when we are dealing with extreme heat and that is what we are currently dealing with. As I am writing this on Tuesday evening, our temperature is currently 82F (28C) feeling like 102F (39F) which isn't good when it's almost 11 pm. 

It has been a challenge to at least move something forward in the last couple of days so we will see how things go. I hope to be able to continue to make motifs over the next couple of days and I guess we will see what it looks like at the end of July.
 

Two finishes and a start

Here it is the end of another week, and I must admit that I am very happy with the progress that I was able to make on things. It was a busy week as well with some other things going on but at least, I was able to see progress. 

The weather is also warming up so that means finding projects that are easy to work on at least over this next week. It would be nice to see projects get either finished or closer to a finish.

Half the Fun - here is the cross stitch project that was my focus this past week. I knew that I wanted to see how much of it I could get done and I am very happy with what I achieved. I ended up adding 2,443 stitches to this piece this week and that meant it is now a finish.

I started this project in March 2024, so it is nice to see it finished. This project was started while we were in Las Vegas as I thought it would be great to have this piece to remind me of that trip. One thing that I had to think about was would I have enough floss for this project as I was using an overdyed floss. I stitched all the outside of the design first so that if I didn't have enough floss to do the balloons I could do them a different way. The good news is I had enough floss to do the entire design with the floss I had with just a little bit left over.

It is nice having this project completed and its now time to figure out what I am going to work on. I have lots of projects that I have started so maybe getting some of those projects moved forward some. 

Summer Keep - here is a project that I picked up this wee as I wanted to get a finish on it as it has been sitting around for way too long. This project was started at a Creative Festival in 2009, and it just sat partially completed for way too long, so it was time to just pick it up and get it finished. I had worked on this piece a little bit last year but didn't get it finished so this weekend was the time to finally get this project off the list. So yesterday, it was time to focus on working on this piece and it is now finished and off the list. 

I think I will be looking at that project list again and maybe see if I can pull another project forward and get some work on it as well.

Granny Wrap - scrap - After starting the grey Granny Wrap, I decided that I had quite a bit of fingering weight scraps that maybe I should try and use some of it up and make a scarp wrap as well. This is a great project to use up bits of yarn so that is what I am trying to do. I haven't decided how large this wrap is going to be, but it is something that is easy to pick up and work on when I have those few minutes.

Other projects - I haven't worked on much else this past week as I was trying to focus on getting the cross stitch projects completed. It has been a good week of getting things accomplished. This coming week we will see what I pull out as there are a few things I would like to work on so we will see how it goes.

I hope everyone is finding some time most days to do something that you enjoy and that helps you relax. If you are dealing with the extreme heat, please be careful and remember to take care of yourself. There are some projects that I would like to work on so hopefully I can make some progress on them and will have something to show you next week.

Another week and some progress on things

Here it is another week, and I have been trying to make some progress on things so we will see how things go. I haven't been able to make a lot on progress on projects in the last little while but this last week I decided to try and see what I could get done.

I know that it would be great to always have a pre and post picture but sometimes this just doesn't happen, and this blog is one of them. Google is making it difficult for me to show both pre and post pictures if I am don't work on a project in a couple of weeks.

Half the Fun - this is one of the projects that I worked on this week, and it makes me happy to see the progress that I have been able to get done. I ended up adding just over 1,000 stitches in three days on this piece and it makes me feel good. Now to see if I can continue to move this piece forward as it would be nice to see it completed before too long. 

Granny Wrap - here is a project that I just started this week and it is using the yarn that I had thought of using for the Button Box Throw. This is the Granny Wrap, and it is something that is easy to work on and something that I can work on a little bit at a time. I hope to be able to continue to work on this piece as it would be nice to see how this turns out and how large it turns out as I am currently trying to use one type of yarn for this shawl.

Serpentine Pavillion Shawl - I did get a little bit of progress on this shawl. I do enjoy working on this project and hopefully I will be able to get back to making some more progress on it. The cable is pretty easy to do, and it has been nice working on something that is a little bit different. I am going to see if I can at least make a bit more progress on the shawl over the next couple of weeks as it would be nice to see this one completed before too long.

This is one of the patterns from The Shawl Society Season 6 book by Helen Stewart. I do enjoy working on the various shawls that she has and I do have lots of her patterns and that is nice as it will help me use up some of the yarn that I have purchased.

Twelve Days of Christmas - here is the other cross stitch project that got some attention in the last week. I had wanted to get all the borders completed but instead I worked on getting the inside of the 2nd Day of Christmas completed. It was nice to see some progress on this piece so now I have three more borders to complete and 9 days. This project is going to go away for a little bit just so that I have a bit of a break from it.

Other projects - I haven't worked on any other project this past week as I was trying to try and focus on moving what I did work on forward. It felt nice seeing that what I worked on did get the progress on them that I wanted.

This week I am not certain what projects that I will work on, but I do hope to make some progress on what I touch. Moving projects forward does make me happy and now to see how things go. If things go well, I should have some progress to show you next week.

Hope everyone has a good week, and you find some time each day to do what you enjoy.