Monday, July 20, 2026

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.

 

Monday, July 13, 2026

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.




 

Monday, July 6, 2026

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.




 

Wednesday, July 1, 2026

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.