A Shawl....

I am so chuffed about this shawl. I ran across someone who said that if you are just learning to knit you should do a simple triangle shawl. They are easy and just two stitches involved and they will work up quickly on bigger needles. As many of you know, I have wanted to learn to knit forever and a day. So I purchased a large pair of knitting needles and dug through my thread for a wonderful color. Next was to get clear and concise instructions that I could actually follow.  Now a few days later and I have a shawl!:) It is not overly big, but fits just right on the shoulders for me. Yay for me!!! Can you tell I am super excited about this. I see more of these in my future as I really want to learn to do those pretty shawls that look like lace. This is a big milestone in my quest to knit and I am so proud of this little shawl. Hope to show the crocheted shawl soon as it is working up so pretty.
Happy Stitching,
Wendy 

St. Patrick's Day Mini

 

This is the mini sent to me by my swap partner Danette in the 12" mini swap. I am so loving this little quilt. Also included in the package was these wonderful fabrics as well as some stickers and a roll of green ribbon. A big thank you to Danette for this lovely little jewel. It is already put up with my other mini quilts.

I am one lucky :) girl! If you have not visited Danette's blog please do so as there is lots of inspiration over there! And this is what I sent out to my partner. I fussy cut the little Leprechauns and then used the blanket stitch to attatch them. I used the quilt as you go method on this little quilt. I like how it turned out. I did press it before I sent it on its way. I hope my partner likes it as much as I liked making it for her. I have one in the works for me also.

Wendy

Whats On the Hook

I really did not need another new project but I have wanted to make a triangle shawl for some time now. I absolutely love the colorway of this thread. It has a muted look and the colors are so yummy.  I had this sock thread here for a while now and decided that no socks are forthcoming I might as well use the thread for something I will love. These work up really fast and I made this much progress in about twenty minutes today. I hope to have it finished soon if I work on it a little bit each day. Also while out and about these four balls of Lion Brands new Amazing came home with me also (like I needed new thread). This is earmarked for a shawl as well. Is this thread not yummy!

Happy Stitching,
Wendy

Three More.....

 Klosjes of course! That brings my total for last week up to seven. Now to start for this weeks BaD challenge of a block a day.(they still need to be pressed) These are so much fun to work with and a great break from the yoyo's I have been making. Who knows you may see a few of those along the way as well.
Happy Stitching,
Wendy

Slippers

After making the afghan for my dd's bff I had a whole skein of yarn leftover. I made a pair of adult slippers for my oldest dd's patient who is chair bound to keep her feet warm. These worked up quickly and are now with their new happy owner.
Happy Stitching,
Wendy

A Few Projects

(blogger is not uploading this pic the correct way)

I have been working on a couple of projects this past week. One is for a swap and the other is a s.w.i.p. (slow work in progress) which means this project will take a while. The first project was a 12inch mini quilt celebrating St. Patrick's Day. I enjoyed making this for my partner and hope she likes it as well. I have also been making klosjes and have a good many cut and ready to sew in the evenings. I have joined Daisy's challenge of one block a day or BaD for short. I hope this will keep those little blocks multiplying for me.

 I am also working on my one heart a day and trying to catch up with those. I had to wait on fabric for the background to arrive. Now I am playing catch up on the hearts. Hopefully I will be able to post some of the hearts by Monday if all goes well.
Happy Stitching,
Wendy

FNWF Sew In...

I did accomplish a good bit on Friday night, although I am missing a few pics as the battery wound down and is having to charge (battery now charged and pics taken). Here are the few that I did manage and I will be back later to add pics to this post of the rest pics are now made. I did manage to finish my tote for the stitch along on time. Pics will come later they are now ready :). Next I worked a bit on the last block for my " Winter Theme" crazy quilt. When this block is completed I will start to put it together. This has been a long wip that I have not been in a hurry to finish. The end is coming soon to this project and I will be so happy. I plan to work on this again tonight with the hopes of finishing the block. We shall see...those blue sparkly buttons will become a snowman....

 The stack of waiting blocks to be put together.....they have been waiting ever so patiently for me to finish!

 Then I will have to do all those connecting seams to finish it off. I am undecided on whether to do solid borders or crazy patch them...time will tell I guess. Lastly I have a new obsession, Klosjes!:) I have been working on hexie's and yoyo's as my go to hand work when at appointments or having to wait for others. I needed to set both of those aside to rest for a while and decided I still needed something to do. I have wanted to try my hand at these for a while now, I have officially jumped in. I spent about 20 min. last night stamping, cutting and sewing. I have finished four blocks and have five more prepped. I will be posting about this once a week as I hope to make at least one during the week depending on my time table of waiting on others. Some weeks may be more than other weeks, we shall just have to see. These blocks finish at 3 1/4 inches for each block. Small but so fun and relaxing. I had tried templates but decided to go with these stamps. So much easier and I know that each block will be the same size each time.

I also made a pin cushion (no pic yet)(I knew I forgot something) :(, since I had so many projects to work on I allotted myself at least 20 minutes for each one. Amazing how much you can accomplish when you actually block off a certain amount of time for it. I hope the next time I can post pics the day after the sew in. Note to self make sure batteries are charged and take pics as you go.
Happy Stitching,
Wendy 

Quick Post

Sorry I am late with last weeks FNSI results. Not a whole lot accomplished on Friday night. I had a headache and did not work as long as I had intended. I did get all my kite shapes cut for a new quilt and I worked on a small stitchery of which I did not take a pic of. This Friday night is the monthly "Friday Night With Friends" and I have signed up again. I hope to get more accomplished this week, so wish me luck. I have several things prepped to work on and hope that I make a good amount of progress. Below is a pic of a stack of crocheted doilies that I picked up at the thrift store this week. I just had to save them and give them a loving home. I love doilies and cannot pass them by. Some have stains and will be re-purposed in my fabric collages and fabric books. I am so happy about this stack of doilies!:) Can you tell. The top piece is tatting, which I absolutely love. I don't tat so this is a very special find for me. I love it and will be using this with my milk glass collection. It measures 14 inches in the round. Just beautiful.

Happy Stitching,
Wendy

FNSI....tonight!

I am joining in with the " Friday Night Sew In" ladies tonight. I will be back tomorrow with a post about what I worked on. If you would like to join us go here to sign up. This is a fun way to see what others are doing as well as getting some sewing or stitching done for yourself. See you there! And don't forget the chocolate to help you out!
Happy Stitching,
Wendy

Finally....

I have chosen the  fabric for my tote for the stitch along. It took me forever to decide what I was going to use. Usually I just look, pull the fabric and that is that. Not this time, I had two different sets and it took forever to decide which ones to use. I quickly put the other fabric up so I could no longer see it as I did not want to change my mind again. Stitchery being damped stretched.

 I kept looking at the baby blanket that I crocheted and wanted to put an edge on that was not plain. The problem was that the yarn was so thick that a regular fancy edge was out of the question as it would not lay correctly. Finally this is the edge that I decided on and I am so pleased with how it turned out.

I can now send it on to Jen as I feel it is completed finally. This blanket is sooooo soft to the touch and I will be using this yarn again in the future.

PS/  Pam of Simply Nordic Designs is the winner of the pp stars. Pam an email is being sent out for your info. If you have not ever been to Pam's blog please hop on over and look at all her beautiful items. Her blog is full of inspiration! 
Happy Stitching,
Wendy

EPP Stars...

I have eight stars put together and ten in the packs along with more papers that are left over from another project. Most of these are already basted. The fabric is Pom Pom D'Paris. If you would like to have these plus the other packet of super mini diamonds and the hexi's please leave a comment. If more than one person wants them I will do a draw for them. I am willing to mail these internationally as well. I just hate for them to sit around in my studio being unused and lonely...

 the mini diamonds. I think these are one inch in size.

 And the hexies that have no home....

Keep stitching,
Wendy

Finished Hearts....

Two posts in one day! I just wanted to pop in and show the other three finished hearts. These were so easy to make and I know I will be making more soon. Maybe some with roses on them and maybe some with color!:) I do like these being shabby and these will go in a Paris vignette that I am working on. I could not decide on how I wanted them sitting in the dish.

 Singles of the new hearts.....

I am so loving these! I can see these as pin cushions as well as just a decorative heart. Although these will not be used as pin cushions I will be making some.
Enjoy,
Wendy 

Worktable Thursday!

Hearts! That is what I have on my worktable today. I have been in a heart making mood for a few weeks now. I guess it started with the heart swap. Now that the swap is over I am still making hearts. I am filling up a compote bowl with them. I love that you can use up your scraps and make them non-holiday specific so you can keep them out all year if you like. I finished this ruched one and have three more prepped and ready to go. Wishing each of you a Happy Valentines day from my family to yours.
Happy Stitching,
Wendy 

Stitching.....Hearts...

I have been doing a large amount of stitching lately which I love to do. I have started on my stitchery for the stitch-along found here for the month of Feb. This month it will be a bag when finished. Here is a closeup...

 

 I also have finished another stitchery but cannot show it yet as it because it is for a blog hop...stay tuned for that up coming event. I have also joined up to do one heart a day project on my sidebar. I started this project a month into the challenge, so I am doing catch up. Here is my first block. More to come soon.

After looking at the pic of this block for the post I changed the black fabric as this one has a mottled look that makes it look like something is wrong with the fabric. So this little block will become a pin cushion I think....sigh...the new fabric is just Kona solid in black and I like it much better.
Happy Stitching,
Wendy 

Finished Stitchery

I have finished the first stitchery for this bom and still have three unrelated stitcheries to finish. I hope to have them finished by the weekend. This stitchery is designed by Kathy Schmitz as a bom of small quilts or you can put them all together for a quilt at the end.(you can find them here if you want to join in) I am leaning towards putting them all together at the end, but have not decided yet. Each block can stand on its own as a mini quilt quite nicely. All the stitcheries are worked on a cream crackled fabric with black thread. (remember the sulky thread I did not like) I am using DMC perle #8 for this and like it much better. I also changed the design a bit to suit my taste. Instead of blanket stitch for the center heart I just did back stitch. I also did not add the spikes to the outside heart as I may go back and do french knots (undecided as of yet) and I did not fill in the heart with french knots. I am very please with how it finished up.
Happy Stitching,
Wendy

Heart Swap/Sent

Delivery confirmation confirms that my package to my swap partner was delivered on today!:) I am so happy it arrived safely. I sent to Laura in the Initial Heart Swap that was hosted by Cheryll. I loved making this heart for Laura and hope she likes it as well. It was really hard to part with and I am working on one for myself. Of course I added some chocolate to her package as well as a hot pad for her kitchen area. A closeup of her initial on the heart.

Happy Stitching,
Wendy

Initial Heart Swap

Last month I joined a swap called "Initial Heart Swap" hosted by Cheryl. My swap package arrived on Saturday from my swap partner. I am so chuffed!:) can you tell what a happy swapper I am! My secret partner was Danette and she nailed it for this swap! Happy dance going on over here! This is what she sent out to me. She wanted to do something different from last year so she made me a table runner! How awesome is that! I have tons of tables and not one Valentine runner for them! I am so in love with my heart swap! Check it out!

A closeup of my initial on the runner. How inventive to put a w that I could use later or leave on the runner.

And of course she also sent some wonderful chocolate!:) I did share this though. And a wonderful little notebook that will fit nicely inside my bag to take along with me for all of my ideas. And last but not least some great buttons with my initial. Danette really spoiled me for this swap. Thank you so much! I love it!!!:)

 You should take time to go visit her here. She has loads of inspiration on her blog.
Happy Stitching,
Wendy



 

FNWF" s First Time

Seems like I am doing a lot of firsts this year. Friday night was the first time I had signed up for Friday Night With Friends. I did get a few things accomplished. First off I traced off two embroidery patterns. The first is a new BOM that I am doing. The first block is a heart and I have already started stitching. The only problem for me is the thread. The kit came with sulky thread and is supposed to be enough for the whole bom. Which is fine, except that I don't like the thread. Way to thin for my taste. So I am using perle #8 in black instead. I like the thickness of this thread much better. 

 Below is the stitchery for the stitch along. This will be turned into a bag when finished. And is out of the book Red Home.

 Below is the thread that I am not so happy with. I have no idea what I will use this for in the future.

 Next up is a baby blanket that I crocheted for my daughters bff. She is having a girl this go round and we are so happy for her. This yarn is sooooo soft and cuddly. And the colors remind me of sherbert. So luscious!

 just a closeup of the blanket.....

All in all I had a great time getting a few things accomplished with my first FNWF sew in. I will be joining again in the future.
Happy Stitching,
Wendy