Startitis is on

Usually I am sticking to one or max 2 quilting projects a time, but in the last weeks I have started several.

• Winter Maize: piecing done, applique in line
• Rose Quilt - a present for my mother, the design is done, simple squares cut, small pieced squares are in the making, around 200 out of 240 is ready
• String - a few pieces done, I started it as a leader/ender project
• Round the Year - 8 out of  16 done

Cross-stitch wise I am also working on more than my usual list:

• Long Dog - to be started, under decision (the decision being a very hard one)
• WIP:
• Pomarium - present rotation piece
• Kingfisher - holiday piece
• Autumn Watergarden - waiting for next turn
• UFO
• Heirloom Nativity Sampler - only a tiny bit of hardanger missing
• Riolis cottage - acrilic floss, most probably will never finish...
• Around the World in 80 Stitches decided to be ready, only a finish is missing, I am thinking finishing it up as a box for my cousin or mother

Weekend of many fixings

I had accomplished many things, almost all of them different from my plans. We have a small appartment what we rented out, and the last tenant moved out in February. She was from Sweden, and left for home before Christmas, and decided to stay at home. Then Covid came, and since it is in the inner city, the market froze for rents - and to tell you the truth, I was also not very keen on meeting people...

However, I was also renting out my parents' similar appartement and when it was taken in 3 days I realised maybe I should change the photos in the ad, which were taken 10 years ago :) My parents' one is in a green part of the city, but our one is also a very nice little flat. Usually it was taken in a week, therefore not much marketing was needed, so I simply used the existing ones from the ad. Then I read an article about flats and photos, checked what is in our ad, and realised the first photo is nice, but the second one has a 20year old huge tv and a big stereo in the center - not very appealing features in 2020!

I deleted the photo with the tv, and at last an appointment was made. However, when I went there to show it, I realised the flat is really in need of a big cleanup. It was cleaned in February by the girl who moved out, but it was half a year ago, and spiders were quite busy in the meantime. Fortunately I did not  liked the guy who saw it, so it was not a big disappointment that he was not interested. Then last week I went through the flat, checked everything, throw out many unused half useful things which were left there by the previous tenants. I cleaned the windows, soaked all the curtains for half a day then decided to throw them also away. So I needed new ones, bought the material and sewed them. I also got a new table with chairs, so I made some cushions as well. I changed all the beddings, fixed the broken little things - I remember one shelf was already moving when we left the flat some 15 years ago. 

I realised I did so many flat fixing in the past years (renovating and remodelling ours thrice, buying and upgarding 2 for my parents) that things which seemed huge burdens are simply everyday stories now. So I made an appointment for Wednesday to change the gas heater, for next week an electrician comes to check and fix the lamps, and I thinking doing a quick wall-painting, because the walls are quite dirty - not visible at first sight, but not nice if you look closer. If still nobody is interested then I will have the bathroom fixed, since it is clean and usable, but far from glamorous. I should have done this in the last 6 months, but it is better later than never...

Dozens Squared

 

There is the next one from Roung the Year by  Betukbandi. It was one of the most difficult one so far, even more difficult than the Wedding Ring. I was lazy to read the instructions correctly, and sewed the central yellow triangles together, when I realised the others should be added around. So I learned to sew Y seams the hard way. I also made a mistake in the finger (leaves?) block what I saw only when it was finished -this is to show nobody is perfect, or just some rndom effect of the pandemia in 2020 :)

Block 12 - Dozens Squared

Round the Year by betukbandi

This is the 8th block out of 16, so I am halfway through. There is also a problem due to the virus - there is no darkblue fabric available in the local fabric shop for over 3 months. I suppose everyone is using darkblue for face masks, that is the reason for the shortage - but I have hardly any left.

Size is a circle in a 15"x15" square, so taking into consideration the extremely small pieces, the material usage is 20"x15", which is cc 20cm of a fabric. 4rd ring in 2020 goes up to 80cm.

Fabric shopping

It was quite a long time ago that I have bought any fabric (I have more than enough), but I realised that I am out of some essentials, so there I went. I needed some solids for the Round the Year circles, some white to do the choice of my niece and some roses for my mother's rose quilt, and some wood for the Winter Maize. I have added a newspaper print because I liked it a lot. 

It seems quite a few pieces, but actually it is quite a lot, almost 15m:

• 3+3x1m of whites (2 cream based, 2 white-white)
• 3x1m of roses 
• 2x0.5m light blue
• 1m royal blue
• 0.7m steel
• 2m dark blue
• 0.5m wood
• 0.5m newsprint (actually some French dictionary print)

I also bought 5m of normal batting (550), and 2m of special called gloves batting (700)

At the end it turned out there was a "slight" communication gap concerning my mother's quilt - she chose the small rose fabric from my stash because she liked the pink background not the flowers, and when she was talking about wanting a rose quilt she meant a pinkish one with flowers. But she was kind about it an said whatever I do will be nice anyway - so the bar is raised: it is even more difficult to come up with something!

In June I also went to Ikea to get some basic material. I really like their Bomull, because it is perfect for smaller backings - neutral color, unbleached, so an eco-friendly green choice, for an extremely competitive price. I got 3meters, and as an addition 2x0.5m of strong bad material from their season's design. Last time I bought Bomull it was in 2018, when I got 5meters, and I just used up the last pieces this year for the strings of the masks I made.

All together it is 19m of new textiles and 7m of batting, what I got in in 2020. I am always trying to buy less fabric than I use in my finishes (7m this year...), but I never manage!

Longdog Samplers

Since I have seen Pandemic stitched, I am thinking on starting a Longdog sampler. I have 3 of them is mind: The Pilgrim is closest to my heart, but as a start I think I will do Sans Souci, and the third is of course Pandemic.

The Pilgrim, especially in the brown colorway. I have seen it on the Facebook Log Dog Pilgrim group, and it was stitched by Leigh M. on 36 ct Edinburgh Legacy linen by picture this plus, with Anchor 381, 944, 277, 855, 398, 853, 1059, 1001, 347, 390, 339, 1007, 845.

 

 Sans Souci:

Pandemic

The biggest question is the materials - they are all monochrome, but can be stitched as colorful as well. Shall I use silk or cotton? What type of fabric? I have a huge amount of 32ct antique white Belfast and 28ct Lugana from Zweigart, but stitching these sampler in this size can eat up 20-30 skeins. If I do smaller, then I can use only 1 floss and halve the amount, because apart from the price even getting the required quantity of floss can be a problem. On the other hand I have 2 big boxes of silks for my future Chatelaines, which are sitting there for years, and there will be years till I will use them, so they could be perfect already owned materials for the samplers - but then I need 36/40 ct what I have never used. I like silk, but do I really like it so much more to justify the cost for a full monochrome sampler? There is also the question whether I really want to stitch with one floss - I always do 2 over 2, and in this case only 1 strand is needed I do not like to stitch that much. Many pro’s and con’s - I should decide if I want to do this!

Wedding ring

 I have finished another round, this is the Wedding Ring. The blue middle is a little too strong, tuerefore I think I will mount it on something blue, just like in this background. It was quite difficult to align the pieces, and I did not manage perfectly, but at least I finished my first one - and I know I will not make any bedsized version of this quilt for sure!

Block 9 - Wedding Ring

Round the Year by betukbandi

Size is a circle in a 15"x15" square, so taking into consideration the extremely small pieces, the material usage is 20"x15", which is cc 20cm of a fabric. 3rd ring in 2020 goes up to 60cm.

Lollipop

Another round for the Round the Year: Lollipop

Block 6 - Lollipop Candy

Round the Year by betukbandi

Size is a circle in a 15"x15" square, so taking into consideration the extremely small pieces, the material usage is 20"x15", which is cc 20cm of a fabric.

12 colorful windmill to the maze

I have finished the 12 colorful windmills to Winter Maize. Now I can put together the background, all elements are ready.

Winter Maize

I had started Winter Maize by Ngaire Brooks. I have bought the pattern quite a while and now, that summer holiday is on, and our son is with grandma and grandpa during the week I have time to sew. I am using fabric from my stash. Having this photo taken I see there is quite a low contrast in the 4th block, I will sleep on this whether I change it or not. I do take black and white photos to check the contrast, but somehow I missed this part...

There are 6 square in a square blocks, 12 windmills, and 92 neutral ones as background, all finished as 5x5. Then comes the applique adding flowers, tree branches, birds - I just love it, I can hardly wait to finish the windmills! They are already cut out, tomorrow I will sew them together.