Closing the old, starting the new

At the beginning if the new year it is good to look back and see how many things I did accomplish. It was quite a tough year in my professional life (I was promoted to a new position, there was a mass reduction in my workplace, not affecting me, but definitely affecting my mood, and my boss, whom I really liked left during the year) to let out the extra stress. So the net result is the abundance of quilts and some moderate progress on the stitching side.

9 Quilts:

• Christmas birdies
• Falling leaves
• Simplified Love Entwined
• Grandpa's scrappy quilt
• Skill Builder
• Scrappy Blue and Scrappy Red
• 2 Baby Quilts: Owls for Berci and the Universe for Elza

I had 2 little cross stitch finishes with herbs, thyme and oregano. 

I was working on 2 major Chatelaines:

I have started Pomarium at the end of 2016, and I almost managed to finish the 1st quarter by yearend 2017.  The other was Winter Watergarden, what I started to stitch in 2016 March, and I finished 3/4 until September.

There are 2 other WIP in my basket, the holiday piece from Victoria Sampler (Heirloom Nativity Sampler), which is almost ready, and the Stitches around the World, which will be a forever UFO most probably.

In 2018 I would like to finish Winter Watergarden, and start one or two Chatelaines, depending on my stitching bug's behaviour. The sad news of the yearend that Martina Weber, owner and designer of Chatelaine passed away, so there will be no new such beauties what she created. She was an extraordinary designer, it is such a loss that she is not with us anymore.

Quiltingwise I would like to sew a bedcover for my godmother, and some smaller ones for friends and family. I do not have any specific thing on my mind, I will see what grabs my attention. I already put together a yellow-green scrappy one.

Octopus moving forward

I made some progress on Octopus Treasure Cave. I getting the hang of stitching on dark fabric, and I really like this hand dyed one.

Chatelaine: Octopus Tresure Cave

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart hand dyed 32 ct Belfast by Barbaral

Octopus

Chatelaine: Octopus Tresure Cave

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart hand dyed 32 ct Belfast by Barbaral

(Not) feeling blue

Today I started Octopus Treasure Cave from Chatelaine. This is the first time I am stitching on dark fabric, and I like it a lot! The fabric is a mottled dark blue, what I tried to reproduce by the camera -with partial success.

A year old finish - Summer Knotgarden

I was very lazy with my blogging in 2016, so much that I just realised that I did not posted that I have finished Summer Knotgarden before the closing of the year! It is ready and framed, and went to its siblings to the bedroom wall a year ago.

Chatelaine: Summer Knotgarden

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

Pomarium 1st quarter done

I managed to finish the 1st quarter of Pomarium. My aim was to do it till yearend, and I happily finished the apples and leaves, when I realised there is one more part, a branch which is still to be done to have the 1st quarter ready. So the first few days of January was spent on this beauty. I also added how gorgeous the whole piece. The quarter is a little bit ad-hoc, I was too lazy to change the frame, so I did a partial left and partial right corner...

Chatelaine: Pomarium

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

Another Christmas birdies

Before Christmas I spent the week at home, and I was planning to do a birdie quilt for my cousin. I was postponing-pontponing during the Autumn and early December, and I thought this is going to be a present for next Christmas. But a few days before the day my sewing bug returned and I finished the cuttin and piecing of the top in 2 days, and on the 3rd I even managed some free motion swirls to keep the layers together. I did not take a photo, but I will do it next time when I visit her - because I did manage to finish it before we went and met her family. The design is my 3rd such quilt (first for me in 2014, second for mum in 2015), and the original what I used for inspiration was created by Vicky Bellino at Bloom Creek, the name is House Warming Party.