SAL 52: Border country

What with all the hand quilting that’s been going on round here, I haven’t quite reached the bottom.

Here’s the Before shot, pre single-strand backstitching on the ‘lace’ strip at bottom right:

And here’s where we are now. The two short ‘lace’ border strips on either side finished, but I didn’t manage the narrow border across the bottom. However, as I’ve now finished my hand quilting marathon, hopefully I’ll do better next time, when I hope to have that extra border done, finishing off the bottom of this tiled section. Then it’s just the last bits of the outer borders to go!

As always, the SAL group is working on a wide and gorgeous variety of stitchery, so I urge you to go take a look at their work. We’re all over the world and in all different time zones, so if their SAL posts aren’t up yet, try again later. Here’s the list, and a big welcome to our newest member, Jackie.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue,
Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine, Mary Margaret,
Timothy, Heidi, Connie, Jackie

See you next time, on 8th October.

SAL 51: back again

It’s that time again.

I ducked out last time, a bit too much other stuff going on but here I am again. I’ve managed to get a bit of stitching done, but it doesn’t look much as I’ve also had to do a fair bit of unpicking!

Here’s where we were before:

And here’s afterwards:

There’s a lot of backstitching to do in that strip of lace. I’d done a load of it, and then decided two strands looked bodgy and ugly, so out it all had to come. I’ll be doing the backstitching with a single strand, and then it will look a lot more like lace and less peculiar. There’ll also be another strip on the other side, a different design.

Do go and see what all the others are up to. There are lots of us now, all over the place and in different time zones, so if they don’t have their posts up when you check them out the first time, do try again later.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue,
Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine, Mary Margaret,
Timothy, Heidi, Connie

SAL – taking a short break

Hello again, it’s time for the Stitch Along.

Last time… No new progress 😦

I’m sitting this one out as I haven’t been able to make any progress this time round for various reasons too dull to mention. I’ll be back for the next one, I feel sure! I’d hoped to finish the two small sections on either side of the dark tiles at the bottom, but no such luck. Life gobbled up my creative time, and I’m not in the right mental space right now to calmly and carefully cross-stitch those motifs…

Do go over to the other members’ blogs in the Stitch Along and look at the lovely projects they’re working on. Many of them are in later time zones, so it might be a good idea to hold off for a while to give everyone a chance to get their work posted. Here are the links to their blogs – check them out, you won’t be sorry:

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue,
Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine, Mary Margaret,
Timothy, Heidi, Connie

 

SAL 49: another big bit

The blue sampler is coming along well 🙂

Here’s where we were before:

And now:

A couple more smaller motifs either side of these two, a bottom border, finish the two side borders, and we’re done! I’m beginning to be impatient to finish this one, as I have the next project lined up. Not cross stitch this time, but needlepoint. Just simple tent stitch, but a lovely design by Kaffe Fassett:

As always, the others in the group are working on fabulous projects which you can see by clicking on the links below. We’re in different time zones and post at different times on the same day, but if there’s nothing new there the first time you check, it’ll be well worth your while going back for a second look.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue,
Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine, Mary Margaret,
Timothy

See you next time, on 5th August.

SAL 48: time on my hands…

I’ve made a good bit of progress this time.

I had to take a few breaks from things like quilting and joining blocks, and the embroidery was the perfect way to do that and get something useful done at the same time.

Here’s where were last time:

And here’s the latest progress.

There’s a mistake in there, but it’s minor and I’m not sufficiently worried about it to do any frogging. I’m simply going to adjust the design slightly to make it look ‘on purpose’ 🙂

As always, the others in the group are working on fabulous projects which you can see by clicking on the links below. We’re in different time zones and post at different times on the same day, but if there’s nothing new there the first time you check, it’ll be well worth your while going back for a second look.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue,
Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine, Wendy,
Mary Margaret, Timothy

See you next time, on 16th July.

SAL 47: A whole lot of what you fancy

… does so much more good than just a little bit!

And what I fancied in this context was a big slice of my decorative blocks at the bottom. Here’s where we were before:

And here’s where we are now:

Sorry the colour’s a bit off; the top image is more correct. Anyway, I’ve slightly changed my plan. There will now be two large blocks in the middle, and two narrower blocks on either side of them. I’ve made a good start on both the large ones, which as you can see are both in the very dark blue. I wanted to see how they’d sit side by side, which is why there are two unfinished sections. The smaller panels either side will be in the mid blue.

As always, the others in the group are working on fabulous projects which you can see by clicking on the links below. We’re in different time zones and post at different times on the same day, but if there’s nothing new there the first time you check, it’ll be well worth your while going back for a second look.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue,
Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine, Wendy,
Mary Margaret, Timothy

See you next time, on 25th June.

SAL 46: fans finished!

I had plenty of stitching time on my holiday 🙂

The net result is that amongst other things, I’ve finished the fan border that runs under the letters on my large blue sampler. There was one slight mishap while I worked on my chair in the sun a few metres from the beach. A neighbouring camper came over with his dog to say hello and find out what I was working on. His lovely dog had been rootling in the sand dune behind us, and had a dirty nose, which she stuck in my lap in her friendly way. I now have a decorative muddy smudge on one side of the sampler, which fortunately doesn’t show within the frame of the pattern. The camper was mortified, but I’m not too worried. It’ll wash out when I’ve finished.

Here’s the pre-holiday piece:

And here’s the version with the finished fan border, with dog snot just out of frame on the right…

As always, the others in the group are working on fabulous projects which you can see by clicking on the links below. We’re in different time zones and post at different times on the same day, but if there’s nothing new there the first time you check, it’ll be well worth your while going back for a second look.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue,
Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine, Wendy,
Mary Margaret, Timothy

See you next time, on 4th June 🙂

SAL 45: no excuses!

I’ve got a bit more done 🙂

No cyclones to hold me up this time, but I haven’t got as far as I’d intended because of needing to finish the TWX quilt in time for the beginning of May.

Here’s the previous version, crumpled hoop mark and all…

And here’s the update. Not a lot, but not totally shameful either 🙂 And at least this time it’s pressed.

I’ll be taking this sampler away with me on holiday, and hopefully I’ll find time to put some stitches in it amongst all the other fun. Don’t you just love that little fan border at the bottom – so cute!  Next come three large square motifs in a row, each about the height of two rows of letters. I can’t decide whether to work left to right, right to left, or middle out. Well, you’ll see soon enough!

Do go and see what all the other SAL members are up to. There are some truly beautiful and amazing pieces being worked on. We’re all over the world so posting happens at different times. If you don’t see a SAL post the first time you look, it’ll be worth going back to check. Here are the links:

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue,
Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan, Kathy,
Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine,
Wendy, Mary Margaret, Timothy

See you next time, on 14th May.

SAL 44: It’s Debbie’s fault…

I didn’t have much of a chance to stitch recently.

A lack of electricity and lots of big scary wind and rain will do that. Big bad Tropical Cyclone Debbie paid us a visit, in case you don’t follow this blog regularly. Anyway, extremely good excuses over, here’s the stitching.

This is where I was before:

And this is where I am now. Apologies for the wrinkly fabric; having only just had electricity restored and with so much else to do, I couldn’t find time to press it. Getting the flood mud out of the house takes priority over embroidery projects right now 🙂

This new pattern will repeat across to the opposite border, and after that I start the larger blocks of stitching. Do take time to go and see what all the others  in the Stitch Along are working on, there’s some really beautiful work in progress. Remember we’re in all sorts of time zones and I’m one of the earlier ones, so if you’ve come here first, it might be an idea to wait a while before you visit the others.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue,
Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan, Kathy,
Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine, Wendy,
Mary Margaret, Timothy

See you next time, on 23 April. Hopefully by that time, I’ll have been able to use my iron!

 

SAL 43: Time for something different

Here we are again, time to show what I’ve been stitching away at.

I took my embroidery away with me when I went on holiday recently, but due to have far too much of a good time, I got none at all done while I was away!  Since my return, I’ve managed to get the right hand border filled in down to the design either side of the Z. After this, there’ll be another decorative band, and then it’s time for the Big Stuff.

Here’s where I was before:

And here’s progress to date:

Do hop on over to everyone else’s posts and see what they’ve been up to; we’re all working on something different, and in different time zones, so if you don’t see anything new, try again later.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose,
Christina, Susan, Kathy,  Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda,
Catherine, Wendy

The next SAL post is due on 2 April. See you then 🙂