And here’s my update on my MFE SAL.
Happy Stitching!
~Melanie
Cross Stitch, an update
Quilting, Scrapbooking, Gardening and whatever else catches my fancy
Author Archives: Melanie
August 2023 – update
August has been a whirlwind. I did a lot but not much from my to do list! I do have 2 new starts to show for it and a messy craft room! I prepared for some trips I’m now off on and I was working a lot.
#1 – Wendy Mathson’s Storm at Sea/ Snails Trail
This is a lot smaller than my last quilt in queue and I hoped to get this done quicker than the last one. But life is consuming all my time.
I was supposed to take my quilt guild’s workshop this month. It was to be taught by a guild member and is Alaska of Laundry Basket Quilts.
But first I was exposed to Covid and I didn’t want to potentially pass it on. Then it ended up getting rescheduled anyway because of the hurricane! So now this will be a new start in November.
#2 Plum Fusion – Finish the top! – Done!!!
#3 – The Quilty Pleasure Saturday Sampler – the June and July block
I need to take a picture of the May block and do the June and July blocks. I’m a little behind but it’s not too bad yet.
– did nothing
#4 – Tuella and Friends – block 1 – needs the hand embroidery before I can set it aside.
#5 – Mountain Mist – continue working on this
#6 – Ornaments – all of these have been blanket stitched and are ready for the next step…
#7 – Sashiko… I am keeping this on the list but this will have to wait until my ornaments are finished. There is just not enough time in the day.
#8 – Raining Cats and Dogs- this is an old hand quilting project that I set aside. I am adding this on this list to remember it and figure out how to get this done. Ideally It’s one of those projects I spend a little time on each day but I have a lot of those now and so need to think about my game plan.
Happy quilting!
Melanie
thoughts at 2am when I can’t sleep
There will not be much crafting content the next month or so.
I’m waiting for the tropical storm that was Hilary to come through. I have no idea how to prepare for this. Where I live in the San Fernando Valley we get the Santa Ana winds periodically and it wreaks havoc on our smaller pots. But we manage through and nothing crazy happens. Especially after we tied down the trellis for the grape vines. We did what we could picking up smaller and lighter objects and put them in secure places so hopefully the yard is not a mess afterwards. We don’t usually get flooding in our area so I’m not expecting that at all. I know I could have done more but I’ve got too much on my plate already that I had to let it go.
The chickens are as secure as I know how to make them. I should have packed up their run and put it away but I forgot and I will have to do it in the morning probably while it’s raining.
I was exposed to Covid and so I’m walking around the house with a mask. Today will be day 5 and I’m crossing my fingers that I continue to stay negative. I don’t have symptoms but sometimes my brain worries and I start feeling things just to scare myself. I can’t get Covid right now. I have too much to do.
Friday I head off to Vegas with some friends and I have to get stuff done at work in order to clear my brain. And I have some high maintenance clients right now.
And the following week I head off to Paris with the World of Travel quilts tour group. I’m so excited but really nervous in terms of work. A lot of what I have to do now is prepare for that trip. I had to go shoe shopping because my feet are always my main concern. Travel is no fun when my feet hurt. and with 15-20,000 steps a day, it’s a challenge.
These are so cute that I had to buy them. This week I’m going to practice packing to make sure I have enough room for everything I plan on bringing. I am hoping not to bring a lot. I will be putting my outfits together and making sure these shoes work with what I am bringing. There’s no sense taking these shoes if I don’t have anything to wear with them. I know they look heavy but they are really light with memory foam inside so they are also comfortable. I never really know how shoes will fare until I’ve worn them for several hours. This is my third shoe shopping spree and I’ve not had great luck. Although Skechers usually treat me pretty well. I am bringing inserts in case these need them.
I got my hair done so that’s one thing off my list. I still need to get my eyebrows done and my nails. I was really hoping to swing by my gal in Simi Valley but with the rains tomorrow I plan to stay home. I will have to use a local shop that works fine for times when I just need it done. I will try to make it to a nail salon sometime one of these evenings. Since I want them to last through my trip to Paris (almost a month) I am going to try gel. I’ve never done it before. I used to get my nails done all the time when I was younger and then my color would last about 2 weeks with a good polish and top coat. And later when all the other ways of color came I didn’t see the need to pay extra as long as I brought my own polish and top coat. The salons tend to put acetone in the polish to help it last longer in the bottle and as such it would wear down within a week on nails. I don’t think all salons do this but you never know which do and which don’t so it was just better to bring my own. Then as costs kept rising I stopped going all together and simply did them myself. They were never as good as the salon but they were free so good enough. At least I didn’t get mad at paying $60 for crap nails.
And I still need to finalize our eating spots when we go to Vegas and my itinerary when I go to Paris.
You may remember I was just in Paris last December. I loved it so much that when this opportunity came up I could not pass it up. I will be going with a couple of quilty gal pals and I’ll post more about it soon. For now, I should really try to go back to sleep.
Sweet travels my quilty friends!
Melanie
New start/new craft?
I’ve been enamored with machine embroidery for a long time. I have the embroidery unit that came with my bernina 790 and early on tried to use it. At first I did images that was included with the machine and then later stuck with labels and then later stopped all together. It was hard. I didn’t know what to do and it became too much effort to pull it out each time. and I loved sewing/piecing so I couldn’t stop that to embroider!
Then I met my friend Robin years ago who makes amazing stuff with her embroidery machine. That inspired me and my goal was to get a second machine to piece on and then I’ll set up my 790 with the embroidery unit dedicated to machine embroidery projects. At the time this was a long term goal. Earlier this year my local sewing machine shop announced they were retiring and would be closing and were discounting their inventory. So long term plans became now and I ended up getting the special Kaffe Edition B770 QE Plus. I don’t remember if I posted about it but here is the pretty machine.
And at the Sew Awesome Gal’s quilt retreat, several of the gals brought their own machine embroidery machines to put together Kimberbell’s Candy Corn Quilt Shoppe. I had seen one of the ladies at my guild’s retreat a month before and she mentioned that they would be doing that. So I went off and bought all the stuff for that project. The shop, Between Stitches, in Temecula happened to be having a huge Independence Day sale so I snagged a lot of it then.
Well since I hadn’t embroidered for a long time all my stuff for embroidery was scattered to the winds. I honestly can’t remember where it is or even if I gave it away. It’s possible I did. So I bought new stuff to get ready but it was way too much for this newbie to get herself together in time for the Sew Awesome retreat and I ended up on the sidelines watching enviously.
So the following weekend after the retreat I sat myself down and started!
I put together the first block!
I definitely have much to learn but I love how it came out!
Happy quilting!
Melanie
Quilt in Progress: 45 & Life To Go
This is #1 on my WIP list. Basically I usually work on this at retreats. My regular projects I work on each month keep me busy and so this is one of my retreat projects. I started it at a retreat in 2019. The pieces are tiny.
I finished 40 of these blocks.
and 5 of these blocks.
I finished so many of these HSTs and the next step is another set of HSTs of a different size. I think after that I’ve got another set of HSTs and then I can start sewing everything together.
Happy quilting!
Melanie
Cross Stitch, an update
And here’s my update on my MFE SAL.
Didn’t get a lot done on this project. But every bit counts.
I persevered and was able to finish this clue in time before this posted and the row was finished as well.
Happy Stitching!
~Melanie
Quilt in Progress: Tula Pink Butterfly 2.0
I’ve been waiting patiently to get started on this kit. I actually mistakenly bought 2. I asked my LQS to order me one and after waiting a few months I thought they didn’t do it. So I pre-ordered one with Fat Quarter Shop. And it was through that process that I discovered that it wasn’t shipping until Nov. 2022. Anyway, when they started shipping I could have cancelled one of them but I didn’t. I felt bad that I had pre-ordered and figured I would find someone to buy one of them off me. And if I didn’t, I could always make a second one.
So last weekend at the Sew Awesome Gal’s quilt retreat, I opened it up finally and started playing.
I put together block 1 of the first intersection.
Happy quilting!
Melanie
Finished Flimsy: Plum Fusion
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Hugs
Melanie
August 2023
I am visiting my parents for a few days to help with a few things. It’s always nice to come home and hang out.
#1 – Wendy Mathson’s Storm at Sea/ Snails Trail
This is a lot smaller than my last quilt in queue and I hope to get this done quicker than the last one. The only reason why I wouldn’t be able to is because of life consuming all my time.
I’m also taking my quilt guild’s workshop this month. It’s being taught by a guild member and is Alaska of Laundry Basket Quilts.
Our guild member is focusing on the center block but I love this quilt and plan to do the whole thing. There are several other colorways – Alaska Rainbow and Alaska Magic that I also love. I may be adding those to my one day some day list as well.
#2 Plum Fusion – Finish the top!
The only thing left to do on this quilt is to sew on the final border. Then it will be done and it will join my Quilt queue ! – This is being carried over from last month to this month. It’s really so close to being done but our guilld’s boutique is coming up in October and I’m working on things left and right to add to our stash of stuff to sell.
#3 – The Quilty Pleasure Saturday Sampler – the June and July block
I need to take a picture of the May block and do the June and July blocks. I’m a little behind but it’s not too bad yet.
#4 – Tuella and Friends – block 1 – needs the hand embroidery before I can set it aside.
#5 – Mountain Mist – continue working on this
#6 – Ornaments – all of these have been blanket stitched and are ready for the next step…
#7 – Sashiko… I am keeping this on the list but this will have to wait until my ornaments are finished. There is just not enough time in the day.
#8 – Raining Cats and Dogs- this is an old hand quilting project that I set aside. I am adding this on this list to remember it and figure out how to get this done. Ideally It’s one of those projects I spend a little time on each day but I have a lot of those now and so need to think about my game plan.
Happy quilting!
Melanie