A start and a finish

I think I'll take some extra time for slow stitching today. 

I took an online workshop yesterday with Sujata Shah on the making of Siddi quilts. It was so interesting to hear her speak of this Indian tradition of using leftovers scraps from making sari's, etc., to make bright beautiful quilts.

I first heard of this through Kathy's Quilts blog postings. You can read about it on her blog, HERE 

After I saw Kathy's post in the Fall I started to follow The Root Connection on Instagram, which is Sujata's Instagram handle. As soon as I saw another class was offered, I got right on it and signed up. 

One of the amazing things to come out of living through a world-wide pandemic is taking classes with people from all around the world. Sujata herself was teaching us from San Francisco, and there were people in the class from the US, France, Britain, Jerusalem, etc.

Here is my Kawandi (a word for this type of quilt), so far...

It doesn't like much yet, but I'm sure it will be beautiful. I love the mindset you have doing this, it's quite therapeutic. We weren't to plan what the final quilt will look like...just like life. We were to sew another piece according to how we felt about that piece of fabric just then.....and not to worry about pieces that you had already sewn...just like life, we can't go back to change the past. 

I've sewn in a few pieces of Dupioni silk...and I'm really loving that. I think I'll do another piece in the future with just silks. Might be a good idea to start hunting thrift shops for silk ties.

I did finish my Maja cardigan this past week. It's my first time knitting with Istex Lettlopi, and I love the light weight of it and the softness. I think this is a yarn that would feel itchy for people who are sensitive to wool, though.

I found some perfect buttons from Etsy, a vendor from Toronto, so it didn't take long for them to get here by post.

I wasn't going to buy ribbon to cover the steek, partially because I didn't know where one would buy such a thing, and because it wasn't really necessary, but I was ordering some yarn a week or so ago and saw the ribbon and it was so pretty...

I hope to have more time to do some stitching, but there are some chores to be done...we're ripping up some carpet and there are still staples to pull out. 

I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Happy Valentine's Day !

 What a beautiful sunny morning...maybe the calm before the storm???

Looks like a good day to have a walk and catch some Vitamin D. 

I started my day, of course, with a bit of slow stitching. I've been poking away at the 6" blocks for my A Curious Journey BOM. 

These blocks were supposed to represent flowers, with green stitches for stems. But before I had really looked closely at the pattern I though they were clouds and rain, so I changed the colour to blue perle cotton and they are clouds and rain...

I've been knitting on my Maja cardigan. The picture is from yesterday, and this morning I've knitted up to where I will start the ribbing for the top of the sweater...

This sweater just comes to the waist. I had thought to make it a bit longer and I may have done a couple of extra rows, but it's lucky I didn't do much more as I had just the right amount of the blue yarn. 

This sweater was supposed to be part of a knitalong on Facebook but that was cancelled because most of that participants are in Nordic countries and they've had a shortage of the yarn that is called for. Luckily there are many people on the Facebook group that have knitted regardless, so lots of inspiration to be had. Funny thing, even though most of the people can't find the Icelandic yarn, I was able to order it from a shop only about an hour from where I live in Ontario!

It's always fun to learn something new. This week my "new" will be steeking this sweater. That's when you, in this case, knit the sweater in the round, then cut it up the the front centre of the sweater,  and knit the button bands on. lol...stay tuned for how that goes!

I'm going to try to be strict with myself once the sweater is done. I want to get back to quilting my Shimmer quilt. I'm sure all it will take is one week, maybe two, to have it finished. It's been loitering for too long now. I had meant this to be entered into the Fall Fair in 2020, but when that was cancelled the quilting of Shimmer seemed to stall.

And, no, I did not pose the animals for the photo!...

On that note, I think I'll get on with my day. Have a wonderful day, and maybe have a visit with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching to see what others are working on today.

Scrappy Saturday - yellow

Just checking in to report on my progress with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for February.

My RSC21 challenge is to move along on my Chapman Coverlet. This is a do-able challenge for me as the blocks finish at just 2".

My goal is to do at least 10 of the little blocks if not more....and it almost always results in more because they are quick and easy.

 

This will be a real scrappy quilt in the end and I know I'm going to love it! Maybe I'll carve out some time this weekend to sew some of the blocks into four-sies. 

Here's a reminder of how these blocks will go together...

You can see on some of the blocks that I do think it's fun to fussy-cut when possible on quilts like this!

I've been taking part in a Boho Heart sewalong. This weekend I'd like to get week 2 completed. Here are the blocks from week 1...

I have no particular theme for the Boho Heart quilt, except for the fact that it is to be bright and cheerful.

One of the things I love about sewalongs through Facebook is the motivation...but more than that I like seeing all the different takes on a particular quilt from all around the world.

That's all for now...time to head up to the sewing room! I am linking up with So Scrappy's post for Scrap Happy Saturdays where we can see what others are working on in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Sunday Stitching

 We've had such blustery weather this week here in Southern Ontario...nice weather for catching up on some slow stitching (although, do I need an excuse???).

Today is much brighter, but very cold...not a bad day to get outside for some exercise except for the fact that all my joints are achey this morning....so another fine excuse to get some slow stitching done!

I've been poking away at my A Curious Journey BOM. This is a mystery sewalong, but I thought I'd put everything up on the design wall to see how it's looking. I have no idea yet how the blocks will go together, other than the fact that the four large blocks are sewn together.

I was working on these blocks this morning, many of the blocks have a bit of embroidery with perle cotton...

There are also 25 Windswept blocks to add to the mix...

....and I have quite a few of the 6" blocks still to do. Hmmm....maybe a bit of prep-work is in order for the day!

Again I've had my Auntie Green's Garden out to evaluate...

Even though it's been in the time-out pile for a couple of years, I still love it! This quilt will be my main focus after A Curious Journey comes to an end.

This was the first week of the Boho Heart Quilt Sewalong. I did manage to get this week's blocks done and I really like how they turned out. I'm determined to keep up with this and not let it fall by the wayside (famous last words!).

I am linking up, as usual on Sundays!, with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching. Enjoy your day!