Love in Every Stitch

   This spring, bumblebees set up housekeeping under the overhang of our dining room window.  As the drive way is right outside the dining room, this can often make more mad dashes to the car by the littlest members of our family.  When the windows are open, I can often hear their buzz as I work on projects at the dining room table.
   And I have been working!  I am so happy to be able to cross several items off the UFO lists and enter their photos in the project gallery.

   First, I finished Sam's football quilt.  How fortunate that I did not start and finish this one all at once, as the boy kept on growing! The "Big Guy" is about to turn 13.  (He calls me "Shorty" much to my chagrin, but somewhere my mother is laughing because I'm pretty sure I did the same to her).   I can't believe how the time has flown and how much he has grown up, particularly in just the past few years. I hope that his football quilt will be something that he will use for years, and always know that there is love in every stitch.

Here is a detail of the hand sewn swirls in the border.
The rest of the it was machine quilted in the ditch. 

 Second, I finished the Fall Log Cabin that I had started before Sam was even born! Originally, I wanted to hand quilt leaves in the large border with metallic gold thread.  Not being able to find the leaf shaped cookie cutters I was going to use as a pattern, I looked at other leaf shapes and realized that they were very detailed for a quilt (translation - too time consuming) so instead I drew swirls - like an illustrator would use to indicate the wind had blown something - and quilted it with gold floss.   At the beginning of May I had a minor, elective surgery (nothing big!) which afforded me a few days of "down time".   Spring had finally sprung, so I took the quilt outside on our back porch and sewed while soaking up the fresh air, and listened to Siri read the newest Nora Roberts to me from my Kindle (I love that feature!).  I am rather pleased with how it turned out, and I already know the perfect place to display it this fall.

The third UFO that I can cross of the list is called Life's Treasures by Gail Bussi from the March 2010 edition of Cross Stitch and Needlework.  The living room in my old house had a "cottage" look to it - all pastels with cream and gold accents.  This piece seemed to suit the color palette well, and I thought the four words: Love, Family, Home, Friends, summed up four of the most important things in life for me. I found a nice distressed gold frame that will complement, not overpower the gentle picture. Now it will sit in the living room or dining room of our new home.

The fourth project I finished recently was not a UFO.  My winter coat is brown and blue so when I saw this gorgeous blue fuzzy, soft, yarn I grabbed two skeins (the color is not as grey in real life as it came out in the picture).  I must have started this scarf about four times - I couldn't find a pattern that I liked.  I tried several, like ribbed and seed stitch, but because of the thickness and the super fuzzy nature, you could never really see the pattern.  Finally I just did stockinette with it reversed at the edges for a little border.  I will block it to make it lay flat before I use it this winter. Maybe I'll track down another skein or two and attempt to make a hat to match!


Whew! Four things to cross of the list. That puts me at 22 projects completed, more than half way to my goal.  I know there's not a lot of time left until I turn 41, but I'll give it my best shot.  The end of school is just around the corner, so soon I'll be working on the teacher gifts I have planned.  They involve terra cotta pots and chalkboard paint.

See you soon!