Shimmering Shores Finished

 Hello!

I first told you about this project on September 22, 2025.

There were a few areas I had difficulty with, but I made it through and it was fun to stitch!

Happy Stitching!!

Christmas Ornaments

 I made these ornaments this year.

I made this sewing angel for my grad school roommate, Sandra. She is a quilter and I thought this was a nice one to make. It was from the 2025 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue page 52. It is called An Angel Is Stitching by Nicoletta Farrauto of Nikyscreations.

 

I made this for my friend and new next-door neighbor. It is from Cookie Cutter Ornaments by It's Sew Emma and the Fat Quarter Shop. I finished it using matt board I cut in a circle with a die, not the pie tins as in the project book. 

Happy Stitching!!

Baby Stitching

In October and November, my family was blessed with two cute baby girls and I became a Grand Aunt!! I made each of them a quilt, which I showed here.  

Here are the baby dresser cards I made to go with the ornaments.

Here are the fronts of each ornament.

This is the back of each ornament.

Happy Stitching!!

Catching Up

 This patriotic project was stitched by a Festival Stitchers club member for sale at EXPO after I finished it into a flat fold.

HO, HO, HO. Is a Toni Gerdes Project I was working on just before cataract surgery and I have not picked it up again. Of course, now I have many more months to get it done! I got as far as the border, so I am almost done!

Happy Stitching!

New Sewing Cabinet

I bought myself a birthday present and my hubby put it together while I was visiting family in California. When I came home, my beautiful Harriet Cabinet made by Arrow Sewing Cabinets was ready to go. We put it under the window in the library and there is a lot of light as plenty of room, when I open it up. I purchased mine from Sewing Parts Online, but there are other sellers out there, including directly from the manufacturer. 

I also purchased a clear insert for my machine. The cabinet comes with a removable wood insert to match the cabinet and fill in the space for the machine to keep the surface area flat. My first project using this new set up was a case to protect the wood piece since I have the clear insert to match my machine. All this may make more sense to sewers with a similar set up, sorry if you are confused.

Pretty basic, but I discovered my cabinet puts my machine at a better height. I have been sewing on my desk top all this time and the machine was higher. When in the cabinet and flush with the top (thanks to the clear insert) my line of sight is much better, and I can see what I am doing. Who knew? Someone else, I am sure.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Stretcher Bars

 How many stretcher bars does a person need??

Of course, I don't have the ones I need (10" mini or 14" regular)! But I am wondering if I really need 8 pairs of 12" or 6 pairs of 8" etc. Please post your ideas in the comments. Thanks.

What I am working on this week

I am back to working on Moonlit Desert as part of my rotation system. I developed this system a number of years ago to help me reduce my stash. I have six categories of projects (different from the last time I used this system). Within each category is a list of projects, which are numbered. I use a random number generator to pick a project to work on. This helps me pick something when I can't decide what I want to stitch. But it is not cast in stone; if the number that comes up does not quite trip my trigger, I pick a new number.

The plan is to start a project each Sunday and work on it for 7 days. If it is not finished, I pick it up when the category it is in comes up next. If I finish something during the 7 days, I can go back to something I am already working on or pick a new project from the category. Or basically whatever I want.

When I last posted about this some people thought it was too confining. But it does help reduce my stash, help me decide on what to stitch if I am undecided. Also, it is my system, and I can do what I want with it, so if I decide to work on something off the list, I do. Stitching should be fun after all.

My categories are: WIPS (1-31), Bins (1-264) White Cab (1 - 43), Flowerboxes (1-81), Studio (1 - 78) & Stitchers Choice. You can see by the numbers I am doing a fine job creating my SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy). Although to make life easier on me, when I finish a numbered item, I cross it off rather than renumber everything, so I don't have quite as many projects as it seems.  The categories mostly relate to where these things are stashed and are either complete kits or partials. They do not include my file cabinet full of just charts. So, I guess this is my confession of being a stitching addict - SURPRISE!!! 

That was a long way to tell you about Moonlit Desert. I am at the point of filling in the background - not super fun, so I may work on something else periodically to keep me from getting bored. 

Happy Fall All Y'all