New to Me in February

Welcome to the February New to Me Link Party.

This month I have tried my New to Me's are all embroidery related. I had read somewhere that French Knots and Bullion Knots were easier to stitch with Milliner's needles, and as I am all for making life easier I hunted in my local needlework shops for these.

They are supposedly easier because they don't bulge at the top for the eye like an ordinary sewing needle does, so they are easier to pull through the thread to make the knot. Well, that is the theory anyway!

I gave them a go on my EG project and I have to say that given I was stitching the French knots on canvas and with two threads in the needle, one of which was metallic, it did seem to go much more smoothly than normal. So, I am guessing that the theory is right :)

I have also been trying my hand at ribbon embroidery for the first time. I struggled at first not to pull the ribbon through too tightly but I am hoping that practice in this case will make perfect. I have even attempted ribbon French knots, but haven't got around to taking a photo of that yet. I may just be getting carried away here!

Some of those sparkly new threads that I treated myself to recently have been used for this whipped chain stitch border (another New to Me stitch!) for my EG project too. So there have been lots of firsts in this project already and I am only halfway through it.

So, that's my New to Me's this month, now it is your turn. As ever please help to spread the word by linking back to this post in your post and/or adding the blog button to your sidebar.




Check out the other links too and, maybe, leave an encouraging comment along the way. The emphasis of this link party is to celebrate the trying so a little encouragement here and there would not go amiss! 

The link will remain open until 23.59GMT on February 29th, so you have some time yet to try something new and link up and join the party :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew - a sight for sore eyes!

Welcome to another Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Party, where you are encouraged to work on Christmas and Holiday crafts throughout the year so that come December you will have time to enjoy the season with a pile of handmade gifts on hand.

It has been snowing here recently, so it has not been too difficult to think about Christmas crafting :)

My Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew make this month has been a WIP since October 2014, so it cannot be called a quick make even although it should have been!

 I have finally finished the needlepoint glasses case that I started on our cruise from Montreal to Miami! The case is destined for my husband who is constantly hunting for his glasses, so I hope that this is bright enough for him not to miss :)

The pattern was printed on the canvas, which I thought would be much easier than following a chart but I think in hindsight I prefer working from a chart as it was sometimes difficult to work out which colour a particular stitch should be.

Our Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew guest host this month is Ruth, who blogs at Charly & Ben's Crafty Corner. Ruth is a leading light in the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland, so if you haven't come across her before then you should definitely check out her blog! She is always up to some quilty goodness :)

Of course, it wouldn't be a Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Party without a giveaway, now would it? Last month's winner of the lovely craft book was Sheri who blogs at Sunshine in the Attic

This month we have a Christmas Decoration  pack from Angela Attwood Textiles.

Having already made one of these decorations last year I can vouch for how good the materials and the instructions are.

If you would like to win this project pack, head on over to Charly & Ben's Crafty Corner and link up any Christmas and Holiday projects that you have been working on this February.

Finally, a big thank you to all of our lovely sponsors who make these monthly giveaways possible.

  

 

Prepping

At the moment, the only time that I get to work on the Up, up and away quilt is my Monday quilt group.

Now that I have used up all of the blocks received from the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee, it is down to me to put together the 180 blocks still needed to complete that top.

So, there has been a bit of prepping going on for the class today.

180 2.5" squares cut out and ready to have their triangles attached!

I only had a Kona white in my stash ( I forget which one) and as the first half of the quilt is made with lots of different whites and white tone-on-tones, I didn't want this second half to be only one white fabric, so a little retail therapy was in order.

I am getting there slowly :)

30 days and counting!

Apparently it is 30 days since Jen started her 100 day challenge over at Quilter in the Closet, so time for the first check in.

For the challenge participants were asked to nominate three projects to finish in the 100 days timescale, you can see my original post for the challenge here

So, has there been any progress?

Well, yes, surprisingly, there has.

Thanks to a couple of sessions at my new quilt group I have a half-pieced top for the Up, up and away quilt from the Sunday Morning Quilts book. There are still lots of 2.5" blocks to be cut and pieced into strips, but at least from here on in the strips get shorter every time :)

The canvaswork centre for my Embroiderers Guild exhibition piece has now been drawn out on graph paper and stitching has started. Of course I couldn't resist using this as an opportunity to purchase some sparkly new threads, so they have been added to the mix too!

And finally, my secret (and very scary!) EG project has also been started. That is my first ever attempt at whipped chain stitch above and I am really pleased at how it turned out. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of this piece will be as pleasing as I think there are going to be lots of New to Me stitches in there by the end. Of course the opportunity to purchase even more sparkly threads couldn't be passed up here either, hence that lovely hand-dyed ribbon for the whipped stitches: )

So, that's my progress after 30 days, I have a feeling that these projects will be going down to the wire, don't you?

Head on over to Jen's to see how everyone else has risen to the challenge.

Linking up to