I finished putting Alaska together earlier this week. I put the top up on the wall to get a picture of it. That proud moment, (remember when you would stick your kids artwork on the fridge?) Look! I did this. I sent the picture to my DS, and then I saw it. Right near the center, a block out of place.

I had a few blocks left over and plenty of pieces due to my terrific counting abilities. I carefully removed the offender and replaced it and another block that was on the bottom edge. Now it’s perfect and ready for long arm land.

I have been working on my cross stitch piece in between clues for the Stillness shawl. I am finding that I am a bit lackadaisical about this cross stitch. The little symbols are tough to see and using three shades of purple in a small area is confusing to me. Wait, was that a 1 or an upside down T or maybe its a /. I admit to getting close enough often. They are flowers, so its not like theres a pattern to mess up or make lop sided. I am giving myself permission to be creative with it. Otherwise it will go back in the drawer for posterity to find. I might see if I can enlarge it on my scanner printer – that’s a project in itself, me and the printer are on shaky terms.

The shawl is coming along. I ran out of color B, the purple, two rows short of the end of that section. This weeks clue uses color C, so I just picked up where I left off and finished clue 3 with color C. This new section increases the width of the shawl, now its over 500 stitches. These are the rows that take time, most of them are stockinet, which is fine with me. The variegated yarn provides the interest. I’m planning on working on it while the long arm works finishing the current quilt. This quilt (below) needs a name, the kit name was Pas de Deux, a French term used in ballet meaning the “dance of two”. I guess it is because of the different two blocks combine to create the quilt? I don’t think it is saying it wants to be a fur-fru ballet dancer, the fabrics are kinda civil war era/ country colors. More like a country hoedown or square dance, do si do your partner quilt.

I have two new projects that I want to get done this weekend. I got a foam bolster that I want to make a cover for (that’s it all wrapped up in plastic like a football) and I really need to make a slipcover for this ottoman. It is over twenty years old, and recently my dog has decided it’s better to sleep on than her own bed. It keeps her off the recently recovered sofa that used to be her first choice. I went to Joanns yesterday to see about upholstery fabric. I figured about three yards would do the ottoman, since it’s only a slip cover. I was a little shocked at their cotton quilt fabric inventory, it was about 25% of what it usually is. Lots of empty shelves to be seen. The funny thing is that I had gone to my local quilt shop first to get a new bobbin case for my 790, and they had more quilting fabric than Joanns did. Strange times. Anyway, I found two flat folds of three yards each that will work nicely for my projects this weekend.

Last but not least, this quilt top needs a border to contain all its scrappy hydrangeas. I am going to use the blue, for a 2″ border then the white for a four inch outer border. Binding will be the blue yellow and white stripe for the finish.

Be Kind