WIPW - The Bookmark

 In this Work In Progress Wednesday report, I will show you the

Bookmark

I made earlier, but only showed you the back of.

Now, here is the front.

The lady who received it told me she has started to read a lot more recently (now being a pensioner) so the bookmark will come in handy.

Hexablooms

I stitched together some long lengths of blocks.

WIPW - The Last in a Series of Five

Work In Progress Wednesday.

I have a finish today - the last out of five bookmarks was completed.

Bookmark

Yes, I made a bookmark for each of a group of five friends. The last bookmark is now completed and winging its way across the Globe. I will show you only the felt-covered back today and the full embroidery once the bookmark has reached the recipient.

Hexablooms

I cut some more squares and I basted some other squares over hexagon cards.

I attached more blocks to the flimsy. If I have counted correctly, there are now 226 hexablooms on the quilt.

Sunday Stitch School Indigo Stitch Sampler

For Stitch #345 Barred Buttonhole Wheel, I fastened a real button and a piece of round felt.

WIPW - Small portions of progress

Work In Progress Wednesday.

The volume of progress is low, but I did work on several things.

Hexablooms

I basted just a few more hexagon cards with fabric.

I joined a number of hexagon flowers to the flimsy, but I didn't count how many.

Bookmark

It is so hard to hold the narrow strip of linen and stitch in hand. Therefore, I basted support fabric on both sides so I can use a hoop. I hope this will speed up the progress.

The Quilt Show and the Report

I don't know if this can be counted as progress, but some of my stitching time was used to visit the quilt show and then write up a report. The latter always takes time; I want to mention the quilters' names. This time I settled for only searching for the names and not the pronunciation. That is why there is no Roman script for the names.

If you didn't read the report you can find it here.

I had a great time meeting up with friends and sharing our impressions.

WIPW - 61-10=51

Work In Progress Wedensday.

Other things than stitching have kept me busy.

Hexablooms

Last time I reported on a pile of 61 newly prepared blocks to add to the flimsy. I have stitched on 10 of them. The pile has thus shrunk to 51, which explains the headline of today's blog post.

Hung on the wall, over another quilt, you can see that in total 204 blocks are now fixed.

With all the white paper slips bearing the placement number stitched over the centre hexagon of each flower, the quilt appears to be full of snowballs. Fear not, once the paper has been removed the metallic fabric of the centre will shine and glow - hopefully.

Bookmark

I have one more bookmark to stitch this year.  I got started on it last weekend. Here is the back.

So, sorry for the meagre portion of Work In Progress this week.

WIPW - More Work While Waiting

It's time for another Work In Progress Wednesday report.

I had to escort someone outside the home and then spend time waiting.

Stitching While Waiting

What can be better than preparing more hexagon pieces while winding away the time? Here is the result for this week:

Bookmark

Do you remember this teaser? 

It was a blow-up of this cross-stitch bookmark, which I can now show in its entirety as it has reached its recipient.

Hexablooms

The Hexablooms flimsy now consists of 172 blocks.　

You can see that the five new blocks added vertically on the right side ensure the glass behind will be covered up.

WIPW - Mourning Card

 It is once again time for a Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Mourning Card

A dear friend recently lost her husband, and it felt right to send her a fabric card.

I used a remnant from one of my mother's most elegant evening gowns - a piece of rich blue silk.

On it I stitched stars with metallic thread: 

TAST #77 Woven Cross, 

and Sunday Stitch School #176 Buttonhole Cross Stitch, #208 Star Filling Stitch and #332 Irregular Algerian Eyelet Star Stitch. 

The embroidery was mounted onto a piece of card and then inserted into a window card. This card had an oval hole, but I cut it into a heart shape.

Mandala

I have completed the garland!

Up next is adding something yellow!

Hexablooms

As the sweltering summer heat has subsided a bit, I replaced a thin, airy piece of fabric that has hung across the glass wall all summer with my Morning Glory quilt. 

If you remember, it is a Log Cabin design, in lovely aqua and teal with golden hearth centres and plenty of metallic embroidery quilting.

The Morning Glory quilt was meant to be a bed cover, but I usually hang it so the morning light can play with the metallic thread quilting. 

There is a problem, though, it is too small to cover up the glass wall it is displayed against.

That is why I want the Hexabloom quilt to be larger. I needed to see if the width was OK. 

I simply hung it with pegs from the same wooden bar as the Morning Glory quilt. 

Looking at it carefully,  I think I will add one more column on the right to fully cover the glass wall behind.

 

This means making more hexagon blocks!

Well, before I do that, I will add more of the blocks that I have already prepared, and that will go downward. 

Maybe something like this:

They are now number-coded,  and five of them have been stitched together.

Bookmark

This is the front of the 'mysterious' bookmark I have been hiding from you for such a long time. 

I found the cross-stitch pattern on the internet. The birthday gal is a friend of cats.

Sunday Stitch School Indigo Stitch Sampler

#329 Radiation Stitch (teal),  #330 Pueblo Stitch (teal and red) and #331 Astrakhan Velvet Stitch (mustard yellow).

WIPW - One More Bookmark

 There will be a glimpse of a new bookmark in this Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Bookmarks

I stitched a new bookmark with a floral motif, but I will only show you a limited picture for now. Come October, and you can see all.

After completing it, I stretched it under a damp cloth, and arranged a fringe on the top and the bottom. The reverse is covered with a piece of green felt.

I finished the other bookmark, which I completed the stitching on earlier, if you remember,

 in the same way. It is neatly stretched and has a fringe and felt back.  The motif will be revealed next week.

Mandala

The last but one section of the garland is in place.

Next week, I will put in the final section and start experimenting with some yellow stitching or beading.

The yellow in the garland needs to be balanced somewhere inside the Mandala, I think.

Hexablooms

I have stitched what I think will be the width of the wallhanging. I still need to join some seams before I can test-hang the whole upper part of the tapestry and check if it really does fit the designated area it will be hung in. If it does, I will then proceed by working downward.

Here I have laid out the blocks on the floor.

WIPW - Two Projects off my Shoulders

 I had less time to progress on my Work In Progress Wednesday project than I had thought. 

Anyway, I can report on two finishes.

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

The entire piece is now covered with shiny blue sequins. 

I started this sampler in November 2021, with #1 Anundsjö Stitch and added the last stitch in September last year with stitch #300, Ring Picot. Since then, I have been adding stitches and sequins wherever I spotted a void.

I will now look for a lining/backing fabric and a zipper, and turn this into a cushion cover.

Bookmark

The bookmark is now filled with Cross-Stitch. What remains is the stretching, pressing and fringemaking.

Here is the reverse side. I will show you the front in September. Until then, the bookmark will slumber in a box.

WIPW => WIPF

 

Yes, the Work In Progress Wednesday report I should have published last Wednesday must be called Work In Progress Friday. It has been a week of befuddlement - I blame it on the recent heat wave.

Hexablooms

The assembly of the hexagon floral blocks is progressing smoothly. I've worked mainly on the dark blue flowers.

First I selected the next set of blocks, settled for the placement and then stitched on their individual placement codes.

This is as far as I have come assembling the blocks.

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

Half of what was left unsequinned last week has now been filled with gleaming blue sequins. Can I deal with the last spurt next week?

Bookmark

Here as well, progress has been made. Can I reach the finishing line next week?

Birthday Cards

Last week, I posted glimpses of two birthday cards I had made from scraps of fabric. The cards have been delivered and I can show them in full.

WIPW - A few Meters

Here is this week's Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Hexablooms

I added just a few more flowers. This is slow progress...

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

I used a few more meters of thread to add more sequins. Inside the white frame is the area where sequins have been added. 1/4 of the sampler remains to be filled.

Bookmark

Birthday Cards

I made two birthday cards, but I will only show a little bit of them for now.

WIPW - Minimal Progress

A lot of work landed in my lap, and I have not been able to make more than a minimal progress for the Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Hexablooms

This is the stage I have reached now:

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

30 more sequins landed on the sampler.

Bookmark

I worked mainly with filling in the white area.

There is no need to comment on this meagre addition to my WIP.

WIPW - 3gr less

 This report is for Work In Progress Wednesday.

Hexablooms

I have joined more hexagon flower blocks to the yellow section and then added orange ones. Brown and dark blue blocks are the next steps so some of these blocks have been earmarked and given location codes.

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

The content of the sequin tube has shrunk by 3 grammes. Why? Well, those 3 gr worths are now on the sampler!

Bookmark

The mistake from last week has been corrected, and more stitches have been added. 

It's been a week of slow but steady progress.

WIPW - Reverse Stitching

Hello, it is Wednesday and time to submit my Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Hexablooms

Last week, I assembled eight blocks. This week I managed to do ten more, but every seam is not stitched yet.

Bookmark

I noticed a mistake in the white area, on the right, which kept blaring at me, so I removed most of what I had stitched the previous week.  

Reverse stitching is boring, but I hope that by restitching it, the overall result will be better.

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

The sampler now has more shiny blue sequins.

WIPW - Starting Phase 2 - The Assembling of Hexablooms

Finishing a project, or a phase of a project, is always rewarding, and one can sigh in relief. 

As always, it is exciting to start something new, whether it is a fresh project or a new phase of an ongoing one.

This Work In Progress Wednesday report is happy to announce the start of Phase 2 of 

Hexablooms

with plans for how to assemble the 377 blocks. I will have no time limit or deadline for this phase, but work as fast and often as I feel right - after all the rainy season and then the sweltering summer months are approaching.

After having sorted the blocks into piles by colour, which I reported on last week, I made a rough sketch of how the colours would be spread out over the quilt.

 It has always been my idea to let blocks of colours blend into each other, something like this.

I started with the top left corner of yellows and oranges and laid out the blocks until I had a pattern I liked. 

I will fill in the voids with single white hexagon shapes made from an old sheet that has frayed around the lace insert, and which I can't be bothered to mend. Recycle is the word!

The next step was to number each block and stitch on a little paper label with the code A1, B1, C1... A2, B2, C2...

The letters stand for the columns and the numbers for the rows.

Furthermore, I marked a straight line and a V on the paper to show where the white hexagon should go.

Once this was done, I got started on joining the hexagon blooms together.

The hexagon cards are still inside, so the work looks stiff and buckled.

Below, you can see how the white sheet hexagons have been added.

Bookmark

As promised, from now on, I will only show the reverse of the cross-stitch so as not to reveal the motif.

Most of the progress was in the white area.

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

I added more blue sequins and almost halft the sampler is complete.