Wool FFO - “God Bless America”

This wool appliqué pillow is God Bless America from The Little Red Hen.   I saw someone on flosstube showing the kit for this piece that she had recently purchased, and before I knew it, I was ordering one, too! My plan was to have it stitched by the Fourth of July, and so it is. . . well, that is . . . it’s ready for July 4, 2022. If you have seen this pattern, you might notice that I have eliminated the vines and tiny button berries. As it is a small (8.5" x8.5") piece, I decided to simplify the design a bit.

I’m feeling pretty relieved this afternoon as we had been bracing for hurricane Henri. A hurricane has not made landfall in Massachusetts in thirty years, and we had been expected to be hammered by this storm. I had spent Friday morning removing hanging pots and garden items in preparation for the projected high winds and torrential periods of rain, but the storm was downgraded to a tropical storm, and it changed course. The folks along the south coast and those in the western part of the state took the brunt of this  storm. With the unprecedented amount of rain that we have had in July and August, the fear was that flooding would be a major concern. Also, the ground is so sodden that the winds could easily cause trees to topple and major power outages to occur. [The meteorologists explained that when we have northeasters, the trees have generally by that time lost all their leaves, and the trees can then withstand the gale force winds, not so when the trees are covered in leaves and the ground is so wet.] The rain has stopped and the winds have died down where I live about twelve miles south of Boston; I can only hope that those areas of New York and New England in its path have fared well.

My other dish plate hibiscus has come into bloom. 

I have added two small cross stitch pieces to the summer farm-themed tiered tray on my kitchen table. Though small, they each took about eight to nine hours to stitch. Cross stitchers will recognize these as pieces from Lori Holt’s stitch cards. Maybe next year I will add the cow and pig! :-)

One last thing, if you have ever thought of purchasing an HQ Sweet Sixteen, you should check out the latest Quilt Roadies video, Demo of the Sweet Sixteen and Some Quilt Talk.  For those readers who are not quilters, a Sweet Sixteen is a midsize quilting machine. . . bigger than a regular machine but smaller than a longarm. And in case you were wondering, no, I am not interested in a quilting machine; heck, I can barely get myself to sit down at my regular machine. I had hoped that returning to guild meetings in the fall would motivate me to get busy quilting, but with the variant spreading, I do not know whether or not I will feel comfortable attending guild meeting.

On that cheery note, I will bid you adieu until the next time. Yesterday, I painted a frame to display “Sail Away,” a cross stitch pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop, and I am eager to FFO it.

One really and truly last thing . . . when I went to publish this post, I noticed that this is post # 1001!!! Can you believe that? Wow!!!  Thank you to all who continue to read these sometimes random ramblings. :-)

Stay safe everyone. Have a good week.

Help!!! I've Fallen Down the Cross Stitch Rabbit Hole!!!

It's true. It happened. In my blog post dated March 26, 2020, just as the world was starting to turn  upside down, I wrote that I was 99.9999999 percent sure that I would not fall down the cross stitch rabbit hole. Oh, sure, I have done cross stitch before. . . most recently in a "Let's Bake " quilt designed by Lori Holt, but nothing since then. Heaven knows I have enough other hand stitching projects to keep me busy: the Sue Spargo BOM Lite, the Sue Spargo 90-Day Circle Sampler, a Yoko Saito applique quilt that has been in timeout, and a Sashiko kit that I bought the last time I went to the Vermont Quilt Festival two or three years ago. See what I mean? I had no business taking up cross stitch, but it happened anyway.

It all started with Anna Bates who has never even met me. For years I have followed her blog, Woolie Mammoth and her Youtube channel "Quilt Roadies. "Anna has a lively, fun, happy personality. She blogs about her quilting, wool applique, life, etc. When not in quarantine times, "Quilt Roadies" on Youtube documents some of her travels with her husband G. She also films projects that she is working on in the Beehive, her quilt studio. Then she started a new Youtube channel, "Stitch Roadies" to discuss her cross stitching. At first, I watched because as I said she is a positive, upbeat person, and don't we need people like that during these troubled times. Well, bit by bit by bit, I got drawn in . . . and before I could stop myself, I had ordered this sweet little sunflower cross stitch kit. (It's a Dimension kit from Joann's, and it came with the pattern, thread, fabric, and needles.)

When I had my FO (Finished Object) I watched floss tube videos on Youtube for suggestions on how to make it a FFO (Fully Finished Object.) Since I have not been going to stores, I used what I had on hand: black and white check gingham, batting, a little metal barn piece, a scrap of lace, buttons, and Aleene's Tacky glue. (Those who know me know that I have never met a button old or new that I didn't like and that goes for scraps of lace and trim, too!!! )

So, things would have been fine at this point if I hadn't started watching more Floss Tube. What's Floss Tube you ask? Well, it's a whole community of lovely people who post videos of their cross stitching on Youtube. The format of each video regardless of the presenter or presenters basically follows the same format. A few minutes of chit chat, then a look at WIPS (works in progress), Haul (what they have recently purchased in the way of patterns/charts, cross stitch fabric, threads, and kits), then it is on to FOs and FFOs. Now, the bad part of these floss tube videos is that you often see something that you would like to do or to order.

I have had to set strict rules for myself regarding purchases. The most important is I can only work on small pieces. The walls of my castle are filled with my quilted wall hangings and my photography, and there is no room for anything but small cross stitch pieces. That's fine with me. :-)
Has this discouraged me from ordering patterns, etc? Nope! I have enough to keep me busy for quite some time. In my defense, not that I need any, anything that makes us happy or keeps us busy or makes us smile during these dark, desperate times is more than okay with me.

If you are brave enough, you might like to check out the following floss tubers on Youtube:

             Stitch Roadies with Anna Bates
             Brenda and the Serial Starter (They stitch traditional samplers which would not appeal to, me,      but I do get a kick out of these ladies.)
             Country Stitchers
             The Real Housewives of Cross Stitch
             Barbara's Daughter.

I find cross stitching to be very calming and meditative, but be forewarned as you, too, might find yourself tumbling down the cross stitch rabbit hole.

Stay safe. Stay strong. Have hope.