Slow Sunday Stitching ~ Spring Crochet

 

Day 7 is complete for my 

Spring Crochet Blanket Started Here

This is a free crochet along.

All information, patterns and tips can be found  at

Any Day Crochet @ TikTok

Nutmeg is my ever helpful crochet kitty.

Her favorite part of the job is testing our crochet blankets for comfort.

Nutmeg and I are linking up today with all of the lovely creations at

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

It has been a weekend of heavy rain and now clearing skies

 in my corner of the world.

The forecast is for more spring like weather.

We were able to start a little yard cleanup and found 

our crocuses and tulips are sending up green shoots.

No spring flowers yet.

Soon ... very soon ... :) 

I hope your weekend has been full of good times and happy stitches.

Slow Sunday Stitching ~ Hand Applique

This is my current slow stitching project.

I am learning how to do hand-applique my way,

which means after watching many videos and reading many how-to methods,

I am figuring out what actually works for my many thumbs

by trial and error.

I started

  My Vintage Flower Sampler Quilt in January

with my Atsuko Matsuyama fabric stash. 

After completing

 My 2nd Vintage Flower Pieced Block Here

I decided to try one of the applique blocks.

I can manage an adequate raw-edge machine applique block,

but for this quilt I decided to try my hand again at hand-applique.

I attempted to learn needle turn applique many years ago, 

but put it aside feeling all thumbs and not completing a block. 

I have always wanted to try again. 

I started 2024 deciding this would be my quilty challenge for the year.

This is the block lay-out and my threads.

This photo was taken when my pieces were cut and not yet prepped.

At that point I had planned a white tone-on-tone background 

before I decided a softer looking background was needed for these fabrics.

I bought the package of 30s colored applique threads at a quilt show

 many years ago and they have been waiting and waiting, still wrapped, in my stash.

Then recently I purchased the creamy white and a few more colors.

This is Aurifil 80 weight cotton thread which is new to me. 

This thread is so much nicer than any of the many others that I have tried before

I think I will never use any other thread again for invisible stitching again.

I had a surprise kitty helper today!

This is the first time Cassian, who was a stray we took in at the end of 2022,

has taken any interest in any of my sewing or stitching endeavors.

Katniss sits with me everyday on my sewing table

 so I put one of her favorite furry cat beds there for her.

Cassian very quickly started settled as my kitty supervisor and inspector. 

It was purrrfectly wonderful to have him sitting with me while I stitched.

My boys came over for a nice visit this afternoon and my needle was idle.

I only have a few more pieces to stitch though so

I hope to have a finished applique block very soon.

Linking up tonight with the lovely stitchers at

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

Enjoy the links! 

Slow Sunday Stitching ~ Flea Market Flowers Progress

Today I did a little

(very little if the truth be told)

slow stitching 

while I was watching the NFL Footbal Playoff Games

 with Mr. Scrapatch and one of our sons. 

The games were interesting so my hands were idle much of the time.

I did make some progress on the first large flower motif

in the upper left hand corner of the grid.

I am playing with the colors that are given in the pattern.

This is my first cross stitch project for 2024

 and I will be working on it for some time,

Flea Market Flowers ~ Started Here

since I have been playing with my sewing machine recently.

Hopefully I will have this motif done soon.

Here are my tools of the trade.

I have been using my take of the

Stitching-in-Hand Method

For this project.

Here is my completed grid for this design.

~~~

Linking up for the first time this year with

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

I hope your weekend has been happy and healthy

and you new week will go well.

Happy Stitching! 

Slow Sunday Stitching ~ This is the Plan

 

This is the layout for my first

Crochet Collage Garden Project

I am making a cover for a toss pillow.

I am getting ready to hand applique these motifs in place 

on the background fabric 

with a sewing needle and matching thread color.

Then the plan is to finish the edges with a white crochet edging.

Will post how-to when I figure it out as I go.

I bought this fabric at my favorite local quilt shop;

Melange 4506-607 Light Gray @ Bits'n'Pieces Quilt Shop

I think they have the complete line of this fabric

in their basics section in the back of the store.

You can order online; call if you need help.

I am already starting the plan my next project from this lovely book

from  Chris.made.this

Inspired by this fabric.

I am this slow crochet stitching.

Linking up today with

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

May you have a happy week of stitching!

Slow Sunday Stitching ~ Crochet Collage Garden Progress

 

Crochet Collage Garden Progress

I have enjoyed a week of slow stitching while the home improvement project in the living-dining-sewing room part of our home continues. One thing has lead to another and the trim paint on the baseboards and doors and windows is also being redone. 

It will be lovely when it is finished.

(I will probably be asking to have the walls redone soon, too.

... shhh! ... 

Don't tell Mr. Scrapatch, who is probably ready to be done with this.)

I am really enjoying making the many little motifs in this book:

I started making these flowers and leaf motifs about a week ago

I first posted this project Here ~ Last Sunday.

I have started making multiples of each motif.

The first leaf I made has an error in the center which I did not pull out.

I just adapted and made a one of a kind leaf.

Can you see which one is different?

I have been finding more of my vintage hooks.

My boxed Boye set is complete again as I found not one, but two, I hooks.

I also found a partial set of Boye steel crochet hooks ...

... and some Hero aluminum hooks that I do not recall having,

but they are worn and well used.

The smallest one, the C Hook, is actually bent in the middle. 

Here is a chart I found online at Crochet.com to help me remember

 and understand the sizes and types of hooks. 

To see and feel the difference, I made two leaves with the same weight yarn ...

... one with the 2.75mm aluminum C  Hero Hook

and one with the 3.5mm steel 00 Boye Hook.

This Hero hook is stamped that is was made in Germany,

although others of the Hero Hooks were made in the USA.

These hooks are probably over 50 years old.

I think I have decided that I will be using the steel hooks

 as I continue to make these garden motifs

I had thought I would never use the small gauge steel hooks again

because of my eyesight and achy hands, 

but my hands do not tire at all.

They feel like old friends.

I do have to use my bright LED light to read the patterns

 and see the stitches as I work.

I am happy to be playing with these treasured hooks again.

More on the yarn and other tools I am using soon.

Linking up today with

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

Happy Stitching! 

Crochet Collage Garden

 

I am learning something new!

I have long admired all the lovely little crochet flower collages 

that I see online and have always wanted to try making my own. 

One of my favorite crochet collage creators is ...

Chris.made.this

Her work is so varied and delicate and beautiful! 

When I saw that her patterns were going to be published in a book 

I pre-ordered it on Amazon and it arrived on Friday. 

This is a wonderful book.  

I do have another book by a different author with similar designs but was never really able to follow the instructions to make my own.  This book has both written instructions and diagrams and between both I am able to get the hang of it.

The instructions are written in UK terminology but there is a help to translate it into USA terms for those of us who live on this side of the pond. 

 For example, a treble crochet in the book is a double crochet in my head.  

I had already gathered my supplies in a project box and was ready to begin.

The cotton yarn has been in my stash a few years and the crochet hooks I have had for 40+ years.

This is my vintage Boye crochet hook set. 

The I hook is missing.  

I hope to find it sometime, somewhere in my stuff.  

It must be with whatever I last used it on and that might be in the attic, which means it may be lost forever. I am hoping it just fell out of the box in my craft closet and it will turn up someday soon. These hooks are very worn but they still feel the best in my hand for this lightweight yarn.  I have modern ergonomic hooks in these sizes but the heads do not work the yarn as well as these tried and true ones. I think these are coated aluminum. 

You can see here that the color is worn off of my Size D hook, 

which I have used so far with this project. 

This is the chain start for my first motif yesterday.

This fern is my first finished motif.

In the morning I started my second motif at my kitchen table

 with the sun shining in.

It was very cool and windy today and 

temperatures did not get much above freezing even in the sun.

Here is the stem ready for the flowers.

Here is my completed motif #2.

I am really enjoying making these.

I hope to try to make one a day and I will see where this journey takes me. 

Linking up today with all of the beautiful creations at 

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

Happy Stitching! 

Slow Sunday Stitching ~ Green Metallico Radius Shawl

 Another cold winter day here today.

Always good weather to stay at home and do some slow stitching. 

My kitty crochet inspector is saying, "Time for my lunch break."

Cassian gets grumpy when he thinks it is mealtime.

This is a shawl for My Girl and she picked out the yarn and pattern.

The yarn is Metallico from Hobbii Yarn ~ Color 10

Hobbii often puts this yarn at about 40% -50% off, so if you are interested,

bookmark the page and watch for it to go on sale. 

This is shipped from Europe and it arrives very quickly.

The one time the overseas postal service ripped the bag, I wrote to them and they immediately sent replacement balls for the lost and damaged ones free of charge.

I am not affiliated with this business. I am just a happy customer.

It is difficult to get a good photo of the lovely sheen and true color in this yarn.

The stitch is Tunisian Crochet Simple Stitch.

The pattern is

 Radius Shawl Pattern by Light & Joy Design

I have made this pattern before Pink Shawl Here

The pattern is worked in short rows. 

I have been slowly stitching and the shawl is almost done.

Only one ball of yarn left! 

I plan to put a very simple edging stitch and leave the front open.

No frilly shells or button on this one. 

Just a large lovely sweep of a shawl that My Girl can wrap up in on cold winter days.

Linking up tonight with all the creative people at

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

Since I am a slow stitcher everyday, I always feel at home here. 

Happy Stitching, Everyone!

Slow Sunday Stitching ~ Tunisian Crochet

 

My Perfectly Purple Shawl is progressing. 

I have completed my planned part one in this design as I stitch project.

I last showed this project in my 

Stitch Sew & Show Linky Party

The link for this particular version of the stitch is in the link above.

After I started stitching, I made a personal variation in my long stitches from what is given in the instructions. I pulled through the first two loops and then the single loop as it felt more natural to my hands.  I think I also was able to keep my elongated stitches looking straighter and neater this way.  When following a pattern, I always find what works best for me and go with that. 

I found video for a very, very similar stitch called

Framed Block Stitch by Hobby Stash

The only difference is an extra yarnover loop on the long post stitch. 

Hobby Stash

is a wonderful site for people who quilt and crochet.

I also found this virtual treasure trove of

52 Block Sampler Tunisian Crochet by HobbyStash

That would be one block a week!

I may make this a yearlong project for 2023. 

After completing 63 rows of 63 stitches across, I measured my block using my largest quilting square.  Since Tunisian crochet has a natural tendency to roll at the beginning rows and the ending row, the ruler allowed me to flatten it and get an accurate measurement.  I was very happy to find that my gage is perfect in this block.

I used a Tunisian Crochet Hook size K  ~  6.5 mm.

I really love the texture and look of this stitch.

Here is the front and the back of my block.

My plan is to add a narrow border to this block 

and set it on point for the back of my shawl.

I will start part two of my shawl design tomorrow.

Tonight I am linking up with all the lovely creations at

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

May your weekend end well 

and your new week be a happy one!