Slow Stitches From the Heart

 

Stitches From the Heart

I have settled on this or my cross stitch work in progress. 

I started this project Here in 2021

before it was laid aside for other projects.

This is a free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop.

Download the free Stitches From The Heart

 Cross Stich Pattern Here 

I actually had some trouble finding my  WIP bag in my messy closets.

I am still looking for the floss llamas that I was using, but they must have been moved to a different project bag.  I did find more of the floss colors, so I have decided to just wind more as I go.

This will be my small carry with me project this week as I go to appointments

This week on Wednesday I will start wearing a heart monitor for diagnostic purposes. 

I do hope to have this project done by Valentine's Day.

May all your stitching be happy!

My Local Quilt Shop ~ Fabric Love

Who loves free fabric? ~ I love free fabric!

For Christmas, Mr. Scrapatch went to my local quilt shop 

and bought a gift card that also included the bonus of a card

 that lets me choose one yard of free fabric per month.  

What a guy! 

 For "Local Quilt Shop Day" I visited my favorite LQS:

Bits n Pieces Quilt Shop in Pelham, NH

I have been shopping here since it was a tiny place across the street with no long arm machines.  I remember shopping its moving sale when I came home with bolts of fabric that were $2.00 per yard.  Some of them are still in my closet finding ways into my quilts.

It is always a bit cluttered with bolts of colorful fabric stacked everywhere

 and full of fabric treasures waiting to be found.

It feels like home. 

Bits n Pieces, by the way, is one the quilt shop where I always see two or three men wandering the narrow aisles. Today was no exception. 

It is that kind of place. 

This is my progress last year on 

My Kingfisher Quilt

There are quite a few of the $2.00 per yard BnP moving sale fabrics in the hexies. 

It was set aside at the end of summer for other projects. 

I have been putting in a few stitches here and there

to make more folded hexies for this quilt.

When I saw this Hummingbird Heaven Fabric from Studio E 

I decided it would be perfect to add to my floral fabrics and hexies.

There are free quilt patterns for this line in the link above.

One free pattern is this easy and beautiful panel quilt:

Hummingbird Heaven Free Pattern Here

If you would like a kit for this quilt:

Bits n Pieces has this Hummingbird Heaven Quilt Kit Here

I loved these pink and yellow nasturtiums. 

It is true hummingbirds love nasturtiums because I have seen them feasting on the nectar of the ones in my windowboxes in late summer. 

Hummingbird Heaven Here

I hope you had a happy Local Quilt Shop Day! 

Looking Forward to Happy Heart Day!

Happy Hearts and Valentine's Day is coming next month.

Nutmeg and I love pink and red so we pulled out a new project or two

out of our stash. 

This pretty kit is from

I bought this kit last November at 

Pine Mountain Designs 

It is the

Valentine Typography Kit

which appears to be out of stock. 

There are many new patterns and kits to explore! 

Click Here for Pine Mountain Cross Stitch

I would love to fill my cart with each one of these, but I am resisting the urge.

I am not affiliated in any way with this shop.

I just love the designs and kits. 

I hope to have this stitched for February.

I did not realize that the pillow was already sewn.

The aida is 14 count, which is a bit small for me.

I am pondering this before I begin to stitch.

May you have a happy weekend or sewing and stitching! 

I Like Thursday # 120 ~ Cuddle Cat & This and That

 

Good Morning from Nutmeg to our friends of 

I Like Thursday @ Not Afraid of Color

Nutmeg does not want to give up the warm lap today. 

Mr. Scrapatch and I played pass the lap cat, as we often do. 

Then he needed to go to work. 

Nutmeg settled for the quilt on the warm radiator for awhile so I can type. 

This week's dessert is ...

Baked Rice Pudding @ Tastes Better From Scratch

I was using up some cream and eggs nearing their end date and leftover rice.

I used 6 eggs and 2 cups of whipping cream and 2 cups of milk and 3 cups of cooked rice. I had golden raisins from holiday baking and these were very sweet and tasty in the pudding. I used only 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 3 teaspoons of vanilla, as I prefer a very vanilla taste to rice pudding.  The two extra eggs were necessary, I think, as this pudding is much drier than stove top or slow cooked rice pudding.  

The raisins sink to the bottom and there is a nice layer custard on top.   

Mr. Scrapatch says this recipe is a keeper. 

I liked it warm from the oven or cold from the fridge with a dollop of canned cream on top.

It was also nice to heated in the microwave with the cream on top for about 30 seconds and the warmed cream stirred into pudding.

Enjoy! 

I received these books for Christmas. 

They are a series:

Quilters of the Door by Ann Hazlewood from C&T Publishing

So far I have only read about half of book one, so if you have read them, no spoilers.  I have several books on my reading table right now and I don't know when I will catch up with all my reading. One of the things I really like about these paperbacks is the print is large and easy to read.  I also like the setting, which is new to explore for me.  It looks like a beautiful place to visit. Maybe someday.

 The setting is the Door County Peninsula in Wisconsin. 

Nutmeg has found my lap again and it is tricky to reach over her and type.

The radiator must be cold or she needs another cuddle.

That is all for today, my friends.

May you have a Happy Thursday! 

Stitch Sew & Show ~ 2022 ~ Week 3

Welcome to Stitch Sew & Show ~ 2022 ~ Week 3

I love scrappy quilts and treasure all my fabric scraps.

One of the ways I used to increase my scraps when I was a new quilter was to swap small pieces of fabric with other quilters online. Very often I ran the swap so I so I could collect many different scraps. The blue and white snowflake and snowman fabric that I am using for my QATW Winter Mystery Quilt were collected in such a swap.  Friends sent the 10" squares of fabric to me and I swapped and sent their new fabric squares back to them.   Very often the swappers sent me an extra "gift" piece of fabric for running the swap. Lucky me!

To see how I used to organize these swaps ...

Click Here for 30s Fabric Swap 

that I did in 2010.  The snowman fabric swap was one of the first swaps that I did so it preceded my blog.  As you can see I used to pin one piece of each fabric to a note with the person's name so that I would not inadvertently send their own fabric back to the swapper.  

In the snowman fabric above are the pieces sent by one of my first quilty friends online, Gerda.  Gerda was the resident "librarian" on the forum to which we belonged because she always knew the name to a block or particular pattern and could provide a website at the tip of her fingers.  I learned a lot about patterns and quilting from Gerda in Canada. 

Gerda and I also exchanged signature blocks many years ago. 

I posted this Memorial To Gerda in 2012 after she passed away.

Gerda was a treasured friend.  I am happy to have her scraps of fabric and I know she is smiling somewhere today to know that her fabric stash lives on in others' quilts.  I have plans to make the small quilt that I am making two sided with Gerda's snowman fabric on the back. 

Looking at this signature block has me thinking.   

I have collected quite a few of these little blocks over the years and still have them in a special place in my stash. I have not collected any in a few years.

I really do not do swaps anymore. 

At this point in my life I find them more stressful than fun.

But I am wondering if any of you who are reading this would like to do a single signature block swap with me so I may add your name to my treasured stack of signature block friends.

It would be a one-on-one swap.  

I make and mail a block to you.

You make and mail a block to me.

When (add if) you can ... no deadline ... no stress.

Just two online friends making a sending one block in an envelope to each other.

I would post a  block tutorial if anyone is interested.

I hope you are having a scrappy happy week!

Please join in the fun by sharing what you are working on. 

Thank You! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter