Finally done. And now I KNOW why it became a UFO!

I don't LIKE them! 

Previously finished - the table runner:

The four placemats:

And tonight, the four napkins:

Probably a gift for someone whose last name starts with "H"!

I think I know what my February Bead Journal piece will be... still working out the pattern and how the beads will be used.

Back to Basics and Learn a New Technique, Week Four

With two completions this week, it was time to take out a UFO and get that finished. SO I picked the table linen set with the "Antique Rose" monogram by JanLynn. I had THOUGHT that only the napkins were UFOs but I discovered as I was sorting thread that I missed out on a line of back-stitching on all four place mats as well. No big deal but it is fiddly.

After only one day of working on them, one of the napkins is finished and another is nearly there (only five or six more crosses in two colors and the back-stitching to go). The top is the completed napkin; the bottom is the nearly finished one.

Another UFO bites the dust!

Finished the San Man Original ornament last night but didn't have a chance to post it until now:

Next project: those JanLynn Antique Rose placemats from my long-term UFO post at http://thatyankstitches.multiply.com/journal/item/66/Work_from_Stash_and_One_BAP_for_2009_Week_Fifty

Quilting Report

Well, I did it. I got up the courage to cut into that fabric for the "row of the month" challenge. So 0.4yds of 2.5" wide strips await my ginning up the courage to fire up the sewing machine and start stitching on the first 8 blocks...

So my very first Stash report:

Used this Week:  0.4 yards
Used year to Date: o.4 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Used for 2010:  0.4 yards

Meanwhile, I dug out a UFO San Man Originals Christmas ornament to finish up. This is what it looked like yesterday when I found it...

It's finished!

YAY!

Back to Basics and Learn a New Technique, Week Three

A quaker Christmas met "the frog" this last week. I think I ripped out as much as I stitched so I didn't quite finish the Balsam Fir motifs (you can see the last motif in the bottom left that still needs it's interior stitched. The it's on to the red (Cupid) letters and numbers and thd gold (Old Gold) stars and angel.

I ordered some fabric to go with my Unstarted Quilt Project pice for the guild. I went with yardage of solids: brown, beige and two shades of blue --- this many since I ordered online and am not sure how they will work with my half-yard lengths. So while I will stitch from stash, i will have actually increased my stash by several yards. That's OK, though, as one of the choices will probably work as the backing.

The other Black Swamp Quilter's Challenge was Row of the Month. I "shopped my stash" and found these fabrics which I had purchased when living in Saudi. I clearly liked them as I have YARDS of each of the patterned fabrics and I bought it in two colorways: Forest green on the left; deep red on the right with the yellow fabric in the front matching the red colorway. And I lucked out in that I have green, red and yellow "solids" that actually "go"!

Back to Basics and Learn a New Technique, Week Two (one day late)

Ooops! I lost track of time this week. 

But besides finishing the beading on my January BJP, posted earlier this week, I stitched on "A Quaker Christmas". The Balsam Fir Crescent Colors part is a little more than 2/3 done now...

I assembled the fabrics for the Black Swamp Quilt Guild "Unstarted Project" challenge and took them to the guild meeting on the 14th. here are my fabrics. Maybe I will actually make a quit with them (and some additional fabric will be needed, I'm sure) now that I joined the challenge. Not so sure about the striped on on the left --- it's more of a twill than a quilting cotton...

Oh, and I picked up the "Row of the Month" challenge at the guild meeting as well. Has ambition gotten the best of me? We shall see!

Bead Journal Project - my January page

Not the most even of curves and there must be a trick to stitching in points (I wonder if I am having tension issues, even though I used a hoop and went so very slowly). Also not sure I like my color choices.

Anyway, I'm calling it "North Wind" because that has been what January has been so far: cold, snowy, wind from the north...

Still needs to be "finished" (binding and backing, maybe into a flat-fold):

Back to Basics and Learn a New Technique, Week One

Back to Basics. Well, holdover from 2009 WIPS, anyway. Here is "A Quaker Christmas"nearly 50% complete (I've only been stitching with the Balsam Fir Crescent Color so far --- there are still a red (Cupid) and gold (Very Old Gold) to do which is why you see some unusual gaps in places...

Now, as for "Learn a New Technique", it's sort of preliminary but here is the paper-pieced Grandmother's fan block (5.5"  square) which I intend to use as a background for my January "installment" in the 2010 Bead Journal Project. I have a pattern in mind, a series of swirls radiating from the blue corner at the bottom right, in white and blue beads. Meant to represent snow (which it is doing right this minute, in fact)... I hope they will show up on this fabric but, if they don't, it's a learning process after all.

Bead Journal Project 2010 Blog #3

http://bjp3.blogspot.com/