Why I do what I do

For those of you who've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I do a lot of charity stitching.  Well, I thought it might be fun to show off some of the quilts that were recently finished with my contributed squares.

By the way, both charity organizations I stitch for are always looking for new stitchers and always have new themes coming up, so if you think you'd like to donate a square or two, check out their linked websites from this link.  The quilts go to such good causes (sick children and needy seniors) and it's kind of addicting searching for the right pattern to stitch for an active theme.

First up is a quilt featuring my Rainbow Mandala pattern and finished by World Of Charity Stitching.
This quilt featured the same pattern done in many color palettes by each stitcher. My block was a neon rainbow contribution, and you can see it here in the finished quilt top outlined in red.

Next up is another WOCS quilt.  This one featured the same mitten outline with different fill patterns.  (Incidentally, WOCS is currently doing another quilt along these lines, this time with butterflies.)  I contributed two squares to this one, Leopard Print Mitten and Giraffe Print Mitten .  These were actually my very first finishes for 2015.  Both of them made it into a single finished quilt, and you can see both here in red.

The other organization I usually send squares to is Love Quilts (the USA branch).  Unlike WOCS, which stitches by theme and then finds a recipient, Love Quilts takes signups for individual children whose parents have chosen a theme for the squares of their quilt.

That Baby Tinkerbell pattern I worked so hard on showed up nicely in this Disney princess themed quilt.  This is going to a 7-year-old girl who has already gone through surgery and chemo for a rare type of tumor 3 years ago, and is currently undergoing a second round of treatment for a baseball sized tumor in another area of her body.

The last quilt I have to show you today was the one I finished my Friends for Life square for.  The theme was realistic cats and dogs, and I admit my square is a little small next to a lot of the other contributions, but it ended up being a necessary evil due to time.  This is going to a teenage girl who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

By the way, you can click on all of the quilt pictures to see them larger if you wish.  

If you take a gander at my Finishes page you'll see several more finished squares for both organizations that have been sent in, but they haven't been made into finished quilts yet.  If you enjoyed reading this post though, I'll do another one when a few more quilts have popped up.

I've made a bit of progress on my newest WOCS stitching project too.  Here's where Sunshine by Satsuma Street is currently at:

It's coming along nicely.  The main sun is almost done, except for I still need to get more of the yellow I ran out of.  Once I finish the inner ring (that's what all the gaps in the rays is for) I'll start on the larger outer ring, and it will be ready to send off.

And I made a pitful bit of progress on my latest square for the Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin.  Still now tower for Rapunzel yet, but the forest below her is finished...

Weekend Update: Finishes, exchanges, kitting up and more!

Hello everyone!

Hope you had a great weekend.  Even though Mondays are totally my enemy, I had a great stitching weekend, so I'm excited to share my progress with you. 

First of all, my Buzzy Bees N bookmark was received by my partner in the Lucie Heaton Facebook Group Initial Exchange.  Since I forgot to take a picture of it after I finished the bookmark itself, here's the picture she posted on FB so that you can get an idea of what it looks like. 

I also got my package from the same exchange.  In addition to the adorable framed initial, my partner also sent 5 colors of DMC floss in my favorite pastel shades, 3 packages of various trims that will come in handy for finishing future projects, a monogrammed journal, and a bar of mango coconut dark chocolate.  Whew!  It was such a nice surprise to come home to on Friday. 

Here's a close up of the stitching itself:

I love the frame she used, and doing the initial in beads was a genius idea.  It makes it look so elegant and totally matches the feel of the whole piece. The fabric appears to be some sort of opalescent hand dyed evenweave, and I love the colors!

And my other big news from the weekend.... Baby Tinkerbell is finished!!!!!

This ended up kind of being a love/hate piece.  I love the pattern, and I loved working on it, but in the end it wasn't as fun as it could have been because of the deadline I was up against.  Also, I wayyyyyyyyyy underestimated how long it would take to stitch and backstitch this whole thing.  But I'm happy with the result.  I might even stitch it again someday, though if I get the chance I will definitely be doing it on evenweave because the fractionals were everywhere!

This is a freebie pattern I got off an Italian blog, and was stitched for the Love Quilts charity.  It was done on white 16 count aida (which was a nightmare for fractionals!) with charted DMC threads in 2 over 1.  I started it on May 15th and finished on May 31st, so not bad for a fairly large complicated pattern.  I think the stitch count is around 120 x 80-something (I have it written down somewhere, but not in front of me at the moment).  This was one of my Turtle Trot pieces, so I can now put that down as complete. 

So now that that's done, I have two more charity projects in the pipeline, and then no more deadline stitching for me this year!  At least, that's the plan now.  I need to get serious about finishing up some of the Christmas projects I have planned.  Now that the year is almost to the halfway point, I'm starting to realize how behind I am on those. 

I spent a couple hours last night kitting up said charity projects, and my latest exchange swap project.  There's something so satisfying about starting/preparing to start a new project, isn't there?  The exchange will be a summer themed one this time.  I also need to stitch up my Round Robin block and get that mailed off.  So I guess that's a sneak peek at what you'll be seeing here over the next month!

May 2015 Smalls SAL Check-In and some Tinkerbell Progress

Whew, May has just flown by for me.  This month has been so crazy, I can't  believe it.  But it's already the last Wednesday of the month, which means it's time for my monthly check in for Stitching Lotus' 2015 Smalls SAL.

Most of my stitching this month has been pretty big projects.  My Frosted Pumpkin entry for the month was a little on the larger size, so I won't count it for this.  But I do have one finish I know counts as a small.  I feel like my monthly check-in posts can get repetitive picture-wise for those of you who are regular readers, so I purposely left off posting this picture before.  Here's the complete finish (with backstitching) of my Buzzy Bee N by Lucie Heaton:

This was for an initial exchange as part of a Lucie Heaton Facebook Fan Group I'm in.  It was stitched on a scrap of 14 count white aida I had around, 2 over 1 with charted DMC threads.  I started it on May 12th and finished it on May 15th.

After taking this picture, I finished it up as a bookmark, since my partner said she loved to read, and sent it on its way to Canada.  Sadly I forgot to take a picture before I put it in the envelope and sealed it up.  *facepalm* So hopefully my partner will let me borrow her picture when she receives it. 

So that's it for smalls this time around.  Mostly I've been working like mad on Baby Tinkerbell.  Only 2 days left to finish her!  I'm almost done with the stitching and ready to start backstitching (which will take forever I expect).  Sadly I don't have an updated picture (I thought I did, but I don't) but here's a peek at least at what she looked like Monday morning, which is almost recent. 

This project has been fun, but is totally tiring me out.  No more deadline stitching for awhile for me after this one!

May TUSAL and a Little Progress

Well, as usual I'm a few days late for Daffycat's Totally Useless SAL since the official check in day was Monday.  But at least I'm only a little late this month, instead of forgetting it together. 

Of course, I forgot Monday, so I had to snap a hurried pic that night, so it is kind of blurry, sorry:

I finally got a new ort jar, and I also found my "traveling" ort bag, so I was finally able to add all those bits and pieces I lost back in February to my jar.  Sad that that kind of makes me really happy.  Anyway, that's why my current green is more towards the middle, and a bunch of purple is on top.  That green is from my actual recent stitching, mostly from Baby Tinkerbell. 

And speaking of Tinkerbell, here's how she's looking today. 

Not much progress since this weekend.  Just finished up her bloomers and have started on her wings.  It's discouraging how much my progress slows during the work week.  I keep listing in my head all the things I have left to do (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 slippers, face, hair, ladybug...) and keep thinking that's not that much, right?  Then when I actually stitch it, it takes forever. 

I would so love to just stay at home and get paid for stitching.  Guess that's what retirement is for.  Of course, by then I probably will be half blind and arthritic and be unable to stitch!  Oh, and it's like 40 years away for me.  There's that too. 

Anyway, hope everyone is having great stitching progress!

Baby Tinkerbell Progress 5.18.15

I stitched like a madwoman all weekend, so I got quite a bit of progress done on Baby Tinkerbell:

With the exception of her slippers, I'm completely done with the green, and you can see the place where she'll be eventually holding a ladybug at the end of that arm.  That random green blob above her collar is a pacifier.  This design is definitely one that will change much when the backstitching (of which there is A LOT) is completed.

Sadly, I didn't have time to finish the white on her bloomers last night, and was an idiot and forgot my scissors this morning, so couldn't work on them at lunch today either.  Grr.  

I'm very pleased with the progress, but at this rate, I need like 4 more straight stitching days in order to make my deadline for this piece (it needs to go out day after Memorial Day).  I feel like there is many late nights in my future...

On another note, I hate how stiff this 16 count aida is!  I've never had fabric that felt this way before, it's driving me bonkers. 

Also on another completely random note, I broke 4 needles this weekend.  4!!!!  That's a record for me.  I don't think I've ever broken more than 1 in like a month before, and this was over just 2 days.

Also, also, etc.... I hate quarter stitches.  Just saying. 

Plans for the Weekend

Well, I'm planning on doing some stitching this weekend.  How about you?  I have about 5 projects that need to be completed and sent off by the end of the month.  Hmmm, I think I'm totally insane for signing up for so many things.  In fact, the other day my Mom saw me stitching, asked what I was working on, and when I told her, her response was "don't you ever stitch anything for yourself".  Guess I haven't much lately.  I will have to remedy that.  But in the meantime, I have deadlines to follow!

So I've got a bit more progress to show you on said projects.  I finished up the stitching on the N from Lucie Heaton's Buzzy Bees alphatbet for my intital exchange:

I actually kind of like it with the backstitching.  Actually, I've finished all the backstiching too, but I will be saving that finish photograph for the smalls check in at the end of the month.  I'm devious, I know.  But for once I'd like to show frequent readers some new photographs for my SAL check-ins. 

Anyway, I like it both this way and finished with all the detail, although I think if I stitch it again I might just backstitch the flower and bee and leave the letter un-outlined.  I plan to finish this up into a bookmark and get it sent off this weekend. 

Which brings me to the start of my newest project.  This is the Baby Tinkerbell pattern featured on my Turtle Trot list (Project 9). 

Just a bit of green so far.  This is strip of darker green on her dress caused by the shadow of her arm. This design has a TON of fractionals like the Friends for Life pattern did, and this particular aida is super stiff, so this one will present me with a bit of a challenge. Hopefully I will get much further as the weekend progresses.