Joyful World SAL and a little quilting

I finished August in the Joyful World SAL this week. This one was special to me as it reminded me of my father's last dog. He was a great canine friend. I was pleased with how my lazy daisy stitches came out. Usually they never lie as I would like.

August, Joyful World SAL - The Snowflower Diaries
Fabric: 40ct Newcastle Vintage Mocha
Threads: Suggested DMC threads

I've made progress on quilting my hexagon quilt.

Design: Josette, found in Magic Patch hors serie, no.91,
'15 quilts miniatures'
Fabric, Moda charm pack  'Icicle kisses'

Since it is just the inner and outer edge of the centre rosette that is being quilted, it is not obvious in the above photo what I have done. So here are a couple of close-ups. I'm finding it hard to produce even stitches.  I've read in Kathleen Tracy's latest Sentimental Quilter blog post about Tiger Tape. This is supposed to help you learn to space your stitches evenly. I'm tempted to give it a try but I suppose what I really need to do is just practise and be patient.

Latest stitching

It's been a week of stitching little bits and pieces on different things as I had a couple of items which were almost stitched.

I finished my hardanger piece at the beginning of the week and though I say so myself, I really like the colours. In fact I decided that I would use it as a coaster so I went looking for some coaster covers I had. I found them - three different sizes, but they were all round! So I'm back to my original idea of finishing this as a lavender sachet.

Hardanger Coaster - Abi Gurden, Bee's Needleworks
Fabric: 25ct white evenweave
Threads: Anchor #5 perle 386, Anchor #5 perle 1304, DMC 3823

I had only the border to complete on April's Joyful World SAL so I finished that one evening.

April, Joyful World SAL - The Snowflower Diaries
Fabric: 40ct Newcastle Vintage Mocha
Threads: Suggested DMC threads

The following day I completed the outstanding stitching on Snow Days from Little House Needleworks.

Snow White- Little House Needleworks
Fabric: 28ct unknown linen in a thyme-green colour
Threads: DMC 3865

For now, I've skipped May, June and July and I'm stitching August from the Joyful World SAL.

August, Joyful World SAL - The Snowflower Diaries
Fabric: 40ct Newcastle Vintage Mocha
Threads: Recommended DMC threads

All in all a satisfying week, stitching wise.

Some more stitching and patchwork

Rather oddly, life has been both quiet and busy at the same time over the past couple of weeks. Nevertheless I made some time for stitching.

I've finished the stitching on February's Joyful World SAL.

February, Joyful World SAL - The Snowflower Diaries
Fabric: 40ct Newcastle vintage mocha
Threads: suggested DMC threads

March's Joyful World design is close to being finished. All being well that means that April's design could be stitched before the month of March is over.

March, Joyful World SAL - The Snowflower Diaries
Fabric: 40ct Newcastle vintage mocha
Threads: suggested DMC threads

During the past week, I went back to working on my mini hexagon quilt and discovered what I had suspected. Not all my hexagons are perfect so I'm doing some minor adjustments to make edges fit as I stitch. At least with hand stitching, I feel I have more control over how the hexagons stitch together.

Design: Josette found in Magic Patch hors serie, no. 91,
'15 quilts miniatures'
Fabric: Moda charm pack 'Icicle Kisses'

A Mado Patchwork blog post (in French) on the finished quilt can be found here.

Work in progress

I bought this overdyed grey/silver fabric along with some overdyed threads at the Pexiora needlework show at the weekend. I loved the colour so much that I had to start using it immediately.

Basket of Memories - Blackbird Designs
Fabric: 32ct grey/silver overdyed linen
Threads: Fils à Soso - Pierre de lune (160)

I haven't finished February's Joyful World design yet. I keep miscounting but it will be completed.

February, Joyful World SAL - The Snowflower Diaries
Fabric: 40ct Newcastle vintage mocha
Threads: suggested DMC threads

Some finishes

During the past two weeks I've been visiting family. Before I went, I made up some of my finished stitching. I was pleased with my efforts as it is so easy for me to put my finished stitching to one side and say 'Done'. I've admired this design from Little House Needleworks for ages and I now have it finished and ready to display for next Christmas.

Season's Greetings - Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct Lambswool with suggested DMC threads
finished as a flat ornament with help from The Twisted Stitcher's tutorial

With almost 4,000 participants on Facebook alone, I've joined The Snowflower Diaries' Joyful World SAL. Now that I've received the magnets I needed, I will be able to complete the calendar I'm making to display these each month.

January, Joyful World SAL - The Snowflower Diaries
stitched on 40ct Newcastle vintage mocha with suggested DMC threads
Again, this is finished as a flat ornament using The Twisted Stitcher's tutorial

I've seen some gorgeous no-sew cubes online and thought this design was perfect for trying out this finishing technique. This is the first monthly ornament challenge on Needlecraft Haven that I've completed. This robin sampler from Aliolka (free chart) was too nice to resist.

Robin sampler - Aliolka
stitched on 28ct Jobelan Dark Red with DMC threads: blanc, 844, 3799, 3853
Finished as a no-sew cube using Little House Needlework's tutorial