A Good End to January

 In my last post, I shared my great start to January and I'm back today to share the end, which was also quite good. I am happy that I spent some more time in the basement working on quilts and sewing projects than I've done in the last few months. 

The quilt that was on the frame in my last post is still in the same spot, but I am planning to do some quilting today so hope that I will make good progress on it. I had one more quilty project in January - a small mug rug that I made for an Instagram/Flosstube friend - she's received it now so I can share a picture. I cut out the cat with my Scan-n-Cut and fused it to the purple fabric and then did some simple quilting. The piece is about 6"x8".

Mug rug for my stitching friend

Moving on from quilting, I did a lot of stitching this month (as usual!) and finished three projects. Technically, one is a section of a series, but I count it as a finish. 

My first finish is called Blue Velvet by Ink Circles. I stitched this as a shop model for my local needlework shop, Persnickety Stitchers. It is stitched on 32 count Silvery Moon Lugana with one strand of Wildflowers thread in the colorway Twilight. I am really happy with how it turned out and hope that it sells lots of patterns for the shop!

Blue Velvet by Ink Circles

My second finish is a small one called Three Little Words - this was a Lizzie Kate series many years ago and as part of the series, the designer had a contest to come up with the words for an additional section, which she then charted and shared as a free pattern. You can find it here on the Lizzie Kate website, along with several other great free patterns. I made a few adjustments to the charted colors to use stash and I am very happy with the finish. It's stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha, a linen I just love. 

Three Little Words by Lizzie Kate

The third and last finish is Snow Place 4 by Country Cottage Needleworks which I am stitching as a series. There are five parts and I am happy to have it now 80% towards a big finish. This one is stitched with all called-for colors except the blue, which is a Threadworx color (my skein actually has a Needle Necessities tag, which Threadworx took over). It is stitched on a mystery linen, which I believe is a 28 count. I really enjoy laying this out to see the full piece each time I finish a section because I like it even more each time. 

Snow Place 4 by Country Cottage Needleworks

Snow Place 1-4 by Country Cottage Needleworks

I also did some crochet this month, and finished the first of two mittens from the pattern 3-in-1 Hand Warmers by Yarnspirations. The pattern was certainly a challenge for me and I learned a lot through the course of it. I decided to do the version with the flip off top - I think it is called a convertible mitten. I have started on the second mitten and hope to finish it up in February. 

Palm side with top "on"

Back side with top flipped open

All in all, it was a good start to the year and I have several projects in the queue that I am excited to work on in the coming weeks. I am hoping to continue to make good progress on my quilt UFOs so that I can whittle my list down through the year. 

For the stash report, I am joining Donna at QuiltPaintCreate again to track my fabric additions and usage. I had a good month of fabric usage making two quilt backs. I did add one piece of fabric for a baby present, so I will show that when it is finished and gifted. 

Fabric added this month: 1 yard
Fabric used this month:  5 1/8 yards
Fabric added year to date: 1 yard
Fabric used year to date: 5 1/8 yards
Net fabric used: 4 1/8 yards

I am also joining Kate at Life in Pieces again to track the number of days where I do something crafty. In January, I had 27/31 days with crafty activity - 7 Quilting, 7 Crochet, and 24 Stitching days - for 87% of the month.

Wishing you lots of happy sewing or stitching time in the coming weeks!