November 2022 - Family fun and finishes

It's hard to believe that November has already come and gone - seems like this year has gone very quickly (although most of them seem this way, don't they?). We had family here for Thanksgiving and it was the first time we've all been together in 4 or 5 years - it was great fun to see everyone, enjoy some meals together and watch the cousins (my two and my brother's three) hang out and have fun together. 

In early November, it was also musical time at the high school - my daughter who is a senior was the Stage Manager and did a great job. I find that I enjoy the show even more knowing the job she's doing behind the stage. I was recruited to help on the dress rehearsal night since I know how to sew - the job was to help the actors with any last minute costume adjustments to make sure everything was ready for the show. I am happy to say that I used safety pins, scissors, and duct tape! No need to even turn on the sewing machine. I really enjoyed working with the kids and think I may return next year to help before dress rehearsal night. 

On the crafting front, I had another great month with some progress in stitching, quilting, and crochet. On the crochet front, I completed the first side of a pillow I am making - no picture as it needs some good blocking to be photo-ready - I am afraid it would look like a blob right now! I am currently working on the second side, and will block them together so hope I will have some pictures to share at the end of December. 

In stitching, I finished two pieces, one new start and one that I've been working on for a while. The new start and finish is an ornament from the Just Cross Stitch Ornaments issue, French Country Star by JBW Designs. This was such a fun stitch - started and finished in one day! It is stitched over two on 30 ct. linen with Weeks thread in the color Garnet. I just made one change to the charted design and left off the word "Star." 

French Country Star by JBW Designs

My second stitching finish is an embroidery piece from Crabapple Hill Designs. I've had this one for a very long time. I bought it at a local quilt shop and when I pulled it out and read the instructions, I was totally intimidated. Well, fast forward 10 years or so and I was ready to tackle it. This is stitched on a cream piece of fabric with overdyed threads, mostly called for but a few substitutions for ones I had in my stash that were similar colors. This piece includes some wool pieces too and it was very fun to put them in. This is meant to be finished as a pillow with a scalloped wool border. I am not quite ready to tackle that yet, but glad to have the stitching part complete. 

Autumn Embroidery by Crabapple Hill Designs

I also had two stitching FFOs (fully finished objects). The first is a piece I stitched last year - Calvin and Clyde by Stitching with the Housewives. It is stitched on hand dyed fabric (dyed with Rit dye in the color Denim) and I think it is a 28 count. Called for threads were used and I finished it on a pumpkin from Hobby Lobby. I wish I'd rounded the corners a bit to better mirror the pumpkin, but other than that, I am really happy to have this one finished and ready for display. 

Calvin and Clyde by Stitching with the Housewives

My second finish is a project from earlier this year - Stitch all the Things berry by Erica Michaels. This was such a fun and fast stitch back in the spring and I had the best of intentions to finish it right away, but you know how that goes! This one took a little time to finish, as I had to learn how to finish a berry. I used Erica Michaels' tutorial and also Helen D's video to help me through it. I did some embroidery on the top of the berry which was very fun. I think the top piece is a little big, but that's okay. Overall, I just love the finish and have this in a little tray in my sewing room. 

Stitch all the Things berry by Erica Michaels

Embroidered berry topper

I also had a good quilting month and finished one of the quilts that I started at my October retreat. This one is a baby gift, and I want to gift it before the holidays (we are getting close!). The pattern is Lattice Baby Quilt by Diary of a Quilter and I used a charm pack called Curiosities by Benartex to make this. It's a little smaller than the pattern called for as I only had one charm pack, but I am happy with the finished size. I quilted this one in very simple loops, perfect for a quilt that will be (hopefully) used a lot and washed a lot. The binding is from my stash and I think it complemented the fabrics well. 

Lattice Baby Quilt

Quilting close-up

I also quilted my Wind Drifter quilt top, also made at my October retreat. I made the binding but didn't get it to the finished quilt status before the end of November. All that was left at the end of the month was to add the binding, so you'll see it fully finished in my December post. I did custom quilting on this one and had fun working with a ruler in some sections and doing some freehand in other sections. 

Quilting underway on Wind Drifter

Here are the reports on stitching time and stash for the month: 

Stitching time report - linking up with Kate at Life-in-Pieces

26/30 days with at least 15 minutes of crafting for 87%. Between all my projects, I had 12 days where I did two or more crafts! 

Stash Report - linking up with Donna at quiltpaintcreate

Fabric added this month - 0 yards

Fabric used this month - 3 5/8 yards

Fabric added year to date - 11 7/8 yards

Fabric used year to date - 36 3/8 yards

Net fabric used - 24 1/2 yards (hooray!)

All in all, it was a great month - and I am hoping for more of the same in December. I will have some vacation time to use and some time off, so hoping to get a couple Christmas presents finished up soon so I can work on some more finishing and quilting. Hope you had a great month in November and wishing you a crafty and happy holiday season!