The month of July found me with a few great days of sewing and stitching and trips that took me through five states, it was a fun one! The month started with a few days remaining on my week off, so I got to task and finished the purse I've been working on for a while. I enjoyed making this one and learned a new way to insert zippers. I was very happy to find a video to help me interpret the instructions. I love this fun fabric and am happy to say this one is at the state fair for judging right now.
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| Central Park Sling Bag |
I also started several projects from a stitching challenge that my mom and I hosted on Instagram. We called it United We Stitch (#unitedwestitch) and encouraged everyone to stitch along on projects that make them feel patriotic. It was fun to see all the different projects people selected. I queued up several projects to work on over the month and enjoyed starting several of them.
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| United We Stitch projects kitted and ready for a start |
I was able to finish three of my projects from the challenge - I purposely picked several smaller projects so they could be wrapped up quickly. At the end of the month, I still had 3 in progress, one of which is quite big and will be a long-term project.
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| Grandma Millie's Basket from the 2024 Needlework Marketplace Cookbook. I stitched this on an old fabric in my stash and eyeballed the center - as you can see, it is just slightly to the left so I think I will put 1776 - 2026 in the right side to balance it a bit |
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| This one didn't have a name, it's the pattern from Under the Garden Moon in the 2026 Nashville Needlework Market cookbook. I stitched it on a scrap of 28 ct. Summer Sky Jobelan with the called for DMC threads. I think it will make a nice pillow. It's showing much darker in the photo - it is a medium and medium-dark blue bird. |
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| Might-TEA Fobulous by Silver Creek Samplers - this was a kit with Aida (I think 16 ct) and thread and even the charm that hangs from the fob. I will get this FFO'ed soon-ish so I can attach it to some scissors |
On the FFO front, I finished on that's been a long time coming. I laced and framed this myself with a frame that I bought at Michael's during one of their 70% off sales. I am really pleased with the result of this one and can't wait to display it.
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| Lizzie Kate Greenies Flip-it's, stitched on 32 ct. Meadow Rue by Lakeside Linen (quite possibly my favorite linen of all time!) with mostly the called for threads - I made a few small substitutions. |
I also had a great time on a shop hop trip with my mom and our friend Paula that took us to Illinois, Missouri and Iowa. We visited 6 quilt shops and 2 stitching shops and boy was it fun! I made a purchase at all but one shop. Here are a few pictures from the trip and my purchases.
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| Purchases from Colour and Cotton in St. Louis, MO - they dye fabric and threads and have an awesome stitching shop with all kinds of patterns, threads and charts - and lots of great samples too. |
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| Purchases from Be Stitch Me in Moline, IL - she also dyes her own fabric and thread, mostly silks, but she will be moving into cotton soon. So many amazing color fabrics! |
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| Purchases from Jackman's in St. Louis, MO - a couple FQs and a cuddle quilt backing |
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| I kind of went crazy at The Little Red Hen in Mustcatine, IA - what an amazing shop with quilting, wool applique, embroidery, and cross-stitch. I got a quilt kit, some mini charms, a wool kit and a few packs of needles. |
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| Purchases from O'Sew Personal in Collinsville, IL (pattern on the left) and Hickory Stick Quilt Shop in Hannibal, MO - while both had lots of beautiful things, I restrained myself to a couple patterns. |
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| Lovely gifts from friends we met along the way - a project bag from Corynne, pins from Vickie, and threads from Cathy |
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| The thread wall at BeStitchMe - and below in the bins is fabric, lots and lots of fabric |
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| The quilting barn at The Little Red Hen |
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Me, Mom and Paula at The Little Red Hen
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| The amazing color wall at Colour & Cotton |
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| O'Sew Personal in Collierville, IL |
In addition to all that shopping, Liz from Elizabeth Ann Can Stitch also sent me a quilt kit that she bought years ago but has decided she isn't going to make. I just love this one and can't wait to make it!
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| Ombre Picnic quilt kit and pattern from Liz |
You can guess what all that did to my stash report....completely busted it! But that's okay, it was really fun and will keep my busy for quite a while.
The month ended with me doing a little bit of sewing, stitching along on a few more patriotic pieces, and delivering 13 projects to the State Fair. All in all, it was a great July!
Here are the July reports:
Stitching time with Kate at Life in Pieces - 29/31 days with some crafting = 94%
Stash Reporting with Donna at quiltpaintcreate -
Fabric added this month: 19 yards (yikes!!)
Fabric used this month: 1/2 yard
Fabric added year to date: 20 yards
Fabric used year to date: 2 3/8 yards
Net fabric used: -17 5/8 yards - solidly in the red. I will try to work my way out of the deficit through the rest of the year!
Project Completion tracking:
Stitching finishes: +3 stitching finishes, -1 FFO = 42 projects waiting to be FFO'ed
Quilting projects: no new starts, -1 finishes (the purse) = 9 projects waiting to be fully finished
How was your July? Hope you found a chance to get some crafting in during the heat of summer. I'll be busy for the next few weeks playing with all my new things - see you again at the end of August to show you what I've done with them.
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