What I’m Working On…

Kayla has me doing a lot of behind the scenes work for the blog. Besides that, I’ve also been working to get a few quilts submitted for future publication….so, I’ve not been getting as much sewing done as I’d like. It happens…

You might remember I was working on this…

It’s my #5 UFO for the Dirty Dozen Challenge. Last week I had 11 rows together. This week I have more….last count was 28 with a couple more to attach yet. I need to keep going if this is going to be a finish yet this month.

I’ve only been working on that very casually. So I’m happy with that progress.

Rosie…well she’s bored with the project…see??

I was also working on a quilt with the new fabric line from Moda called Cider. I have 32 blocks done and 24 more to go. It’s all cut out so that’s awesome. Little by little it’s getting done.

With any luck, it will be a top next week.

I do have lots of behind the scenes work that I’m doing…I swear time at the computer just flies by and I don’t seem like I accomplish much.

On the cross stitch front. I changed gears. I was so frustrated with this….
I’m sure you remember me saying I’ve been ripping out as much as I have been stitching. Well… I think I finally figured it out.

Here is my experience on 40 count linen:

This Pins and Orts pattern by Beth Twist was my first project this spring stitching on 40 count.

Here is my project. I LOVED stitching it. It was so fun. I didn’t have any trouble with it. I rarely ripped out a stitch and if I did, it was only a couple stitches.

After that I got brave and tried this….Seeking Refuge by Scarlett House. I also had no trouble with this.

Again, I rarely ripped a stitch and if I did, it was only a stitch or two.

Now I am doing the Newcastle Bouquet pattern and it’s a nightmare. I remember having the same sort of trouble when I was stitching my Sheep Virtues.

I think I figured out the problem. It’s the linen. It’s not me. It seriously is the linen. I am not able to stitch on Weeks linen. There is something about it…the holes are bigger. There is more variation in the threads…it’s almost slippery. I just listened to a flosstube from Pumpkin Hollow Quilts and she said she didn’t like Weeks and she’s heard other people say the same things about it.

So….

I went back and picked a project that used the Picture this Plus linen….

I am back in love again. I’m so happy. I am having ZERO problems.

I was so worried. I had spent a lot of money on several samplers, linen and thread only to have a terrible experience with the Newcastle Bouquet and the Weeks linen. So…I’m going to trash the previous linen, the Weeks linen, and get new linen for Newcastle Bouquet. I’m buying new but will only buy linen that IS NOT WEEKS LINEN. I can’t work with that very well at all.

I LOVE the project…just not the linen. I really want to stitch the pattern but I want to enjoy the stitching and I can’t with the linen I currently have.

I’m going to go through any kitted project and pull out the linen if it’s Weeks linen and will be selling in on a Facebook group that’s designed for people who purchase items they no longer love. Once I recoup some money from that, I’ll buy different linen for the projects that I had purchased Weeks linen for. UGH. At least I know now!! I was so worried that my eyesight had gone bad. I was worried thinking maybe I really couldn’t stitch on 40 count but I don’t think any of that is true. I think it’s just the linen.

Whew!

I feel so much better now that I figured that all out. I do have a message out to Nancy of Needlecase Goodies hoping she can help me with some linen selection. She’s been awesome to me to date. You can find Nancy on Etsy HERE.

This was one of those weeks that I really didn’t feel like I accomplished a lot but I do think it set some good groundwork for this next week!! Let’s hope so anyway.