Floss Friday – Cross Stitch Progress and Nashville Needlework Market

Happy Friday, Friends!

I mentioned in last Saturday’s post, that I may stitch monogamously on Salute to Abigail. 

That is how I spent my cross-stitch time this week. Here is last week’s progress…

Here is this week’s progress…

A little wonky after coming out of the Q-Snap

This is four evening’s worth of stitching. I’m seeing good progress and will continue to work only on this piece for the next week. I am traveling next weekend and will take along something a bit easier to stitch on.

The reason I am traveling next weekend is because of an event that is happening this weekend.

Nashville Needlework Market is held in Nashville (duh) on the first full weekend in March each year. It is a wholesale trade show where designers of fabric, floss, and other accoutrements get together to sell their wares to our favorite needlework shops. Both online and brick-and-mortar shops attend.

Since this event is not open to the general public, many brick-and-mortar stores will host a “market day” at their shops the Saturday following the event. I will be driving down to Alabama to pick up my pre-orders, and likely do a bit more stash enhancement, from GaRon Stitchery. I don’t usually share “haul” but I may do that when I return home.

For my travel stitch, I was thinking of kitting up Primrose Cottage’s Free Stitch Friday chart they released yesterday. You have to sign up for their newsletters to get the free charts.

Isn’t it cute? That little house and those sheep warm my heart.

In the meantime, Sewcialites 3 – Block 3 has been released. I’ll check the Fat Quarter Shop's YouTube this morning to see which fabrics Kimberly uses in her block. Then I’ll spend some time this weekend putting it together.

What are you plans for the weekend? Hope it is something enjoyable.

See you soon,

 

Fat Quarters by the Dozen – Release 4 – Checkmate Blocks

Fat Quarter shop published the fourth release of the FQBTD quilt-along on Monday.

Two Checkmate Blocks that were supposed to measure 9½”…notice I said “supposed to?” Both of my blocks are about an eighth of an inch too small.

My cutting or stitching is off somewhere. But for that small amount, I’m not going to worry about it.

Here is a reminder of what the other blocks look like, as well as the layout.

Sampler Layout

Release 1 - Beams Blocks

Release 2 - Bluebonnets Block

Release 3 - Celebration Block

We recently discovered these frozen French green beans at Trader Joe’s.

We enjoyed them twice with just salt, pepper and a little olive oil. Last night hubby grilled some steaks and I made a lemon, mint, shallot dressing to go on the green beans.

They were delicious!

Speaking of lemons and mint...I drink a lot of water every day. I constantly have a bottle nearby. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve started making a half gallon pitcher of lemon, mint and cucumber water. I let it sit in the refrigerator overnight and drink it the following day.

This is something that I always do in the summer. I guess I’m wishing for warmer weather and starting early this year.

Thanks for the mid-week visit. See you soon!

 

Sewcialites 3 -- Block 2 -- Twinsies Block

Fat Quarter Shop released block two of the Sewcialites 3 QAL on Friday.

Block 2 is designed by Susan Ache and is called Twinsies.

It was a beginner level block and worked up quickly.  Like Kimberly Jolly, I am making 6” blocks using Lyda Rose by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda.

I was expecting the next release of FQS’s Fat Quarter by the Dozen QAL yesterday, but they said it will be released today. So, there is that to look forward to.

The remainder of our weekend was rearranging the garage to accommodate seasonal storage of some of my cross stitch pieces. We would have never considered this living in Florida and dealing with the humidity. I'm going to try it here. I'll keep a close eye on things and will make changes if needed.

Hope you had a nice weekend and are ready for the week ahead.

See you soon,

Floss Update -- Cross-Stitch Progress

No Friday update this week because I was trying to finish February’s assignment on Salute to Abigail.  I ended up feeling a little punky and didn’t stitch until today.

February’s assignment is finished just in time.

This is really a fun stitch and I’m wondering if I should just toss the monthly assignment idea and stitch on it until it is complete. I could then stitch monogamously on American Sampler until it is finished…I am woefully behind on the assignments for that piece.

I have two quilt blocks to make tomorrow. Fat Quarter Shop released another Sewcialites 3 block on Friday and they will release another block for Fat Quarters by the Dozen tomorrow.  I’ll show my progress on those Monday.

Hope you are having a nice weekend.

See you soon,

 

 

 

Sewcialites 3 -- Block 1 -- Idyllic Block

Hello Friends!

The second quilt along I am joining in 2026 is Fat Quarter Shop’s Sewcialites 3.  

This is the second time I’ve participated. I stitched along for Sewcialities 2 a couple of years ago.

I missed Sewcialites 1 but all of the patterns are still available on Fat Quarter Shop’s website if I decide to do it.

Block #1, the Idyllic Block, was designed by Chelsi Stratton. Chelsi is Sherri McConnell’s daughter. Sherri is the designer behind A Quilting Life.

I am using a fat eighth bundle of Lyda Rose by Bunny Hill Designs.

I’m making the 6” blocks which will yield a 42 ½” x 42 ½” quilt. We know what the layout will look like but I haven't found a good photo to share.

It snowed most of the day yesterday. It was the perfect day to have the blinds open and watch it come down as I organized and organized and organized… some really good progress has been made, and I hope to wrap up the craft supplies this week.

Have a great week and I’ll see you soon.

Floss Friday -- Cross Stitch Update, Haul and Chart Organization

Happy Friday, Friends!

Patriotic stitching has my focus again, now that Valentine’s Day has passed.  Salute to Abigail is back on the frame and I am enjoying this stitch very much.

I believe that last time I shared my progress was back in December…yikes!

This is where I am as of today…

I am not happy with my white stitches. I've tried three different threads so far. I'll have to make a decision before adding anymore. I am a little behind but should catch up to my self-imposed monthly assignment this weekend. Then I am going to get back to the American Sampler. 

Haul

Mirabilia Cross-Stitch published two charts back in 2001 that caused quite a frenzy in the cross-stitch community. Queen of Freedom and Lady of the Flag were very popular and when the charts were retired, they could only be found on the after-market. Prices soared; some sellers had them listed on Ebay for hundreds of dollars. Yes, hundreds!

Queen of Freedom

Lady of the Flag

In honor of America's 250th anniversary, Mirabilia offered a limited release. Shops were only allowed 25 copies of each to sell. Some shops used a lottery system to determined which customers got one or both. Some shops sold them on a first-come, first-served basis.

I was fortunate enough to get both charts, along with the bead packs and fabric. The threads are DMC and easy to get so there was no need to make a special pack of those. My dealer cross-stitch store, as usual, is GaRon Stitchery.

I'll be stitching both charts on 30-count linen by The Primitive Hare. This is called Constitution. 

My fabric. This photo doesn't show true color :(

Image Source

Organization

I’ve mentioned before that my organizing / purging project is slow-going. However, I thought I would show you how I’ve organized my cross-stich charts.

One of my favorite things is a spreadsheet…are you surprised?!? I have one Excel workbook that contains a few different sheets. One sheet is an inventory of all the charts / books I own. I can sort by chart name, designer, season/category, the format (pdf or physical), whether it is kitted or not, and if it is a WiP, FO or FFO.

Another sheet lists all the charts I’ve started, the pertinent dates and which stage they are in currently…again, WiP, FO or FFO.

Then there is the table, by year, that keeps track of how many starts, WiPs, FOs and FFOs I have. This is the one I share in my year-end stats post.

The physical charts are kept in binders, filed alphabetically by designer. I use sheet protectors for single patterns.

These magazine holders for binders are for books that are too large to fit in a sheet protector.

I use my Brother P-touch to make labels for the binders.

The binders are kept in the printer cabinet in my craft area. The two binders on the right hold quilting and sewing patterns.

The electronic (pdf) charts are kept in folders by designer on the laptop.

A new quilt along starts today and I’ll share all about it on Monday.  In the meantime, enjoy the weekend ahead.

See you soon,

Fat Quarters by the Dozen -- Release 3 -- Celebration Block

The third block of Fat Quarter Shop’s QAL for Fat Quarters by the Dozen is the Celebration block. 

This was a simple block to construct. It measures 18 ½” x 18 ½”.

I know I said this about the last release but, I want a whole quilt made with these blocks.

This is the layout of the sampler quilt.

I continue to reward myself for finishing the pile of nine quilts that needed binding.  I purchased this sweet fabric for my next quilt along.

Lyda Rose by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda. Don’t you just love the spring colors?

I’ll share more about the next quilt along soon.

See you soon,