Finally finished....

While I was in Tassie for a weeks holiday celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary I finished off stitching two and a bit of my first three blocks and this week in-between working on Uni assignments,being sick and doing copious amounts of washing I finished the third block and started putting the bordrs on all of them.
I used only what was in my stash and only had to buy the threads for this project so I'm quite please with myself :)

Barb,from Barb's creations.....

I think I have found my fabrics!!

After some discussion with myself, I think I have made the right decision about my fabrics for the quilt. I have 4 dark red and 4 light with diff. pattern in red/pink. I'm not sure of these light ones. May be I can find some a bit darker when I'm going to the Quilting annual meeting next weekend.
As you can see I have finished 1,5 stitchery. I love the motives.

Wish you all a lovely weekend!

Anne Lise

Finished my First Three Blocks!!!!

I've finally finished my first three blocks, so here they are (can you please mark me off?) ...

I'm quite happy with the way the colour scheme has worked so far, so I hope it will look OK when it's all put together at the end.

Now it's time to work on one of my other BOMs until next month. I can't wait to see how you other ladies are going with yours, so I will definitely be here to keep up with you all.

Hugs,
Vicky xxx

to save confusion..............

I had a email from a SAL follower today.................all your eagerness has rubbed off and they have got fabrics and started stitching...............but I have them a little confused..........
.....so I thought maybe I have some of your girls confused too.............

YES GIRLS I have 3 stitcheries for March and 2 each month after that.

Natalie has designed 13 stitcheries but you only use 12 for the quilt..................so work out what you want to leave out so you have an equal number of light and dark blocks..............

what do you do with the 13th block................

well you could leave one out all together but that is the slack option...............

a better idea is..........

use it to make a project from the book..............

OR

you could modify one of the blocks to make a label for your quilt.............the wreath block would be perfect for this..............take the gloves out and write something in the wreath................

Happy Stitching...............Chookyblue..............

March - done

I've got a feeling that we are all just going to fly through these little stitcheries and before long our dear Chookyblue will be getting inundated with the "what's next?" question.

Anyway here are my three for this month, apart from the red stitching there is nothing but cream and green, oh and a little bling too.
Now I'm ready, are you?

hugs

My Blocks 1 & 2...

Here are my blocks finished...I am using Bliss fabrics with Cosmo Threads no: 241A...
I have cut mine back to 8" and they are going to be a Table Runner...

Mark me off Please Chookyblue...

cheers
MareeWa.

THIRD ONE FINISHED

I have now finished block 3 and will hopefully start some more to make little wall hangings for my DD`s for Xmas gifts.

A Gardener's Journal - Quilted and Bound

YAY!  I have finished quilting my Gardener's Journal Quilt.  I love how it has turned out. Okay it is quilted and the binding is on, but I still have to stitch down the binding.  My daughter is holding it up. Oops her bed isn't made - cause it is bedtime and she is about to climb in.

and another view.  See at the top - that is my dog, Molly sleeping under the quilt.

Here is a close up of the quilting.  I quilted flowers in the borders.

Okay off to stitch down the binding and on to Tis the Season!

Bon Noel Birdies

I see the stitching sequence says for March is......Tis the Season, Peace on Earth, Bon Noel Birdies (3).
Are we supposed to make 3 of the Bon Noel Birdies?

My Fabrics

These are the fabris for the individual blocks



Do you like the thread color on the left or the right?



The small border will be a darker shade of red (not bright) and the larger border will be

a teal background with ornaments in the brown, red, teal and white/cream.

I'm hoping it will play out well.

Really Dancing a Jig now!

My book came today. I will be doing my quilt in teal colored fabrics and threads.
I will post a picture of my fabrics later. I have both my border fabrics picked I think,
I want to get a couple of blocks done then go back to the shop to try them on and see if
it gives me the look I want.
I am soooooooooo excited.

Change of Thread

Hi Everyone! Boy, I'm enjoying reading all the posts and seeing what fabric you all have chosen. Such a diversity! And some have even finished their blocks....well, this blockhead has decided to change her thread. The stitcheries I did have done will just have to be used in the hexie bag from the book, which was the original plan. So what thread am I going to use now, you ask? I've decided to go with a Cottage Garden thread. It's hand dyed and variegated. I love the Hugs & Kisses colour, but have quite a few others coming, too. So I'll make the final decision when they get here. *grin* So it will be next week, I imagine, that I will get started on my stitching.....I wonder what I'll do with myself until then!

Quilting done

My GJ has come home again.

My lovely friend Maria did the quilting, now I have to find some fabric for the binding.

Think I'll go for green

Pia

First Block

Earlier this week I went into Oslo and bought some fabricks for this BOM. Now the first block is ready to sticth.  I changed my mind and found a new DMC tread. So this is what I am doing to night.

Happy Stitching!!!

Anne

All ready for stitching at sleep school!

I have busted my 'you know what' to get some of the stitcheries traced ready for sleep school with my son this week. They told me to 'bring my craft'. Time to wind down and do something for myself - they say...yeh!! No excuses now......so I of course forgot lots of things for Tom, bibs,bath wash etc trying to get these done - but I'm happy!!! ....now to actually start them..........

I didn't get around to tracing them all, but just happy to get most of them done.

Now, lets just hope he learns to sleep!

Happy stitching everyone...

Susie

Fourth Stitchery completed!!

I can't believe how I'm going with this - but I know that there has been luck involved.  Sitting waiting for children and in-between sporting games - I'm not allowed to sew when they're actually playing.

I managed to take the time today to get borders on the four.  I have a photo, but am about to rush out the door to take number 1 son to a meeting about an hour's drive away.  Yes, stitcheries are going to, but I'll probably work on some of my other projects and try to catch up on them.  Will get the photo up tomorrow.

Marg

Procrastination is the name of the game......

Have been enjoying reading about fabric choices etc........but can I make mine?  No....although I have the stitchery fabric cut and all the stitcheries traced........so that's a start ..right?  So will sign off this pathetic photo-less little post now and get back in the sewing room and finish sorting through the piles of fabric I have been "auditioning" for this project.  Thought I had better post something about where I was at with this project or I would have Chooky on my case!  

'Til next time.....Lorraine

"Tis The Season to Stitch......

I think I should celebrate with a little pre-Christmas drinkie.....  it's getting cooler in the evening now so a glass of mulled wine may go down well..... I might even have some Christmas mince meat in the cupboard.....

I haven't stitched such little pictures before - I am finding it a bit of a challenge.... a challenge is good isn't it?  Maybe I need some brandy butter with the Christmas Mince Pie



Fiona Bubz

Its a Start....

These are my fabric selections...

...and then my stitching to show that I did begin in March... 

Mama Bear(Sammie)
Alabama USA

Still waiting for my pattern :(

Oh boy, I am sad today!  You are all moving right along....stitching away and I still have not recieved my pattern!  Bahumbug!  It must be lost in a snow drift!  Ah well, I will look at all the wonderful ideas on Chookyblue's SAL blog and get some more fabric ideas.  I will have some serious catching up to do when I do get my pattern...good thing we have our Spring Break holidays coming up...ah...1 week of sleeping in and stitching along!  Ah, just you all wait and see how quickly I will catch up.  LOL
Holly

Got my fabric!

I have been inspired by all the "bright" TTS's and decided to go that way myself. So, now I am ready to go. Just a couple of things to finish off this week and then I'll get stuck in next week! Still haven't settled on my thread colour. I have red, green and blue just in case!

kris lifeatrosemaryhill.blogspot.com

Photos - finally!!

This is the material that Terease selected for me.  She did a fantastic job - as always.  Thanks Terease!!  Can't wait to start using them.

These are the three stitcheries I've done so far - not in the right order but I'll get that organised.  Just been enjoying them and have had to wait for kids, so used the time to achieve!!  I know that not all months will be this productive.

Marg

Two at once .........

Hi all, I'm so pleased to be joining in with the 2011 SAL, though I'm still (rather slowly!) working on A Gardeners Journal.   Here is my latest AGJ block, six down, three to go - maybe I could have two quilts finished by the end of September - famous last words maybe??

I haven't decided if I will add the hearts to this block or just leave it as is.

Being such a keen starter, I stitched up the first block of Tis the Season this week.  I've loved seeing all the different fabric choices everyone has made.  Here is what I'm going with, pinks and reds by French General.  I'm stitching with variegated DMC 115.  

After reading a lot of posts about how tight it is to get the border centred in the finished block, I think I'll make my centre blocks 1/2" bigger than the original design.

Thanks for looking, happy stitching everyone!

Nicky

http://farmgirlstitching.blogspot.com/

1st block nearly done.

Just about finished my 1st block gee so many projects on the go i dont know which way to go first,lol.
cheers shez

I've made a start!

 

I made a start at the weekend, finally got it together and just pulled some fabric together, and hey presto. It helped that we had a few trips over the weekend, so several hours in the car, and stitching heaven!

and this morning, while I  was musing over my breakfast cuppa, and the paper, I had a sudden thought that these fabrics would be just great!!

So, in business... as they say....

have a fun week, Shiree

Finally my book has arrived.

I'm in this Stitch A Long for the first time. I have not found my fabrics yet, but finally I received my book a few days ago, and have started making the stitcheries. Hopefully I will catch up with you all later this month og in April. Then I hopefully will have all my fabrics ready too.  Untill then, have fun everybody. Greetings from Anne Lise in Norway.

Hello fellow Stitchers

Hello I am a newbie here at Stitch A Long and have been busy getting my fabrics organised and thread and waiting for my pattern book to arrive. So zealous have I been that I have stitched the first 3 blocks and started on the fourth and have nearly sewn the rest of the stitchery blocks with their borders.

Then I realised we are not supposed to be going at this fast pace. Silly me.

Well at least for once I can say I am organised!!!!!!!!!

I can have a little rest now until April.

I have chosen to use the similar colour way as in the original mainly because I have a fair bit of this colour fabric in my stash (which I should be using up) and I like this colourway anyway.

Although I have seen a lot of great colour combos on the blog and am eager to see them all finished later this year.


I am stitching on a linen and using DMC 115 which is a variegated thread which I am using because I already have a couple of skeins in my stash of threads and it compliments the rosy pinks and reds very nicely.



I have decided not to do the border stitching on the blocks as I had already cut all the stitching blocks to size (in my uber zealousness) before realising it is a very tight squeeze. I can probably still add the borders on some blocks but on others it isn't possible. I think they still look okay without it so I'm not overly worried by my little mistake.
I preferred to sew the border fabric onto the stitchery blocks before stitching so I would have
something to hang onto while stitching.

I'm really happy with how much I have achieved so far and if I get a little behind other months it will be okay. It is looking really nice.

Roll on April.

Bye for now from Liz luv 2 cre8te blog

Missing only 3 stitches

I hope to begin my patchwork before spring;)

Have a great week!

Sofia

It's here ...

my fabric arrived, the colours look a bit different in real life but I'm happy with them. I bought quite a bit of the paler green one (on the LHS) as I intend to use that for my backing as well.

I finished off my second stitchery today and after I have washed the fabrics I will cut out the strips so I can be ready to finish off the blocks properly.  I've just been spending 30 minutes each day on the stitchery so I will continue doing that and I should be on track for a finish in September.

Pip

Happy Dance

Thanks everyone for all your help. I finally got my book ordered from Treasured Threads.
Now the hard part the waiting........ I'm so ready to start now.........
Sue

Making New Friends...and a Start!

Well, I have finally managed to find all my fabric and threads and made a start!! For those who don't know me from my blog, I have just moved to Saudi Arabia and I thought I was organized... Famous last thoughts... I bought the book, the fabric, and the thread, and then packed it all except the book, background fabric and thread. But when I got here, I had so much other fabric in my suitcase that I forgot which one I had chosen for the stitcheries - I need to learn to label it!!!

Thankfully our container arrived earlier than expected and I have the complete set of fabric as you can see in the pic above. I love blue... and loved the Making New Friends range by Moda, so that is what I decided to go with. It also goes well with joining in on this Stitch-a-long because I am hoping to make new friends here!!

I have traced two of the stitcheries and made a start on the first one... so now I should get off the computer and get busy, right? Right!

Lovely to meet you all and looking forward to seeing all the lovely variations of this cute, cute quilt!

Lv,
Joy of Joy's Quilts

My Blocks

These are my blocks so far sorry I did do four they are just so cute to stitch I will wait till next month to do any more

ANOTHER START

I have all my fabric now and am ready to make a start.

Looking forward to sharing the journey.

Suzie

I've found my fabrics.....

While I'm waiting on my Threads to arrive, I decided to go through my stash and find some fabrics.

I noticed Tracee was using Red & White fabrics which is what I was thinking about but wasn't sure what it would look like beside the white Stitchery Fabric.

Tracee's looks great so I've decided to use Red & White fabrics too.... Will add more to it as I need it.

Just waiting for my Country Threads to arrive and then I can start.

Loving everyone's fabrics and look forward to keeping in touch over the next 12 months.

Fiona @ Dragonfly-Crafts

It's A Top...A GJ Top...

...GJ Top Done!...Yay...

Preparations have started on TTS...the strips for the block borders are cut out and the tracing has begun...like GJ I'm going to prep up to the border stage so that I can just keep on going without having to stop to cut and trace...

There certainly has been A Lot of activity on the blog...going to have to set aside some time for a cuppa and a good catch up...go ladies!!!

Happy Stitching...

Annette

Ta.. Dah...

It's finished!
I'm pleased with how it turned out. I'm not going to look too closely at the quilting.
I put in my first hanging sleeve and picked the wall I'm going to hang it on. Hubbie googled the' best way to hang it' for me and is going to help with the board and nails.
I would like to thank Chookyblue, Dale and Peg for pledging to finish their Gardener's Journal quilts and Chookyblue for starting and maintaining the blog.
I have been amazed at the participation of ladies from all over the world. I have enjoyed, emmensely, reading of your progress.
So, Chookyblue, can I please have a 'finished' against my name?
Lastly, I am not doing the next SAL, so I would like to wish everyone happy stitching. I can see already that all the 'Tis the Season wall hangings are going to be so different and wonderful.
I'll be an avid reader of your progress.

Kayly

SAL started & border stitching idea.

I have assembled my first three blocks, traced the stitcheries & commenced stitching. They are so cute & I am enjoying stitching with DMC 321 stranded cotton. My fabrics are screamingly loud, I am gazing admiringly at others gentler palettes, but I think mine will be a bit of festive fun. 

Some comments have been about the difficulty in getting the stitching border evenly within the patchwork frame. It can be tricky as, with the small allowances, a couple of millimetres makes a huge difference. To avoid this issue I usually trace the stitchery on with pigma pen and add the border myself with a 1/4" ruler (and a water soluble pen) so that I know it is accurate. Then just freehand in any crosses needed on the frame. Here is how it looks in progress...

 Alison aka Cardygirl xx

Stop wishing March away you guys!

This photo (poorly taken photo even!) is to prove that I can stitch! I just haven't yet! All the March finishes I am seeing here are making me worry a little. Maybe I won't be able to do this stitch along! I actually started hyperventilating............

............. and then promptly stopped. It's the 6th of March and I have tonnes of time left! Phew! You overachievers are muddying the waters. I still have 25 days left. I'm good. Just pacing myself. Hopefully some others pacing themselves will leave reassuring comments here for me. Please?


PS (I'm not really upset with you guys who are posting finishes. I am loving them all. Keep up the good work! Slackers like me need LOTS of encouragement!)

Kris (lifeatrosemaryhill.blogspot.com)

new blogger..............

Go welcome Suzie............she is VERY new to blogging...................

Oh and I sorted the sidebar..............all good now.............I see some of you have finished blocks and I need to update the sidebar............

Chookyblue