Erica's Stitches

I bought this kit on a whim from Nordic Needle.  It's called "Strawberries and Cream" and it's from Serendipity Designs. I had so much of fun stitching it.  It's a quick and simple design and finishing it was a no-brainer - I just copied the picture on the package.  But, the colors are very subtle, even more so than in the picture.  I accidentally sewed the fabric backing facing the wrong way so the back is just as subtle as the front. But, back to the colors, or lack of colors.  Right now I'm craving brighter colors and was tempted to stitch another one in the wildest colors possible.  Instead, I'm taking scraps and making bookmarks of the wildest colors that I have.  So far I have half of one done and scraps to make many more. I didn't expect to be doing hardanger again, but I am.

I managed to finish 3 projects by working in the evenings over the last week.  I got to each finish in a slightly different way. First, I framed my Pine Tree and Acorns sampler.  Every day of my holiday break I stared at the unfinished sampler and wished it was finished.  However, I had no inspirations on how to finish it.  Wall-hanging, no.   Pillow, not really.  Nothing else.  Finally, I thought that if I had a frame I could be done.  I've never had any luck finding square frames.  I ended up going to Nordic Needle and ordering one.  The problem was color.  Black didn't look right.  Neither did green.  Neither did barn red.  I figured I'd have to paint over whichever frame I got (I've done that before) so I picked red because I figured it would cover the easiest.  The frame arrived a few days ago and guess what?  It's more brown then red and the perfect color!  So last night I laced again and again and I think I finally have it centered and straight.  Y

For a holiday diversion I decided to experiment with hexagons.  I had seen this technique demonstrated years ago and kept in the back of my mind.  First, you start with strip sets and then cut at 60 degree angles to form hexagons.  I don't have the special ruler but I managed it with my standard ruler. Then came the fun, making hexagons.  I happened to make enough hexagons so they fit together into a bigger hexagon - just the right size for a table topper. All that needs to be done is to finish sewing the binding on.  Hopefully, that will be done by next weekend. In the meantime, I'm thinking up more quilts that I could make with this technique.