Erica's Stitches

I've tackled a growing stack of old T-shirts by turning them into yarn.  I followed this tutorial. I still have a stack of sleeves and the upper portions to turn into rags - but they take up less room. I've also been looking for patterns for knit bags and have found a few possibilities. I've got patterns and a bag of yarns.  When I'm ready for my next knitting project I'll see how the yarn knits.  I hope I have enough for a bag or two. My next cleanup project is to tackle the pile of old jeans.  When they are all cut up I'll have more than enough for a quilt.

The wildflower parts of last weekend are now stitched down. They look more like flowers now. The echo quilting makes them jump off the fabric. Now they are ready for binding.

I've been cutting out flower pieces.  Last August I appliqued some Harebells .  I wanted to do a bunch of other wildflowers and somehow never got around to it.  That's what new years are for - getting back on focus. This time I'm working on Mexican Hats and Penstemons.  Right now it looks like flowers have exploded in my quilt room.  These flowers have a lot of smaller pieces so I'm not sure how they will quilt up.  I do know that they will definitely need the stems to give them some shape.  That's next. Looking at the scattered remains of my morning session I'm getting ideas form more quilt blocks.  Some of the shapes created by cutting out the flower shapes very are interesting.  

Christmas Ornament Round 3 is done and I'm done with ornaments until next season!  I didn't get them all finished before Christmas but they were done a few days afterwards. I found the kit at Goodwill last year and started it last year.  But, I lost interest and working with the metallic threads annoyed me.  This year I was determined to finish them. It is a kit from 1979/1980 by Erica Wilson. The birds are stitched on both sides and look so much better in real life than they did in the picture.  It's amazing how simple felt can be elevated to stylish with the right trimmings. I really liked the way these birds turned out.  They are not being put away with the rest of the Christmas decorations.  I'm going to enjoy looking at them all year long. I'm also ready to do more felt embroidery.  But, I think I'll use normal floss instead the metallic floss. The kit was generous and I still have about half the spool left.  I also kept ...

I have too many projects going on.  So, I've taken some time off to get some of them done. So far this week I've beaded. And felted.  Now, those two projects are done.  I feel lighter.  The supplies are put away and my work area is clear. So now I'm beading some more. And braiding ... And stitching ... I'll be alternating between these three until they are done.  Then I'll finish some of the other things I've started. My goal is to make it the end of the year or until I run out of projects to finish.  There are other projects calling out to me but I'm going to ignore them for now.

One of the best Christmas smells is gingerbread cookies baking. I used to make a full batch every year.  Then a half batch.  Now I make them every few years. Definitely worth the wait!

I know, that's usually a easy question.  The answer is to bead.  But, in this case, I've been mulling it over since April or May when I started this project.  Now it's time for the moment of truth. I also realize you probably thought I gave up on this project because it hadn't been blogged in a while.  I've been slowly plugging away at it.  I'll admit that it has gone excruciatingly slowly. As a reminder, the project is called "Colorado Collage" designed by Caela Conn Tyler.  The border colors and lettering are mine but the rest of the magnificent design is hers. Here it is with the beads laid out over the forested areas of the state. I was afraid they would hide the intricate stitching.  But, comparing the two, not really.  The beads do add a nice sparkle.  The unbeaded Colorado looks plainer. I'm still undecided.  I'm going to think about it over the week and decide next week. Any thoughts?