September 2025

Ahhhs.   Cooler days.  So nice to sit with the windows open.  So nice to sit outside and enjoy the yard without the heat.   I love sleeping on the cooler nights with the windows open.  Doing the routine circuit of flower bed tending for one last time - hopefully - and it is much easier in the cooler weather.

I did manage to get some quilt work done.   Nothing to show but was able to sort and cut four blocks.  

My finishing mode carried on into September.   I managed to fully finish HOD’s July   I shared the chosen fabrics and trims last time and here is the finish.  

And an update on the Faded Flag finish.   I did take all the stuffing out and started over.   I also stitched and fully finished New Jersey in the States Series from Thread Milk Designs.   And fully finished an EGA Blackwork Flag and a flag scissors fob.  

I fully finished Arcaded Pansy Pyn Pillow from Needlemade Designs into a mattress finish.   I just love that I had, what I think was, the perfect fabric in my stash to complete it.  

I fully finished my first drum finish.   It is a little less than perfect but I am OK with it.  I cut the templates as per the instructions but I learned I needed a little more fabric for seam allowance.   Next time, I will add a half inch to the template and trim once sewn.  I just need a bit more fabric for fussing about with my chubby fingers! 

I fully finished  Harvest Time From Lila’s Studio.   More important, I want to share the back of this piece.    A friend shared these easels they found on Amazon, of course.   They come with screws but I attached it with double sided tape.   EZ PZ way to make a fall display.  

Here is an EGA challenge piece.  We had a meeting on embroidery and we were challenged several years ago by our President to use embroidery stitches to embellish.   We were all given the same piece of fabric and let loose.   I managed to incorporate  11 different stitches.  I always think embroidery is easier than it is and then I do it again and I am reminded.  

Of course, there is the need for a quick stitch.  I stitched up this one of a trio from Stitches by Ethel.   Cute seasonal small.     

When you get on a roll, you just keep rolling.   All told, I did 11 fully finished pieces in August and September.  I definitely made a dent in the to-be finished projects basket.

Mid-month I attend an EGA Stitching Retreat.   No shopping, no classes, just stitching progress.   There were about 35 of us and it was a great, intimate size.  It was a beautiful woodland setting.  We stayed at Watson Woods, a YMCA Retreat in Painted Post,  New York.   It is always great to meet and stitch with like minded.  I got to put faces with  many of the names that are familiar from members lists for guilds or see in  stitching newsletters.  

Being doing good with getting on the treadmill almost daily as well as doing some yoga most days.   Closing all my fitness rings on my watch.  My goal is better health.  Weight loss is a side benefit and will be welcomed if it happens.   I’ve got those two little ones to keep up with.   Mainly, trying to create new habits by moving my body more.   It was a scene this summer with me trying to get out of the kayak.  In my defense it was parked up a steep incline with gravity being against me and me worrying about getting a five year old out as well.  There is the need to improve my ‘kayak exit’ ability for sure.  

For September I needed to make progress on my Cabin in the Woods.   I made some changes to it.   I  changed the linen use from a black to the gray mottled, Muddy Puddle.  I changed the border not to include the “N-S-E-W” as I didn’t care for the bright yellow.   I could have taken the route to just change the color which would have been the simpler path, but no, I opted for the harder path.  There was stitching and frogging, and restitching and frogging on that border.    I made such great progress at the EGA Retreat and I am close to a finish.    A tree to finish, some grass to fill in and the border to complete.   Hard to see but I am ‘auditioning’ different colored beads to use for the starry sky.

My remaining WIP’s are all over the place as far as their designs.  The new math must be involved as well.  I started with 27 WIPs two years ago.  I had 24 finishes last year and 13 finishes so far this year and still have 7 WIPs.   It is those ‘new’ WIP’s that creep in the mix.  What remains to be completed is a small monthly calendar piece, a peyote beading fob, a tray with smalls, a Christmas WIP added to the list last year, a band sampler, a large sampler and a Quaker pumpkin I added this year.  Actually I should work on them in the order listed because I could narrow the list down fastest that way.  Hmmm.  Decisions, decisions.    Anyway, these are my thoughts as of this September 22nd for my path forward AFTER Cabin in the Woods and Harvest Friendship.    I hope to continue with completing 12 patriotic pieces between now and June 30th.   I already have done 5 so I am ahead of the game…. as of this minute.   As always, it is all subject to change.  I really want to get to the point of having one larger and one smaller current project.   I will plod on with finishing the WIP’s.     And I haven’t forgotten the SAL’s I have.  They have to fit into the mix somewhere.  I just don’t count them as WIP’s because they are things I was coerced (wink wink) into stitching.  I guess SAL’s and class projects will have to be the next thing I tackle, after WIP’s!!!

That’s all I’ve got……as always, thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching!