June's SBQ

Here's this month's stitching blogger question from Lee at Lake Stitcher:

Tell us about something that you have stitched or plan to stitch for any father in your life. Maybe it’s for your father, your father-in-law, your children’s father, your grandfather, your godfather, or someone who was or still is an important father-figure in your life. Why did you choose this particular piece of stitching? Tell us the story behind it.

And because a simple one part question is never adequate, let’s go some more:

Often times we identify our love of needlework and our skills with our mothers or grandmothers or other women. It’s understandable because often they were are first teachers or role models. Now let’s think about our stitching life as it relates to our dads. Is there anything about our approach to stitching that we can recognize as traits of our fathers? For instance, does your dad (or any other important man in your life) have an approach to one of his interests that you can observe and think, “Hey….if I substitute the word “needlework” for “fly fishing”, we’d be pretty darn similar!” So tell us about it.

The first piece that came to mind was "Thank You for Serving" by the Sunflower Seed. I stitched this for my grandfather in the summer of 2008, right before I left on deployment. When I saw the design I thought of him and the other military men in my life (my other grandfather, step-grandfather, father and husband). I stitched it to remember the years that he spent in the army. I was able to drop it off at my LNS before I left and my mom picked it up when it was done. She gave it to him when she saw him at Christmas time. It is a design that I hope to stitch again for others in my family as they complete their service.

As for the second part of the question, I think part of my love of cross stitch comes from having a very analytical mind. This was inherited from both parents but especially my father.

Quilting and Stitching

Well, back to my regular scheduled programming ... at least somewhat. I've started to get into quilting as well as cross stitch. I has a chance to finish a project this week, which I was really excited about. I still need to finish the second bag but one has been completed. My first project was a Child's Activity Bag. I found the tutorial on Moda Bake Shop and it was created by Melissa Stramel of Lilac Lane.

The Front of the Bag

Fabric: Sandy Gervais' Nautical and Nice

Pattern: Child's Activity Bag

Designer: Melissa Stramel of Lilac Lane

The Back of the Bag

My local quilt shop, What's Your Stitch N Stuff, is celebrating is 20th Anniversary this week. So I stopped by to pick up some backing and batting so that I could complete the strip quilt top I had finished (the kit was purchased from there as well). I picked up some brown minkee for the back of the quilt. Here's the top with the backing and binding:

I know that I still need to iron the quilt top. I had started one night but realized that I really needed to do it on our full ironing board downstairs instead of the little ironing board I keep in the guest room for my quilt projects (great for blocks and small units, not so much for long strips). I really love the different fabrics in this quilt. I have a few more strip quilts to make ... it's one of my favorite kits that my LQS carries.

I also picked up a kit for a Christmas present for my sister (hopefully for this year) as well as another strip quilt that used Wine Country by Barb Tourtillotte.

I have been spending quite a bit of time stitching as well. I completed the center part of my stocking (well, except for a small part of her hand since I didn't have the color at the time and wanted to start working on the bottom).

I'm hoping to complete this in time to be able to send it out for finishing and still have it by Christmas. I've also been working on the Letter L that I showed to you previously. I've almost completed all of the stitching and will just have the beads left to do. My other project at the moment is a wedding sampler for my sister. It's been a lot of fun to work on with changing the colors to match those she picked for her wedding. My daughter's birth sampler has been framed ... I just need to take a picture of it to share as well as actually hang it on her wall. I hope it won't be too long before I can share some more projects with you ... both stitching and quilting. Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend! God Bless!