Don't tell my mother

We are having a cold period, at the end of last week the temperature dropped to -27C/-16.6F as you can see here. Today has been just -10C/+14F, but the wind makes even that little frost bite into my cheeks.

It has been nice to sit by the fire and stitch. Even the tulips look like little flames.

My mother has taught me many things about handwork, certain rules how things are done for the best results. And naturally the basic idea "If it is worth doing, it is worth being done well". I made my first cross stitches around age 10, for my other Grandmother. It was a cushion with roses, something like this:

The pattern  was painted on the aida, so I knew where to make the stitches, all in the same direction. Wool yarns, big needle, not too difficult for a child. Mother told me that the reverse side was important too. I should not jump with my needle to the next place of that colour, and the stitches on the reverse should all be in one direction too. Very clear rules, and I tried to obey them. The result was good, and I enjoyed making something "for real". I think I have done OK here too with the top stitches, at age 19:

And look at the back:

I'm still proud of my work.

Several years later, I'm working on the Scandinavian Christmas. This is how my work looks now on the hidden side. Don't tell my mother! The border is cross stitch, and the long jumps are from the other embroideries in the picture. The pellon makes this mess invisible from the right side, and it will be hidden in the quilt finally, but I can't help feeling a little ashamed of what I'm doing.

On the quilt front, I'm busy making Maverick Stars for the outer border of my Crumble quilt, to fill the gaps between the words.

What did your mother teach you about handwork?

Happy Valentine's day to all!

Updates on Crumble Quilt and Scandinavian Christmas BOM

This is a crumble quilt I have been making with Jo since last summer, and it was buried under more urgent projects some time in November, when the first deadline was. I waited for a long time for the book Word Play Quilts by Tonya Ricucci with instructions to making letter blocks. I still have to figure out how I can make them more the same size.

I added the sashings today, because I felt I had to tame the wild mess of the crumble blocks. With other fabrics the blocks look great without sashings and form a colourful surface. I have so many colours and checkered fabrics mixed without much thought that they make me feel dizzy. Jo gave a new deadline for March 2nd, and I think I will finish my quilt by then. If you follow the link to Jo's blog, you will find a list of links to other quilters who show their Crumbles.

A small group has been making Lynette Anderson's Scandinavian Christmas quilt BOM together, and today is our first day to show what we have done with the pattern. Melanie started the group, let's see who has managed to keep her time schedule. Here is my first block:

The background is old unbleached linen, and the other fabrics are all from my endless stash. There is a cross stitch border, stitched details and appliquéd reindeers and birds.

Crumbs, limping geese, and swans learning to fly

Recently I came across a tempting challenge: Crumb Along! at Jo's Country Junction. I made my first crumb quilt last Spring and it was fun and addicting. Before I noticed I had started yet another block, and when I trimmed a finished block I was left with a new beginning. Therefore I didn't hesitate but started playing with another bag of crumbs. For the first block Jo showed us how to make Flying Geese in a liberated way, scissor cut and with no strict rules.

My geese look like they had a limp!

Jo is giving a new block every Tuesday, and yesterday she showed how to make a star and a heart. These are my first blocks for this week. If you want to play along, you can still catch up and start playing with your tiny bits of fabric.

On every Tuesday Jo also has a list of links to the blogs Crumbing Along, so you can visit the blogs and get new ideas. The button on my sidebar will also take you to Jo's blog.

Limping geese takes me to the beautiful whooper swans practicing their flight. The birds are big, from bill to tail 130 to 152 cm long, and quite heavy too. Getting up in the air is not so easy:

This is as high as this young bird got on any of its attempts I saw.

There was lot of running just under the water surface.

Yesterday Melanie gave us two challenges, one of them concerned decluttering the house and getting rid of five things that are useless, outgrown etc. I found all these blouses,shirts etc. in my closet, in good condition but made for a person smaller than I'm now, so they will go to the charity shop.

This is more than five already, but I also found a winter sweater of Mr. K and a small T-shirt of Son K to go with them. Then there was this pair of summer shoes. They were not my size either, but tended to be left behind like Cinderella's glass slipper when I tried to walk in them.

And finally something useless: two broken toys I had been thinking of repairing but I know I'm never going to do it. Binned!

The fun part of Melanie's challenge is left: an hour of time for myself, and as a reward for losing the useless items, to find something to the house that is really me. I'll need to think about that before I make the decision.