slow progress

I bet you all are expecting a post with more longarm practice photos, right?  Well, that's not what this is.  :(

I'm in a bit of a holding pattern with the longarm right now.  Waiting on a book to learn more, working on figuring out what kinds of thread I want/need, deciding if I want to buy a whole bolt of batting...and being a little overwhelmed at the whole idea of actually owning this thing!  (I did want one, but it all happened so fast!)

So while I wait and let it all sink in, I've been doing some hand embroidery.  My sewing room is a bit of a mess, so I'm having a hard time getting myself up there in the evenings.  Embroidery is something I can do on the sofa in the living room, listening to football (or whatever) with the hubby and the kitties.

First, I've been working on the embroidery part of a block of the month-type quilt I got at JoAnn's a while ago.  It's called Floral Breeze and I think I've probably shown a few photos of the blocks before.  The blocks have been together for a while.  The appliqued parts sewn on for almost as long and then I started the embroidery and got bored.  And the hoop was too big.  And I was a little scared of those fancy-looking stitches.  But I've done a few other projects needing embroidery since then (and got a smaller hoop), so I was ready to tackle it again.

So far...

As you can (maybe) see, some are simpler than others.  But my overall impression is that whoever drew the doodly flowers has even less doodle talent than I do!  So I'm working with their designs, but improvising a little too.  So far, so good!

And then I happened across the blog stitch, stitch, stitch and saw her free Hexie of the Week projects and loved them.  So I decided I'd choose one pattern and make a few for Christmas ornament/presents.  Just a few because too many people would just throw them out.  (Sad but true...)

These little birdies can be found on the blog here.  But there are many others and it was a hard decision for me which to choose.  They still need eyes and a few red berries before they get sewn to the green background, but they went super fast.  I'm still deciding how to finish them, but I've got a few ideas.

And in case you're worried about the longarm...it's being kept company.

Luka and Emma are making sure it doesn't feel lonely.  Or maybe they just think it's a fantastic kitty hammock.  Either way, I'm hoping the novelty will wear off by the time I'm really ready to use it.  But I'm keeping the lint roller handy anyways!

Happy quilting,

Katie