Slow Stitching - August 2025 - Week 4

My August piece is complete.  The theme for my piece this month was Friends. I am following Kathryn at K3NClothTales - Comfort Coverlet 2025. 

I finished the background in running stitch and white thread.

A reminder of my friends and how much they mean to me.

I have no plan for September yet as I have been unpacking for ages.

I am sure inspiration will provide something.

Slow Stitching - August 2025 - Week 3

Comfort Coverlet 2025 - August - Week 3.

My theme for this month is Friends.  

I have diecut fabric with my Bigshot machine from fabric which I associate with each of these friends.

I have started a running stitch background around the stars with a matching colored floss.

Slow Stitching - August 2025 - Week 2

Comfort Coverlet 2025 - August - Week 2.  Project hosted by Kathryn at K3N Cloth Tales.

My theme for August is Friends. I die cut seven stars to represent some of my friends. I chose colors which I associate with them.

I continue to stitch down the stars to my foundation layer.  I have used running stitch, French Knots, blanket stitch and representations of stars designed by me.

I am thinking of what the stitching will be on the background.

Slow Stitching - August 2025 - Week 1

My theme for August is Friends.  I am following K3N Cloth Tales Comfort Covertlet project.  

I die cut a star for each friend in colors that I associate with each of them.

I used 2 strands of embroidery floss and the blanket stitch to attach the stars to my background fabric or foundation layer. I chose the threa according to the colors in the fabric.

Some fabrics have metallic accents

Sylvia's Simple Shots

As we wait in the dark through the long night things can feel lonely, sad and discouraging.

We must remember that dawn does come.

Christmas can only be found.  

Christmas can not be bought.

Fill your heart with the hope an light that is coming.

I put up the tree this week as I was going to be hosting some teas for Christmas visits.

This is my wall tree that I made last year.  I still love it!

This year I decided to put some narrow green garland around the edge which nicely defines it.

I placed a couple of TV tables below it to allow me to hide the cord and put any other seasonal decorations I wanted.  Nice lacy tablecloth and one of my several Nativity sets as the main one is packed.  

I did not put all the ornaments I have on this year as I was up against a deadline.

It provides beautiful light to the living room.

Thank goodness the temperature warmed up a little this week and having friends over was possible.

I pulled out the red table cloth and the plaid Christmas place mats. 

A bit of healthy veggies and brie cheese with whole grain crackers were prepared.

Some clementines as there were not Mandarin oranges when I was shopping.  Supply chain issues.  I was grateful to get most of the food I was looking forward to.

I used my white Ikea dishes and mugs on the first tea and my White Regency for the second tea. 

A bit porcelain teapot of tea and a couple of hours of catching up and visiting with friends.

The Christmas Candle I received from my sister when she was in Germany.  It comes out every year. I have added a flameless candle to it in recent years.

I spent a day with my aunt making our traditional tourtieres (meat pies).  

We made a few small ones and a big one.  She is the one who makes the pastry so she decided that she was not making another batch so we just froze the meat in containers to eat in the next months.

The frozen filling may become pies or just eaten with pea and carrots which is my traditional way of eating tourtiere.

This tea with my friend featured just a few snacks.  Chocolate almonds, Ferrero Rocher and some cranberry and almond cookies.

Still a bit big pot of herbal tea and clementines.

I so enjoyed having a few people over this year for Christmas.

I set up one of several of my fireplace DVDs and just had the crackling fire for sound.  

It makes the whole living room feel very warm and cozy and festive.

The fireplace DVDs allow me the option of just fire, fire and crackle, or fire, crackle and music.  Some feature traditional Christmas carols and hymns.

I have one that features Christmas songs by Boney M. and another with nature sounds that I use after the Christmas season.

It works well for me.

I was given this book by a friend who enjoyed and thought that I would enjoy it too.

Miracles from Heaven by Christy Wilson Beam is a true story of the miraculous healing.  Christy and Kevin Beam traveled a journey of faith by putting one foot in front of the other. Their daughter Anna was diagnosed with an incurable, life threatening disorder.  The family endured through years with Anna suffering pain, invasive testing and treatments. Travelling many hours for specialized care, managing the care of their other children, the cost of treatments were part of their lives during this time.

When Anna suffered an accident that nearly took her life they thought it would makes Anna's life even worse.  In the days that followed her rescue she shared her stunning experience of heaven.

Anna was well following this experience. God is good!

UpCycled Card Fronts

This had a great message to the card so I just trimmed it to leave all the sentiment.

Adhered it to the front of a coordinating pink card.  The birthday sentiment continues on the inside.



This one was trimmed and adhered to a coordinating purple card base.











This one was a Friend Birthday card.  I had to trim it quite a bit and was not happy to trim the flowers on the left.   I decided it was more important to keep the right edge intact.   I chose a warm green card base which worked well with the leaves on the flowers.

If you receive wonderful cards from family and friends - give it a try to up-cycle them into new cards you can send to to family and friends.  I am working on the problem of cards only being used a single time.

I always put inserts in my cards to it can be removed and used again!

These are large cards measuring 5x7.

Tea, Book and Almonds

I sat down with Raspberry Thriller tea and my library book about small sewing projects. 


I added my Friends Willow Tree figurine with a pink butterfly crocheted by my aunt Irene. 

A small pink vase holds some pink silk flowers in various shades.

A small bowl of chocolate covered almonds is my treat with my tea.
 



The tea cup is Queen Anne bone china with a wonderful scalloped shape in a great pink color. Love how the shape is highlighted when viewed from the top.

The pink bowl on the left was a find at the rummage sale on the weekend.   I filled it with round glass balls.  The a blown glass larger ball, a blue bird ball and a large clear glass marble.




Sharing with Bernideen's Tea Time
and Ruth at Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Friends - Exchange Cards

I made these 2 cards for my card exchange this month.  I managed to purchase the Elizabeth Crafts Designs Friends thin die on sale.  I love the calligraphy style of lettering. This is a A Word with Words collection by Suzanne Cannon - Quietfire Design - a Canadian.

I chose the designer paper which I ripped and removed a section and adhered the 2 pieces at each end of the warm light blue card. I cut the word from the green and the ivory card stocks and layered them onto each other.  I punched flowers from the same colors on the word.  These were layered and held in place on the card front with ivory brads. 

I chose a turquoise card.  I ripped the designer paper as the first card except I switched the orientation to tall.  The word was cut from cherry red and brown card stock. They were layered again using quick dry adhesive.  I punched daisies from turquoise and brown.  They are held in place with taupe brown brads.

I am sharing these cards with my friends on the card exchange list for August.