IT'S A STITCH GODDESS

 I got enough embroidery done on the Stitch Goddess to be able to sew the two sides together.  Then I stuffed her and sewed on the bottom.

I used wool and and some walnut shells in the bottom to give her some weight.

I plan to stitch some more in the blank areas.

STITCH GODDESS WORK

 I did some more embroidery on my Stitch Goddess  during the Brave Patch Finish it Friday group zoom.

I want to get most of it done before I stitch the two sides together.

FINISH NUMBER 2

 I got the binding onto the Batik quilt and fixed some of the quilting that needed fixing.  So it's done.

Finish #2 of the year.

STITCH GODDESS

 I watched the Quilty Nook Workshop on making a Stitch Goddess.  This is as far as I got in the workshop.

QUILTING BATIK QUILT

 Here's one of the quilts that my friend Mary sent to me.  I volunteered to do the quilting on a few for her.  They are quilts donated to her quilting group to help raise funds.

I got the quilting on this one done this weekend.

I used a bottle to help keep the quilt top stretched a bit which really helped.

FIRST FINISH OF 2026

 I put the finishing touches on the binding of Out of Africa today.  It is now done.

Finish #1 and counting!

MUD CLOTH SCRAPS

 I ordered some African Mud Cloth scraps from an Etsy account, Konkada.  They arrived today.  Look what I got!  I think they would make a great Kawandi mat, don't you?

OTHER STUFF

 I've been working on some other projects that have taken a bit of time.  I finished them today.

First was this fast drying clay project that took a while for it to dry, then several coats of sealer, then several coats of paint, waiting for each to dry.  And, no it wasn't supposed to look quite like this.  I had probblems with the clay drooping.  I didn't have very good tools to smooth it with, and I really didn't know what I was doing.  But, it has a style of its own.  Its fun.

Then I finished making this book, too.  It started out as this month's Handmade Book Club's Book of the Month, but I didn't like the binding they were using, so I did a Lattice binding instead.  

OUT OF AFRICA IS QUILTED

 I finished quilting the Out of Africa quilt today.  I used Erik's computer skills to have him quilt a pantograph.  There were a few hiccups.  The top thread broke (shredded) a few times in quick succession, so I gave Erik (the longarm) a good cleaning and changed the needle.  Then everything was great again and it stitched out beautifully.

BACKING MADE

 I spent most of the day making the label and backing for the Out of Africa quilt.  I used fabrics from my stash and almost all of the scraps from the front.  

SCRAP PLAY WORKSHOP

 I attended Sherri Lynn Wood's annual First Saturday of the Year Improv  Scrap Play Workshop on Saturday.  We were making 9-patch blocks.  I made a few during the workshop, one with mostly dark valued patches and another with all light fabrics with one dark.  Then I wanted to make another on a larger scale, but didn't finish it.

The next day I worked on it for a bit again.  This is where I left it all until the next workshop.  The blocks are not sewn to each other yet.

I MADE A WILLOW BIRD FEEDER, SORT OF

 I finally finished the Willow Bird Feeder I've been working on.  It is from a kit I bought from MyOwn2Hands.  

Mine doesn't actually look as nice as the example they show that made me fall in love with it and buy the kit.  But, I realized when I was almost done with it that I had inadvertantly skipped one of the videos!  So, I since I didn't have enough willow rods left to redoit, I just did the best I could to finish it.

My hands hurt.  On a good note, the husband likes it.  He thinks the wonky is interesting.

OUT OF AFRICA TOP

 After a lot of frustrating unsewing and resewing and cutting to match, I'm finally done with putting together the Africa fabrics for this top.

And it's pretty close to flat.