What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I'm busy finishing three new quilts for our Capital Quilters exhibition in May. Plus I want to enter at least one of the challenges.  So I'm quilting every day but I can't show you any of that just yet. 

However, in the evenings when I collapse into my chair I pick up my cross stitch and I've made good progress on Shades of Indigo by Nicole of Northern Expressions Needlework. 

There's just one more border to go now.

Of course mine isn't stitched with indigo threads.  I've chosen my favourite greens and blues ...

I haven't managed to do any quilting since I've been back from my holiday, but I am making progress on my Shades of Indigo cross stitch. 

There's still one more wide border to go after I finish the one at the bottom of the photo above. 

Part of the problem for me is deciding which colour thread to use for each new border.  Once you deviate from the pattern you have to make all the decisions yourself!! And sometimes that requires stitching a bit to see how it's going to look on the fabric and against ...

Three weeks ago I went to the Dunedin Stitching Retreat with some of my cross stitch friends.  

On arrival we were each given a goodie bag and included was a pattern and threads for the Retreat design which was this very cute wooden cottage on Baldwin Street, Dunedin - the steepest street in the world.

Examples stitched by the organisers

My version with a purple door

Baldwin St showing the exact cottage we stitched

It just so happens that I took a photo of that very same cottage when I climbed part of Baldwin St in January 2021 and here is ...

Day 16 and it's my Celtic Snow cross stitch designed by Northern Expressions Needlework.

There's a few factors that make this piece sing:

It's January, so that means long summer nights in New Zealand, and plenty of stitching.   

I'd normally be watching the Australian Open on TV right now, but the start date has been deferred to 8 February this year.   Instead I'm watching the fallout from some players having to endure 14 days in their hotel rooms (because someone on their flight tested positive for COVID once they reached Australia).  It's really going to impact on the tournament because some players can train for 5 hours a day, while others can't.  

Anyway, I've been working on ...