Did you "Shop Small" this weekend?

I hope so! I supported small indie pattern designers through the 2020 Gift Along and took advantage of the giftalong2020 coupon code to purchase a handful of knit and crochet patterns. 

Shop Small 2020. Small Business support.

Scrolling through the offerings of 250 participating pattern designers on Ravelry, I found an inspiring selection of projects—small to large, easy to a bit more challenging, decorative and functional, and a few with new-to-me techniques or interesting construction concepts.

My pattern picks:

• Brioche Starter Cowl
• Modern Zebra striped shawl
• The Beeswax Hat: knit in-the-round with mini-cables
• colorwork: Ice Time fingerless mitts and the Fir Sprucing Up dishcloth
• bulky yarn Rasta Bucket
• mandala crochet: Sakura Cabled Mandala and Spanish Mandala Pillow
• small, scrap buster projects: Here we Gnome Again and Scintillation stars from Hunter Hammersen of Pantsville Press.
• Deep Feelings and Deschutes River top-down raglan cardigans
• Tucked Away sweater with a saddle shoulder yoke

I'll be searching the yarn stash for appropriate pairings and a few of these may be slated for next year's Make Nine Challenge.

Gift Along 2020 discount and give-aways

The 25% off pattern coupon—giftalong2020—is good through Monday, November 30. Take advantage and support these small business, independent pattern designers.

And if you are so motivated, there are other ways to participate in the Gift Along that encourage completing the projects by year-end (for gift-giving) and winning prizes. 

It's a win-win.

Have yourself a happy little Thanksgiving stitch time

Do you have any fabric with turkeys? or cornucopia? maybe a pilgrim or two? or any motif that reads "Thanksgiving"? I don't... unless it's buried deep in the stash somewhere. 

A Thanksgiving hexie (of sorts). The mushroom print from Dew & Moss
[Art Gallery Fabrics] is fussy cut for the outside triangles.

So here's my Thanksgiving-ish English paper pieced (EPP) hexie to wish all a safe Thanksgiving holiday.

Small-scale prints for selective cutting
While I was masked-up and working in West Virginia last week, I picked up a handful of fat quarters at Stitch Morgantown. It was a conscious choice of small-scale prints to use in EPP hexagon blocks. More selective cutting—or fussy cutting—is in my near future.

Fat quarters of small scale prints. Fabric collections from
Art Gallery Fabrics, Paintbrush Studio and FIGO Fabrics.

Truth be told, this former boarding school student and current road warrior is quite keen on not having to travel for a some big Thanksgiving shindig. Instead, we decided to support a local small business restaurant and ordered a Thanksgiving meal to-go. The addition of two tried-and-true favorite recipes—a corn casserole and a squash pie—were made at home. And, after traveling the past several weeks under the stress and precautions of the pandemic, I am embracing the quiet time—by staying put—at home. Don't have to dress up... or mask up... or do make-up... it sounds perfect.

The new fat quarters are calling and the plan is to add to my November collection of EPP blocks.

11 hexies for November.

I also have my last Make Nine 2020 project to get underway and I'm enrolled in a virtual workshop hosted by Selvedge Magazine about hand stitched clothing. 

Stitching is in store for me this Thanksgiving. Hope you, too, are doing something you enjoy.

It's a new day for the USA!

November 7, 2020: to commemorate yesterday's presidential election news, I abandoned piecing the hexagon blocks I'd previously prepared... to make these. 

Election 2020 patriotic hexagons.

Whatever red, white or blue fabrics near the top of the stash pile were pulled for cutting and assembly.

Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris hexagon block.

President-Elect Joe Biden hexagon block.

Some units were thead basted... then I turned to the glue stick to expedite the basting process as we awaited the President-elect and Vice President-Elect televised speeches.

Hexagon block backs show thread and glue basting.

It's a new day for the USA.

Kantha stitched and hand embroidered Flag Girl.
Shall we name her Kamala?

Fabrics:
birds on navy—Small Things Pets from Lewis and Irene

girl faces—Friends and Faces from Paintbrush Studio

tonal red blender—Suede from P&B Textiles

flowers on red—Alexander Henry Fabrics

small flags—unknown, from my stash

A month of hand stitching, a virtual stitch party and social distancing

Another productive month of stitching!

October was all about hand work. My Stitching Success Tracker shows that time was split between English paper piecing [EPP] and progress on my Make Nine 2020 knitting project. 

October Stitching Success Tracker: knitting and English paper piecing.

I've continued adding 6" hexagons to my Glorious Hexagons project. The 10 blocks completed in October puts the count over 130! (No quilt layout in sight... one day I'll decide on a project or three.)

Participating "virtually" in the daily prompts of the Instagram-based I Love EPP Party with @the_makers_stash was also very motivating and inspirational. I picked up a few good tips from world-wide EPPers and there are several new-to-me things I now want to try.

Ten hexagons completed in October.

A recent purchase of two packages of Glorious Hexagons paper pieces has provided me with fresh templates and different shapes to work with—including the kite shape. New block design possibilities! I'm also referencing Katja Marek's latest book, "The New Hexagon 2."

The kite shape is offering new hexagon block designs.

My Make Nine yarn project—a yarn stash buster—has been traveling with me. Progress has been made on my garter stitch wrap. 

Yarn stash buster garter stitch wrap.

Last week, I exercised my 19th Amendment right with Early Voting! We wore our masks, social distanced, and waited in line about 45 minutes.

"I Voted!" 2020

I hope your October was proactive and productive!