My Mother Always Said...

 "After you turn 21, the years disappear."  She was right! 🤣

'Love Lives in the Stars'

So...where have I been for over a month?  Well, Gentle Readers...ticking along.  Ticking along. 

I've been taking pains to further 'curate' my news-watching, which has been helping my mental health a great deal.  Some days are still better than others, but I'm finding the better ones out-number the others now.

For one thing, I've found a new faith community, one similar to my Anglican (Episcopalian for you in the US) roots, but also different.  A bit less formal, but with the sound theology I'm used to. One that's warm and welcoming, despite its modest size, and one with a gracious and caring woman as Pastor.  I'm sure my contributions will be very different than they were in my former parish, but that whatever I bring to the community will be accepted with loving grace.

For another thing -- I've been renovating, after a fashion.  I've finally stripped away the cat-damaged wall paper along my hallway, right down to the panel board (it's a late seventies mobile home dressed up to look like a real house).  There's still a bit of under-paper -- the last of the two (count 'em!) layers of wall paper -- and I'll remove that slowly over time.  Then I'm going to prime the wall and paint it in some sort of light, neutral colour, and re-hang my "Rogues Gallery" -- all those family photos I hold so dear.

For a third thing -- I've developed rosacea, which is apparently very common in Women of a Certain Age who enjoy waking up to a fresh cup of coffee or tea, going out to get some sunshine, excercising in said sunshine, maybe having a spicy dish for lunch (me? not so much) and a glass of wine with dinner.   What's left? Breathing? Sleeping? Creating with fabric, fibre or floss?!  Sheesh!

Anyway, I'm treating my face more gently these days to make up for the fact that I'm not giving up any of the above "causes"!  

There was one thing, though, that I have given up in the last couple of weeks: most of my living room furniture.

Yep. You read that right.

I moved here in the fall of 2008, two years into widowhood and still grieving.  It's taken a long time for that grief to ease up to the point where I could be honest and start sifting and sorting my material memories -- but that time is NOW.

During those 17 years, I've let my furniture go to the cats.  A little research showed that perhaps the down-to-the innards mess they made of my over-stuffed love seat and two chairs, combined with the fact they were crammed into a small space that made vacuuming a challenge, was ...well...not good for me.  At least, not good for my skin!

So...at the end of October I went to a furniture store in the town up the road, and bought two new small chairs.  They're "tub" shaped, with wooden frames, including wooden arms, beautifully finished, and with upholstered backs, seats and back cushions. Those cushions have zippers -- the fabric can be washed!

Armed with a bottle of "No Scratch" from the pet store and some of my own quilts and coverlets, I am now enjoying both chairs immensely.

But...uh-oh!  Now the carpet -- a sort of 'Berber' type -- is very visible.  So...I went out and bought one of those light-weight upright warm-water-and-detergent motorized carpet cleaners (a Hoover PowerDash Pet Carpet Cleaner) from my local Home Hardware (a Canadian chain of small-box hardware stores staffed by folks who remember your name).  In between assorted other activities, I've set up a schedule of weekly carpet cleaning sessions.  It's going to take a while, and my carpet will never look "like new", but it's making a difference!

The fact that my furniture is no longer spewing bits of dust, dander, sponge rubber etc. into the air, and my carpet is giving up all that the vacuum couldn't reach for over a decade has worked wonders on both my skin and my sense of peace.

Furthermore, having to clear out a small book-case in order to 'do' the hall carpet has meant that I've just filled my second and third box of books and old DVDs to donate to the local lending library -- for sale or circulation: their choice.

And of course the 'making' hasn't stopped!  We all know that our crafting, hand-work, etc. keep us sane, so let's explore what that's meant for me since my last post, eh?

In rug-hooking, as far as the Women's Show in Red Deer...it wasn't a roaring success for Curiosity Art and Framing, where I show my work.  It was an experiment, and won't be tried again.

But...I'm happy to report that my piece, "Love Lives in the Stars" (see the photo above left) was accepted into the "Winter's Night" exhibit in the lobby gallery of the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre!  The exhibit opens November 17 and runs through January 8, 2026, though it will be closed for the holidays:

I hope to go to the opening reception next week -- if the weather behaves!

In knitting, I've finished that one pair of mittens, and have been working on the gloves my son requested for Xmas.  I've finished one, and have only the ring finger, the pinky finger and the thumb to finish on the second. Given that I am challenged by 'reversing' a pattern -- in this case, for a right- and left-hand glove -- it's been a bit of "one step forward, two steps back", but I'm on track now and the pair will be finished, washed and blocked well before Xmas...

Pattern: Modified Army Gloves
Designer: Selyn Birnbaum
Yarn: 100% Corriedale
Handspun by Kristi, Alberta, Canada

As for my own handspun, the hat is progressing -- I'm past the ribbing -- but it's a "car knit" which means "while I'm waiting for the train" or "when I'm out with a friend for coffee" or whatever...so stay tuned for progress!

That said, once the give-away mittens were done, using the last of the same yarn, I cast on a pair of "Lawn Bowling Mitts" designed by my cyber-friend Kate -- she of "Arts and Socks" blog.  I've finished one (but for the thumb) and will cast on the second soon. They'll join the other things in the "Warm Things" give-away box.

And then there's quilting.  I finished the "Four-patch Fun" top -- Bonnie Hunter's 2025 "Leaders and Enders" project. As you may recall, I used the left-overs from the "Celtic Knots" mega-quilt project from the summer.  I opted for a 'straight-on' layout, rather than 'on point' -- and I'm glad I did. It's SO pretty!

It'll stay as a flimsy until its needed.

That said, on my first Sunday at my new worship community, I found out that a family with whom they were acquainted had recently lost everything in a house fire.  The couple in question are not in great financial shape, as they work as health care aids (not well paid here in this province).  So...this week I sandwiched and quilted one of the comfort throw 'tops' I keep on hand. All that's left to do is to bind it, stitch in thread ends and wash it.  I'll have it ready for the next service in the parish, on Nov. 23.  Below is a photo of the top that I finished a few months ago:

As for the November BOM from A Quilting Life...well...I've prepped the templates on freezer paper, but that's as far as I've gone.  Some of you will know how much I dislike templates. I'll just leave that there for now!

On to stitching!

In my last post I mentioned that I had some 'smalls' I wanted to stitch for Xmas gifts.  I'm happy to report that all three have been stitched!

Alas, it seems that as of this writing, I've photographed only one of them -- and it's only stitched.  It needs to be embellished with the charms that come with it, and then fully finished:

Design: "Coffee"
Designer: Hinzeit
28-count unlabelled fabric
2 over 2 with the called-for colours

NOTE: the above link is to US-based 123 Stitch -- a great company but not where I purchased this pattern. I've owned it for years, and bought it from a Canadian source. It appears to be unavailable from 123 Stitch; I have no idea where you can get it now, let alone the charms that go with it.  Sorry, eh?

In other stitching...

My November focus is once again on "A Quilter's Dream" from Modern Folk Embroidery.  Why?  Because this is a tribute piece to my late husband, my greatest fan as I took up quilting and then moved to explore art quilting not long before he died in 2006.  I began to work on this some months ago -- in February 2025, marking 50 years from our engagement to be married:

In August is/was our wedding anniversary -- the 9th of that month.  He died on that same date, 31 years after we were married -- so here is my progress on Aug. 31 this year:

And November is a) Diabetes Month in Canada (Canadians Dr. Frederick Banting and his partner Dr. Best and their team discovered insulin. Dr. Banting -- aka Sir Frederick Banting, was born Nov. 14, 1891); b) my father's birth month - Nov. 14, 1904; and c) my husband's birth month - Nov. 29, 1952.

So here is my progress to date.  With another 2 weeks to go, I've finished the first two pages (top and bottom left) of this piece.

As for spinning...no...nothing going on there in the last few weeks. No rug-hooking since "Love Lives in the Stars" either.  But that doesn't mean all is lost on those fronts.

I'm learning to go where my hands want to go, and to trust in my "little art spirit" (as Deanne Fitzpatrick is wont to say) as well as the greater spirit that governs us all.

Americans will be celebrating their Thanksgiving soon.  They continue to live in Very Troubled Times there, and up north here we can only watch and pray -- not only for them, but for those up here who would emulate some of the nastier forces at play south of our border.

So I leave you, Gentle Readers, first, with my usual link to dear Nina Marie, with her inspiring posts; and second, with hopes and prayers for a safe, happy, celebratory Thanksgiving -- in the US and every day wherever the ROTW (Rest Of The World) lives...for we have each other, the work of our hands, the skies above, the earth beneath, and the One, the Universe...however you express that...who cares for each and every one of us.

Blessings, a bientot!

It's October...and I'm Still Here!

 

Hello, Gentle Readers! Thank you for being patient with me.  I still have days when I wake up thinking, "WTF?!" but most of the time now, I'm less tired, less stressed.  It was good to take some time away from some of my social media.

You'll probably chuckle at this, though: my "social media" consists of e-mails, blog posts, YouTube videos and Facebook groups -- most of those, private, requiring membership and the answers to a series of questions to determine one's level of genuine interest.  I focus on creative pages (the groups supporting cross-stitch; quilting; hooking rugs -- including for the wall; spinning and knitting.  

Then there's a couple of groups that are political -- but locally (as in my province and the country as a whole).  And that's it.

I'm a big YouTube fan and my list of 'subscriptions' is centred on cross-stitch (aka "flosstube") and knitting, with a bit of quilting and rug-hooking thrown in.  Good for the soul!  

I do admit to enjoying some news and politics but since my time off, I've been curating these items closely. Working outdoors -- prepping for Winter (yep!) as well as working in the studio has also been a big help in dissipating angst.  So...let's see what I've been up to, shall we?

In rug-hooking, the four pieces I showed in my last post have been trimmed, bound, blocked and taken to be framed at "my" gallery/frame shop -- Curiosity Art & Framing in Red Deer, Alberta.  The Gallery has a booth at an up-coming Women's Show in Red Deer, and some of my other work will be there -- October 17 and 18. I expect to be there too -- either helping behind the scenes with set-up or take-down, and/or doing a short artist's talk.  Not sure yet -- but I'm looking forward to it.

My newest piece is a wintry one, in answer to a Call for Entry from the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre.  Sorry...won't be sharing more info until it's framed and my response to the Call is accepted 😊...or not 😞  Stay tuned!

In knitting...well...there have been stops and starts.  My son wants a pair of real gloves -- that is, ones with fingers -- for Xmas.  I made a start.  I got past the cuff and palm onto the fingers of the first one and...they were huge!  So I've frogged that one and started over with a new pattern and fewer stitches.  I'm now working on the thumb gusset; life is good. I know...if you're not a knitter, you're already yawning. 😉

Also in knitting (!) my "sock mojo" has been sorely lacking, but I managed to finish a shawl for "One-skein September" (inspired by Karen of 'Recreational Knitting' podcast on YouTube).  I chose the "Get Set and Go!" pattern from Jem Arrowsmith on Ravelry.  

The pattern is great -- but what had me wondering was my yarn choice: a from-stash skein of "Uneek" fingering from Urth in colourway #3010.  It looked beautiful in the skein and even lovely in the small photo of it knit up (at left above).  Even when I laid it out for blocking, I was uncertain -- but now that it's dry and I've been wearing it, well, let's just say I'm chuffed!  It blocked beautifully and the colours blossomed into a coordinated collection instead of a weird mess!  

Photo taken while being blocked
on an old pale green towel

I've returned to 'give-away' knitting with yet another pair of child-sized mittens from my favourite Tin Can Knits pattern -- The World's Simplest Mittens -- using some more stash self-patterning yarn, and have only the thumbs to do to finish them off.  And my car knitting -- aka my "waiting at the train crossing" knitting?  I've started a simple toque for me, using my own handspun -- a sort-of DK weight marl...

I'm doing a 2x2 ribbing for the brim and then will knit solidly until I get to where I want to decrease stitches for the top.  This lively marled-and-striped colour-way would obliterate any sort of cable or texture pattern; it needs to show itself off! LOL!

In the quilting department, now that I've finished the Celtic Knot Behemoth (my name, not the actual name!) and it's been given to the happy recipients, what's next?

Well...piecing, of course -- it soothes the soul (as I may have said before!)  I'm assembling two things with my scraps -- string blocks (on recycled phone book paper) and crumb blocks.  I'm also working on a "Four Patch Fun" quilt (Bonnie Hunter's "Leaders and Enders" project for this year). For this, I'm using whatever neutrals I can find that work, plus left-over fabric from the Celtic Knot Behemoth.  I made up one block, just to see how it would turn out, and am delighted with it, so have prepped units for several more.  Given the size of the components I'm using, the blocks finish larger than those in the pattern -- 8" square.  I'll need 56 of them (7 blocks wide by 8 long) to make a decent throw for giving away -- and only hope I can find enough lights/neutrals that are suitable!

And...it wouldn't be October without another block for the Block of the Month (BOM) from A Quilting Life. Here it is laid out with its friends on my bedroom floor (bottom left)...

And here's its solo shot:

If you've been following along, you'll know that I've focused on using up a twenty+ year old stash of Thimbleberries fabrics, and have now pretty much exhausted the selection of lights/neutrals, so I'm scrounging from other parts of my stash.  No matter!  I seem to be able to find something that works every time.  I think this is a testament to the talent of that group of designers -- their use of colour, their choice of prints, their knowledge of how colours go together to make a cohesive whole, even decades after the fabric's been discontinued.

Nowadays fabric lines take months to design, but are brought to birth quickly and within months are discontinued.  This seems to be a waste of talent and design time but if the design -- including print and colour selection -- is well done, it can outlive its "fad" or "trend" stage and become timeless.  For me, these Thimbleberries fabrics from 2005 and earlier have that quality.

Let's see...what's next?  Cross stitch!  In September I focused on samplers, and made great headway on my focus piece, "Memories of the Past" from Hands Across the Sea designs.

Here's where I'd left it in September 2024:

And here's where I left it at the end of September this year:

I'm absolutely in love with this piece, but it's large, and I've quite a way to go yet!

Near the end of September I stumbled on a reference to a new-to-me pattern from SewBe Stitchery (Etsy).  I am careful about which patterns I purchase; they have to speak to me in their design and/or in their text, and this one did.  I bought it and I stitched it -- finishing it about a week ago.  It's on a scrap of 40-count unlabelled fabric, using 1 strand of Soie 100.3, colour #648 (bought a good 20 years ago), over 2 fabric threads.  I'll probably make it into a pillow.

Alcott was (and is) one of my favourite authors, and I have the series: Little Women, Little Men, Eight Cousins and Jo's Boys. I identified with 'Jo' as a reader, a lover of russet apples, and a thinker, and I identified with Meg as a maker -- talented with a needle for knitting and/or stitching.  I admired Jo's independent spirit so even though I was never a "tomboy", I was (and still am) an independent thinker.  

My senior high English Comp teacher was sure I'd become a lawyer, but no.  That said, my father's interest in politics and debate seem to have come down to me, which might explain my keen interest in politics, human rights etc.  This attitude has also enabled me to survive my marriage to a man, a man I loved and cared for, for over a decade until his illness (Type 1 Diabetes) took his life -- and all the while I was also caring for my aging mother, aunt and godmother, and raising, with my husband's help, two kids...

I am a Determined Woman

What's next in stitching? Xmas gifts, of course!  I have at least three 'smalls' I want to finish, all from Hinzeit designs, in kits I've owned for years: "Stitching","Knitting" and "Coffee".  The first two are for friends who do those things, and the last is for my neighbours who love coffee. I've finished the 'skeleton' of "Stitching, but have yet to add the charms (yes; it was a pattern/charms kit -- I added floss and fabric)...so stay tuned for more! (NOTE: I'm not sure where you can get these patterns any more. 123 Stitch has some, but not all of them. Sorry.)

Let me see...rug-hooked art, knitting, quilting, stitching...that's about it from my end at the moment.  

"What about spinning?!" you might be asking. Well...yeah.  I took a fantastic, intense 3-hour (well...almost 4 hours as it went over-time) class at the Prairie Fibre Festival in Lacombe in mid-September...and learned a lot -- but haven't touched my wheel since.  That said, I'm culling my fibre stash (slowly) with a plan to spin up only those fibres I really want to spin up. I have a wet-felting friend to whom I'll be giving fibres she might be more interested in than I am. By next spring, I'll know more what I want to use, and what I don't. I like to spin outside in the summer, so there probably won't be more action in this area for several months now.  I'll be busy rug-hooking at the frame, knitting, piecing quilt tops and working on my cross-stitch.  All of those are cozy activities for the rainy/snowy months to come.

No matter.  All bring colour, calm and rhythm into my world -- my tiny corner that, no matter what, continues to be bombarded with political noise and fearful threats from far beyond my sweet Canadian borders.

Fabric, fibre and floss are just what I need to keep me calmer and kinder just now.

And for those skills, I am thankful.

Yes, it's Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada.

And I am grateful. Thankful. Blessed...

- for the work of my hands and the opportunities to share my art;

- for my children, my son's partner and her son, my sister, my cousins; 

- for my dear friends, near and far, and for good neighbours;

- for the hope of living into my eighties;

- for enough to live on and give some away; and

- for YOU, Gentle Readers, who follow and read and put up with whatever I throw at you.

For all of these, I am truly thankful.

Yes, we do turkey, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes with gravy.

No Pilgrims, though.  Our Thanksgiving is more...well...like this:

Here's to all for whom and for which we are truly grateful... a bientot...

Linking to dear Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday"... Have a great weekend wherever you are and whatever you're doing.  And for Canadian followers: Happy Thanksgiving! 🩷

I'm Tired

Hello, Gentle Readers.

I know that September, which arrives a couple of days from now, is a "second New Year" for many of us. I've created many posts this time of year celebrating that fact, and talking about plans for my creative work, as well as reviewing recent finishes and works in progress.

But this year...well...I'm tired.

I've been writing this blog since February 2003.  Yes; that's a long time.

I'm Canadian (if you've not figured that out by now).  

And I live in the one province in Canada whose Premier (that's "Governor" for you in the US) wants to be, well, Texas.  I won't go into the details; if you're not American or don't live anywhere near Texas, research what that state is about, and isn't about.  Nothing about it is Canadian -- and I'll just leave it at that.

So...I've created, started and finished a lot of things since my last post...but I've no energy, no motivation to share it, even as we end the summer and start a "new year", so to speak.

I've found myself sharing less frequently in the groups to which I belong on Facebook, too.  I'd rather be making, stitching, quilting, knitting, spinning, gardening -- than track all of those things, progress or not, showing them to social media -- or not.

Right now, my province is fighting a threat from a sector that wants to remove it from Canada, to be its own country or (worse) the 51st state of the US.  Even worse than that, our Premier -- though she tries to hide it -- is sympathetic.  She is what we call up here a "Maple MAGA" but she tried to hide it, despite news reports and photos of her with He Who Shall Not Be Named in Florida.

Me? I'm an active participant in the movement to push that back.  To fight for Canadian unity.  So you can see where some of my energy is being directed. The rug-hooking, the knitting, the sometime-spinning, the cross-stitch, the piecing for quilts -- all of those things plus long walks, work in the yard and garden and the occasional stiff Canadian rye whiskey -- those help with the stress.

So I leave  you with some recent photos of work completed, and hope that if/when I show up here again at some future time, you'll still be here to read what I have to say.

Hooked art - just off the frame
Trimming, binding, blocking
and framing to follow.
Aug. 27-2025

"Celtic Knot" quilt finished, folded
116" x 116", double-fold binding,
mitred corners

August Block - A Quilting Life BOM 2025

"Songbird Cottage" 
Elizabeth's Designs (2005)
Finished as a needlebook 
Gift to a new stitcher

"For a Dear Friend" - BBD
A gift to a friend for her 50th anniversary
and in memory of her DH who died 
10 days before #49 -- in 2024

"Proverbs 31" - Plum Street Designs
Now at the framer's to be framed.

I've now finished a baby sweater, and have made great progress on "A Quilter's Dream" from Modern Folk Embroidery, which was my focus piece this month.  Photos might be shared eventually.

I am a fan of "Sampler September" so will be focusing on 3 samplers: 

• "Emeline Hotchkiss, Lacolle, 1846" from Cross-stitch Antiques; 
• "Ann Perrin, 1841 from Jeannette Douglas; and 
• "Memories of the Past" from Hands Across the Sea.  

My new Sunday stitch is "Hope" from Carolyn Manning Designs - her One Color (Colour) Collection.  I am also working on gloves for my son for Xmas, and have a few other Xmas stitch plans lined up.

That's all I've got to share at the moment.  For my American friends and readers: I know it's not you.  I know this mess is not of your direct making -- but I hope you will understand that as a Canadian, who grew up less than 20 miles north of the border between Quebec and NY State, and who has lived with and followed your history, mingled with ours, for all of my 73 years...I need to take time away in pursuit of wholeness and strength in the face of what has probably been the greatest threat to Canada in my life time -- being born some years after the second World War. 

Thus, until we meet again, I hope you are blessed, and that you remain well, safe, creative and kind.

A bientot!

More in the Making!

This year it seems I've been having more bouts of 'Startitis' than usual.  I could blame it on our cool, damp summer -- unusual for us but welcome after two years of extreme heat and drought in these parts -- but seriously, honestly folks, that's just an excuse.  No matter the weather, I think it would have hit anyway.  So what have I got to show since my last creative post?

In knitting?

I've yet to cast on the second of the pair of "Shepherd's Socks" I started in June -- but I started and finished an entirely different pair in three weeks in July -- those Fable (fake cable) Socks I mentioned -- and miracle of miracles! I have a photo:

I used a ball of Lang Jawoll Cotton, which was lovely to work with and is delightful on the foot.  And look at the stitch definition!  I have one more ball left and will definitely make another pair.  

I've made a bit more progress on my "Simple Thing" scarf, but discovered I'd dropped a stitch on one of the knit-in i-cord edges and had to rip back some rows; then it was a challenge to get back into the rhythm of the 4-row pattern again, so it doesn't look much longer than it was in the last photo I showed...but it is. Trust me! 😁

In new knitting starts, I've cast on the first glove of a pair for my son for Xmas (his request), using a DK-ish weight handspun Corriedale I bought at the Rose City Fibre Festival in Camrose in May.  It's pretty dense fabric but I'm getting gauge...

Yarn: 100% Corriedale - Handspun by Kristi
Pattern: Good Basic Gloves
Designer: Rita Buchanan

My other new start was another pair of socks, barely on the needles: a pair of mosaic stitch socks to which I was referred by a fellow sock knitter in the Sox-a-long 2025 group in Ravelry.  Too early for a photo; I'm barely past the 1 1/2" of 2x2 ribbing. Stay tuned!  Meanwhile, you can get the gist of the pattern on Ravelry HERE. Funky!

Rug-hooking? I confess I've done very little of that, but I've drawn out a new landscape to fill the last bit of the current fabric on my Cheticamp frame:

Yes, I took the photo -- earlier this summer, just off a township road near me.  I've started some outlining of the piece, only to discover I have no black wool yarn (except fingering, which is too fine, even doubled), which I want to use for the fence posts, so yes...put in an order for 2 heavier-weight skeins of black (one on sale with a discount!) and added a yard (not a metre, even if it is in Canada) of 60" wide linen to shore up my hooked art backing stash.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! 😉 It's on its way and should be here mid-month.

Now then, about quilting...

I've not done so much of that.  

I'm still waiting for the Celtic Knot quilt -- the Big One (116" square!!) to be long-armed.  We took it in to the shop June 21 and were told it should be ready by the end of July...but no.  I just 'phoned and was told there were '2 small ones' still ahead.  I explained that it was an anniversary gift for a date shortly after Labour Day and that I still need to bind it and get it to my daughter's in Edmonton to give to her friends.  "The end of this month" was suggested -- not acceptable!  It's already been almost seven weeks!  I would acquiesce to no later than August 19.  The message would be passed to the long-armer (one of the owners of the shop) and I was told that if there were a problem with that, I'd be advised ASAP.  I must confess, I'm rather disappointed. 🙍

I have yet to start the August Block for "A Quilting Life", too, though the pattern is printed.

I did manage to finish another top for a comfort quilt, and this one has a bit of a story.  Many years ago now -- over 20 -- when Japanese-style prints were in vogue for quilting, I bought a selection of them plus some solid black fabric to make a quilt I'd seen in one of my magazines.  Every Friday I would go to my favourite LQS in Calgary (that's where I lived then) and that's where I began to work on it.  It involved cutting the fabrics into wide bands and reassembling them with narrow strips of the black in between.

And that's all I remember of it.  One Friday, I got home from my sew day to discover I didn't have the magazine in my things. I called the shop and they looked high and low (it wasn't a recent issue of that publication) and couldn't find it.  In the end we decided it must have been picked up and taken by someone who was also there that day -- and thought it was just an old, second-hand one free for the taking. I let it go.

Fast forward to now, when I am trying to use up stash to make comfort quilts -- and I decided to figure out how to make something of what I'd already assembled all those years ago.

I managed to slice up the wide pieces into blocks, which I reassembled into four-patches and put back together, with a nice black border.  It measures about in seven rows of six blocks -- about 54" x 62":

I'm really rather pleased with how it turned out!  That said, I have enough of the fabric -- all with the black strips running through it -- to make another -- so that will come in time.  Who'dda thunk it?!

Then there are the 'bonus triangles' which I'm drowning in!  I've found a pattern or two featuring hour-glass blocks, so I'm busy assembling these with an assortment of sizes of the 'bonus triangles', doing so as 'leaders and enders' with other projects:

Stacks and stacks...

Sewing pairs...

I've made a tiny dent -- but I'm a long way from assembling anything that makes sense, just yet. Stay tuned!

And then...when shopping for fabric for the back of my son's birthday quilt -- back in the spring -- I found a wonderful novelty fabric, just perfect for a gift for the future recipients of the Celtic Knot quilt.  They are big fans of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team so...I've made them a pair of king-sized pillow cases that will decidedly not match their new quilt -- but I hope they like 'em anyway!

So that's it from the sewing room...but in addition to the up-coming quilt binding, I'll soon be back there because I have two stitchy gifts to fully finish.

Yes, there's been lots of stitching!

I still have to turn the little "Songbird Cottage" into a needle book, and now I have another small piece, a gift for a dear friend whose husband died August 13 last year.  This year on August 23, they'd have celebrated 50 years of marriage...but that was not to be.  I hope this little piece, which I plan to finish as a tiny pillow, will bring her some comfort:

Pattern: "To a Dear Friend"
Designer: Black Bird Designs
Stitched with 2 strands of floss
over 2 threads on 34-count
unlabelled linen fabric (not
28-count as mentioned 
in my last post.

It's hard to see from the photo, but it's a heart-shaped design and will be a heart-shaped wee pillow. It's one of the sweet designs in the reprinted book from Black Bird Designs, "A Heart Remembers", which I bought a few years ago.

Then there are the stitching Works In Progress (WIPs)!

All through July, my focus piece was the good-sized Canadian sampler, "Emeline Hotchkiss 1846", reproduced by Kathleen Littleton of Cross-stitch Antiques.  I've made very good progress, but definitely have a ways to go!

Then there's my current Sunday Stitch, of which I'm very fond: "Proverbs 31" from Plum Street Samplers.  I'm so close to finishing this little piece -- I can taste it!

Yes -- now that the house is done, I just have the borders on the lower right side and bottom, and some small motifs -- et voila! It will be ready to finish.  I want to frame it, and have a frame in mind, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

And as it's August, my wedding/widowhood anniversary month, I set aside "Emeline" and have taken up the very stitch-heavy, very geometrical  two-colour piece I began last year, honouring my late husband's keen support of my quilting journey: "A Quilter's Dream" from Jacob of Modern Folk Embroidery.

I began to stitch it in February of this year, as we were engaged on February 11, 1975 -- 50 years ago.  Here was where I left it at the time:

Despite the fact that is is stitch-heavy and complex, and that I'm doing it with 1 strand of floss over 2 fabric threads, I find this work very rhythmic and soothing.  Here's where I am as of now,which is the upper left corner of the design:

Fabric: 40-count Porcelain 
Threads: red: "Pippy"; 
grey: "Greater Porpoise"
-- all materials from Roxy Floss/Evertote
in London, Ontario, Canada

Then there's some spinning, which I really enjoy in the summer. I'm participating once more in the Summer Spin-in, hosted by the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry.  In my last creative post I'd finished spinning the singles from the last of the hand-painted Falkland braid I'd won from the group's 2023 SSI, and had selected roving from stash with which to create new singles, so I could make two-ply marls.

I've managed to finish one of those marls!

Here it is on the bobbin:

And here it is, all washed, set and skeined up -- about 60 grams: the yellow-to-peach Falkland with a deep teal unidentified fibre:

It's rather a funky colour-way but I suspect it'll make some fun mittens!

What's left? Only the garden which, with the unusually wet, cool summer, has provided me with abundance, to whit:

• I've been eating so many salads with my leaf lettuce that I'm beginning to feel like a rabbit;
• The green beans are being enjoyed, and some have been par-boiled and frozen for later consumption; 
• Most of the zucchini have been manageable -- I've given away a couple of salad-worthy ones -- but I overlooked one, and he's now on his way to becoming muffins and Z-bread;
• The cherry tomatoes are just starting -- and there are lots more flowers but I'm not sure they'll amount to fruit (sigh); and...
• Then there are the raspberries.  I think I've got most of them, but I've picked at least four times -- 8 cups per pick -- and there may still be a few left. They've been weighing down the canes to the point of breaking, and in my last foray (Tuesday), they were falling off onto the grass if I so much as looked at them sideways!  I've made 16 cups of jam and have given away countless cups, fresh, as well as enjoying them myself!

Here's the veggie/fruit rogues gallery:

Bumper Crop -- July 21,2025

More!  August 6, 2025

2nd Feed of Beans - Aug. 5, 2025

The baking zuke - Aug. 5, 2025

More 'reasonable' zukes,
and first cherry tomatoes
Aug. 6, 2025

Raspberry Jam - July 22, 2025

Like every good crafter/gardener, I have assistants who love to supervise my activities, or simply pose.  Featured: my young fellow, Smokie, age 2 years:

"Still Life: Young Cat with Produce"
July, 2025

I think that's all the news that's fit to print for this time, Gentle Readers!  I'll leave you with my usual link to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday". She has fallen head-over-heels for rug-hooking, and I'm delighted!  

Let's all go out and -- however we do it -- Create Beauty Every Day (as my rug-hooking mentor, Deanne Fitzpatrick, is wont to say).

A bientot!

What Remains is Love

Yes, Gentle Readers, there will be sharing of what I've been working on -- for there's been quite a bit of that -- but it will come later today in a separate post.

You see, friends, tomorrow -- Saturday, August 9, 2025 -- marks the 19th anniversary of my husband Howard's death from Type 1 Diabetes.

But...it's more than that. Fifty years ago tomorrow we were married.  We were just months away from our twenty-third birthdays.  We were pen-pals in the ninth grade, lost touch, reconnected in October 1974 -- and just months later became life partners.

He had moved from his hometown of Vancouver, B.C., to take a job an 'operator' -- a behind-the-scenes producer -- at a popular rock radio station in Montreal, playing tunes like this one, which became "our song":

Sedaka is back, baby! 😉

St. John's parish - Est. 1826

We were married on a hot, breezy day in St. John's Anglican church in my hometown, Huntingdon, Quebec -- and not without some trepidation, because his family was Jewish, and weren't really happy about the entire situation.  

However, our priest was on top of it.  He took the service from the more contemporary Episcopalian prayer book (USA), and there was only the wedding ceremony -- no other sacraments.  Following his introduction to be 'comfortable' for the prayers, my parents set the example and all stayed standing.  Lightning did not strike, and we made a happy celebration out of the entire day.

During the signing of the documents with our witnesses, we had another favourite song played..."If" by David Gates:

We got by with a little help from our friends...

Clockwise from lower left:
Bridesmaid -- my friend Martha Reeve;
Maid of Honour -- my sister, Wendy Daniel;
me and Howard; 
Best Man -- Howard's friend, Larry Long;
Groomsman -- our friend Wendell Siddall;
and Bridesmaid-- my friend Peg Simpson.

A year after our marriage, with political unrest and uncertainty in Montreal, we moved west to Alberta, setting in Calgary, where he had cousins and I had my sister.  There we raised our two children, and spent 30 happy years until his death.

The year before he died, we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a cruise up the inside passage from Vancouver, B.C. to Alaska and back. The remarkable service, "Dialysis at Sea" made this possible, for by then Howard had spent nearly a decade, three times a week, taking kidney dialysis treatments at the Foothills Hospital, near the University of Calgary.

When we landed again in Vancouver, his mother had a reunion of family and old friends at her apartment to celebrate all those years together.

It was really our last, best celebration...and our daughter created an album for us filled with memories from that trip.

A bit more than a year later, Howard was gone.

He was my biggest fan as I began my fledgling art quilt journey, and was truly the only person who knew me well -- and loved me anyway.  He is buried in a little rural cemetery outside of Huntingdon, founded by my great-great-grandfather's brothers, and I hope to visit there next year, on the 20th anniversary of his passing. 

I've lost touch with my friend Martha, and our friend Wendell is now a widower, but I see my sister often, and remain in touch a few times a year with Larry and his wife, Lydia.  As for my friend Peg, well -- we remain particularly close, even as we age.

Larry and Lydia will celebrate 50 years marriage in December this year, so I am mulling what to create as a special gift for them.

And so it goes.

Every anniversary -- being a double anniversary -- has been a challenge for me these last 19 years, but this year, the sweetness of those months and that day, a half-century ago, is more present than the sorrow of his loss.

Next year, the 20th since his death, I will go home to Quebec to visit Peg. We'll likely bunk in with my cousins in Huntingdon, and drive out to Hillside Cemetery to pay respects -- to all who have gone before, yes, but most especially to the man who stole my heart all those years ago, and blessed me with a most wonderful life and legacy.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." -- 1 Corinthians 13:13 

"What Remains is Love"
Black Bird Designs
Adapted by me,
in memory of Howard - 2022