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

Quilt Repair

I've been meaning to share this for a while, and kept forgetting -- so I'm doing it today because it's been on my mind!

More than two posts ago, I had a quilt repair adventure.

I confess I don't do much quilt repair -- including of the quilts given me by my late Aunt Alice Rennie (1907-2002) and her mother, my paternal grandmother, Maria Flood McIntosh Rennie (1875-1961).  

I have several quilts Aunt Alice made for me as a young woman -- a Log Cabin, an embroidered quilt (from a kit with printed fabric), a Dresden Plate and others.  One is a throw-sized piece, complete with Prairie Points on 3 sides, that is (of course!) in pristine condition!  It will outlive the planet, I expect!  Another is a double-bed quilt she made for my husband and me after I supplied a great deal of the fabric -- scraps left over from my making garments for me and my daughter back in the 1980s -- a mix of cottons and poly-cottons.

As a girl, Aunt Alice made a coverlet in red and white (a coverlet is a quilt without batting) which I've given to my daughter, and later in life, my husband and I commissioned her to make a double wedding ring quilt for my parents (2nd marriage for each), for their 25th wedding anniversary (1982) -- I got that one back when my mother moved into assisted living and no longer owned a double bed (1997 or so).

I also have a quilt that Grandma Rennie made for me that was given me just before she died, and I have something even more precious: a crazy quilt block she did as a 'practice piece' in 1894.  She dated it, and embroidered her maiden name initials (she was about 17 at the time, and didn't marry my grandfather until 1903).  I've had it 'preservation framed' and it hangs in my sewing studio.  The one she made for me when I was a girl has some holes in it; I don't use it, but keep it safe in my linen closet; it's a pink-and-white nine-patch variation.

I have repaired none of these, although many of them have worn pieces or bindings with worn spots.  I haven't dared.

That said, back in May the owner of our hamlet's local "vintage market" approached me with a quilt someone had dropped off to sell.  It really wasn't sale-able -- it was stained as well as worn -- but she liked it and decided that if the worn blocks could be repaired or replaced, she'd keep it for herself.

When I examined it, I came to the conclusion that the top was made long before it was sandwiched and quilted.  The top's fabrics were cotton, maybe from the thirties or forties or later but definitely before the age of synthetics.  The blocks were a good size -- 12" or so, finished; they were 9-patch blocks composed of half-square triangles, lights and darks.  There was wide sashing between them, and a wide border -- all of which was a white, somewhat heavier fabric -- possibly an old sheet.

The top was enveloped over white polyester batting.  The batting had thin and lumpy spots but the backing was pristine -- and the quilt was tied with acrylic yarn at the corner of each block and in the centre square of each 9-patch; in other words, very sparsely quilted.

It reminded me of stories of an old quilt top done by a grandma, found by a young grand-daughter or great-gran, maybe around age 12 or so, who asked Mom to help her quilt it, sometime in the late nineteen-sixties or early seventies when that awful batting was becoming popular.

I told the market owner I would do my best to repair it.  She supplied me with some old gingham aprons to cut up for the blocks, and off I went.

There were 3 blocks that had completely disintegrated -- two in one row and one on the other end of the quilt.  I began by taking out the first and making a sample, which proved to be too small. (I can do math but I muffed it this time!)  

First old block removed

Two more old blocks removed

And here are the new blocks:

First new block -- both from aprons
provided by the shop owner.

Second new block - the floral is from my stash 
of inherited cotton fabric and the
green is from one of the aprons mentioned above.

Third new block - my recycled fabric
The plaid is from an old shirt; the other
from donated cotton fabric.

I had to use a combination of machine stitching and hand-stitching to insert them into the top, in order to avoid taking the entire thing apart altogether!  There were inset seams that I could only do by hand!

There were other blocks that needed hand-done repairs because seams were split.  Can you tell where the split seams were?

Once all the new blocks were stitched into the quilt and the others repaired, I put new ties in to replace the ones I'd removed for the repairs.  I didn't add any new ones, as that would have spoiled the look of the original top.  These ties were wool though, rather than acrylic yarn.  Wool is better for tying quilts because it felts when washed, thus staying tied through time.  That said, this quilt will probably be washed only gently by hand, and left to dry in the sun, given the age and overall condition of the top.

All in all, the work took about 15 hours to complete, not counting the new block I made that was too small.  I took all the materials -- including that block -- back to my client, and we negotiated a price for my time.

It was an interesting adventure, but I'll admit I don't want to make it a focus of my quilting going forward! 

Since my last post, I've finished another top for a give-away throw quilt, and have made progress on my socks and cross-stitch, but I'll leave that for another day.  In the garden there's been a harvest of a bumper crop of raspberries, with more waiting in the wings, so I'll leave it there.

Over at Off the Wall Friday, Nina Marie has finished her first hooked rug -- a new-to-her passion I share, as you well know, Gentle Readers.  So...have a great rest of your weekend and off you go -- to knit, to crochet, to quilt, to cut fabric, to hook fabric and yarn, to stitch into linen or aida cloth, to repair quilts or make new ones -- wherever your hands and your mind and your fancy take you!

Until next time...a bientot!

Day In, Day Out

Yes, Gentle Readers -- I'm still here.  Still putting one foot in front of the other.  Still trying to stay informed without losing my mind.  Still trying to bring a bit of light into the world.

The Jury is out on how well I'm doing, but Today is a Good Day.  (Photo at left: my big pot of verbena, taken about a week ago. It sits on the stump of a former evergreen, cut down by the former owners of the property, and serves to keep the deer at bay, sort of.)

It would appear that I'm keeping up a monthly blog rather than twice monthly, and that's okay.  I find that even though I have this blog and belong to several crafty FB groups, as well as some on Ravelry, I am a poor 'sharer' of my work. It's begun to feel like having to account for what I'm doing, when I'd really rather be doing it rather than posting "progress" photos on line.  

Any of you feel that way sometimes?

Still, I know that some of you may be patiently waiting (or not!) for an update on my assorting makings, so let's catch up, eh?

Knitting:

I finished one sock -- count 'em -- one -- in June.  My hands were bugging me, so while I liked the pattern and the yarn, I set that pair aside for now.

One day this sock will have a mate!

That didn't stop me from casting on another pair for July! The Socks from Stash group on Ravelry had a challenge that filled the bill -- knit a pattern from a designer that is new to you -- so out of my queue, I plucked the "Fable (Fake  Cable) Socks", and from my stash, some Lang Yarns Jawoll Cotton (wool-cotton-nylon blend) and as of today, I'm at the toe of the first sock.

Have I take a photo?  Silly question! 🤣 Of course not!  I'd rather knit the sock than photograph it!  So...stay tuned.  

The sock progress was great the first few days, and then my hands began to bug me -- not because of knitting but because of other things I was doing with them, involving yard work and pruners -- so while I'd like to be working on the 2nd sock by now, well...it will happen when it happens.

The baby cardigan continues apace; I finished the body and am almost 1/2 finished the first sleeve -- but again, no photos. Sigh.

I did manage to finish the 'Bosquet Hat' and decided one was enough.  Perhaps another time, with a smoother yarn...but that's anyone's guess.  Still, I washed and blocked it and it is in my give-away box.

Following that, I cast on a scarf -- "The Simple Thing", which is an asymmetrical garter stitch scarf with a knit-in I-cord edging.  I'm rather enjoying it and would have made more progress had I not been so enamoured of my 'Fable' socks!

I'm using a rather funky self-striping yarn for this -- from stash, of course -- so it's creating a very different pattern as the one-sided increases continue.  No matter; it will keep someone warm!

Quilting:

I finished the Disappearing Four-Patch top and really like the results!

I've added it to my collection of tops (now consisting of 2 throw-sized and 1 crib/car seat sized) and am busy assembling another throw, which I'll show in a future blog post.  I've been in touch with a friend in Dauphin, Manitoba, because she has friends in a northern Manitoba guild, and there might be a need for donations once wildfire season there is over.

I made the July block for the BOM from A Quilting Life, and am happy with how it's using up my stash:

Here are the January-through-July blocks, laid out in a tentative setting:

And in recent days I've dug out a postage-stamp quilt that I sandwiched eons ago, and started to hand-quilt using perle cotton and big stitches.  I've got a drive to finish it, so there'll be a photo or two in an up-coming post.

Cross-stitch:

As my July includes Canada Day, I've made my focus piece the Canadian sampler I began a year ago: "Emeline Hotchkiss, Lacolle, 1846", reproduced by the American stitcher, Kathleen Littleton of Cross-stitch Antiques.  You may recall that I grew up near Lacolle, Quebec, Canada, which is where Emeline was from.  She died at age 14, about 3 years after she stitched this piece.

I've made great progress, and am moving into the second page (from left to right in the pattern, which is wider than it is tall);

Here's where I left off a year ago:

And here's where I was as of a week ago (I'm a bit farther on as of this writing.)

I've finished the little "summer" piece that I mentioned in my last post, too.  I've decided to fully finish it as a needle book, a gift for Claire, the young woman at Ellis Nature Sanctuary who, because she was a new stitcher -- embroidery -- and the Sanctuary's gift shop is carrying embroidery kits re: the birds they see and protect locally -- to invite stitchers/spinners/knitters to a weekly "Fibers* and Firs" gathering, every Tuesday evening this summer. 

All I have to do is press it, attach the charms from the kit, and put it together into a needle book.  Photos next time, I promise!

*She knows that this is NOT how Canadians spell "fibres" but the posters were done and dusted before she noticed that the US spell-check had..um...inserted itself.  Apologies to my Canadian compatriots and readers.

Even though I'm still working on "Emeline", I decided that having finished one 'summer' piece, I needed to pick up one that I'd left languishing, and that one is a section of a Black Bird Design I've started from the reprinted book, A Heart Remembers.  There is a piece in there that is technically meant to be five pieces, each on a different fabric and stitched together like a patch-work.  One of those pieces includes a very large house; I decided to leave out that one.  I also decided to stitch the remaining four on a single piece of fabric.  To date, I'd done the first two patterns, and now I am on the fourth (or, for me, the third): "My Day Complete".  

*My progress as I neared the end of the second pattern is shown HERE, from June of last year.

Having worked mostly on 40-count linen for the last year or so, doing this on 28-count with 2 strands of floss over 2 of linen, is a distinctly different experience!  No photo at the moment, but perhaps next month.

Rug Hooking:

I'm still doing some, but it is very much an indoor activity as I now work on my large Cheticamp frame.  When I hook, I do so on rainy days (we've had quite a few this July, which is a novelty here), and for hours at a time.

I finished the 'evergreen abstract' on which I was working in my last post:

Abstracted Trees - 8" x 8"

And I created a landscape from my imagination and experience, a bit more primitive than my usual:

"Old Red Barn with Daisies" - 8" x 8"

I have room for one more long piece or a couple of smaller pieces on this particular burlap before it's used up, and I have an idea (and photo inspiration) for one of each size...still contemplating.  I then need to check what fabric I have left and whether or not it will fit on the large frame or have to be done on my made-over embroidery frame.  Time will tell!

Spinning:

I spin much less than I do the other things, because my favourite place to spin is outside. This summer I've managed a bit, as our weather has been cooler (so far) -- but it's also been wetter, which isn't exactly ideal for outdoor spinning! 

In my last post I showed you what I'd managed to finish before the end of June.  Not long after, I tackled the remaining sections of the Falkland wool braid (hand-painted) that I began last year. These sections were a) yellow-turning to peach; and b) light grey fading to darker grey.

I've now spun each section into singles and selecting contrasting rovings for new singles, with which to ply them together:

First, the grey singles, which will be plied with singles to be spun from a deep orange-gold Shetland:

Next, the yellow-to-peach singles, to be plied with singles from a deep teal roving which, alas, has no label -- a mystery fibre!

As of a couple of days ago, the teal is now fully spun into singles -- but not enough to use up all of the yellow/peach.  This means that further plying adventures lie ahead! 😉

I'm truly thankful for the "Two Ewes Fiber* Adventures" podcast and group on Ravelry, for their encouragement!

*They're American; that's how they spell it. I just live with it. They're nice people, and as a Canadian, all I can do is nod and smile.

What's left? Only to show you what is burgeoning in my Zone 3-ish garden:

Raised Bed #1 - Beans and Leaf Lettuce
with hovering scallions

Zuchinni, a cherry tomato 'tree', 
raspberries and self-seeding dill

Hanging pot: geranium and lobelia
off my back stoop

Blue pot with geranium 
and lobelia

The came-with-this-house
Immovable White Planter
with geraniums and lobelia

All are fodder for hooked pieces, albeit impressionistic -- so stay tuned for them to appear again (and maybe again). While I'm trying to be careful with purchasing new supplies, this week I received two purples from Deanne Fitzpatrick Studios, the better to recreate those lobelia purples:

(L) Briggs & Little 2-ply; (R) River
Stream bulky.

Even though I like purple, I've almost nothing in my stash -- a ball of fingering (sock yarn)...and that's it.  So...now I have something to hook with!

And then, of course, there are berries. I'm starting to enjoy my raspberries, and have bought more jars and sugar for jam.  And yesterday morning found me at the local Saskatoon farm, picking this 4 litre ice-cream pail full...for muffins, bumbleberry crumble, bumbleberry pie...and maybe another picking to freeze...

If you've never eaten a Saskatoon, or picked them, or heard of them...I'm going to leave you with this little tune recorded by an old friend of mine (and my late hubby). I've lost touch with him, but I have a CD he made and gave to us years ago, signing the cover.  I love every song on it, but this one -- well, it's particular to the Canadian prairie. I tried to find a recording of my friend Tom singing it, without luck. Sigh. The best I can do is show you the lyrics -- HERE.  There's a fellow named Tim Hus who's sung it, but he doesn't have the right voice or presentation and sang it too fast. I'll spare you his interpretation of Tom's fine ditty.

Someday, if we meet up in person, I'll plug in my CD player and share it with you.

And so it goes. 

It's time for me to wind this up (or down!) and have some dinner. Tomorrow is Sunday, and I hope to be home, quietly quilting (or knitting or spinning or hooking or stitching).

As usual I'll leave you with a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. This week she's sharing about an exhibit she saw and appreciated.  It's been a while since I've done that too; there aren't many in these parts -- so I can enjoy them vicariously through people like Nina-Marie.

Have a lovely rest of the weekend!  A bientot!