I'm old. I love my children, even if they don't always believe it. They are the life that came from me and my late DH. They are the last of our direct line, as they have no children of their own (yet). No matter. They are the embodiment of the best we knew how to be and give and share.
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| Our Family - ca September 1985 |
I've stopped cutting the leaf lettuce in my raised beds, and simply pull it now; otherwise, I risk its bolting. My dill is forming seeds. My Savoury is flowering so it's time to cut and dry it.
And now I am at last harvesting zucchini that have made me happy. Salad and stir-fry size -- no footballs!
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| Perfection! Not too big, not too small! |
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| Bee on Prairie Clematis - Aug 26-2024 |
On cool and rainy days, I've focused on knitting, stitching and quilting, so let's review, shall we?
First, I finished a "summer" sweater: the Vincas top, a free pattern from Berocco. I made it out of 100% cotton -- Estelle Young Touch Cotton DK -- long discontinued -- I've owned ot for at least 20 years! Mine is in the fuschia colour-way; out of 9 fifty-gram balls, I used 7 1/2 -- so it was a good stash-buster. Moreover, even though I've finished it late in the summer season, it also looks great as a vest over a turtleneck top! Win-win-win! 😁 I can't take proper "selfies" because I don't own a fancy phone...so here it is, lying on the back of the love seat in my living room.
My portable project continues to be the socks for T. I made her a pair that were destroyed (along with most of what she and her new DH owned) in a house fire last year...so this is a replacement pair, and as you might recall, I'm on the second of the pair. She has long legs and long feet -- so these keep me well occupied when I'm stopped during Construction Season on Hwy 12 West. That's supposed to come to an end today (Aug. 31) but given some fog and rain delays, who knows? And I always have knitting in my bag, in case I have to wait for the train on the west edge of town!
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| Waiting for the Train (c) 2013 |
But as I finished the Vincas top, I decided it was time for a new start. Of course, Christmas is coming, so there are knits in the line-up. This year there will be simple cowls (aka "neck warmers") for some -- though not my daughter. (You might recall that she is getting the "Presto Vesto" -- about which NOTHING is "presto"; I will be returning to that in September too). And there will be a simple shawl (or mayb two). Time will tell.
I cast on the "Back Bay Boomerang" -- a boomerang-shaped shawl -- for one dear friend, and love how simple it is to create -- with a wonderful ball of fingering from my stash. Thanks to Karen of the YouTube "Recreational Knitting" for the mention of this pattern! (she has a group on Ravelry by the same name).
The other gifts (cowls/neck-warmers) will be made from stash DK in a pattern to be revealed once I actually cast on. Stay tuned!
In Quilting News...
1. I finished the "Rectangle Pinwheel" (free block pattern from Pinker n Punkin Designs) and delivered it to my friend Annette in Red Deer for her quilting group to include in their next delivery to Klare's Corner quilt shop in Airdrie, which is collecting quilts (or parts thereof) for the victims of the wildfire that destroyed at least 1/3 of the town of Jasper, Alberta.
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| Quilted and bound - in the Outdoor Studio |
Here's a detail of this quilt, which is made from scraps, including a pieced backing and a pieced batting:
Most of the time I've no recollection of the source of the fabric I use in the comfort quilts I make, though I will admit that for this piece, much of the background was from a recycled bedsheet -- courtesy of my daughter! In addition, there are several blocks made with the same fabric. Those were from remnants of a wide backing I used long ago. There's a lot of mileage in wide backing! 😁
2. I'm returning now to the Celtic Knot Quilt that my daughter's commissioned me to make for a special anniversary for friends of hers -- a year from now. I showed some work on this in my mid-July post. Now, I'm ready to construct the actuall blocks.
I began with constructing the sashing that will go between the units.
Next, I followed instructions to pin the sashing and block units for the first of five blocks of one colour-way onto my design board:
This means that instead of 9 very large blocks (3 by 3) plus borders, in the end I will be making 16 such blocks -- 4 by 4 -- plus borders. (And yes, I got help from Hamel's Fabrics, the owner and staff of which figured out how much extra I'd need.)
So that's where it sits at the moment.
In addition to that, after finishing the Rectangle Pinwheel for Jasper, I got caught up on the "A Quilting Life" BOM 2024, for which (as you may recall) I'm using my Thimbleberries stash:
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| July BOM - I make 2 @ 8 1/2" unfinished |
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| August BOM - another 2 at 8 1/2" unfinished |
Next up? Yarn/wool hooked art -- and a bit of spinning!
My friend Annette was remarking that I seem to have so much on the go -- and I suppose that's true -- but I love variety. I also love order, and planning, so I've got a rotation. The nature of the rotation depends on the season, as some of it I enjoy doing outdoors (spinning, hooked art and stitching) and others require that I be inside (quilting).
In my last post, for example, I showed you my outdoor set-up for hooked art. And those of you who've followed along have seen photos of my "Outdoor Studio", where I love to stitch -- as long as it's neither too hot (as it was most of July this year) or windy.
This week, as the weather is cooling, I've moved my hooking frame indoors, finding that I can still stand to do it (which I like) if I put the frame on my cutting table in the studio. I'm continuing to work on the "Simple Shading" project from Deanne Fitzpatrick's online course by that name. Some of you might think that as an art quilter, I should know how to do that by now, but it's quite different working with wool fabric slices and lengths of yarn! And this project isn't a landscape; it's a still life, which isn't something I've depicted much, even in my quilted work. So...I'm learning a lot. Here's my progress as of yesterday:
As for spinning, the Summer Spin-in over on Ravelry -- in the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group -- ends this weekend (Labour Day). I managed to get a bobbin-and-a-bit of 2-ply marl spun up:
The pink/purple you see is from one single source -- a shaded hand-painted braid of 100% Falkland wool. The black is a blend of wool (70%) and alpaca (30%). I now need to get it off the bobbins, wash and set it, and put it into a skein. I suppose I could call it "finished" at the bobbin stage, but it won't be "fully finished" until it's a skein!
Last but not least...cross-stitch!
This is my favourite late-afternoon/early evening activity, though I'll confess I do sometimes stitch with my morning coffee, as I know some other stitchers do.
As I mentioned in my last post, in July I focused on Canadian samplers, in August, I turned to pieces that had flowers in them -- but weren't samplers. And (drum roll, please!) I finished two of the WIPs!
Yes! I got that border done on the "Vintage Blossoms" piece -- and it matched at the top!
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| Look closely -- the border fades into the background. I like it that way! |
Then I went on to finish the little "Buttercup Alphabet" piece, designed over a decade ago by Cathy Jean at The Victoria Sampler (you can still buy the pattern from the TVS website):
It's a cute little piece -- quite different from what I'm keen to stitch now. After all, I bought the pattern and threads back in 2008. Still, I'm glad it's done, and I'll probably either turn it into a pillow or put a little frame on it. Time will tell!
My third 'floral' is the Kathy Barrick "Wildflowers" piece I mentioned in my last post. I'm just coming down to the bottom of the first page of the pattern and if I persevere, I'll finish that later today. It's a simple pattern but there's a lot of filling it to do. This makes it comforting and meditative, which has been just right to help combat the stresses and strains of my life this month. Here's what it looked like as of yesterday:
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| And yes, there are 3 more pages to do! |
It's been a very full three weeks since I last wrote you, Gentle Readers. Shortly after that post, my raspberry bushes exploded with berries and I've been picking and making and picking and making ever since!
I've also made two "bumbleberry" crumbles: raspberries, rhubarb, blueberries and apple. One, 9" x 13", I took to church to share at coffee hour after the service (another gal brought vanilla ice cream -- perfection!) The other, 9" x 9", is in my sister's cottage freezer to share with the family tomorrow, as my kids will be visiting from Edmonton! Hooray!
And I made a batch of 18 raspberry muffins, some being eaten (by me), some shared with neighbours, and some -- yes -- still in the freezer.
I've been enjoying my own leaf lettuce and watching carefully to see if my (currently) tiny zucchini will get a wee bit bigger. Right now they're only finger-sized, and I'd really rather them resemble a small cucumber than a gherkin!
On the textile making front, I've managed to finish the "purple to peach" bobbin of handspun yarn I was working on in my last post and am making headway on a spindle of black alpaca/wool roving. Here's what it looked like after a spinning session Thursday morning:
I continue to enjoy making hooked mats, and finished the little "text" one I showed in my last post. It's now a little cushion, shown here in my Outdoor Studio:
I'm not sure I really like hooking letters/text, but I certainly learned a great deal from that experiment!
I followed that by creating a landscape based on a view on the walking route I take regularly around this wee hamlet. I call it "Tree Island" (for obvious reasons), and will have it framed and probably hung in the Gallery at Curiosity Art & Framing in Red Deer. I finished it earlier this week, but it has to be blocked and hemmed before I take it for a frame:
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| "Tree Island" - 12 1/2" x 14 1/2" before blocking |
You might be able to see where my scroll frame is -- yes; it's outside, on my fibre freezer, which has become a favourite place for me to do this work. Here's a better photo of the set-up:
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| Studio on the Back Stoop! |
On the knitting front, I've finished a sock and am half-way up the front piece of the Vincas tee I'm making for myself, but sorry -- no new photos of these projects at the moment. I want to finish the tee by the end of this month, as in September I'll have to get back to the "Presto Vesto" in order to finish it for my daughter for Xmas.
I'd like to get a second one done, but don't know if I'll be fast enough. The Airdrie shop wants them by the end of September.
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| "Rectangle Pinwheel" Block Pattern: Pinker n Punkin Designs Approx 57" x 62" before quilting Made completely from stash |
Although I set aside the Celtic Block quilt construction, I'll be getting back to it later this fall. I've done all the block units now and am ready to begin assembly of the blocks themselves. Each one takes four units, and will measure 22" (finished). Once I've got the first 9 assembled, I'll go back and repeat the process with the remaining fabric, as I need another seven of these large blocks in order to make the quilt the right size!
I also delayed working on the 2024 BOM from "A Quilting Life", but this week managed to put together the blocks for July. I'm making the smaller block (8" finished) so am making two of these for each month:
And yes...there's still stitching!
Having finished the wee Canadian sampler, Julia Amelia Hounslow, I've backed it and am ready to stuff it and turn it into a little pillow -- so it's in a stack of three or four, waiting for that to happen!
And, as mentioned in my last post, I started a second Canadian sampler -- Emiline Hotchkiss, Lacolle, 1846. I worked steadily on it until the end of July, making good progress -- but alas, no photo! Stay tuned; it will return in Sampler September!
I decided that this month I'd work on "floral" WIPs (Works In Progress), and began by spending the first week on Kathy Barrick's "Wildflowers", which I began...over a year ago. Here's my progress as of August 2, when I began to work on it again:
This week I'm working on finishing the border around a WIP from 2022 -- Jeannette Douglas' "Vintage Blooms" (a series of free motifs, no longer available as such).
Here's what the last of the bouquets looked like before I stopped stitching:
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| Shown: November & December 'blooms' with inner horizontal border above |
I finished the bouquets all on the same piece of fabric, and the borders in between them. I'd done the outer border across the top and down the left side -- so all I had to do was the bottom border and up the right side. Well! As of last evening, that bottom border is done and yes, I'm travelling up the right side with a hope and a prayer that it will match at the top when it's finished! LOL! Photo next post!
I expect to finish this border in the next few days, and then will either go back to Kathy Barrick's "Wildflowers" (above) or perhaps another floral I've had forever and began to work on this spring: "Buttercup Alphabet" by Cathy Jean of The Victoria Sampler. I got it, I think, in 2008, when I went on a retreat Thea Dueck hosted at her home studio in Victoria, B.C. It's pretty, and small, so I should get on it! If I spend 7 sessions on it, I'll likely be finished -- or close to it!
I think that's all the news I have to share for now, Gentle Readers, so I'll wish you blessings and lots of time for creating, until we meet again. I'll leave you with my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday (it's so good to know she's back at her quilting frame!) and send you out with a floral photo or two from my garden...
A bientot!
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| Yellow daylily - July 29,2024 |
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| Red-orange daylily, July 29, 2024 |
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| Poppies & daisies in the wildflower bed, July 2024 |
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| Pink double impatiens in the planter, August 5, 2024 |
Because the artist cannot help herself. The artist must make art. And in the same way, the maker of anything -- assuming the maker is a living being, that is -- must make that thing, those things.
Judy Martin makes hand-stitched, hand quilted pieces for the wall and elsewhere. But again, that's simply her method, her medium. In reality, she writes in her blogs, she is making comfort, peace, thoughtful expression -- and beauty.
Why do I make?
I make pieces with textiles: cotton and/or linen fabrics (and sometimes polyester or a bit of silk); with threads: cotton or silk (and sometimes polyester or a bit of wool); and with yarn: 99.99% of the time, wool. Sometimes I make pictures, sometimes abstractions, and sometimes I use OPI (Other People's Instructions). But these are simply my methods, my media. In reality, I too am making comfort, peace, thoughtful expression -- and beauty.
As Judy wrote in her recent Journal post, as a whole, since the 1800s, people -- at least in our Western culture filled with reason and commerce and conspicuous consumption -- have divided the creation of something -- the making of things -- into whether what is produced can considered 'useful' and 'practical' -- or not. And if its not seen as utilitarian, then it's less highly valued. She wrote, that when we make "usefulness" the most important criterion for making something, those of us who produce art simply for art's sake, begin to doubt our worth.
I don't know any artist who hasn't had those same doubts. I know I have -- especially when I stopped producing art for sale. Yes, I have art for sale -- in independent shows I choose to enter, and in the collections at Andrea Hatch's Curiosity Art and Framing gallery in Red Deer, Alberta.
But I never started to make art for money. It piles up in my small house, and so I put it on show and out for sale because...why not? If it doesn't sell, it doesn't sell. It's still out there for the viewing and the enjoyment of others -- and for that, for the deep support Andrea's given me for almost 20 years now -- I am grateful.
Here's some of what I've been making lately:
I took on Deanne Fitzpatrick's "10-minutes-a-day" rug hooking Challenge for 2024. I started it in the last week of June, when the kit I ordered for it arrived -- and finished it July 1st! It's 6" x 17", an odd size as far as mounting it on a canvas goes, so I'm pondering ordering one of the frames her Studio makes for just this size. Here's "Little Yellow Flowers", designed by Deanne using the kit, on burlap -- and placing the colours just the way I wanted:
Once that was done, I decided I wanted to play with hooking letters on a plain background, to make a cushion just for me. I chose the words based on one of Deanne's Sunday Letters -- the essay entitled "Searching for Perfect":
"As we all come to terms with the new normal we have experienced with Covid, there is a bit of a reckoning. We all realize that things are different now. Still sometimes we are suddenly taken aback by it all. We have all been shocked into those new normals around us. Those sullen moments where you think that it is just so different, are not yours alone.
I have those moments too. And in them I turn to my rug hooking and my writing. I turn to creativity and joy and love and prayer and I try to deepen my relationships with those things. Because those things are still there. They are unchanging in the midst of great change. We need their constancy more than ever...Because making feels right and it brings me back to myself, the self that believes in hope and joy and wonder and love..." -- Deanne Fitzpatrick, Sunday Letters, Deanne Fitzapatrick Rug Hooking Studio, Amherst, NS, Canada, (c) 2022 - p. 52 (emphasis mine)
I call this little piece, "What Lasts" -- and here is my progress as of yesterday:
I'm learning a lot making this, and the process itself soothes my soul and eases my mind.
It's been very hot in these parts for over two weeks now, so spinning has taken a bit of a back seat. I love to do it outside, and the early morning is the only time it's been cool enough -- but any sort of yard work I want to do has often claimed priority (useful, right? Sigh...) Still, I managed to fill a bobbin with the purple-to-pink-to-peach section of the Falklands braid (roving) I won last year in the Two Ewes Summer Spin in:
On the knitting front, I traded knitting woolly things -- like the vest for my daughter and the pullover for me -- for something in cotton. I've had the pattern for a summer tee top -- the Vincas tee, from Berocco -- for a long time, and the cotton yarn even longer. at last the two paired up, and earlier this week I finished the back, and cast on the front!
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| Photo taken just before back was finished! Pattern: Vincas Designer: Berocco Design Team Yarn: Estelle "Young Touch Cotton DK" |
As for cross stitch, I declared July to be "Canada Month" and have been working on reproductions of samplers originally stitched by young Canadian girls. The first one is "Julia Amelia Hounslow (1848)", which was reproduced by The Essamplaire, out of Red Deer, Alberta. I bought it last year for a Canada Day start -- and after that, set it aside, but this year I finished it!
It's a wee thing, only about 6 1/2" x 7 1/2" on 25-count. I stitched it on 36-count "Cream and Sugar" by Fiber on a Whim, so it's even smaller. And I used DMC and a bit of Soie d'Alger from my stash:
Julia Amelia is believed to have stitched her sampler in or around Sweetsburg in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.
My next sampler was reproduced by Kathleen Littleton of Cross-stitch Antiques, and was originally created by another Quebecer: Emeline Hotchkiss (1846). She was from the area of Lacolle, Quebec, which is a community of about 1,000, and a major border crossing from Quebec to northern NY State. I grew up near there, and my step-father worked at that crossing (and 2 others) as an officer for Canada Immigration back in the day (he retired in 1978 and with my mother moved west to the Okanagan of B.C.)
This week I began that sampler, and was intrigued. I wondered if some folks on FB -- in the public group, Chateauguay Valley Photos and Memories -- would know anything about a Hotchkiss family in Lacolle area over 100 years ago. I posted an inquiry on the page, and wasn't disappointed! In the comments, they sent me these treasures:
First, a newspaper item believed to be the death notice of a Mrs. Hotchkiss who very well could have been Emeline's mother:
Next, an Ancestry.com record that could show a connection to other relations, including those in the US.:
I decided to try to contact Ms. Littleton, who reproduced the sampler, and she was delighted to have this additional information. It's a special blessing, indeed, when something so serendipitous happens; this was a highlight of my week.
So I am diligently stitching away on the border of her sampler. Here's my progress as of last evening:
In addition to "Julia Amelia", I had another finish this month -- a Fully Finished object, that is! "Cake Tier" became a flat mount applied to the cover of a spiral-bound recipe journal and was mailed off to my friend P. in Westmount (a city within the city of Montreal!) for a belated birthday gift. My eternal gratitude to Helen D of floss-tube fame (aka East Coast Crafter), whose tutorial on flat mounts was instrumental in how good it looks!
Yes, there's a bit of quilting going on too -- early-ish in the day, when my south-facing studio is still fairly cool. I'm working on a Very Special Quilt -- which my daughter has commissioned me to make -- a gift for some good friends of hers who have a special anniversary next year. We chose the pattern and the fabric online (Hamel's Fabrics) almost 2 years ago, because it was the pattern and colours she felt would be most suitable.
It's the Celtic Knots Quilt kitted through Halcyon Fabrics, using their lovely blues/aquas/cream fabrics (this link to Hamel's info on it is dated June 2022 -- I told you it was a couple of years old!)
It's one of the more complex patterns I've pieced, and of course it had to be 'up-sized' from 90" x 90" to 104" x 104" for a king-sized bed...! (It's the notion that "Mom can do anything" kicking in again! LOL!)
Anyway, I washed all the fabric (as is my habit), ironed it and labelled it with the colour number as recommended. This is turning out to be very important, as messing up the colour order would mess up the pattern. Here's my stack of prepped fabric:
And an example of how I labelled each fabric in the line:
Each day for the last three now I've been assembling larger units -- 10 1/2" unfinished -- in groups of five, which will go together to make the final large blocks:
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| Block set #1 |
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| Block set #2 |
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| Block set #3 |
That's all well and good -- but the units I've cut were only for 9 large blocks of 22" (finished) each -- and I need 16 to make the size of quilt desired. So...the process will begin again with the remaining fabric (yes, Hamel's Fabrics owner and staff figured out how much extra we had to buy!) to make the remaining 7 blocks.
Once that's done, there will be an inner border, a narrow 'zinger' and a wider outer border.
Onward!
The last bit of beauty being made around here has been in my garden, which continues to delight me, even as I dead-head dandelions and other spent blossoms, prune deadwood from shrubs and aging ornamental trees, and try to keep the young cats from digging in every bare patch of dirt where seeds were once sown!
Here's just a taste...
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| Just some of the peonies I brought inside. |
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| This is the first blossom for my youngest peony! |
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| Brown-eyed Susans watching every move in the meadow! |
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| Poppies competing with daisies under the big twin willow |
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| Sweet William in pink in the east bed |
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| Nearby, Sweet William in white |
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| And in the aged ornamental on the front lawn, which I pruned mightily over 2 days, a belated bouquet of blooms! |
And so, my friends, I'll close this l-o-o-o-o-ng post for now, with my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. As I understand it, she has a new job and is working long hours -- meaning that while she might be solving problems creatively, she's definitely been in the "utilitarian" zone. I hope she has some time to wind down and refocus for a bit...
Stay safe, Gentle Readers, in spite of extreme heat, flooding and/or tornados. May you find beauty every day.
A bientot!
