Hibernation

 The first Snowfall Warning of the 2024-2025 winter season arrived yesterday evening out here on the rolling prairies, so "hibernation" is the watchword for today -- and perhaps tomorrow too.

All weekend plans are up in the air...or stuck in a snowbank, if you prefer!  I'll probably try to go out and shovel some of the white stuff later today, but that will depend on how Mother Nature plays it over the next few hours.

Thus...I thought I'd share some of what I've been doing to add light to my days as we edge closer to the Solstice, still a month or so away.  

I've been knitting a *lot* -- but not on "all the things" I started in my last 'making' post from 3 weeks ago. With Xmas coming, I wanted to make some real progress on the [Not So] Presto Vesto for my daughter.  

I took it from this 

Left Front Progress (Nov. 2-2024)

to this

Left Front Finished -- and armhole trim -
November 22, 2024

Yes -- the major sections of the vest have been knit, the shoulder seams sewn, and the armhole ribbing completed!  Next up: the collar!

I also started a pair of "Downton Abbey Gloves" for a friend of mine who is positively obsessed with that television series.  I've lost track of how many times she's watched it -- every single episode.  It's not my cuppa, but the gloves are pretty.  Here's what the start looked like:

Pattern: "Downton Gloves"
Designer: Ceecees Stringer
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend
Colour 3049: Rose

My friend's not a big wearer of wool, but I figure she'll be fine with merino blended with silk, in one of her favourite colours...right?  

You might notice I'm using a long dpn (Double Pointed Needle for you non-knitters out there 😉).  Even though these are knit flat and seamed, my 'regular' straight and circular needles are far too long for the 38 stitches called for; hence the switch to a pair of long double-points!

By the time I went to bed last night, I'd finished the first one, complete with picot edge, and just have to sew it up.  The second one will be finished later today.  😊

I've also started a 'give-away' box.  I want to fill it with small, warm wearables -- made from stash yarn -- that need a good home with people who don't have the where-with-all to buy them.  Last week I finished a little pair of mittens (child-sized):

Pattern: The World's Simplest Mittens
Designer: Tin Can Knits
Yarn: Schoeller & Stahl, Limbo Mexiko Color

And earlier this week I finished and adult-sized hat out of left-over sock yarn, two strands held together.  The first time I made this hat (some years ago), I used 2 strands of blue -- one darker than the other -- and it was okay, if but a bit 'ho-hum'.  This time I decided to play with self-striping and/or variegated yarn left-overs. The result? Much more fun to knit and -- I hope -- to wear!

Pattern: The LOSY Hat
Designer: Barb Engelking

 

On the stitching front, I must admit I'm rather proud of myself: I Fully Finished the little "Precious Friend" stitch -- another Xmas gift:

"Precious Friend"
Designer: Bent Creek

Look at that!  It's in a 7" hoop!  And I covered the back with craft felt, so it's all neat and tidy!  I'm so thankful for a couple of YouTube tutorials -- particularly one from Helen D (Eastcoast Crafter)  -- though I chose not to use glue, and stitched around the back instead.

In the end it wasn't as finicky as I thought it would be, so I'm rather pleased with m'self!

I've continued to make progress on "Remember Me" -- my Black Sampler November stitch from Jacob at Modern Folk Embroidery:

Even though it's a complex pattern, I actually find it a rather restful break from other stitching, as I never have to change colours!

Speaking of 'complex', having finished the 'Precious Friend' I dug returned to the tiny stitch from Jeannette Douglas -- designed to wrap around a spool that's going to be a scissor holder:

Since this photo was taken, I've added the year and watched Jean Farish do the "Nun Stitch" so I can fully finish it...soon!

And...I've started yet another Christmas Gift Stitch:

"Don't Bug Me When I'm Stitching"
Designer: Sweetheart Tree

I got the kit for this some time back (who knows when?!) and decided it would work as a studio door "notice" for a stitching friend.  It's tiny, and involves 1/4 stitches (!) plus a fair amount of back stitch, and will be embellished with beads and even a teeny-weeny lady bug charm...eventually!   I'm doing those wee bumble bees 1 over 1; they don't look like much until the back-stitching kicks in. 😄

Pretty much every afternoon has found me doing some quilting.  I love to turn on Tom Allen's "About Time" on the CBC music station -- it's a classical music show for 3 hours -- and just go into my happy place in the studio.  As a result, I've been piling up the Disappearing 4-Patch blocks and Easy Breezy (Bonnie Hunter) blocks (sorry, no photos), as well as strip-piecing 2" x 7" rectangles to cross-cut for more postage stamp blocks.

Sherri of A Quilting Life is nearing the end of her 2024 Block of the Month, which I've enjoyed immensely.  A couple of weeks ago -- after my last 'making' post -- I did up the November blocks:

I'm continuing to use up left-over Thimbleberries fabrics, and I've been making two of the 8" (finished) blocks per month.  I'm really looking forward to what the December blocks entail, as I think Sherri will include ideas for setting them.  I'm thinking sashing and cornerstones, myself.  I'll have 24 of these, which sounds plenty, but they're small...

And just yesterday I finished the top for the throw quilt I want to make up for my son's 40th (in June!):

Here's a vertical view

and here's a horizontal view:

It's from the book "Batik Beauties" by Laurie J. Shifrin (Martingale & Co., 2001) that I got second-hand somewhere however long ago; so far, this is the first and only pattern I've made from it!  

In my last post, I showed you all those pieced bits for the sashing -- I'm thinking all that work was worth it, eh?  The only non-batik in the mix is the very narrow inner border, which is a dark purple cotton print.  AND I decided not to go with the colourful, 4 1/2" finished outer border.  Too much of a muchness (plus I'd have had to piece it as I didn't have the sort of fabric called for)!  So...I went with a narrower -- 3" finished -- outer border made from the batik background fabric.  The top at present is about 56" W x 65" L and will be just right as a throw for comfort, for TV watching, and book reading...or at least that's what I hope!

And yes...there's been art-making.  Lacombe's Annual Under $100 Art Market is next weekend, and I hope to get all seven pieces delivered there for set-up on Thursday morning -- if Mother Nature behaves herself after this weekend!

In my last 'making' post I showed you five pieces that needed to be mounted.  Here are the four on canvas, all stacked up and backed with brown paper.  (They now have wires for hanging, too.)

A fifth one looks like this, mounted on the "wrong" side of a wooden board/panel, which I painted black:

All That Blue, Green & Gold! (c) 2024
Hooked art mat, 6" square (panel = 8" square)

And...this week I finished two more that will also go "inside" black-painted panels.  Here they are, fresh off the frame:

Top: Autumn in Aspen Land 
Bottom: Slough View
6" square - (c) 2024

They're now blocked and ready to finish -- I have to sew down the edges on the back, and then mount them in their 'panels'.

As for other hooked art, some time ago I finished "Little Yellow Flowers", one of Deanne Fitzpatrick's designs, which I bought as a kit on burlap.  Earlier this fall I had it framed, with the idea of giving it away -- but in the end, I've decided to keep it and hung it up over my couch in the living room.  It measures 17" W x 6" long before framing:

What you also see in that photo is the ceiling fan in my kitchen.  Yes; there's a cut out in the wall between the kitchen and the living room -- and in the cut out I've hung a vintage glass window, rescued from a house down the block when it was being renovated several years ago. 😊

Now, my friend C. saw the 'Little Yellow Flowers' piece and asked if I'd make a coaster for her out of a 'slice' of it -- the bottom right corner, full of flowers -- so I did, and gave it to her when we had lunch together last week:

Snippet of "Little Yellow Flowers"
Approx. 4" square

It was a bit tricky to hook, as I was trying to use up a scrap of burlap, but I jerry-rigged a 4" embroidery hoop, clipped it to my stitching station, and managed it that way!

I've got some ideas for a new hooked piece -- one that is larger and more abstracted (maybe) but for the time being I'm taking a bit of a break and will ponder just how to do it, while keep on knitting, quilting and stitching.

Maybe I'll take some inspiration from the work of Nancy Crow, whose pieces are on exhibit at the Kent State University Museum, on now through December 15 -- or so reports Nina-Marie over on her Off the Wall Friday blog post for this week. She went to see it -- and I'm glad she did, and shared photos.  Some of those linear pieces from Ms. Crow might need further study for my next hooked work...

So, having caught you up, Gentle Readers, and hopefully shared some colour and light with you, I'll leave you with a link to that blog post and bid you adieu.  For my American friends and readers, I wish you less chaos, safe travels, and times of fun, food, and comfort with family for your Thanksgiving Holiday next week.  I am thankful for you -- and for all of my Gentle Readers, wherever you may be.

A bientot!

It's Hard to be Salt and Light

 I'm not supposed to care -- but I do.  

I grew up less than 20 miles north of the border between Quebec, here in Canada, and northern NY State -- and not all that far from Vermont.  We'd go to Malone for movies that hadn't come to our home town or even to Montreal.  We'd go for shopping.  We'd go to Chateauguay, NY (not to be confused with Chateauguay, Quebec!) for dining.  I think some of my cousins there still do.

My parents -- my mother and my step-father, who married in July 1957 -- procured a lease on a piece of land on a bay in the St. Lawrence River.  They -- with the help of some hired experts and a LOT of friends -- built a cottage there (no basement -- mounted up on cement block underpinnings) -- and we spent summers there as a family.  

Some years we also lived there from Victoria Day Weekend (a week before Memorial Day for y'all in the US) through Thanksgiving (CANADIAN Thanksgiving, y'all -- the 2nd weekend in October).  Our parents figured out a way to get us in to town to go to school until we were back 'home' again and able to get there on foot.

Once we learned to swim, there was an ongoing competition to see who was brave enough to jump into the bay on May Long (or earlier!) and again at Thanksgiving.  Just so  you know.

The farmer who owned the land had many tenants -- including Americans.  There were some from not far away (Chateauguay, NY, etc.) and others from as far away as Michigan.  One cabin/cottage was named "The Detroiter".  I remember meeting the younger generation there -- visiting their grandparents who owned the place. Good kids.

There were French Canadian families who moved there too.  One of them had several sons and Jean, the youngestof 3 boys (as I recall), joined us Anglos and Americans for our regular afternoons of softball on the large green space behind some of our cottages.  We taught him English, and given his good looks, several local gals were rather sweet on him.

As we got older, we stayed out later.  Our parents rigged up lights between our cottage and the next-door neighbour's cottage, so that we could play ping-pong in between the cottages after dark.

Those same neighbours had a shed that they fixed up so we could put a record player (an electronic device on which one could play recorded music at 33 rpm -- revolutions per minute -- or 45 rpm -- get it?!)  The older teens would play DJ (especially my (step)brother, from his wheel chair) and we'd dance on the grass in front of the open door of the shed.

There were corn roasts too -- not every summer, though it felt like that at the time. The men would set up tables and over-head umbrellas (against the sun) and barbecue burgers and weiners.  The women would make all sorts of salads and ensure there was enough buns for the meat, as well as ensuring everyone had enough water/soft drinks (pop or soda for you 'mericans).  And there was watermelon and ice cream to polish it all off.

That was all before...we got older. And 1968 happened, and the War (Viet Nam) and the assassinations (MLK and RFK)...

And we lost our innocence.

My step-father was an Immigration Officer on that border.  His job was to look out for draft dodgers.  I don't think he ever found any, but our arguments were fierce -- he lost 2 fingers on his right hand in WWII and took a bullet through his right arm.  I long ago ceased to be surprised at his outrage -- at his arguing that the Viet Nam war had to be The Right Thing To Do.  But I think, really, he knew it wasn't the same as WWII.

On the other hand...this year, in this time and this place, as Canada's 'mouse' sleeps next to the US 'elephant', trembling lest it roll over on us...

Well...all we can do here is our best.  All we can do is keep those with authoritarian bents, who are being egged on by the infection south of our border -- people like Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's Federal Conservative Party; people like Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta and well-influenced by the Black Hat Movement south in Medicine Hat, infected by the right-wing in Montana; people by the far right premier of Saskatchewan, Scott Moe...

What to do?

• Create beauty every day;
• Love one's neighbour as oneself;
• Give without thought of thanks;
• Feed the hungry;
• Clothe the poor with comforing clothes/blankets/shelter;
• Tell our children (and so many others) we love them;
• Speak truth to power;
• Vote for what is right;
• Highlight corruption;
• Thank God/the Universe/your "higher power" for your life and for your ability to bring light, love and truth to the world.

As Jesus (called the Christ) might have said, "Now, go and do likewise."

Light in the Making

Gentle Readers, 

You may have noticed that effective today, I have changed the heading for my blog.  "Light in the Making" will remain for the foreseeable future.

Darkness has descended over a large portion of North America, as a result of...well...a lot of things -- but mainly, the "what's in it for me?" and "what will this do for me?" approach to life adopted by so many.

I have decided to resist this approach to living my life, and invite all who are willing, to join me.

I have decided that there is not only life in the work of our hands, but also light, so I am going forward with determination that what I create will -- I hope -- support that notion.

My intensions are these:

• To create beauty every day;
• To share that beauty with others here on my blog and in person with those around me;
• To create items not only of beauty but also of warmth and comfort; and
• To share those items with those who may need them the most.

My mantra will be this: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it" -- a paraphrase of John 1:5.

I hope you will find your own light, and let it shine in the darkness around you, wherever you are.

I Want to Make *All* the Things!

We had snow a few days ago.  It began as our usual "First Snowfall" does: with rain, then wet snow, then "regular" snow.  It's melted off the streets and sidewalks now, of course, but when it first fell, it decorated everything with a sparkling covering of white - including the trees.  The photo at left is of my double willow in the "Meadow" lot next to my house.  It lost many of its leaves before the snowfall, but had enough on its branches to look like it was wearing a fancy gown, on its way to a "Snow Ball"! 😉

The snow is off the trees now, too, but still all over the grass.  It's likely here to stay until spring, and will, of course, receive a fresh covering from time to time.

The computer craziness about which I wrote in my last post continues, with a faulty power port (in the computer, where you plug in the cord), and a need to retest the battery now that the port has been replaced.  It wasn't charging properly, even with the new cord.  It's still in the shop, so I'm here again on my old (2013) machie that's serving me rather well, actually, despite its age.  I will still be happy to have the newer (2021) model home again.  

I'd have given up on computers of any and all kinds by now, if they didn't provide me with such pleasure -- communications near and far, music (radio and otherwise) -- and the ability to share my making with whoever cares to see it.

And my making is what is keeping me from tipping into...well, as I've said before, creating beauty and texture, and making art for me and comfort for my friends, family and others -- that's what gives me a measure of peace, a dollop of joy, and helps me sleep at night.

With the coming of the colder weather this year, my usual Autumnal Startitis has ramped up several notches!  As the title of this post says, I want to make ALL the things!

BUT having a rather over-active conscience, I had to finish some things first.  On the knitting front, I finished the third of three Simple Gift Cowls for my son and his family:

Pattern: Simple Gift Cowl
Designer: Amy Curletto
Yarn: Schoeller & Stahl Limbo Mexiko Color
in "Mango" colour-way

I also knit up two pair of baby socks for a young neighbour and his partner, who are expecting their first baby a few days before Xmas.  In my last post, I'd just started the first sock of the first pair; now that pair is finished (newborn to 3-month size) and another larger pair (3 to 6 month size) too:

Pattern: "Baby Socks"
Designer: River City Yarns
Yarn: Knit Picks Sock Landscape
in the Rocky Mountain Dusk colour-way
Newborn - 3 months - shown with cuffs standing up

Same pattern, same designer
Yarn: Pro-Lana Golden Socks 4-fache
in the "Fashion R" colour-way
Three-to-six months size, shown with cuffs folded down

The remaining 'Christmas Knit' is the Back Bay Boomerang shawlette/scarf that I started some time ago.  It's simple garter stitch, but in a light fingering, it's been taking me a while.  It's my 'car knitting' -- for waiting at the train crossing, or for knitting while enjoying coffee with friends -- so it hasn't had quite the attention the other projects have, but rest assured, it will be finished in time to send away for Xmas!

Here's what it looked like when I last showed a photo:

And here's what it looked like as of last evening:

Pattern: "Back Bay Boomerang"
Designer: Susie von Reyn 
Yarn: Queensland Collection Perth
 in Colour #107 - "Tasmanian Bay"

I've only about 15 grams left of the 100 gram ball, and when it's finished, the shawlette will be too!

Three cowls for Xmas gifts and 2 pair of baby socks finished, plus one vest 2/3 of the way there ought to permit me to start a new knit, right? 😉

And what did I want to start?  Yes, I know; I have at least 3 two pair of socks, two shawls and at least 3 sweaters on the needles already, plus a vest.  But I've been watching assorted knitting podcasts, and have kitted up some new starts from my stash. 

The gals at The Woolly Thistle and at A Lovely Yarn have me hankering for a cardigan.  A colour-work cardigan.  Steeked, if possible.  So, yesterday I caked up 3 skeins with which to make a start on the "Stranded and Steeked Knit Cardigan" designed by Katherine Poole-Fournier for Patons Yarn and Yarnspirations.  It calls for a main colour and 4 others, but I'm using only a main colour and two others.  

The maroon is Briggs & Little Regal; the white/cream is Briggs & Little Heritage 2-ply and the teal blue is Gathering Yarn Haynes Creek Heathers Aran.

All have been set aside for a bit, because having read the pattern, I realize I've got to finish at least one mind-bending project before starting another.

The current "mind-bender" is the aforementioned "Presto Vesto" I've been constructing for my daughter for Xmas/her January 2025 birthday.  In my last post I showed you the finished back and right front (the two-thirds accounted for above).  The final third -- the left front -- is now on the needles, its ribbed hem finished, and I've split for the pocket.  You can see that in this photo if you look slightly right of centre and notice the second ball of yarn attached there.  

It remains a project that is anything but "presto" to knit!

To fulfill my hankering for new sweater starts, and for something a bit less challenging than multiple cables or colour-work with steeks, in the past two days I've cast on the following:

• The "Basic Pullover" by Sally Melville from her book, The Knitting Experience. Book 2: The Purl Stitch which I've had in my library since 2004.  Again I'm using yarn from stash: Gedifra Ombretta  in the colour-way #4402: "Midnight Wine".  Here's my start:

It's all wines and deep blue-purples -- yummy!  And perfectly mindless to knit.

• In the slightly less mindless but still simple category, yesterday I cast on the "Crayon Etching" pullover from Natsuko Iida for NORO yarns.  I'm knitting it in Noro Kureyon in colour #40 -- a blue/green/purple colour-way.  It's knit top-down (simple enough) in Linen Stitch, which is simple enough but I'd never used it before and the first dozen rounds of the neckline included short rows.  Riiiiight. Linen Stitch while doing short rows. That's why I consider it "slightly less mindless".  Blessedly the short rows are finished and I'm simply on the body/raglan increases...!!!

Yes, there's still quilting, stitching and art-mat hooking, too.  I've sandwiched and pin-basted the Pink Pinwheels top as that little blankie will go with the baby socks to the new parents.  The new parents-to-be are experiencing some financial challenges as the business the prospective father was working at is...um...not doing well, and in the last week he's either been temporarily or permanently laid off (I'm not sure which).

As I finished the twelve blocks for my son's birthday quilt, I began the sashing -- which is pieced.  Quarter-square triangles (QSTs), that is.  Pieced.  To make enough to go between the blocks, between the rows of blocks and around the outside as an inner border -- per the pattern -- I've had to cut 206 squares, put them in random pairs and create QSTs. 

QSTs under construction

QST sashing - 6 block units per sash
to go between the blocks in each row

Not quite as complex as the "Presto Vesto" project, but still a labour of love.  The things we do for our kids! 😉 💗😊

My stitching in the last part of October was focused on Christmas gifts too.  I started -- and finished -- a couple of small items.  One was autumn/Hallowe'en themed, for a friend of mine who loves both coffee and holiday decor and has been having a bit of a rough time lately:

Pattern: "Brew Haha"
Designer: Plum Street Designs
Done 2 threads over 2, in 28-count Cashel linen
from Zweigart in "Light Mocha" -- a scrap, really
Cotton floss - over-dyed and DMC, some called for,
some subsitutes, all from stash

The next one is finished -- but not fully.  I want to put it into a 7" wooden embroidery hoop, but have yet to do that:

Pattern: "Precious Friend"
Designer: Bent Creek
Done 2 threads over 2, on 28-count even-weave
or perhaps Lugana (no label) -- a scrap
Cotton floss - some over-dyed and some DMC,
some called-for, some substitutes, all from stash

The spacing for that one is a bit 'off' (it is for "Brew Haha" too) but I fudged it (per usual) as I refuse to let Perfect be the enemy of Good!  I enjoyed both of these stitches.

Once these were finished I started another Christmas gift stitch -- one of Jeannette Douglas' smalls, which I fell in love with when Caroline of Evertote.ca announced them.  Jeannette collaborated with Evertote/Roxy Floss on these projects: two small wooden spools, one which was designed to hang as an ornament and the other, to be used as a scissor holder, covered in motifs from Jeannette's reproduction of the Margreat Meadows sampler.  I chose the latter, and I'm stitching this up for a stitchy friend.  Although tiny -- I'm using 1 thread over 1 on 36-count Doubloon from Picture this Plus.  It's a mottled (but not splotchy) caramel linen, and this photo of my start doesn't do it justice, really, as it has more character than that:

I'm working from left to right; what you see above is the first two sets of motifs -- out of a total of five.  Yes, it's really tiny: about 2 1/4" high and about 4 1/4" long on this fabric.  That tells you how small the spool is that will be wrapped with it!  I had the fabric at home, but bought the kitted pattern and Roxy Floss threads -- yummy!  And Evertote's "Floss Boss", Hannah, gives the floss colours such wonderfully punny names.  I smile when I pick up each one!

For November, my focus will be on finishing the Margreat Meadows spool cover, and fully finishing it along with the "Precious Friends" piece.  For other stitching, though, I've dug out a 'black sampler' -- a Vierlande-style sampler from Jacob at Modern Folk Embroidery: "When This You See, Remember Me".  

I began it on Good Friday this year (in March), not long after it was first published, and posted about it then, but set it aside as I knew I'd want to work on it again this November.  I'm working it 2 threads over 2 on 32-count Vintage Smoky White (a printed linen) from Zweigart, using Roxy Floss hand-dyed cotton floss in the 'Vierlande' colour-way especially commissioned by Jacob for his Vierlandese designs.

Here's what it looked like when I set it aside:

Stay tuned for progress towards month-end!

And yes...there's hooked art!  In September, I joined the Inspirations Sessions at Deanne Fitzpatrick Studio, for a year only, and am enjoying them immensely.  They've really been a source of encouragement as I've been preparing new work to put into the 2024 "Under $100 Art Market" in Lacombe at the end of this month.  To date I've finished five miniature landscapes, each 6" square, and mounted the first one on painted stretched canvas, which I showed in my last post:

"Turning" (c) 2024
6" square, hooked, mounted on canvas

Here are the latest additions to the "collection", also 6" square, which have yet to be mounted:

"Little Shed on the Prairie" (c) 2024

"All That Blue, Green & Gold!" (c) 2024

"Harvest Hills" (c) 2024

"Winter Sunrise" (c) 2024

The ideas for these came in part from current scenes around me and in part from pieces I'd made as "matted minis" (small art quilts) some years ago.  I was pleased to see that I could translate them from fused applique, thread-painted and quilted fabric, to hooked wool yarn, and wool or silk fabric strips.

I'm now in the process of painting some canvases and some wooden panels (shallow boxes, really, which I'll use "upside down") for mounting, and should have that work done in the next week or so.  I have to wire them for hanging, so picked up some more small 'D' rings and some more picture wire at the hardware store yesterday.  And I have to deliver them to the exhibit venue in the last week of the month, priced and ready to hang -- so I'd best get going!

So, Gentle Readers, you're now all caught up with my exploits, and I'm about ready to take a brisk walk in the wintry sunshine that I can see out my window.  As usual, I'll leave you with a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  When she posted her linky party, she admitted that she was handing out Hallowe'en candy that evening -- getting a dose of creativity in the costumes being worn by her little neighbours.  I hope you all had a happy time of it that night -- if you observe those festivities -- and I wish you more creative delights until we meet again.  A bientot!

It's About Time...

 I've done a lot since my last post, so I've lots to share.  My laptop is fully repaired now -- including a new power cord/adaptor that I bought directly from Dell, as the old one was being very finicky.  The probable cause of that was likely a broken or bent wire, but I wasn't about to fuss. It took two weeks to get the new one (we had the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday in there too).

It seems like a long period of ups and downs, but there were blessedly more 'ups'!  At the same time, autumn has truly arrived here.  Most of my lawn furniture is away, my flower beds and raised beds put to 'sleep' for the winter, blanketed with leaf mulch.

I planted several miniature Allium bulbs -- to replace tulips that are always decimated by the deer! -- and will be excited to see how they turn out over the next couple of spring seasons.  I'm told by the nursery that it takes a while for them to settle in, but then they should be lovely.

We've had such a gradual easing into autumn, that I've really enjoyed being out in the yard and taking walks in all the blue, green and gold around me.  

I was inspired by the landscape to explore these colours in my rug hooking, so have not only finished "Turning", which was under the hook in my last post, but have also completed three more 6" square pieces, ready to mount and offer for purchase at the 2024 "Under $100 Art Market" in Lacombe at the end of November.  Here's a sneak peek:

Turning - (c) 2024
Hooked yarn, fabric on burlap
6" x 6", mounted on stretched canvas

Top: Harvest Hills (c) 2024
Bottom: Winter Sunrise (c) 2024
Both 6" square, hooked on burlap
Shown just off the frame

All that Blue, Green and Gold! (c) 2024
6" square, yarn, silk, wool fabric,
hooked on burlap -- shown just finished
on the frame

And there's yet another drawn out, waiting for me to make a start:

"Little Shed on the Prairie" (c) 2024

I confess I don't hook every day, but when I do, I go at it for at least 1/2 hour -- usually, more like an hour.  I've been using some of the new yarns I bought for the purpose, too, which I mentioned in my last post.

To add to my adventures in my new-found artistic home, I've splurged on something called the Inspiration Sessions -- a year of inspiration with Deanne Fitzpatrick, recorded in her studio, watching and learning from her process, and monthly online Zoom meetings with rug-hooking artists and crafters from all over the place.  I attended my first Zoom a couple of weeks ago and the newly-recorded tutorial session is now ready for me to watch; I'm really looking forward to it!

Still, as I mentioned, I don't hook every day.  I still have my routine of doing a bit of each of my practices most days. I begin with knitting, then move to either hooking or quilting (when yard and garden work isn't calling!) and finish with late-afternoon/early evening cross-stitch.

So, next, the knitting: 

I've made great progress on my daughter's "Presto Vesto" for her Xmas/Birthday present this year -- and have finished the right front!

Pattern: "Presto Vesto"
Designer: Amy Gunderson
Yarn: MidKnit Cravings
Comfort Sport in "Shiraz" colour

The photo above shows the front lying perfectly on top of the back.  I used a coaster to show where the split for the pocket is.  😄  I'm rather chuffed that it's finally beginning to look like something, and the pattern is getting just a teensy bit easier to follow!

In Xmas/holiday knits, I've finished another Simple Gift Cowl, using an EMU Superwash DK yarn from my stash.  I just need to sew in the ends, wash and block it:

One more to make, and that trio of cowls will be finished so I can get back to the vest but first...a local young fellow and his partner are expecting their first baby a few days before Xmas, so I'm making a couple of pair of baby socks, using my trusty 'Baby Socks' pattern from River City Yarns (not available on Ravelry; sorry). I'll be making 2 pair -- one for a newborn and another in the 3-6 months size.

I cast these on this a.m. using some left-over Knit Picks Sock Landscape yarn (in the Rocky Mountain Dusk colour-way); since I took this photo, I finished the cuff, turned the heel and am working on the gusset decreases for the first sock:

I've done some more work on the 'Back Bay Boomerang' shawl, too, but haven't an updated photo.  Sigh...

On the quilting front, I've also done nothing more on the Celtic Knot quilt, but the pink pinwheels baby quilt top is finished -- made from "bonus triangles" from some forgotten project, plus a glorious darker pink-purple batik that was just hanging out in my stash  -- shown here in the autumn sunshine on my back stoop:

And the quilt I've chosen for my son's June birthday (2025), from the book Batik Beauties, has gone from a couple of stacks of fabric squares to...11 of 12 blocks completed.  Here are just the first three.  The backgrounds and the star points are the same in each, but the centre squares differ.  I'm using batiks from deep stash that I've long not known what to do with, and I bought a skinny bolt (about 7 metres!) of the background last May at the Central Alberta Quilt Show, from a shop whose owners were retiring.  It was just perfect for the colours I had in mind for this project, but will also make a great neutral going forward.

Block #1

Block #2

   

Block #3

I continue to enjoy the Block of the Month (BOM) from Sherri at "A Quilting Life", and this week finished the October blocks, still using my stash of Thimbleberries fabrics from a good 20 years ago:

As you may remember, Gentle Readers, I'm making the smaller block (finishes at 8" in a quilt) and create two of them each month, for a total of 24 for the year.  Not sure how the quilt will finish up, but I believe Sherri usually has options for that too, so stay tuned!

If those projects weren't enough, my friend Anne (former co-worker when The Crafty Lady was an LYS) came to me with a huge bag of fabric someone she knew had given her, from the estate of a quilting relative.  The deal was that I could pick what I wanted, and the rest would be donated to Grandmothers to Grandmothers -- Red Deer Chapter -- for their annual fabric/yarn/crafts sale.  

Well!  I made a small dent in the bag -- and then topped it up with some of pieces I'd been given by a neighbour that I know I won't use.  The biggest find was a print of chocolate brown swirls on an aqua background; the selvedge text referred to it as the "Deja Brew" line designed by Audrey Jeanne Roberts for StudioE Fabrics (www.studioefabrics.com).  It's long out of production, of course, but included in the bag was a piece of solid in a similar shade of aqua.  When I was telling my friend Annette J. about it, she suggested a Disappearing Four Patch might work well for it.  I dug about in my studio and found several large pieces of a tone-on-tone chocolate brown cotton that was left over from some wide backing I'd used on an earlier project.

Ta-da! I 'googled' for instructions (I've made a Disappearing 9-patch years ago but have no idea where my notes were from that!) and made a couple of blocks.  I figured I have enough fabric for about 3 dozen, each finishing at 8" in the quilt (using 5" squares), plus sashing, so it'll make a decent throw-sized quilt:

The green of my cutting mat doesn't do justice to the acqua of that fabric -- but you get the idea! LOL!  😆

And yes, the "Easy Breezy" blocks -- a tiny 4 1/2" unfinished -- are piling up; I have about 75 of them now -- and another 70 or so to go.  I've not run out of bits and bobs for the corner squares and rectangles, so I just keep plugging along.

As I mentioned, the late afternoon and evening are for stitching -- mainly cross-stitch.  Sampler September is over now, but I took advantage of Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to work a few days on a small sampler from Red Barn Samplers, which has a verse I like and which has, at the bottom, the word "Gratitude".

I bought the pattern 'way back in the winter of 2023.  Here's a photo from my post of February 1 that year:

I began to work on it and got as far as the "O" you can see in the photo below -- second line of alphabet letters from the top, close to the left-hand side.

The photo below shows my progress from October 12 this year through Thanksgiving Monday (Oct. 14) -- I moved right along, enjoying it immensely.  I confess, though, that by the time I finished that first line of the verse, done using 1 thread of floss over 1 fabric stitch...well!  I was grateful to put it down and move into Christmas gift stitching! 😉

"Betty Sumner 1822"
Reproduced by Red Barn Samplers

I've managed to finish one small piece for a knitty friend, but need to fully finish it (I'm thinking 'flat fold').  I decided because my friend and I are both Canadian, I'd adjust the bottom word to spell it the way we do here: 'Neighbour' -- with a "U".  It was quite the challenge, but I'm satisfied with it:

"Fred's Ewe-nifying Question"
Designer: Silver Creek Samplers
Modified by me! 
Stitched on the called-for fabric
with the called-for cotton flosses.

I'm now working on another gift for a friend -- a pretty little piece that I started a couple of days ago: "Precious Friend" from Bent Creek designs.  I'm stitching it on a piece of unlabelled 28-count evenweave, in an 'antique white' sort of colour, using a combination of called-for over-dyed floss and DMC from my stash.  I've not yet taken a photo of it...so, next time, eh?  

I think that's it for now, Gentle Readers. I've gone on long enough (through two cups of tea and over 2 hours of Tom Allen's "About Time" on CBC Radio)...so I will leave you first, with thanks for being such faithful readers, and second with the hope that you are well and safe wherever you are, creating beauty with the work of your hands.

Linking up with Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday", as usual -- but this time, be still my heart! WOW!  She's dipping a toe into a new-to-her technique. Yep!  She's learning to hook a rug!  I can't wait to compare notes!

So -- until then -- a bientot!