A Bit of Everything

When I was a kid, my mother told me that one of her father's favourite expressions (he died when she was in her early teens) was "Six of a dozen assorted".  That's sort of what I have to share this go 'round.

The Madman to the South continues his threats on my country's very existence, so I continue to make, make, make in order to bring a modicum of order to the chaos swirling around us.

Blessedly, I have enough materials and ideas to keep that process going!

On Wednesday, I attende the Opening Reception for the "Piece by Piece" fund-raising exhibit at the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre (fondly referred to as LPAC).  My piece was one of two distinctly textile-genre pieces; there was also a piece that was mixed media (including found objects) and a variety of paintings, both in oil and in acrylic -- landscapes, portraiture and so forth.  Twenty-two artists in all.  

This is a silent auction and runs through May 2nd, so I hope my local friends will get over to the LPAC to see it -- and maybe place a bid!

"Prairie Gold" 12" x12" on canvas

I recently got word that I've been accepted for a booth at the 2025 Encore! Lacombe Art Show and Sale.  I was Featured Artist in 2023, but took the year off last year and will be returning this year with both quilted and hooked pieces.  Four of the quilted pieces will be the ones that have just come "home" from B.C. -- the ones I made for the 2022-2024 "Art in the Park" residency and touring exhibit.  Here's a shot of them hanging in the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre gallery:

I'm very excited to present them to a new audience in Lacombe!

With them, there will be several new hooked pieces, including smalls that can be taken home for very little expense.  

But besides that, I continue to work on the usual...knitting...quilting (piecing) and cross-stitch.

Last going first, the cross-stitch.  I've been a bit all over the place but still focusing (a bit) on what is (mostly) Canadian.

I've made more progress on "Anne Perrin 1841", a reproduction sampler from Jeannette Douglas Designs, and made my way over to the "berry bowl" in the centre:

I've also made some progress on "'S' is for Stitcher" from Thea Dueck at The Victoria Sampler:

I also started Thea's 2025 BOM -- a floral 'Block of the Month' in stitches.  I've done the first two months and, having the pattern for March, will do that one soon:

And I've made my way to what is essentially the centre of the piece, but there it sits for now -- along with the "Quilters' Dream" from Modern Folk Embroidery, because, of course, there are other things...

Such as the "HOPE" sampler -- a section from a stitch-along created some years ago by Modern Folk Embroidery.  I mean, after all, we could all use a bit of hope these days, right?  For this one, I'm using a single strand of a WonderFil #8 Perle cotton in Sue Spargo's line, colour #EZM89 on 32-count Thornfield linen from Needle & Flax, from my stash since 2023.

And for now, another project that I want to give to a friend is a biscornu.  Some months (maybe over a year) ago, that friend gave me a pattern and flosses for this pattern.  Her birthday is coming up and I've decided I want to finish it for her:

Pattern: Flanders Fields Biscornu
Designer: Heartstring Samplery
Fabric: 36-ct Grey (Weeks)
Floss: Weeks Dye Works

My quilting has been focused on the Old Town Mystery from Bonnie Hunter.  I've finished all 25 blocks and, lacking fabric for the called-for pieced sashing, decided to put the blocks together as a top:

Then I added a narrow inner border (blue-green to match the centres of each block) and pieced outer borders.  The latter consist of 4-patches that I made from what I had for the four corners of each block and for what might end up in a border; and from a series of hour-glass blocks made out of 'bonus triangles' from the flying geese in this project.

Pieced borders: 4-patches on two sides,
and hour-glass units on the other two.

There will now be a wider (3" finished, I think) cream-coloured outer border all around, taken from the wide backing bought for this piece (the only fabric I've bought for this quilt).  Then...off to the long-armer to be quilted and eventually given to my son for his up-coming 40th birthday.

As for the "Easy Breezy" throw, that top is finished but not quilted yet.  That will come.

Finally, some knitting.  I'm trying to finish 2 pair of socks -- one cast on at the beginning of this month, and another from the formerly-ignored WIPs.

The "Twizzler Socks" that I mentioned in my last post have been finished.  I'm keeping them for now...they'll be more suitable for wearing when the weather warms up a bit.

I've finally reached the foot on the first of a pair of "Cornflower Socks" I cast on a couple of years ago, and am approaching the toe:

At the beginning of this month I decided I also wanted to join the "Socks from Stash" Ravelry group's March Challenge -- and I needed a pattern that reminded me of nature.  So...I found the "Wandering Rose" pattern and a ball of Lana Grossa Meillenweit sock yarn in a stunning shade of red and cast on:

As of this morning, I've fully finished the first sock of the pair:

None of this has stopped me from being smitten by a renewed case of "startitis", though.  I signed up -- and even paid for a pattern (!) -- for a Lenten Mystery Knit Along (MKAL) from Joy Jannotti of "Quail's Knitting Nest" on YouTube.  The first clue dropped on Ash Wednesday and clues drop every Sunday thereafter.  It's for a shawlette in mosaic knitting, but that's all I can tell you.  You can find the pattern on Ravelry, and there's a community on both Joy's YouTube channel and on (I believe) Instagram (I'm not on IG).  Sorry -- no photos at present. No spoilers! 

I also stumbled on another shawl pattern -- another freebie -- can't recall where now -- and cast it on at the beginning of this week, using luxury stash yarn I bought a good 20 years or so ago: the Freesia from Annie Baker Designs on Ravelry.  I'm making it with Peruvian Baby Silk yarn from elann.com, in the Raspberry colour-way (#2010) -- but sorry, no progress photos yet. It's early days!

I've not paid much attention to the "Lake Reed" toque I mentioned in my last post, but I'm making steady progress on the "Missoni Accomplished" pullover.  I'm within 4 rounds of splitting for the sleeves, so stay tuned for more on that.

And so it goes.  I watch the news, I pray, I knit/quilt/stitch/hook/repeat.  I go for walks or shovel walks, as the weather dictates.  I rally online with my Canadian compatriots and hug my American friends and family across cyberspace, as we all try to figure out how to deal with what's going on.  Canada has been attacked and pushed into a non-violent war that is designed to weaken us so badly we'll capitulate and become part of the US...which is simply Not On.  And so it goes.  

For all of you, I leave you with a wish and a hope that you can find some time in the midst of this mess to create beauty.  That you are still able to be kind to strangers and known loved ones alike.  That you can get out into nature and do what you need to do to restore your soul.

I leave you with my usual link to dear, persistent, consistent Nina-Marie Sayre and her Off the Wall Friday sharing platform...and with this, written by a Canadian, for Canadians, but also, I hope, for those from outside Canada who seek to understand us better:

Until next time, a bientot!

Obsessed!

 

I come from sturdy English and Scots stock -- "stiff upper lip" and all that -- but I have to say, the last 3+ weeks have me hovering between weepy/wobbly and purple-in-the-face angry.  

My country's been threatened by a madman -- who has equally mad minions around him. What's a civilized, educated, sensible person of the female persuasion to do?!

Well...hmmm...

I've decided the best I can do is to keep making.  Creating beauty every day, as Deanne Fitzpatrick says.  Making items for those in need of warmth and comfort.  Making gifts for friends and family.  Selecting items I no longer need or want and giving them away.  Filling the 3 active winter bird-feeders in my trees.  Tending to my yard and garden in season.  Making jams in season and giving jars away to friends and neighbours for their enjoyment.  Donating books to the local libraries (yes; one here, one in Alix, AB -- but mostly here, as it's not part of the wider library system).  Donating to causes in which I believe -- or in memory of friends who have died.

My friend Dave died a couple of weeks ago.  He was a United Church of Canada minister, a handyman, a fisherman, an appreciator of art, and a beloved husband, father and friend.  In his 'handyman' role, he renovated my bathroom 16 years ago, and upgraded my kitchen counters about 8 years after that...and with a skinny accomplice, figured out the source of the frozen pipes under my kitchen floor -- and fixed it.  

His wife is a potter, and I have one of her mugs. We met years ago at a small-town 'Art Walk' in which people understood her work but couldn't fathom mine. I hope she knows (as I've tried to communicate) how much I appreciate her work.  

And so...watching my friends and family (by marriage) refusing to come home (some of them have Canadian citizenship -- born here, grew up here, and our government hasn't challenged their birthright) -- but somehow the fear of 4-6 months of snow keeps them south...

I don't understand.

What I DO understand is making and giving...so since my last post, here's what's on the table -- finished:

Hooked Art:

• A 12" square piece for the "Piece by Piece" fundraising auction to support the Lacombe (Alberta) Centre for the Performing Arts (LPAC).  I finished it -- fully -- yesterday and will deliver it to the Centre next week:

"Prairie Gold" - 12" x 12"
Hooked yarn; mounted on canvas

• A small piece for sale later this spring (I hope):

"January Moon-set" - 6" x 6" 
Hooked yarn on burlap
Mounted on canvas

I've another idea percolating -- a reprise of my "Blue Pot" done in fabric several years ago -- so stay tuned!

In all of these things, the attempts to create Order out of Chaos are evident.  In hooking mats, it's the hand-over-hand motion.  This is true, too, of cross stitch.  I've been working on 3 pieces this month, all with deep Canadian connections.

The first two feature Canadian designers -- Thea Dueck of The Victoria Sampler, and Jeannette Douglas of Jeannette Douglas Designs.

I love samplers, as many of you know, and so this month, I pulled out Jeannette's reproduction sampler, Ann Perrin 1841, and picked up where I left off during "Sampler September."  I love all the little motifs inside of that fabulous border:

Hankering for a new start, too, I dug out a pattern -- with accessory pack of threads and beads -- I'd bought in the fall of 2008 when I went to a retreat in Victoria, B.C., hosted by Thea Dueck and her Victoria Sampler staff: "'S' is for Stitcher".  I found just the right piece of fabric in my stash -- an unlabelled 28-count mystery linen that's a Zweigart base (it has the famous orange stripe in the selvedge), and have managed to do the first few bands of this sampler:

In the gap you see above the "S" is a cut-work feature I've chosen to leave out; I'll go back and put my initials and the year in there later.  I even have Thea's blessing to do that! 💜

February 11 this year was rather special for me.  Those of you who follow me on FB will note that I posted about it: the 50th anniversary of the day my DH and I announced our engagement!  I decided a special piece was needed to honour the day and his memory.  No; not something lovey-dovey.  Rather, something simple in construction but complex in over-all effect.  Something that makes order out of the chaos of married life marred by long-term illness and in the end, his death.

I've chosen "A Quilter's Dream", designed by Jacob de Graf of Modern Folk Embroidery -- using the paper pattern, fabric and floss I purchased from Evertote, the wonderful Canadian cross-stitch suppliers of select patterns, and Roxy Floss Co. fabric and floss.  I'm using Roxy Floss' 40-count 'Porcelain' linen, and Roxy Floss "Greater Porpoise" and "Pippy" hand-dyed flosses, 1 strand of floss over 2 fabric threads.

I began with the border, starting in the upper left corner, as is my habit:

By this morning I'd done some of the border across the top too, and decided to add a bit of the red:

It's a lovely, methodical, meditative stitch -- creating comfort, beauty and order out of chaos.

There's been progress on the quilting front too. On Friday,  I finished 168 "Easy Breezy" blocks -- 4 1/2" (unfinished) -- and have arranged them into 12 columns of 14 blocks each. Here's what a stack of those rows looked like, laid out on my ironing board!

Yesterday I finished the last two columns and began to sew the columns together in pairs, randomly sewing one column to another.  I've now got 6 pairs of them to sew together.  That should measure about 48" x 56" before borders -- and once borders are on it'll be a good throw-sized top.  "Easy Breezy" is one of Bonnie Hunter's "Leaders and Enders" projects, and this is the second one I've made. The last one I did was a QAYG (Quilt As You Go), finished in March of 2022:

 I love the scrappy look of these quilts!

I've made a total of eight blocks now in the "Old Town" pattern -- Bonnie Hunter's Mystery 2025.  It's now released as a pay-for pattern, if you missed getting it during the weeks the Mystery was being posted.  I need 25 before I can put them into a top, but I've enough of them now that I can tell they make an interesting pattern without worrying about the sashing.  That's a good thing, because I'm running very low on fabrics from my stash in the colour palette that I've chosen!

Just one of eight "Old Town" blocks finished

And as always, there's knitting.  It's what my hands love most when I'm trying to make sense of the world and my place in it.  

I finished the second "Mash It Up" hat, using two strands of assorted fingering-weight wool odd-balls.  And yes, I used exactly the same colours (or pretty close!) to the ones in the first Mash It Up I made, last November!

Pattern: Mash it Up
Designer: Babs Ausherman
Yarn: assorted fingering wool left-overs

I finished another pair of mittens -- these in an Adult Small size, using up some "Bravo" DK (100% acrylic) from stash:

Pattern: The World's Simplest Mittens
Designer: Tin Can Knits
Yarn: Schachenmayr "Bravo Originals" 
in colour #8355

I finished the "Guernsey" socks -- and discovered on wearing them that the fabric is rather thin.  I probably should have used a smaller needle size from the get-go.  Ah well...I'll wear them -- maybe they'll be okay for spring and early fall.

And I finished the first of the pair of "Twizzler Socks"; the second is now on the needles:

Pattern: Twizzler Socks
Designer: Tangled Bekah
Yarn: Lana Grossa Melleinweit
"Cotton Fondo" in "Greens" (Colour #6507)

These are a pleasure to knit -- easy pattern and I'm enjoying the yarn, which is a blend of cotton, wool and nylon.

Finally, I made progress on my "January Blanket" -- finishing a total of 12 of the 34 pattern repeats, and I've been plodding away at the increases on a sleeve for an over-sized tweedy pullover that I'm converting from an 'in pieces' pattern to an 'in-the-round' pattern.  Slow and steady...

But all those finishes called for a couple of new starts, and I was inspired by the knitting podcasters I watch.

First, I decided that I could use a new hand-knit hat.  I have only one, and it's pretty light-weight.  The regular 'Deep Freeze' weather we've been having this winter calls for something more substantial.

For Xmas 2023, I was given a gift card to Arcane Fibres, an indie dyer in B.C.  I bought two lucious skeins of a DK weight in the colour-way, "For All the Trees":

Once of them should do for a nice cabled hat, and the other, perhaps, for a cowl to match.  so I've cast on the hat and am about 1/2-way through the 4" brim, which is deep because it's meant to fold up for double thickness:

Pattern: Lake Reed
Designer: Asita Krebs
Yarn: Arcane Fibre Works Merino DK

Ribbing is lovely and mindless when one wants to be quieted, calmed, slowed down. It's an orderly stitch, too, which clearly fits the theme of "Order Out of Chaos"!

As if that weren't enough, one of the podcasters I watch -- I think it was Linda of the "For the FUN of Knit" podcast -- mentioned the 'Missoni Accomplished' pullover as a project she wanted to start.  It has optional colour-work which she plans to do.  Now, I've had that pattern for some time -- I got it when it first came out and was free (it's a pay-for pattern now)...so...why not?!

I'm not going to make it with its wide zig-zag stripes, though.  I'm built like a box and those would not be flattering!  Another stash dive -- and I found a sweater quantity of single-ply DK/light worsted weigh yarn I've had for a good 20 years. It's dyed in a mix of blues:

Yarn: Classic Elite "Waterspun"
'Felted' 100% Merino Wool
Colour-way: #2549 - "Periwinkle"

I wasn't sure how this would knit up, but I cast on yesterday and discovered it's got a lovely self-striping thing going on -- in stripes that are far more narrow and subtle than the colour-work in the pattern:

Pattern: "Missoni Accomplished"
Designer: Espace Tricot

It's knit top-down, so you can see I've finished the nect and am on the rows of increasing moving downward.  I'm making a size 4, which will give me a bit more than 10 inches of positive ease -- and that's intentional, per the pattern.  Again, it's simply knitting 'round and 'round -- mindless, soothing, rhythmic, hand-to-hand...Order out of chaos.

Perfect for this frigid, wintry weather.  Perfect for the still-short days.  Perfect for uncertain, shaky times.

So that's where I leave you today, my friends...with my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's seeking solace in creating too.  How about you?

Until next time, Gentle Readers, thanks for reading, for your support, and for sharing the ways you create beauty, peace and comfort -- every day.

A bientot!

Taking a Stand

 I am an artist.  I am a Canadian artist.  My work reflects my life in this wide, wonderful, multi-lingual, multi-racial country.  Our sovereignty is being threatened by our former best friend (outside the Commonwealth of Nations) and our closest neighbour.  The current leader of that country is not kidding.  He wants our water, our land, our minerals, our forests -- for his own enrichmen and that of his oligarch buddies.  We won't stand for it.  We are doing what we can to resolve this peacefully, because that's how we roll...but don't kid yourselves.  We will do what we need to do to protect our sovereignty, and we have some good friends who will help.   

 Meanwhile, though, our citizens are buying Canadian, cancelling trips south of the border, being a bit rude (booing the American anthem at sports events)....and so I offer you this from my daughter, who is a talented photographer.  These are her images of Canada -- and she's travelled coast to coast (but not up to the north...yet!)  

I grew up in southwest Quebec, 16 miles north of the border with NY State and not far from Vermont.  That country was alwsy similar too and different from us here in Canada -- but we always got along.  The turn being taken now has shaken our friendship, our trading, tourism and military alliance.  Our trust has been compromised.  But rest assured, we are a strong and creative people and we will not be cowed.

WE. ARE. CANADIAN. Deal with it.  Turn up the volume and enjoy the scenery, eh?

January Waning

Goodness gracious!  My mother was right; she told me decades ago (she's been gone for 21 years) that "Once you reach (age) 21, time disappears."

Yep; she was pretty much right.

So here we are nearly at the end of the Longest Month of the Winter (because it doesn't have 10 days of holiday in it).  I'm in the Northern Hemisphere, as most of you probably know by now, so it's been a very January January.  Snow.  Blowing snow.  Freezing rain followed by snow. More blowing snow.

The good news about that?!  I get to stay inside and make things!

And the good news about that?!  Making things helps me cope with all the STUFF going on in the Outside World.

So...what have I been up to since my last post?

First, a bit of "housekeeping".  Full disclosure: after I wrote that I used my Indigo/Chapters gift card to pre-order the paperback version of Deanne Fitzpatrick's Making a Life: Twenty-five Years of Hooking Rugs, I found it when I was sorting the bookshelf on the headboard of my bed.  And yes, I'd read it -- in 2023!!  (See what I mean about time?!)  Sigh. 

Well here's what I did: first, I cancelled the pre-order and got a full refund (a new gift-card) from Indigo/Chapters; second, I took down the hard-cover copy I had and began to read it again.  And yes; I thanked Indigo/Chapters profusely for their understanding.

Don't tell me that's never happened to you.  Just sayin'! 😉

Now then...back to our regularly scheduled Blog Posting...

As we're talking about hooked rugs as art...I've managed to finish that new piece I showed on my last post, when it was still in the early stages.  I've called it "Restless Sky"  and now need to take it to be framed:

"Restless Sky" (c) 2025
17" W x 10 " L before framing
Hooked yarn and wool fabric

There is a word hidden in the sky.  Can you find it?

I've now answered a Call for Entry for a fundraising Art Auction to benefit the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre (the folks who run the Under $100 Art Auction in late November)...and I await the results.

And the call for artists for the annual Encore! Lacombe Art Show and Sale is up.  I was last there in 2023 -- as Featured Artist.  I took 2024 off, but am gearing up to enter again, with new work that is hooked -- and some art quilts that really need a new home.

The other making continues, of course.

I spend a great deal of my morning time knitting.  I've just finished another hat to give away (sorry, no photo; the ends aren't sewn in yet!), and am working on another pair of simple mittens -- that would be the third since I last posted, for I've finished these:

Once again...The World's Simplest Mittens
Designer: Tin Can Knits
Size: child.
Yarn: red wool/synthetic blend - no label
Machine wash, hang to dry

I also finished the socks I started in December for the Advent Mystery KAL -- the "Christmas Smorgasbord Socks":

Pattern: Christmas Smorgasbord
Designer: Becky Greene
Yarn: Patons Kroy FX in "Clay Colors"

I know they look like they're not the same size but please note: due to the nature of the "smorgasbord" of stitch patterns used in the Mystery KAL, each sock has different textured stitch patterns in it.  This means that unless I photograph them on my feet or using a sock blocker (I don't own blockers), they look oddly mis-shapen in different.  They've been washed now, though, and I can attest to the fact that they are the same size! LOL!

I'm really focusing this winter on two kinds of knits: those to give away to folks who need them, and WIPs (Works In Progress) that have been lingering for far too long.  Finishing three projects has left me time to return to these items:

1. A pair of cabled socks I first cast on in 2009.  Yes; you read that correctly: 2009.  I finished one sock and then...well, all I can say is, I must have been visited by the Squirrel! 😃

Here's the first finished sock; the photo 
dates from April 8, 2009!!
Pattern: Guernsey Socks
Designer: Amy King
Source: The Knitter's Book of Yarn
by Clara Parkes

Second sock on the needles.  
Progress as of January 22, 2025.

Please note: the colour of the yarn in the second photo is much closer to real life -- probably because I took the photo against a clean white background.  It's a lovely deep blue-green.  One ball had a label -- Regia 3-fadig.  

2. And I've gone back to the "January Blanket" I started a year ago.  When I picked it up again on December 24, 2024, here's what it looked like:

Photo taken January 10, 2024

Here's my progress as of January 15 (I've knit another 2 1/2 pattern repeats since then, for a total of 10 repeats, 8 rows each):

Pattern: January Blanket
Designer: Leslie Weber
FREE on Ravelry
Yarn: Diamond Select 'Stonewash'
in the colour "Chalk"

The yarn is a nice blend of acrylic (not my fave option but...), wool and cotton.  It's chunky, so I'm using 5.5 mm (US 9) on a nice long cord.  And even though the inter-changeable tips I'm using are wooden (from Knit Picks), the stitches move nicely along and don't stick to them. (That's probably due to the plastic and wool in the yarn blend, off-setting the cotton, which can be hard to knit on wooden needles.)  I got it in 2016 at the LYS I worked at part-time -- the long-missed Crafty Lady in Lacombe, Alberta, which closed in February 2020, because the owner went online and on the road.  She's now retired altogether.)  Sigh.  I still miss that place!

I'm focusing on those for the moment, but there are several more items in project bags that are lined up...just waiting to be worked on (or may finished) -- not to mention the bags of projects that are on the "Start Me, Please!" list, kitted up with yarn and patterns, waiting for time and needles to be available to start them!

On the quilting front, I've made or prepped all the units for the "Old Town" Mystery 2024/5 from Bonnie Hunter.  I've only enough of the fabric for 20 of the called-for 25 blocks, which is fine; it'll make a nice-sized throw, or perhaps something a bit bigger.

So...I've made 5 blocks thus far, and they all look something like this:

"

I'm using "dusty" turquoise, red-brown or rust, pale grey or grey-white, and very pale peachy fabric.  The photos of some of the units might show this better:

Flying Geese for the inner star

Fabric for the central square-in-a-square

I really like the blocks - but the sashing and the borders are too "busy" for my taste, so I'll be simplifying those accordingly.  To each her own, eh? 😉

While constructing these blocks, I continue to make small "Easy Breezy" blocks as my leaders-and-enders project.  I've got 154 finished and plan to do another 14, so I can make a throw that's 12 blocks wide and 14 long.  Each block being 4" finished, that'll produce a top -- before borders -- that's 48" x 56" long, and borders will take it up to a nice throw size -- 54" or so by 62" or so.

Although this has been my focus this month, next month I've vowed to the Quilting Gods that I'll return to the Celtic Knot project and get those last 7 blocks made -- ones that are extras to "up-size" the top from queen to king-sized, as requested. 

Quilting takes up a good chunk of the afternoon -- and then I usually head out for a walk, depending on the weather.  On my return, and on into the evening, it's time for cross-stitch.

I'm still working on The Swan Sampler which, as I mentioned in my last post has been a very enjoyable stitch -- but it wasn't a good choice for a Blessing Sampler, one that is to be started and finished in January, in order to "bless the year ahead".  Ah well -- I'm still enjoying it and have made steady progress, even if it's not close to being finished!

Pattern: "The Swan Sampler"
Designer - Birgit of The Wishing Thorn
Using the called-for threads (DMC & Kreinik)
2 over 2 on 30-count mystery linen

As a palate cleanser of sorts, I finished two small pieces.  The first, "Winter Gingham", I started a year ago (January is a month of "startitis" after all!):

"Winter Gingham"
Designer: Ruth Sparrow Gendron
Publisher: "Twisted Threads"
Kit fabric - 28-count Cream/Natural Gingham
2 over 2 with DMC floss from stash

This is the last of a trio that included "Fall Gingham" and "Summer Gingham". Why there was no "Spring", I've no idea.  I bought them -- with the fabric -- on sale from Traditional Stitches in Calgary a good twenty years ago -- it's not even in their online inventory any more!  I haven't finished them, but they might make cute pillows, or an insert in a journal cover or something. They were just fun to stitch. 😊 

Then there's this little piece that I started in December as a possible Xmas gift (changed my mind).  Some days it really suits my mood! LOL!

"Say You Have"
Designer: Brenda Gervais
2 over 2 on 28-count
Antique White lugana
Floss from stash

Next month I'll be taking up a new start, to honour the fact that in February, fifty years ago, my love and I announced our engagement.  More on that later, so stay tuned!

That's really all my news for now -- at least, in this space.  I remain closely attuned to what's happening in the Wider World, and may speak on that here some other time.  Meanwhile, I take refuge in fabric, fibre, floss and colour -- trying to live out Deanne Fitzgerald's recommendation -- to create beauty every day.

I'll leave you with my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  She's got the winter 'greys'...and could probably use a visit -- and a hug!

Till next time...a bientot!

Happy New Year and All the Things...

 Happy New Year, Gentle Readers!  (I'm trusting that at only slightly less than 1/3 of the way through January, it's okay to greet you that way -- still.  😊)  

It's been a busy almost-month since my last post.  I began that post with the weather report -- a favourite topic of conversation everywhere up here in Canada...as it is (most likely) wherever you all live too.

Today?  January 10, 2025?  In central Alberta?  RAIN!  Say what?!  Not enough to melt much of the snow, but definitely enough to cause traffic problems when the temps drop over the course of the evening and through the night.  Sanders are out in force to keep even good drivers from killing themselves on the highways!  

Me?  Today, I stayed home and stuck to making, which is what I do best. 😊

I won't bore you with a Holiday recap, but I had a lovely Xmas Eve and Xmas Day with my family.  Got a gift card to Indigo/Chapters (Canada's version of Barnes & Noble), and put in a pre-order for the paper-back version of Deanne Fitzpatrick's memoir, Making a Life, which is due out in May.  (You can do that HERE if you want to; no, I'm not paid to say that!)

Deanne's outlook on life is similar to mine -- but, I confess, I'm not as able as she is at incorporating some of her behaviours with which I agree, even if I do so whole-heartedly!

My kids can take hints, though, and this year they took one of mine and bought the 3 of us tickets to an Edmonton Symphony production on April 1st -- "The Music of Simon & Garfunkel".  They did something similar several years ago for my birthday, and it was wonderful. This one features different guest artists than we saw before, but no matter.  It will be the perfect combination of music, my children, memories of their father and me, and all that we hold dear.  What's not to like?

But you didn't stop here to read about all that, did you?  You're probably more interested in the MAKING of...whatever.

There was, indeed, making for Christmas -- most of which I showed you earlier.  My daughter's vest was finished on time.  It fits her like a dream and she is very happy!

I know; I need to get a photo of her wearing it!  But I've seen her in it, and it's lovely!  (And NO, I won't make another.  You can't make me! 😉)

My son and his family appreciated their neckwarmers and -- BONUS! -- discovered they could also wear them as wide headbands -- over their ears.  Who knew?!  Perfect!

Xmas knitting over, of course, this means I've moved back into Other Knitting for 2025.

First: more charity knits.  I've finished another pair of "The World's Simplest Mittens" (Tin Can Knits -- free on Ravelry):

Unlabelled yarn - probably wool (match test)
Pattern: Tin Can Knits - child size - 36 sts

Next: another charity hat cast-on -- another "Mash It Up" using fingering-weight scraps. Sorry, no photo yet, but it will resemble this one I made a while back, as I've begun it with similar colours:

"Mash It Up 1" (finished 2024)
Designer: Babs Ausherman

And...I'm getting back to socks.  I'm on the second sock of an "Advent" mystery project -- no longer a mystery as it's no longer Advent -- from Becky Greene: the Christmas Smorgasbord Socks.  I chose to make mine textural in a self-striping/tonal yarn: Patons Kroy FX in the "Clay" colour-way.  I finished the first sock in a timely manner and then let the 2nd one languish, but I'm on it again and am approaching the separation for the heel flap.

Sock #1 on my right foot!

I've now joined another Ravelry sock group: "Sox-along-2025" -- with two Canadian YouTube podcasters: "SoxyNana Alice" and "MyPinkBathtub" (Diane), in hopes of finishing this pair and 2 other languishing sock WIPs...and maybe recovering my Sock Knitting Mojo this year.

As for larger knitting projects, I've resumed work on my January Blanket (started a year ago) and try to knit at least 4 rows a day on it.  It's all-of-a-piece, which is great, because I have an aversion to sewing large squares together to make a blanket. That's it for the moment!

What about quilting? (I can hear you quilters asking!)...Well, now...

Why have one project on the go when you can have...four or five?! 😉

My neighbours were delighted with the quilt I gave them for Xmas, made with the 2024 Block of the Month (BOM) from A Quilting Life and using stash Thimbleberries fabric:

I enjoyed the process so much that I've joined up for the 2025 BOM.  It's quite different from last year's project.  This year, it features a 6" (finished) centre block that can be turned into a log cabin setting for an 18" (yes: 18 inch) block for a quilt top OR can be used in a smaller setting for a table runner.

I've no need of a table runner, so today I finished the first 18" (finished) block for the year - once again digging into all of those Thimbleberries fabrics that I've had for 20 years.  (Yes. I checked.  The selvedge of one of them reads "Thimbleberries Club 2005".)

And here's a close-up of the centre of the block:

Please note: the log cabin and other fabrics are far more golden than seen in the photos -- and the walls of the house are *green* with gold stars, not blue.  My camera and my laptop aren't communitcating well as to colour!!

No matter what the camera reads, I enjoyed the process -- even though that's one large block!  I'm not sure I've enough of my Thimbleberries fabrics to get through all 12 blocks, but time will tell.

Meanwhile, work continues on Bonnie Hunter's "Old Town" Mystery 2024/2025.  I've finishe Parts One through Three...and am pondering fabrics for Part Four, as I may be running out of my chosen neutral!  Ack!  Stay tuned!  (Sorry; no photos to share at the moment! 😩)

I am also continuing on the "Easy Breezy" blocks (tiny things, leaders and enders).  As of December 31st, I had 125 blocks done -- at 4 1/2" each -- but I'ver more than that now, and 4 prepped for assembly.

In addition (because, why not?!), I've dug out a long-ago project.

Yes, friends, decades ago I began a quilt using Japanese-influenced fabrics and black fabric.  I lost the magazine with the pattern -- it was in the days of Dying Hubby and All is Chaos, so you can probably understand why.

But I never got rid of all those swaths of fabric -- prints cut up and sewn together with narrow black sashing.  What to do with them now?

I decided to make four-patches...and once I get them all made, they'll become a quilt top...and maybe a quilt to be given away for someone who needs one for comfort and warmth.

First two types of blocks

Second two types of blocks

More to come on that front later.

Now then...Stitching?

I have sorted my stitching and am currently working on a "Blessing Sampler", which is supposed to be started and finished in the first month of the year.  I doubt that will happen with this one, as it appears I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew.  So...what else is new?! 😉

But first...I decided I wanted to do a "Christmas Day Start" and took supplies up to Edmonton, where I was staying with my daughter for the holiday.  I started it on time, and...finished it here at home on New Year's Eve:

"Gather Memories"
Designer: Hands On Design

I stitched it on 32-count Platinum Belfast linen from Zweigart, using 2 threads of floss (DMC) over 2 fabric threads.

I have the companion piece, -- "Gather Blessings" -- to do on the same piece of fabric before I decide how to fully finish them.

For my "Blessing Sampler" I chose the Swan Sampler from The Wishing Thorn.  I bought the pattern last year, and kitted it up on my own.  I love its sentiments: Faith, Hope and Love -- with Joy added -- as essential for Life.

Little did I realize how ornate the outer border is -- and how stitch-intensive!  A piece not need be 'full coverage' for the stitching to be dense and detailed -- so be forewarned!  😉  Still, I am quite smitten with it and whether or not I finish it by month-end, as a "proper" Blessing Sampler, it will have blessed my by its presence this month!  I'm just coming up to the upper right-hand corner, as you can see in the photo below:

"The Swan Sampler"
Progress Jan, 10-2025
Called-for threads; 2 over 2
30-count pale green unlabelled linen

And here's a close up of the upper left corner:

In my last post, I also shared my last two (of three) finished-but-not-fully-finished stitchy Xmas gifts.  I was able to finish them and put them in the mail earlier this week.  I'll show them here...hoping that the recipients will have already received them, or will have, by the time they read this!

Designer: Lizzie Kate
Mostly called-for threads (DMC)
?35-count Royal Icing from
Access Commodities?
(sorry...how soon we forget!)

Designer: The Sweetheart Tree
A "Knob Knocker Collection" kit
Included 28-count "Ray of Light" Cashel Linen,
Thread pack (WDW and DMC), and embellishments

Here's a close-up of the embellishments:

I finished both of these by quilting, and attached a hanging sleeve.  I find this is an easier way to ship little things like this rather than using framing etc.  I hope they are enjoyed by the recipients!

And what about art?  As in 'original work'?

Well...I'm now working on the hooked piece I was pondering in my last post.The working title is "Peaceful Sky" and thus far it looks like this:

It will measure about 17" wide by 10" long (deep).  I had darker grey around the central words and took that out; now to ponder how to fill that in as I do the rest of the sky.

I've started no other original work BUT I've answered a call for entry for a fund-raising art auction in aid of the Lacombe Centre for the Performing Arts and today the Call for Artists for the 2025 Encore! Lacombe Art Show & Sale has come out, so there are plans...

Again, my friends, stay tuned!

As I close, once again I wish you all a happy, healthy, safe, creative year now that we are in 2025.  I am posting a "daily word" on my personal Facebook page; thus far, it is keeping me on a calmer, more even keel -- and I hope it's doing so for my FB connections too.

In this blustery January weather, when time outdoors is at a premium, our making, our creative hands-on work, is able to fill our souls, ease our minds, and keep us sane and sensible.  Create beauty every day, my friends -- no matter how you do so.  Use your hands to clear your head.  Celebrate whatever creative gifts you have been given -- and look at the creative gifts left to you and all of us by those who have gone before.  Listen to their music; read their words...

And be blessed.  

A bientot!

**Linking as ususal to dear Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's sharing American art.  Enjoy!