Saturday, November 02, 2024

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!

Friday, October 18, 2024

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!






Friday, September 20, 2024

Turning Over the Page

Once again the month is speeding by -- and it was August when I last wrote a "proper" blog post -- one with news of Making Things, Growing Things and More.  

The leaves in these parts are beginning to turn.  Nights are colder, daylight hours are shorter, the furnace runs more often, the garden is waning, and more of my making takes place indoors.

Like so many do, I look upon September as a "second New Year" month -- when school starts up again (not that I've been part of that recently!)  And it's my Birthday Month.  Those of you who paused to read my short Birthday Reflections post will have noticed I was really feeling my age.  It's been a tough year -- replete with health challenges (resolved now, thank heavens!), the death of two friends in swift succession, and the falling apart of several items, costing varied amounts to repair or replace: a slow cooker, a microwave, the kitchen taps, my automatic garage door opener, my back-up sewing machine and most recently, the hard drive on my laptop which, the repair fellow told me, was so worn out (after 3 1/2 years of use) that he couldn't even extract the files in the usual fashion, and it would cost -- at minimum -- $1,800 to do it with special equipment. (I opted NOT to do that, and simply have the machine repaired, with a new battery added to the mix to give it extra oomf!)

What's a body to do?

Give her head a shake, that's what!

And that's precisely what I've been doing for the last couple of weeks: Serious Soul-Searching.  Counting My Blessings. And Creating Beauty Every Day with my blessedly still able and arthritis free hands.

Let's begin with the knitting, shall we?

It's decidedly "Sweatah Weathah" but I'm not working on any of those -- for myself, that is.  That's because it's also Knitting for Holiday Gifts (Christmas, in my case).  The first of these began to be knit in the spring, because it's the "Presto Vesto" for my daughter, a Christmas-Birthday gift because she was born 3 weeks after Xmas, so sometimes that's the way the gifts are given 'round here.  

This Vesto pattern is anything but "Presto"!  I last mentioned it and posted a photo of it in JuneSince then, I've completed the back, with the shoulder and neck shaping, and cast on the right-side front.  The ribbing is done and the complex cable pattern started -- to the point where I've now split for the inset pocket.

Knitter's Note: I've been knitting for about 64 years -- and this is the first time I've ever created an inset pocket in a garment!!  It took me about an hour of reading and re-reading the instructions in the pattern, of Google searching the technique and of trying to visualize the darned thing -- but once I began, stepping out in trust that the pattern really did make sense, well, now!  Off to the races!  I've got another 2 dozen or so rows of pattern to knit before I join the parts back together, but here's what it looked like as of yesterday, when I put it down:

Ta DA!

Yes, I'm pleased as punch with it!

The second Xmas gift is a newer cast on for a friend.  It's a relatively mindless garter-stitch shawlette/scarf that's asymmetrical.  The pattern caught my attention when Karen of the Recreational Knitting YouTube podcast showed the one she was working on.  "Just the ticket!", thought I, and I had just the right yarn in my stash with which to make it, too! 

I mentioned this project -- the "Back Bay Boomerang" -- in my end-of-August post, and while I've made great progress on it since then -- whittling the ball of yarn to almost 1/2 its size but alas, I've no new photo of it! Next time, perhaps.

I also began to knit a series of "Christmas Cowls" for my son and his family, using the "Simple Gift Cowl" pattern designed by Amy Curletto of Alligator Knits (free pattern on Ravelry). The pattern calls for worsted-weight yarn, but I used a DK-weight and simply made a larger size.  Started on September 9 -- and finished (not blocked) on September 13!

"Simple Gift Cowl"
Designer: Amy Curletto
Yarn: Schoeller & Stahl
Limbo Mexiko Color
in Color #2583 


The colour name is "Green-white" but it comes across -- even in person -- as so dark a green that it's almost black.  It'll be just right for one of the two fellows in the household!

My carry-around knitting is, as usual, socks -- and I'm almost finished the 2nd of the pair of Long-Legged, Long-Footed socks for the dear gal who lost the first ones I made her in a housefire.  I've finally turned the heel and am past the gusset, moving down the foot!  Not a holiday gift, so I'm working on them a bit each day to get 'em done before month-end!

Pattern: Simple Ribbed Socks
A free pattern from Angela Law on Ravelry
Yarn: elann.com 'Sock-it-to-Me' Harlequin
From stash - Colour #80 - "Blue Stonewash"

My daughter assures me that the recipient will like them -- the colours go with her jeans!

Now, then...on to a bit of spinning.  I failed miserably at the Ravelry "Tour de Fleece" this year -- it was just too darned hot to spin (or knit or do pretty much anything hands-on with wool!)  BUT when the weather moderated a bit in August, I managed to get more spinning done (I love to do it outside), and so managed to turn the marl I showed you in my last post while it was still on the bobbins -- into a skein. 



My online spinning compatriots at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures (on Ravelry) suggested I turn the 85 grams of fingering-like yarn into mittens -- and I think that's exactly what I'll do!

Meanwhile, I've begun spinning singles from a hand-dyed merino batt I bought at the Rose City Fibre Festival (Camrose, Alberta) in 2023.  It's a bit challenging, given the softness of it (compared to Falklands roving and alpaca/wool blend), so it'll be a learning experience for the next while.  Stay tuned!

Moving from fibre to fabric...Quilting!  In my end-of-August post, I showed the start of the assembly of the Celtic Knot Quilt blocks.  Since that post, I've put all five of the blocks of one colour-combo and all four of the blocks of a second colour-combo together.  Here they are, stacked side-by-side on my design surface:

Left: "A" Blocks
Right: "B" Blocks


Yes, I know they look alike, but look closely. There is a subtle difference in the fabrics!  Now you know why I have to tread carefully here and pay close attention to assembly and layout!  There are currently 9 blocks made -- but to arrive at the desired size for this particular quilt, I need to create 7 more: 3 "A" Blocks (bringing the total to 8) and 4 "B" blocks (bringing the total to 8).  This will happen over the course of the winter, so by spring, the top will be assembled, with borders, and be ready for quilting so it can be bound and delivered to the designated recipients a year from now for their Special Occasion.  

Indeed, 2025 will be a Significant Year in my corner of the world.  It marks 50 years since I was married (and 19 of those as a widow).  Two other couples -- now with only 1 surviving partner -- will accompany me in that.  Fond memories, yes, but no sparkly celebrations there!  

But it marks 55 years since my younger sister graduated from our high school, and my son will turn 40 (he's the youngest of my two kids!).  So I've decided to make him a quilt, as it's been a long time.

For this one, my stash is calling -- and my choice is batiks.  I have a selection of dark blue and dark blue-green ones that have yet to be used.  At the Central Alberta Quilt Show last spring I bought several metres -- about eight on a 'skinny bolt' from a shop whose owner was retiring.  And I dug out this book:  Batik Beauties: 18 Stunning Quilts by Laurie Shifrin, which I bought eons ago. 



I've chosen a star pattern -- not the one on the cover! --  with the lighter fabric (from the skinny bolt) as the background.  Here's what I've cut for the block units so far:



The left-hand stack is actually a dozen squares -- each different -- for the centre of the stars.  The right-hand stack is background fabric but in this case, it's cut to go in the 4 corners of each star block.  I've got a lot of cutting of units to do before a block is assembled, so stay tuned!

Aside from the 'special' quilts I'm constructing, I continue to make scrappy quilts to give away.  One of them comes from the 'bonus triangles' created when I was doing one of Bonnie Hunter's mysteries (don't ask me which one).  I've managed to turn those into HSTs (Half-Square-Triangles), and from there into small-ish (5" finished) four-patches, thus -- as shown on the right-hand side of this photo:


On the left-hand side there's another trio of blocks -- part of the scrappy collection I'm gathering for another "Easy Breezy" (Leader-and-ender Challenge) quilt from Bonnie.  I have almost 50 of these made, but they're tiny (4" finished) so have a good 80 or more to go before I can turn them into something.  The centre 4-patches are all made up, and clipped in batches of 10, but the remaining 'borders' for each block have to be cut and attached!

Yep.  I'm just stacking 'em up -- both of these types of units.   Eventually, they'll become tops for comforting someone.  A local fella and his partner are expecting their first baby -- a girl -- close to Christmas this year.  I don't know her, but his mother died a couple of years ago and his dad is never mentioned -- neither are his siblings (if any). So that pink pinwheel quilt might be just right thing for a baby gift (with a pair of hand-knit baby socks attached!)

Meanwhile, the "A Quilting Life" 2024 Block of the Month continues to test my piecing skills! As you might recall, Gentle Readers, I'm aiming to make two of the smaller (8" finished) blocks per month, using my Thimbleberry fabric stash from years ago.  I gotta confess, a bit fiddly though they are, as the pieces get *very* tiny, I really enjoy making these up.  Here are my September blocks:


I ran out of greens so I'm making blocks with more blues and browns/golds.  So be it!  Scrappy all the way!

Now...what about hooked art?

In my end-of-August post I showed you the beginnings of my work in the online class form Deanne Fitzpatrick entitled, "Simple Shading".  My purpose in taking that class was to explore the technique of shading with yarn and fabric strips insead of with cotton fabric.  Also, I'm more of a landscape artist (or I was, before Covid had me trying to make order out of chaos) -- so I'd not really done anything in the way of still life work.  This project encompassed both techniques...and while it was a challenge, I learned a lot (including that I'm not fond of creating still life work!) -- and made, in the end, a pretty and comfy small pillow, and learned about shading with hooked fibre.  Here it is, finished but not fully finished:


And now, fully finished, on the bench in my Outdoor Studio -- including a close-up shot:





Yes, that cute l'il thing is all of 9" x 12" and now lives on a chair in my living room!

This week I finally set up a new piece -- this time, an original design -- on my standing frame.  It's 6" square and will likely be mounted on stretched canvas.  If I'm accepted, it'll go into the annual Under $100 Art Market in Lacombe, Alberta at the end of November.  It's a landscape, tentatively entitled "Turning", and here's my tiny start:



I hope to create 3 pieces that size. Anything not sold at that show will go to Curiosity Art & Framing in Red Deer, with high hopes to be sold there!

The Under $100 Art Market is not only an opportunity for the community to see and purchase all kinds of art and fine craft for less than $100 a piece, but also a fundraiser for the organizers -- the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre (aka LPAC).  In an area where sports -- especially HOCKEY -- are paramount, the Arts (visual and performing) have struggled to maintain a foothold in the minds of the populace.  I'm happy to play my part to keep the Arts alive in these parts!!

In the interests of adding to my "hooking" yarn supply, I happily went to the Prairie Fibre Festival in Lacombe on September 14*.  And I wasn't disappointed!  I came home with a variety of yarn and fibre suitable for my hooked-art pieces.

First, this trio of yarns from Brine Dyeworks of Calgary, Alberta -- 100% Finn wool, all light worsted weight:  


Left to right: "Canopy"; Rym"; and "Galactica"
All are classed as "DK/worsted" 

Next, a skein of single-ply "super bulky" hand-dyed yarn from That Yarn Habit of Grande Prairie, Alberta, in the colour "Thunder Cloud":



Third, a skein of Peruvian Highland Wool, aran weight and hand-dyed, from All Wound Up Kntting (Facebook link) of Castor, Alberta.



Finally, some curly locks for texture: Cotswold locks from Saskatchewan in the "Oprah" (!) colour-way (i.e. natural) from Imagine Yarn of Biggar, SK:



Such a quantity of fibre goodness with which to create new landscapes and skyscapes!

 *NOTE: Since earlier this year, Olds College permanently cancelled it's famous, decades-old "Fibre Week", the Alberta fibre community has been stepping up!  To that end, the Prairie Fibre Festival last weekend hosted MORE vendors and MORE classes than ever before -- AND have booked in for TWO events in 2025:  
  1. June 14, 2025 -- in Olds -- put that in your pipe and smoke it, Olds College!; and
  2. September 13, 2025 -- in Lacombe, Alberta.
Get on the e-mail list for news and updates, eh?

Of course, being a woolly wool fan, I couldn't pass up a chance to buy a bit of Black Welsh Mountain fingering being sold by Melanie Rudy, the gal from whom I and friends Anne and Sha took the 'Shetland Lace Knitting' workshop on the Saturday afternoon of the Festival.  I got it to go into a Shetland Hap...some day in the not-too-distant future.  Soooo beautiful!



I should note that the day was made rich not only by the finding of glorious yarn I can use, or by taking an interesting class, but also by the friends I had with me for part of the day: Barbara from Calgary, Mary and Sha from south of Calgary, and Anne from Gull Lake.  I/we shared the joy with Shauna from Westaskiwin, Erin from near Blackfalds, and Gail and Sharon from Lacombe.  I missed Lori (she showed up later when I was in class) but no matter.  It was all good.

Last but not least, what about stitching?  Well...it's Sampler September!

In my late-August post, I mentioned my plans, and as this month slides by, trying to hustle me along with it, I've pretty much stuck to those plans.

I began the month working on Jeanette Douglas' reproduction of Ann Perrin 1841.  I worked on it for the better part of the first week, and ended that time with two pattern pages completed - working top left to right:



I then moved on to my "birthday sampler" (begun last year) from Hands Across the Sea designs: "Memories of the Past".  Here's where I left it on September 18th -- again, with two pages finished, but this time on the left side only:



And as of yesterday (the 19th) I've resumed work on Emeline Hotchkiss 1846, making progress here too.  I've moved from the first page (top left) to the second (bottom left) and have started my very first 'berry bowl' motif!



Last but not least (and yet to be worked on this month) is the wee new start I made on 56-count -- "Frances Lawson 1848" from Sampler & Antique Needlework: a Year in Stitches, published in 1994 and given me by a friend.   Here's what the start looks like at the moment -- just a bit of the border from the top left corner:


I'm loving each and every one of these pieces -- for their history, their back story, their connections to my Quebec home, their colours, their expressed sentiments.  Sometimes we work pieces for only one of these reasons; sometimes, for more than one; sometimes for all of them.

And for reasons we don't fully understand, the work brings us comfort and peace.

Like any of us who are makers -- working 'hand-over-hand' as Deanne Fitzpatrick says -- knitters, spinners and weavers form community as do quilters, rug-hookers, and stitchers.  Many of us overlap our interests and so belong to more than one of these.  We take our passion for making, and our art, and use it for comfort, for teaching, for sharing and giving -- for developing harmony and the meditative peace that comes from these humble skills.  We create beauty every time we sit down at the loom or the wheel; every time we pick up needles or hooks; every time we stir a dye pot or share a pattern or gather around a frame or a table.

How are you creating beauty, community, harmony and peace every day in your tiny space in the world?  Never forget that every time you pick up a hook, a needle, a pin, some yarn, or fabric, some fibre or floss; every time you click a camera's shutter; every time you fashion clay or turn wood on a lathe; every time you put a pen or pencil or oil pastel or chalk or paint to paper or canvas; every time you warp a loom or move a shuttle or spin on a wheel or spindle -- every time you make with your heart, mind, hands and soul, you are making your tiny corner of the world a better place.

On that note, I'll leave you for the moment, Gentle Readers, with my usual link to Nna-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, and with wishes and blssings for good days ahead.

A bientot!