Friday, February 07, 2025

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?







Saturday, January 25, 2025

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!



Friday, January 10, 2025

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!











Saturday, December 14, 2024

Homebodies Unite!

 

A few weeks ago, when I last wrote, we'd had a snow storm and more seemed to be on the way.  Yes, Gentle Readers, and it came.  There was no going anywhere on the Sunday after that post.  

Since then, we've had some more snow -- though nothing like the 60" that Nina-Marie describes, living near the Lakehead out East.  Whoa!  I'm 60.5" tall...so I can figure out the impact of that!

Instead, we've been treated to a smorgasbord of precipitation: snow, "mixed", rain and freezing rain.  I managed to get to the local Home Hardware (about 18 km south) for a load of eco-friendly ice melter...just in time!

All that said, it's been great for those of us who are Certified Homebodies -- who like to stay in our own homes, yards and gardens, doing...whatever we do!  Are any of you with me? 

The added benefit is that it's coming on to Christmas and the Holiday Season, and I've had gifts to make.  Now...yes... those of you who are in Canada are rolling your eyes a bit, because you know that, like you, I have some gifts that might not make it in time for December 25 due to our over-4-weeks-now postal strike.  That said, I live in hope, because a) the government is getting back into the fray; and b) "Little Christmas" -- Epiphany -- the Twelfth Day of Christmas -- Orthodox Church Christmas -- is January 6.  So...there's an alternative!  And who do you know doesn't like a gift when they least expect it?! 😉😊😃😄

So I forge ahead!  

Since my last post, I finished the tiny wrap-around spool project from Jeannette Douglas Designs (a collaboration with Evertote and Roxy Floss), and because the recipient lived nearby, I was able to find One Perfect Driving Day this week -- and deliver it to her:


Those are my scissors in the photo, taken in my living room.  She had her own pair, and promptly inserted them where they belonged, to the delight of both of us!

I've also finished the "Downton Gloves" (Downton Abbey-themed fingerless gloves) from stash yarn, and given them to my neighbour and friend, Claire, when we had lunch last week:


The yarn is a Malabrigo merino and silk blend, soft-soft-soft-soft.  She's a non-knitter and not fond of wool, but I was right; she couldn't resist these!

For my very-good-to-me neighbours, I've finished the 2024 Block of the Month from Sheri at A Quilting Life.  The last block came out December 2nd and I surprised myself by finishing mine that very day.  I've been making two per month in the smaller (8" finished) size, and here they are for December:


Because I knew time of the essence, I immediately began to plot out the rows and sashing:


In doing so, I exhausted the supply of the gold fabric corner-stone squares, and have only scraps left of the brown sashing print -- a win-win on the 'stash reduction' front!

Here's what it looked like once I got all the rows together, plus the inner border -- which I made twice as wide as called for -- and the outer border, a solid red-brown poly-cotton:



I found a couple of pieces of deep wine-coloured poly-cotton for a pieced backing, and had to add only a strip of additional batting to one side of a package of new Quilters' Dream 'Select' to make the batting.

I then decided that, given the flavour of the quilt and the colours used, I'd hand quilt it with a 'big stitch' format, using #12 perle cotton (DMC colour #640) -- also from stash.  I've made my way around the inner border and am now working on the blocks, with shadow quilting that I don't need to mark.  I simply echo the lines of the block pieces, or go from point to point:



If I can manage 3 (or 4) blocks a day, I should have it bound and ready to give by Xmas Eve (or the 23rd at the earliest).

Meanwhile, if the weather behaves, I'll be driving up to Edmonton to spend Christmas with my children and household.  Hooray!  So...

As you probably noticed in my last post, the knitted gifts for my son and his family are finished -- and gift cards are purchased.  That said, a 'squirrel' caught my eye last week in the guise of a 'reading pillow' -- and I just knew such a thing would be a great addition to the gift for my son's partner's teen son, who has a 15th birthday in January.  So I picked up a 16" pillow form (on sale!) at one of my LQS (Wild Flower Creations in Lacombe), dug in my stash for fabric, and made this:

Front -- showing the wide pocket
Free Pattern: Shabby Fabrics

And back, with a flap for removing the pillow form

The fabric was left over from the Canada 150 line of fabrics (2017).  Back in the day, I bought a quantity to make a table runner, which I still use.  

I liked the project so much that when at Michael's on Thursday this week, I bought another 16" square pillow form -- also on sale!

As for my daughter's Xmas/B'day Jan 2025 gift -- the [Not So] Presto Vesto -- there is light at the end of the tunnel!  Since my last post, I've done the twisted-rib trim on each pocket, made the inside of each pocket, and attached said pocket linings to the vest.

One of the pockets - outside view


One of the pockets - inside view.



What the front looks like with 2 finished inset pockets


All that's left is the zipper (28", already purchased -- from Wild Flower Creations in Lacombe), adding a strip of woven ribbon on the inside over the zipper (purchased at Michael's in Red Deer) and sewing down the collar.  Yes -- it's already been washed and blocked.

This thing has been a Labour of Love from start to finish...so I've been knitting intermittently on smaller projects as 'palate cleansers'!

I got the "advent" (non-liturgical) bug -- but I didn't invest in a series of yarny or stitchy gifts.   No.  I found a couple of patterns on Ravelry that were set up as "Advent" Knit-Alongs (KALs), and joined in.

One is for a pair of socks in a series of different stitch patterns.  Some are knitting each daily pattern offering in a different colour, but I opted for using up a couple of balls of Patons Kroy FX that I had in my stash (in the colour "Clay"):


Above is a photo through Day 2, but I'm now well past that, having done a heel flap, turned the heel and finished the gusset -- making my way through Day 9.  I've decided one repeat of Day 10 and I'll be ready for the toe of the first sock.  (This is a free pattern KAL.)

The other is for a colour-work cowl, which I've been using to practice my colour-work skills. (My plan is to try more colour-work in 2025).  I chose two fingering-weight yarns: Julie Asselin 'Fino' -- my daughter gave me a skein a few years ago, in the colour-way "Trench" and some very old wool 4-ply given me from a yarn cull, from The Bay (The Hudson's Bay Company) -- in a lovely pearl grey.  I'm about to start Clue 6 with is the last one in this particular KAL, and am very pleased that the motifs I've knit actually look like they're suppose to! 😆 (NOTE: This pattern was free for a limited time but is no longer so.)


I just might be able to do this stranded colour-work thing after all!

As for stitchery...aside from the spool, which I finished and gave to its recipient, I've finished two little pieces that may or may not arrive at their respective destinations on time:

Designer: The Sweetheart Tree
Kit: 28-count "Ray of Light" Cashel Linen
DMC floss, Mill Hill beads & a charm (not shown)
1 or 2 floss threads over 1 or 2 fabric threads
Some back-stitching and a Rhodes stitch butterfly


Designer: Lizzie Kate
Pattern included the little button
Done on 35-count "Royal Icing" from
Access Commodities
1 thread of floss over 2 fabric threads
DMC floss from stash

"Don't Bug Me" will be made into a small hanging sign for the studio of some friends, while "You Can Touch the Dust" will be made into a flat-fold for a friend of mine -- we have a mutual understanding of the insufferability of dust!  😉😄

I have a stitching plan for January 2025 too.  Recently I bought a pair of "Gatherings" samplers from Hands on Design, through Traditional Stitches, my LNS: "Gather Blessings" and "Gather Memories".  I got them -- and the called-for fabric -- early enough that they arrived before Canada Post went on strike a month ago.  I've kitted them up so they are ready to go, and I hope to finish one, if not both, as 'blessings' samplers for 2025.  I figure with the state of the world right now, we could use all the blessings we can get in the next year!

On the art front, the Under $100 Art Market in Lacombe at the end of November was a modest success for me.  I sold only one piece (of seven on show), but on the Saturday afternoon when I volunteered as a 'floater' on the floor of the exhibit, I had some interesting and lovely conversations with folks for whom this work was new as an art form -- but who remembered ancestors who'd done it to make utilitarian pieces for the floor.  I am hopeful that if I enter the largert Art Show and Sale in the spring, I might sell more of these pieces.

To that end, I've been pondering a larger piece.  I picked up some burlap from Michael's in Red Deer to try it out (shipping from Deanne Fitzgerald Studios in Nova Scotia or even from Legacy Studios in Cochrane, west of Calgary, is pricy and awkward at the momen).  So we shall see.  I got a 2 yard piece, 44" wide, and have cut it to fill the larger of my stretcher bars, so once I get that quilt quilted I'll be ready to make a start.  I'm leaning toward a sky-inspired intuitive piece...Stay tuned!


Once ironed and zig-zagged, it'll go on the frame...

And so, Gentle Readers, that's all the news that's fit to print for now.  As I close, I see out my windows in the early winter dark, that my 3 closest neighbours have joined me in turning on their Christmas lights, bringing delight to all who pass by, and reminding us all that there is still a light that shines in this world, whether or not we can see it.

I'll be linking you to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, where this week she gives you ideas for gifts for your favourite quilting family and/or friends.  I have all I need, really, and that includes those of you who've stuck with me on this little blog all these years.  I'll mark 22 years as a Blogger in February.  Whodd'a thunk it?!

Till next time -- holiday blessings, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah...and may the next year bring us ever closer to a world that's more hopeful, more peaceful, more civil, more just, more understanding, and more loving.  A bientot!