Saturday, August 25, 2012

Lots Going On

First, some friends of mine are giving away goodies for this Blog Hop Party to which they belong.  There's Margarita and Kit, for example.  Both make wonderful textile art -- and Marga combines her fabric with paper...

Then there's The Needle and Thread Network (TNTN), a network of All-Canadian (sorry, eh?) needle-workers of any and all stripes, celebrating its First Anniversary with a series of give-aways.  The Network is operated by my cyber-friend, Monika -- she of the stunning (to use an over-worked adjective) threat-painted postcards and pictures of the Canadian prairies.  What's not to like?!

Then there's Sandy H. of Q4TROU (Quilting for the Rest of Us), who is coming up on Podcast #100, and will be giving away even more goodies...

Looks like creative cyberspace is replete with generous spirits!

Stay tuned: I have a couple of major anniversaries coming up in the next few months...and yes, there will be a few giveaways.  :-)

Meanwhile, however, I continue to plug away at The Work At Hand.  Blessed with a couple of cool, breezy days -- let's refer to them as 'Autumn Previews', shall we? -- I have been working indoors.  Wednesday, while my kitten, Pookie, was missing, I put up eight large jars of pickled crab apples.  Friday, to celebrate her safe return home, I froze some more green, purple (yes) and waxed (yellow) beans.  Today, I made kale and potato soup (!)  for lunch.  Totally yummy -- from ingredients provided by my CSA (Sandy, you know all about this sort of thing, don't you?).  Tomorrow...I'm thinkin' carrot soup -- with the tops, too!

Next I quilted my C&G piece for Activity 10/11 -- Shadow Applique:


I used free-motion straight stitching (no, this is not an oxymoron -- just ask Leah Day)  I wanted to replicate the funky not-so-straight lines of the cheesecloth layer, and I really liked the effect I got.  I used a thread (Sulky 40 wt) that would complement the background to keep the effect muted.  Here's a close-up:



Today?  Well...
First, I washed up the Stepping Stones Socks, from Clara Parkes' Knitter's Book of Socks, made on commission for my friend, DH.   Shown -- a detail of the cuff.  Isn't it pretty?  The yarn is Emu Superwash Double Knit, which means it's a bit heavy for just shoes, but would work well alone (think: house- or bed-socks) or in clogs, or in boots.

I've recently finished 2 hats for our 'knitting tree' at church:

#3 - Shining Star -
pattern by Canadian  Kate Gilbert

 The "Shining Star" hat was made from left-overs from the Dr. Who Scarf -- Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice Solids in 'Eggplant' and Scarlet' -- both acrylic.









#4 - Dibdin - pattern by Berroco
 "Dibdin" was made in Noro Himaraya wool yarn from my stash.










Next, I mounted 'Triangulation' onto its black mat board, ready to send to Gail Harker for her fund-raiser:

'Triangulation' (c) 2012
I think the mat board really sets it off, don't you? (yes, I know that's both a loaded and a rhetorical question; no answer is expected!)

I like it so much that I have another piece planned, and will send Gail two.





Then I took the bull by the horns and confronted the thread-painting I knew I needed to do to finish this piece:


Working title: "House" -- simply the first in a series of abandoned Alberta buildings I want to re-create from photos...You might recognize a close-up piece finished earlier..."The Watcher".  In fact, I showed "House" in an earlier post, before the roof was finished, before the quilting and thread painting...Now all it needs is to be bound/enveloped and labelled, and to have a sleeve for hanging.

But...if it's to be a series, there really should be at least three, so I will be re-visiting photos in up-coming weeks to figure out the right piece.

To take a break, finally, this afternoon I began to assemble the 9-patch blocks I've been making from flannel given my by somebody (!).  I bought some solids to use in between, and a different print for backing, and will put the entire baby-style quilt together for our "knitting" tree at church:



This evening? I think I'm going to kick back and relax!  Maybe even watch an episode of The Quilt Show...

Have a great rest of the weekend, eh?




1 comment:

Darlene said...

Pretty socks! Getting excited!