Friday, July 17, 2020

I'm Still Here!

Really, I am!  😊

Each week of the last three+ since my last post, I've thought about posting...and then let that thought drift off in the wake of yard work (more mowing!), gardening (weeding, pruning suckers from shrubs), stitching in the Outdoor Studio, or piecing inside.

All in all, it's been a pretty good few weeks, one day at a time.  Some are better than others.  Sometimes I seem to waste an awful lot of time dithering about what I want to do; other times, I'm full of purpose and sail through the day.

My son's been home from hospital a month now and is doing better, thank you, now that he's on proper medication, with medical follow-up.  He's working hard to sort out his past and move forward, and when I can help, I do...but I wait to be asked.  No news is definitely good news these days!

As for "And It's Only June" -- thank you, Gentle Readers for your support and encouragement about that piece.  I've decided that if my brilliant photographer daughter can manage to get me some good photos of it (she's due to visit soon), I'll have a 'go' at entering it into a juried exhibit.  I managed to steam it to size -- it's just 36" square, the absolute minimum for the show I have in mind.  Now to get a sleeve on it and see what it looks like hanging on the wall!

And I've finished another new piece and am ready to quilt a third!  In early June I posted that taking a class with Joe Cunningham had 'loosened me up a bit' and that I'd started to play again with crumb blocks, without any clear purpose except to have a bit of fun.  Well...that play-time spawned some ideas and has resulted in these two new works.  The first is now quilted and mounted on a painted 12" W x 30" L x 1" deep stretched canvas. 

I'm considering them part of my "Crumbpilations" series, which I started in the winter of 2018.  The name comes from the fact that they're 'compilations' of 'crumbs' of fabric.  The first five -- four very colourful; one muted -- are landscape-themed, but these new ones have to do with the chaos we're living through right now.

Coping with Chaos
(C) 2020
Assorted commercial cottons
Machine pieced & quilted
12" W x 30" L
Can you spot the play on words in the title?  😉

It's a deep canvas -- 1" -- so I'm uncertain about framing it as it could be expensive and heavy...I'll check with my framer once I've got the second one finished.  Here's a shot of the quilting, which I did in straight lines with clear mono-poly thread:



In addition to these pieces, I've taken a clutch of landscape photos for future work.  We've had many thunderstorms in this unusually wet summer (unusual for us here on the Alberta prairie), and they've made for wonderful skies against the gold of the flowering canola...

The field at the end of my street.

And I've an idea for a new flower pot piece, featuring my strawberry pot, in which I've never planted strawberries!  Each year I fill it with impatiens or something like, and a trailing plant on the top.  I'm thinking it's time for a "Brown Pot" to go with the blue, red and green ones I've recreated...Don't you agree?

Bacopa (white) and impatiens (scarlet)
in a clay strawberry pot

In the midst of this I've continued to work on Bonnie Hunter's "Unity" Quilt-along piece, which I call "Star Crazy!".  Here it is on the 'design bed' in my guest room, at the end of 'clue' #4.



'Clue' #5 consists of a row of flying geese top and bottom, which turns this large square into a rectangle. 

I've now finished 'clue' #6 and am assembling those units into blocks for 'clue' #7.  There are thirty-four of these, and they're large -- 8" finished -- because they're really composed of four smaller 4-patch blocks.  Can you pick them out from the (ahem!) slightly blurry photo below?




Although my blocks are never  rarely perfect, I have to say, I'm rather proud of these pinwheel points! 😊

On the stitching front, I've finished the Toronto Sampler -- it's soaking in a bath as I type.  Next I have to press it and mount it onto metal bell pull hardware so I can wrap it and mail it to my friends in TO for their anniversary next month.  For a photo, you'll have to wait for a future post!

My July Socks from Stash socks are coming along nicely, with the first one finished and the second nearly there...


It doesn't look like much off the foot...that long, narrow leg (7" to the heel flap, including a 1" ribbing) looks like it might be tight and uncomfortable but...no! 



Look at the detail of the 'artichoke' leaves, shown here at the foot!

Pattern: "Artichoke Socks" 
Designer: Megan Humphrey
Yarn: KnitPicks Sroll Tonal
Colour-way: "Summer Blooms"

And then, of course, there's the beauty and blessing of my garden, some of which I've been able to enjoy indoors this year -- a special treat on rainy days!

My "hope" roses -- a Campfire Rose -- four on one stem!
This particular one is named for artist Bill Reid.

Just some of the peonies

Galium boreale -- a wildflower,
found growing at the foot
of one of my trees

And so, as the sun shines this afternoon, I'm off for a walk, and we'll see what comes after that.  I leave you with a link to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  

Until next time...may you be safe, well and creative!


4 comments:

Cathy Tomm said...

Great looking Crumb blocks! Good looking Unity quilt. I did not do that one this year. I have too many part done mystery quilts on the go. Your spot in the yard looks so nice to sit at. Hope the bugs do not get you.

Gwyned Trefethen said...

I'm not sure what I love more, that lush fuchsia color or the pattern you selected for your socks. Stunning as always. They certainly brought a smile to my day. Hopefully, you feel uplifted, too.

Kathie Briggs said...

I love your outdoor studio. Until the heatwave I've been enjoying handwork in my covered deck. Will need to photograph it once its stained and fixed up a bit more. By all means the Brown Pot needs to join the series. I'm really looking forward to seeing that one. Glad you are enjoying free-piecing. I love what you are doing with it. The socks blow me away. Glad they are as comfortable as they are beautiful. Stay well.

elle said...

Summer is a busy time and you are not alone with all the events and things that happen in the heat of summer.