More in the Making!

This year it seems I've been having more bouts of 'Startitis' than usual.  I could blame it on our cool, damp summer -- unusual for us but welcome after two years of extreme heat and drought in these parts -- but seriously, honestly folks, that's just an excuse.  No matter the weather, I think it would have hit anyway.  So what have I got to show since my last creative post?

In knitting?

I've yet to cast on the second of the pair of "Shepherd's Socks" I started in June -- but I started and finished an entirely different pair in three weeks in July -- those Fable (fake cable) Socks I mentioned -- and miracle of miracles! I have a photo:

I used a ball of Lang Jawoll Cotton, which was lovely to work with and is delightful on the foot.  And look at the stitch definition!  I have one more ball left and will definitely make another pair.  

I've made a bit more progress on my "Simple Thing" scarf, but discovered I'd dropped a stitch on one of the knit-in i-cord edges and had to rip back some rows; then it was a challenge to get back into the rhythm of the 4-row pattern again, so it doesn't look much longer than it was in the last photo I showed...but it is. Trust me! 😁

In new knitting starts, I've cast on the first glove of a pair for my son for Xmas (his request), using a DK-ish weight handspun Corriedale I bought at the Rose City Fibre Festival in Camrose in May.  It's pretty dense fabric but I'm getting gauge...

Yarn: 100% Corriedale - Handspun by Kristi
Pattern: Good Basic Gloves
Designer: Rita Buchanan

My other new start was another pair of socks, barely on the needles: a pair of mosaic stitch socks to which I was referred by a fellow sock knitter in the Sox-a-long 2025 group in Ravelry.  Too early for a photo; I'm barely past the 1 1/2" of 2x2 ribbing. Stay tuned!  Meanwhile, you can get the gist of the pattern on Ravelry HERE. Funky!

Rug-hooking? I confess I've done very little of that, but I've drawn out a new landscape to fill the last bit of the current fabric on my Cheticamp frame:

Yes, I took the photo -- earlier this summer, just off a township road near me.  I've started some outlining of the piece, only to discover I have no black wool yarn (except fingering, which is too fine, even doubled), which I want to use for the fence posts, so yes...put in an order for 2 heavier-weight skeins of black (one on sale with a discount!) and added a yard (not a metre, even if it is in Canada) of 60" wide linen to shore up my hooked art backing stash.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! 😉 It's on its way and should be here mid-month.

Now then, about quilting...

I've not done so much of that.  

I'm still waiting for the Celtic Knot quilt -- the Big One (116" square!!) to be long-armed.  We took it in to the shop June 21 and were told it should be ready by the end of July...but no.  I just 'phoned and was told there were '2 small ones' still ahead.  I explained that it was an anniversary gift for a date shortly after Labour Day and that I still need to bind it and get it to my daughter's in Edmonton to give to her friends.  "The end of this month" was suggested -- not acceptable!  It's already been almost seven weeks!  I would acquiesce to no later than August 19.  The message would be passed to the long-armer (one of the owners of the shop) and I was told that if there were a problem with that, I'd be advised ASAP.  I must confess, I'm rather disappointed. 🙍

I have yet to start the August Block for "A Quilting Life", too, though the pattern is printed.

I did manage to finish another top for a comfort quilt, and this one has a bit of a story.  Many years ago now -- over 20 -- when Japanese-style prints were in vogue for quilting, I bought a selection of them plus some solid black fabric to make a quilt I'd seen in one of my magazines.  Every Friday I would go to my favourite LQS in Calgary (that's where I lived then) and that's where I began to work on it.  It involved cutting the fabrics into wide bands and reassembling them with narrow strips of the black in between.

And that's all I remember of it.  One Friday, I got home from my sew day to discover I didn't have the magazine in my things. I called the shop and they looked high and low (it wasn't a recent issue of that publication) and couldn't find it.  In the end we decided it must have been picked up and taken by someone who was also there that day -- and thought it was just an old, second-hand one free for the taking. I let it go.

Fast forward to now, when I am trying to use up stash to make comfort quilts -- and I decided to figure out how to make something of what I'd already assembled all those years ago.

I managed to slice up the wide pieces into blocks, which I reassembled into four-patches and put back together, with a nice black border.  It measures about in seven rows of six blocks -- about 54" x 62":

I'm really rather pleased with how it turned out!  That said, I have enough of the fabric -- all with the black strips running through it -- to make another -- so that will come in time.  Who'dda thunk it?!

Then there are the 'bonus triangles' which I'm drowning in!  I've found a pattern or two featuring hour-glass blocks, so I'm busy assembling these with an assortment of sizes of the 'bonus triangles', doing so as 'leaders and enders' with other projects:

Stacks and stacks...

Sewing pairs...

I've made a tiny dent -- but I'm a long way from assembling anything that makes sense, just yet. Stay tuned!

And then...when shopping for fabric for the back of my son's birthday quilt -- back in the spring -- I found a wonderful novelty fabric, just perfect for a gift for the future recipients of the Celtic Knot quilt.  They are big fans of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team so...I've made them a pair of king-sized pillow cases that will decidedly not match their new quilt -- but I hope they like 'em anyway!

So that's it from the sewing room...but in addition to the up-coming quilt binding, I'll soon be back there because I have two stitchy gifts to fully finish.

Yes, there's been lots of stitching!

I still have to turn the little "Songbird Cottage" into a needle book, and now I have another small piece, a gift for a dear friend whose husband died August 13 last year.  This year on August 23, they'd have celebrated 50 years of marriage...but that was not to be.  I hope this little piece, which I plan to finish as a tiny pillow, will bring her some comfort:

Pattern: "To a Dear Friend"
Designer: Black Bird Designs
Stitched with 2 strands of floss
over 2 threads on 34-count
unlabelled linen fabric (not
28-count as mentioned 
in my last post.

It's hard to see from the photo, but it's a heart-shaped design and will be a heart-shaped wee pillow. It's one of the sweet designs in the reprinted book from Black Bird Designs, "A Heart Remembers", which I bought a few years ago.

Then there are the stitching Works In Progress (WIPs)!

All through July, my focus piece was the good-sized Canadian sampler, "Emeline Hotchkiss 1846", reproduced by Kathleen Littleton of Cross-stitch Antiques.  I've made very good progress, but definitely have a ways to go!

Then there's my current Sunday Stitch, of which I'm very fond: "Proverbs 31" from Plum Street Samplers.  I'm so close to finishing this little piece -- I can taste it!

Yes -- now that the house is done, I just have the borders on the lower right side and bottom, and some small motifs -- et voila! It will be ready to finish.  I want to frame it, and have a frame in mind, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

And as it's August, my wedding/widowhood anniversary month, I set aside "Emeline" and have taken up the very stitch-heavy, very geometrical  two-colour piece I began last year, honouring my late husband's keen support of my quilting journey: "A Quilter's Dream" from Jacob of Modern Folk Embroidery.

I began to stitch it in February of this year, as we were engaged on February 11, 1975 -- 50 years ago.  Here was where I left it at the time:

Despite the fact that is is stitch-heavy and complex, and that I'm doing it with 1 strand of floss over 2 fabric threads, I find this work very rhythmic and soothing.  Here's where I am as of now,which is the upper left corner of the design:

Fabric: 40-count Porcelain 
Threads: red: "Pippy"; 
grey: "Greater Porpoise"
-- all materials from Roxy Floss/Evertote
in London, Ontario, Canada

Then there's some spinning, which I really enjoy in the summer. I'm participating once more in the Summer Spin-in, hosted by the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry.  In my last creative post I'd finished spinning the singles from the last of the hand-painted Falkland braid I'd won from the group's 2023 SSI, and had selected roving from stash with which to create new singles, so I could make two-ply marls.

I've managed to finish one of those marls!

Here it is on the bobbin:

And here it is, all washed, set and skeined up -- about 60 grams: the yellow-to-peach Falkland with a deep teal unidentified fibre:

It's rather a funky colour-way but I suspect it'll make some fun mittens!

What's left? Only the garden which, with the unusually wet, cool summer, has provided me with abundance, to whit:

• I've been eating so many salads with my leaf lettuce that I'm beginning to feel like a rabbit;
• The green beans are being enjoyed, and some have been par-boiled and frozen for later consumption; 
• Most of the zucchini have been manageable -- I've given away a couple of salad-worthy ones -- but I overlooked one, and he's now on his way to becoming muffins and Z-bread;
• The cherry tomatoes are just starting -- and there are lots more flowers but I'm not sure they'll amount to fruit (sigh); and...
• Then there are the raspberries.  I think I've got most of them, but I've picked at least four times -- 8 cups per pick -- and there may still be a few left. They've been weighing down the canes to the point of breaking, and in my last foray (Tuesday), they were falling off onto the grass if I so much as looked at them sideways!  I've made 16 cups of jam and have given away countless cups, fresh, as well as enjoying them myself!

Here's the veggie/fruit rogues gallery:

Bumper Crop -- July 21,2025

More!  August 6, 2025

2nd Feed of Beans - Aug. 5, 2025

The baking zuke - Aug. 5, 2025

More 'reasonable' zukes,
and first cherry tomatoes
Aug. 6, 2025

Raspberry Jam - July 22, 2025

Like every good crafter/gardener, I have assistants who love to supervise my activities, or simply pose.  Featured: my young fellow, Smokie, age 2 years:

"Still Life: Young Cat with Produce"
July, 2025

I think that's all the news that's fit to print for this time, Gentle Readers!  I'll leave you with my usual link to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday". She has fallen head-over-heels for rug-hooking, and I'm delighted!  

Let's all go out and -- however we do it -- Create Beauty Every Day (as my rug-hooking mentor, Deanne Fitzpatrick, is wont to say).

A bientot!

Day In, Day Out

Yes, Gentle Readers -- I'm still here.  Still putting one foot in front of the other.  Still trying to stay informed without losing my mind.  Still trying to bring a bit of light into the world.

The Jury is out on how well I'm doing, but Today is a Good Day.  (Photo at left: my big pot of verbena, taken about a week ago. It sits on the stump of a former evergreen, cut down by the former owners of the property, and serves to keep the deer at bay, sort of.)

It would appear that I'm keeping up a monthly blog rather than twice monthly, and that's okay.  I find that even though I have this blog and belong to several crafty FB groups, as well as some on Ravelry, I am a poor 'sharer' of my work. It's begun to feel like having to account for what I'm doing, when I'd really rather be doing it rather than posting "progress" photos on line.  

Any of you feel that way sometimes?

Still, I know that some of you may be patiently waiting (or not!) for an update on my assorting makings, so let's catch up, eh?

Knitting:

I finished one sock -- count 'em -- one -- in June.  My hands were bugging me, so while I liked the pattern and the yarn, I set that pair aside for now.

One day this sock will have a mate!

That didn't stop me from casting on another pair for July! The Socks from Stash group on Ravelry had a challenge that filled the bill -- knit a pattern from a designer that is new to you -- so out of my queue, I plucked the "Fable (Fake  Cable) Socks", and from my stash, some Lang Yarns Jawoll Cotton (wool-cotton-nylon blend) and as of today, I'm at the toe of the first sock.

Have I take a photo?  Silly question! 🤣 Of course not!  I'd rather knit the sock than photograph it!  So...stay tuned.  

The sock progress was great the first few days, and then my hands began to bug me -- not because of knitting but because of other things I was doing with them, involving yard work and pruners -- so while I'd like to be working on the 2nd sock by now, well...it will happen when it happens.

The baby cardigan continues apace; I finished the body and am almost 1/2 finished the first sleeve -- but again, no photos. Sigh.

I did manage to finish the 'Bosquet Hat' and decided one was enough.  Perhaps another time, with a smoother yarn...but that's anyone's guess.  Still, I washed and blocked it and it is in my give-away box.

Following that, I cast on a scarf -- "The Simple Thing", which is an asymmetrical garter stitch scarf with a knit-in I-cord edging.  I'm rather enjoying it and would have made more progress had I not been so enamoured of my 'Fable' socks!

I'm using a rather funky self-striping yarn for this -- from stash, of course -- so it's creating a very different pattern as the one-sided increases continue.  No matter; it will keep someone warm!

Quilting:

I finished the Disappearing Four-Patch top and really like the results!

I've added it to my collection of tops (now consisting of 2 throw-sized and 1 crib/car seat sized) and am busy assembling another throw, which I'll show in a future blog post.  I've been in touch with a friend in Dauphin, Manitoba, because she has friends in a northern Manitoba guild, and there might be a need for donations once wildfire season there is over.

I made the July block for the BOM from A Quilting Life, and am happy with how it's using up my stash:

Here are the January-through-July blocks, laid out in a tentative setting:

And in recent days I've dug out a postage-stamp quilt that I sandwiched eons ago, and started to hand-quilt using perle cotton and big stitches.  I've got a drive to finish it, so there'll be a photo or two in an up-coming post.

Cross-stitch:

As my July includes Canada Day, I've made my focus piece the Canadian sampler I began a year ago: "Emeline Hotchkiss, Lacolle, 1846", reproduced by the American stitcher, Kathleen Littleton of Cross-stitch Antiques.  You may recall that I grew up near Lacolle, Quebec, Canada, which is where Emeline was from.  She died at age 14, about 3 years after she stitched this piece.

I've made great progress, and am moving into the second page (from left to right in the pattern, which is wider than it is tall);

Here's where I left off a year ago:

And here's where I was as of a week ago (I'm a bit farther on as of this writing.)

I've finished the little "summer" piece that I mentioned in my last post, too.  I've decided to fully finish it as a needle book, a gift for Claire, the young woman at Ellis Nature Sanctuary who, because she was a new stitcher -- embroidery -- and the Sanctuary's gift shop is carrying embroidery kits re: the birds they see and protect locally -- to invite stitchers/spinners/knitters to a weekly "Fibers* and Firs" gathering, every Tuesday evening this summer. 

All I have to do is press it, attach the charms from the kit, and put it together into a needle book.  Photos next time, I promise!

*She knows that this is NOT how Canadians spell "fibres" but the posters were done and dusted before she noticed that the US spell-check had..um...inserted itself.  Apologies to my Canadian compatriots and readers.

Even though I'm still working on "Emeline", I decided that having finished one 'summer' piece, I needed to pick up one that I'd left languishing, and that one is a section of a Black Bird Design I've started from the reprinted book, A Heart Remembers.  There is a piece in there that is technically meant to be five pieces, each on a different fabric and stitched together like a patch-work.  One of those pieces includes a very large house; I decided to leave out that one.  I also decided to stitch the remaining four on a single piece of fabric.  To date, I'd done the first two patterns, and now I am on the fourth (or, for me, the third): "My Day Complete".  

*My progress as I neared the end of the second pattern is shown HERE, from June of last year.

Having worked mostly on 40-count linen for the last year or so, doing this on 28-count with 2 strands of floss over 2 of linen, is a distinctly different experience!  No photo at the moment, but perhaps next month.

Rug Hooking:

I'm still doing some, but it is very much an indoor activity as I now work on my large Cheticamp frame.  When I hook, I do so on rainy days (we've had quite a few this July, which is a novelty here), and for hours at a time.

I finished the 'evergreen abstract' on which I was working in my last post:

Abstracted Trees - 8" x 8"

And I created a landscape from my imagination and experience, a bit more primitive than my usual:

"Old Red Barn with Daisies" - 8" x 8"

I have room for one more long piece or a couple of smaller pieces on this particular burlap before it's used up, and I have an idea (and photo inspiration) for one of each size...still contemplating.  I then need to check what fabric I have left and whether or not it will fit on the large frame or have to be done on my made-over embroidery frame.  Time will tell!

Spinning:

I spin much less than I do the other things, because my favourite place to spin is outside. This summer I've managed a bit, as our weather has been cooler (so far) -- but it's also been wetter, which isn't exactly ideal for outdoor spinning! 

In my last post I showed you what I'd managed to finish before the end of June.  Not long after, I tackled the remaining sections of the Falkland wool braid (hand-painted) that I began last year. These sections were a) yellow-turning to peach; and b) light grey fading to darker grey.

I've now spun each section into singles and selecting contrasting rovings for new singles, with which to ply them together:

First, the grey singles, which will be plied with singles to be spun from a deep orange-gold Shetland:

Next, the yellow-to-peach singles, to be plied with singles from a deep teal roving which, alas, has no label -- a mystery fibre!

As of a couple of days ago, the teal is now fully spun into singles -- but not enough to use up all of the yellow/peach.  This means that further plying adventures lie ahead! 😉

I'm truly thankful for the "Two Ewes Fiber* Adventures" podcast and group on Ravelry, for their encouragement!

*They're American; that's how they spell it. I just live with it. They're nice people, and as a Canadian, all I can do is nod and smile.

What's left? Only to show you what is burgeoning in my Zone 3-ish garden:

Raised Bed #1 - Beans and Leaf Lettuce
with hovering scallions

Zuchinni, a cherry tomato 'tree', 
raspberries and self-seeding dill

Hanging pot: geranium and lobelia
off my back stoop

Blue pot with geranium 
and lobelia

The came-with-this-house
Immovable White Planter
with geraniums and lobelia

All are fodder for hooked pieces, albeit impressionistic -- so stay tuned for them to appear again (and maybe again). While I'm trying to be careful with purchasing new supplies, this week I received two purples from Deanne Fitzpatrick Studios, the better to recreate those lobelia purples:

(L) Briggs & Little 2-ply; (R) River
Stream bulky.

Even though I like purple, I've almost nothing in my stash -- a ball of fingering (sock yarn)...and that's it.  So...now I have something to hook with!

And then, of course, there are berries. I'm starting to enjoy my raspberries, and have bought more jars and sugar for jam.  And yesterday morning found me at the local Saskatoon farm, picking this 4 litre ice-cream pail full...for muffins, bumbleberry crumble, bumbleberry pie...and maybe another picking to freeze...

If you've never eaten a Saskatoon, or picked them, or heard of them...I'm going to leave you with this little tune recorded by an old friend of mine (and my late hubby). I've lost touch with him, but I have a CD he made and gave to us years ago, signing the cover.  I love every song on it, but this one -- well, it's particular to the Canadian prairie. I tried to find a recording of my friend Tom singing it, without luck. Sigh. The best I can do is show you the lyrics -- HERE.  There's a fellow named Tim Hus who's sung it, but he doesn't have the right voice or presentation and sang it too fast. I'll spare you his interpretation of Tom's fine ditty.

Someday, if we meet up in person, I'll plug in my CD player and share it with you.

And so it goes. 

It's time for me to wind this up (or down!) and have some dinner. Tomorrow is Sunday, and I hope to be home, quietly quilting (or knitting or spinning or hooking or stitching).

As usual I'll leave you with a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. This week she's sharing about an exhibit she saw and appreciated.  It's been a while since I've done that too; there aren't many in these parts -- so I can enjoy them vicariously through people like Nina-Marie.

Have a lovely rest of the weekend!  A bientot!

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 June.  Since 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!