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!

Hibernation

 The first Snowfall Warning of the 2024-2025 winter season arrived yesterday evening out here on the rolling prairies, so "hibernation" is the watchword for today -- and perhaps tomorrow too.

All weekend plans are up in the air...or stuck in a snowbank, if you prefer!  I'll probably try to go out and shovel some of the white stuff later today, but that will depend on how Mother Nature plays it over the next few hours.

Thus...I thought I'd share some of what I've been doing to add light to my days as we edge closer to the Solstice, still a month or so away.  

I've been knitting a *lot* -- but not on "all the things" I started in my last 'making' post from 3 weeks ago. With Xmas coming, I wanted to make some real progress on the [Not So] Presto Vesto for my daughter.  

I took it from this 

Left Front Progress (Nov. 2-2024)

to this

Left Front Finished -- and armhole trim -
November 22, 2024

Yes -- the major sections of the vest have been knit, the shoulder seams sewn, and the armhole ribbing completed!  Next up: the collar!

I also started a pair of "Downton Abbey Gloves" for a friend of mine who is positively obsessed with that television series.  I've lost track of how many times she's watched it -- every single episode.  It's not my cuppa, but the gloves are pretty.  Here's what the start looked like:

Pattern: "Downton Gloves"
Designer: Ceecees Stringer
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend
Colour 3049: Rose

My friend's not a big wearer of wool, but I figure she'll be fine with merino blended with silk, in one of her favourite colours...right?  

You might notice I'm using a long dpn (Double Pointed Needle for you non-knitters out there 😉).  Even though these are knit flat and seamed, my 'regular' straight and circular needles are far too long for the 38 stitches called for; hence the switch to a pair of long double-points!

By the time I went to bed last night, I'd finished the first one, complete with picot edge, and just have to sew it up.  The second one will be finished later today.  😊

I've also started a 'give-away' box.  I want to fill it with small, warm wearables -- made from stash yarn -- that need a good home with people who don't have the where-with-all to buy them.  Last week I finished a little pair of mittens (child-sized):

Pattern: The World's Simplest Mittens
Designer: Tin Can Knits
Yarn: Schoeller & Stahl, Limbo Mexiko Color

And earlier this week I finished and adult-sized hat out of left-over sock yarn, two strands held together.  The first time I made this hat (some years ago), I used 2 strands of blue -- one darker than the other -- and it was okay, if but a bit 'ho-hum'.  This time I decided to play with self-striping and/or variegated yarn left-overs. The result? Much more fun to knit and -- I hope -- to wear!

Pattern: The LOSY Hat
Designer: Barb Engelking

 

On the stitching front, I must admit I'm rather proud of myself: I Fully Finished the little "Precious Friend" stitch -- another Xmas gift:

"Precious Friend"
Designer: Bent Creek

Look at that!  It's in a 7" hoop!  And I covered the back with craft felt, so it's all neat and tidy!  I'm so thankful for a couple of YouTube tutorials -- particularly one from Helen D (Eastcoast Crafter)  -- though I chose not to use glue, and stitched around the back instead.

In the end it wasn't as finicky as I thought it would be, so I'm rather pleased with m'self!

I've continued to make progress on "Remember Me" -- my Black Sampler November stitch from Jacob at Modern Folk Embroidery:

Even though it's a complex pattern, I actually find it a rather restful break from other stitching, as I never have to change colours!

Speaking of 'complex', having finished the 'Precious Friend' I dug returned to the tiny stitch from Jeannette Douglas -- designed to wrap around a spool that's going to be a scissor holder:

Since this photo was taken, I've added the year and watched Jean Farish do the "Nun Stitch" so I can fully finish it...soon!

And...I've started yet another Christmas Gift Stitch:

"Don't Bug Me When I'm Stitching"
Designer: Sweetheart Tree

I got the kit for this some time back (who knows when?!) and decided it would work as a studio door "notice" for a stitching friend.  It's tiny, and involves 1/4 stitches (!) plus a fair amount of back stitch, and will be embellished with beads and even a teeny-weeny lady bug charm...eventually!   I'm doing those wee bumble bees 1 over 1; they don't look like much until the back-stitching kicks in. 😄

Pretty much every afternoon has found me doing some quilting.  I love to turn on Tom Allen's "About Time" on the CBC music station -- it's a classical music show for 3 hours -- and just go into my happy place in the studio.  As a result, I've been piling up the Disappearing 4-Patch blocks and Easy Breezy (Bonnie Hunter) blocks (sorry, no photos), as well as strip-piecing 2" x 7" rectangles to cross-cut for more postage stamp blocks.

Sherri of A Quilting Life is nearing the end of her 2024 Block of the Month, which I've enjoyed immensely.  A couple of weeks ago -- after my last 'making' post -- I did up the November blocks:

I'm continuing to use up left-over Thimbleberries fabrics, and I've been making two of the 8" (finished) blocks per month.  I'm really looking forward to what the December blocks entail, as I think Sherri will include ideas for setting them.  I'm thinking sashing and cornerstones, myself.  I'll have 24 of these, which sounds plenty, but they're small...

And just yesterday I finished the top for the throw quilt I want to make up for my son's 40th (in June!):

Here's a vertical view

and here's a horizontal view:

It's from the book "Batik Beauties" by Laurie J. Shifrin (Martingale & Co., 2001) that I got second-hand somewhere however long ago; so far, this is the first and only pattern I've made from it!  

In my last post, I showed you all those pieced bits for the sashing -- I'm thinking all that work was worth it, eh?  The only non-batik in the mix is the very narrow inner border, which is a dark purple cotton print.  AND I decided not to go with the colourful, 4 1/2" finished outer border.  Too much of a muchness (plus I'd have had to piece it as I didn't have the sort of fabric called for)!  So...I went with a narrower -- 3" finished -- outer border made from the batik background fabric.  The top at present is about 56" W x 65" L and will be just right as a throw for comfort, for TV watching, and book reading...or at least that's what I hope!

And yes...there's been art-making.  Lacombe's Annual Under $100 Art Market is next weekend, and I hope to get all seven pieces delivered there for set-up on Thursday morning -- if Mother Nature behaves herself after this weekend!

In my last 'making' post I showed you five pieces that needed to be mounted.  Here are the four on canvas, all stacked up and backed with brown paper.  (They now have wires for hanging, too.)

A fifth one looks like this, mounted on the "wrong" side of a wooden board/panel, which I painted black:

All That Blue, Green & Gold! (c) 2024
Hooked art mat, 6" square (panel = 8" square)

And...this week I finished two more that will also go "inside" black-painted panels.  Here they are, fresh off the frame:

Top: Autumn in Aspen Land 
Bottom: Slough View
6" square - (c) 2024

They're now blocked and ready to finish -- I have to sew down the edges on the back, and then mount them in their 'panels'.

As for other hooked art, some time ago I finished "Little Yellow Flowers", one of Deanne Fitzpatrick's designs, which I bought as a kit on burlap.  Earlier this fall I had it framed, with the idea of giving it away -- but in the end, I've decided to keep it and hung it up over my couch in the living room.  It measures 17" W x 6" long before framing:

What you also see in that photo is the ceiling fan in my kitchen.  Yes; there's a cut out in the wall between the kitchen and the living room -- and in the cut out I've hung a vintage glass window, rescued from a house down the block when it was being renovated several years ago. 😊

Now, my friend C. saw the 'Little Yellow Flowers' piece and asked if I'd make a coaster for her out of a 'slice' of it -- the bottom right corner, full of flowers -- so I did, and gave it to her when we had lunch together last week:

Snippet of "Little Yellow Flowers"
Approx. 4" square

It was a bit tricky to hook, as I was trying to use up a scrap of burlap, but I jerry-rigged a 4" embroidery hoop, clipped it to my stitching station, and managed it that way!

I've got some ideas for a new hooked piece -- one that is larger and more abstracted (maybe) but for the time being I'm taking a bit of a break and will ponder just how to do it, while keep on knitting, quilting and stitching.

Maybe I'll take some inspiration from the work of Nancy Crow, whose pieces are on exhibit at the Kent State University Museum, on now through December 15 -- or so reports Nina-Marie over on her Off the Wall Friday blog post for this week. She went to see it -- and I'm glad she did, and shared photos.  Some of those linear pieces from Ms. Crow might need further study for my next hooked work...

So, having caught you up, Gentle Readers, and hopefully shared some colour and light with you, I'll leave you with a link to that blog post and bid you adieu.  For my American friends and readers, I wish you less chaos, safe travels, and times of fun, food, and comfort with family for your Thanksgiving Holiday next week.  I am thankful for you -- and for all of my Gentle Readers, wherever you may be.

A bientot!

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!