Here's the list:
- Get the (new) spring/summer tires put on the car and have a car maintenance service. I'd planned for the cost of most of that but...the brakes needed work, and 'oh, by the way' there was a special lubricant 'thing' that needed to be done...so ka-ching! I'm now a chunk of change poorer than I expected to be!
- Have an annual eye exam -- nothing untoward there, thank goodness! And...
- Come down with a head cold. Aaaargh!
I am really only now beginning to return to my more normal self. The only advantage to having our colder-than-usual spring weather is that it's been preferable to stay inside with my 'making' than it's been to try to do any yard work.
Blessedly, the garden kept doing what gardens do -- giving me flowers all by themselves. There were surprise croci in the little grove of trees near my garage -- two white (one is shown above) and one a deep purple. In the way of croci, they were "here today, and gone tomorrow", but they were lovely little bursts of joy while they were blooming.
And with careful protection from the deer, two lovely tulips in the south-facing flower bed near the house have come, blossomed, and are now fading. Here they were a few days ago at their very best:
Not to be out-done, my flowering houseplants set to and produced this!
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| My pink-and-white African Violet |
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| My seasonally confused Christmas cactus! |
Once past the worst of my cold, things began to bloom in my studio too.
As to quilting, I finished piecing a pink-and-white top that I wanted to make up for friends who are expecting a new grandbaby -- a girl -- in June. It's now pin-basted and waiting to be quilted:
If you look closely, you'll see tiny pinwheels in the corner and centre blocks. I made these out of 'bonus triangles' left from Bonnie Hunter's "Lupines and Laughter" 2025/2026 Mystery pattern that I finished a bit ago (still needs to be quilted!)
I didn't have enough of them to make an entire top, but I wanted to use them so did my best. The quilt is about 42" x 52", so I'll quilt it simply on my domestic machine.
With things the way they were, I fell a bit behind with the 2026 BOM from A Quilting Life, but this week I finally caught up, making both the April and May blocks:
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| April 2026 Block |
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| May 2026 Block |
To date, I'd been using my left-overs from the "Canada 150" collection from Northcott Fabrics -- and even before I made these last two blocks I was concerned I'd be playing "fabric chicken" by the time the end of the year rolled around.
Northcott, unbeknownst to them, came to the rescue! A couple of weeks ago, my LQS (Wild Flower Creations in Lacombe, AB) posted on its Facebook page that it had a new Canadian line in from that fabric company! It's called "Oh Canada", and includes some of the original line plus some new designs, all of which play nicely together.
Well! Between the Sugar Pine booth at the Central Alberta Quilt Show -- I was well enough to go on May 9 -- and a stop in at Wild Flower this week, I was able to purchase what I think will take me to the end of the year, without much left over (except the neutral Stonehenge, which is always useful).
Even when I was ill, I managed a bit of knitting every day. I stuck to mindless projects, especially the "Bustleton Tee" -- that I'm making with the pattern merely as a guide. I started it in late April 2025, and am now on the decreases for the second sleeve.
Yes; I'm making it with long sleeves, and with irregular stripes which are composed largely of left-over sock yarn and other fingering-weight bits. It's why I've dubbed mine the "Not-So-Bustleton Tee". 😉
The only part of the sweater that's not from yarn left-overs is the sleeves, which I'm knitting out of a full skein of "Georgian Fingering 50" from Numana Yarns, which I bought at the Prairie Fibre Festival a few years ago. The colour is a luscious variegated one entitled "Crushing It". It's 50% Superwash Merino and 50% Silk, and no way was I ever going to make that into socks!
Rug-hooking took a bit of a back seat while I was ill, but as I began to have more energy, I turned to it, and finished a little piece I'm calling "Prairie Spring Abstract". It's my adaptation of a portion of Deanne Fitzpatrick's "Sea Garden Abstract" pattern, part of the online course of the same name that I bought a while back when she put it on sale.
In the colours I selected, I was trying to give the impression of the greens and golds of the grasses as they 'woke' in the spring in these parts, dotted with the occasional Prairie Crocus:
Now off the frame, it measures about 9" x 12"; I'm thinking of turning it into a small cushion.
Earlier this week I put another pattern up on my small frame (a made-over embroidery frame with scroll bars): "Starfish Cove". This is a little design that was available in April from the Makers' Meet-up group at Deanne Fitzpatrick Studio; I'm not sure it will be released to the general public. It features a house and some trees and in front, a row of starfish. Well, I don't live anywhere near an ocean -- there are no starfish in our prairie lakes and sloughs! So...I've turned the starfish into large daisies, and am calling my piece "Daisy Cottage". All will be revealed when it's finished, so stay tuned!
And yes...of course there's been some cross-stitch in the mix!
In my early April post, I showed my progress on the "Quick Quaker SAL" (Stitch-ALong) from Jacob at Modern Folk Embroidery. With the art show and then my bad cold, I fell a bit behind, but I managed to finish it on May 2. No idea yet on a frame or any other way of finally finishing it, but here it is...
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| Fabric: 36-count "Bramble" from Picture This Plus Thread: DMC colour #824 1 strand of floss over 2 linen threads |
I'm not up-to-date with the year-long "Little Acorns" SAL, but I made some progress there too. Here it is as of the end of this week:
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| Fabric: 40-count "Platinum" from Roxy Floss Co/Evertote Thread: "Pippy" from Roxy Floss Co. 1 strand of floss over 2 fabric threads |
And then -- in a burst of Spring Fever -- I started three new little pieces, and finished one of them!
First, I started and finished "Bloom Where You Are", a little kit from Shepherd's Bush. It's stitched on a very loose, large-weave fabric of unknown origin -- there was nothing in the kit that said anything about it! This, however, made it a very quick stitch, with 3 threads of floss much of the time. It's very cute, and I've finished it into a little wall hanging, using some fabric I bought on my trip to Scotland in 2017:
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| Front |
The 'quilting' isn't very even -- it was hard to judge where I was on that weird fabric, even with my trusty 1/4" foot!
All I have to do now is attach the hanging sleeve,and it will be done -- and hung either in my studio or out in my back room, where I house my plants when they're not outside.
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| Back |
The second new start I made was the "Spring" section of a very old 4-season pattern from Elsa Williams. You may recall from my March 20th post that I'd finished the "Winter" section, which was surprisingly enjoyable, so now I'm gung-ho to finish all of them over time. (They're all done on one piece of fabric.)
In a couple of stitching sessions, I started some of the background and managed to finish the house. I think it's going to be really pretty!
My last spring-themed start is from a little freebie pattern from Helen D., aka Eastcoast Crafter. It's called "Bulbs, Blooms, Blossoms...". I'm stitching it on a small piece of 32-count Lambswool Linen, using DMC floss (mostly called-for colours), 1 strand of floss over 2 fabric threads.
I've just finished the text and have moved on to the garden motifs,so will show you a photo (hopefully a finish!) in my next post. 😊
And there you are, Gentle Readers, caught up on the making in my little corner of the world.
Alas, I'm unable as of this writing to link you up with Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. She seems to be away this week. I've sent her a note via Facebook to ask if all is well in her world, which I truly hope it is -- and in yours, too, Gentle Readers.
And so... pour le moment, a bientot!*
*"For the moment, a bientot!"
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