It's Been a Minute!

 

When I wrote my last post, little did I know how long it would take me to get back to these pages.  It's been a busy time -- and oh! How our culture loves it when we're busy!  But truth be told, it was more "doing what's required" than it was "doing what I want". 

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!

My pink-and-white African Violet

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:

April 2026 Block

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...

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:

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:

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.

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.

It's Victoria Day Weekend (aka "May Long" or "May 2-4") in Canada -- a time we designate the Official Start of Gardening Season.  While my friends and family in other parts of our fair land might be planting this weekend...I'm not.  Well...maybe by Monday, which is the holiday.  We've had snow southwest of here -- closer to the Rockies -- and "mixed precipitation" as near as an hour's drive west...and it's cloudy and only about 3 degrees Celsius right now (8:35 a.m. Mountain Time)....so...I may just stay in hibernation, with my recently-purchased bedding plants safely tucked in their containers in my garage!

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!"

Goodbye, Dear Friend

"Sometimes You Can Walk on Water"
(c) 2017

I'm just home from my two-day exhibit of quilted and hooked art at the annual Encore! Lacombe Art Show & Sale -- and I'm over the moon with the results.  Excluding 2023, when I was Featured Artist, it was my best weekend of sales since 2018, when another artist purchased my large piece, "Sometimes You Can Walk on Water", inspired by a photo my daughter took of herself, walking over the frozen Astotin Lake to Elk Island, here in Alberta.  

I was delighted to sell six of the eight 6" x 6" mini hooked art pieces I created in the last two weeks, as well as this larger hooked and framed piece, "Jewels in the Water", which I created last fall (shown below before final finishing:

It was purchased by an old friend with whom I used to sing harmonies at church.  She bought an art quilt of mine several years ago and now she has a new piece in a new-to-me textile art medium -- a real blessing, as our lives have diverged a bit and we've not sung together in several years.

But the Very Special Story of this weekend's success -- the story behind the title of this post -- came about, as such stories do, by serendipity.

A woman came to see my work, having dropped in to the art show -- unplanned -- after visiting the Mary C. Moore Library, just down the hall in the same building, the Lacombe Memorial Centre.

She has recently returned from living many years outside Canada.  She's bought a home in Lacombe (or area), from whence she came, and it's being renovated, so she is staying with her brother in the meanwhile.

In his guest room is a piece of mine, which I created many years ago.  I remember it well because it features power poles along a roadway, based on a photo I took almost 20 years ago at a quilting retreat at Northbow Lodge (no longer used for that purpose) in 2008.  I called it "Sentinels"...and it's the only piece of my textile art that I've ever sold to a man. (Most men look politely -- especially if they're artists themselves -- but then their eyes glaze over. I won't say anything more on that!)

Anyway...she saw it...and when she happened on the Art Show/Sale...she stopped in...and found my booth and said to me something to the effect of "I know your work! My brother has one of your pieces in his home!"  So we talked, and she found this dear piece of mine -- my final exam piece for my City & Guilds of London Level 2 Certificate in Creative Techniques: Quilting.  I acquired that certificate in 2012 after 3 years of online study with the wonderful artist Linda Kemshall of the UK.  

It's a piece I created using self-dyed fabric (sky), naturally-dyed fabric (tree trunks) from my friend arlee barr in Calgary, recycled sythetic fabric from an old, thrifted sweater, and commercial fabric, quilted and then embellished with contemporary hand embroidery.

"Trio" - (c) 2012

From this piece, based on aspen along a road near my home, I created a bed-sized quilt as a commission for a dear, very elderly friend -- a gift to herself, she told me, for her 99th birthday (2019). She made her request in June of that year; her birthday was in the third week of October.

Taking inspiration from the wonderful art quilter, Katie Pasquini Masopust, in her book "Artful Log Cabin Quilts" (which my daughter, conveniently, had just given me for Xmas!), I made it into "Prairie Quintet" -- five tree trunks -- so that it could be twin-bed sized.

"Prairie Quintet" -- finished, September 2019

Yes; she got it in time for her birthday. She put it on her bed -- a fact to which is testified by her nephew (he sent me photos) -- but she never slept under it.  An artist (painter) herself, she simply wanted a piece of art on her bed.  Every night she would fold it carefully and set it on a surface near her bed.  Every morning she would make her bed and cover it with the quilt.

Alas, she only did so for just over 8 months -- she died in May 2020 -- not of Covid, but of heart failure, about 5 months before her centenary.  Her elder son advised me of her passing, and I expressed to him hope that one of the younger generation in the family would become the new owner of that quilt.

Once I took up rug hooking as an art medium, with my fondness for aspen, I decided to see if I could recreate it in that format.  I chose a 12" x 12" size, and got it framed.  This time there are only two tree trunks, so I've entitled it "Duo" -- and I hung it with "Trio" this weekend at the art show.  Someday, I hope that it too will find a new loving home:

"Duo" (c) 2026
yarn and fabric strips hooked
into burlap, 12" x 12", framed

I don't think there'll be another 'iteration' of this idea, but I do rather have a fondness for aspen/birch...so who knows where the muse will take me?

As Nina-Marie opines this week, over at "Off the Wall Friday", "every finished piece is proof that courage is stitched one seam at a time."  Or -- I might add -- one stitch, one hooked loop, one brush stroke, one thrown bit of clay, one turn on the lathe, one step at a time.

Where will your memories and your dreams take you this week? Perhaps one teeny, tiny bit more -- as you Create Beauty Every Day.  Remember, Gentle Readers, there is Light in the Making.

Until next time, eh?  A bientot!

Makers Meeting Up -- and More!

 

In my last post -- about 3 weeks ago now -- I wrote of Mother Nature's indecision, of how she was uncertain whether or not to evict Old Man Winter and allow Ms. Spring to move in.  She's taken all this time to muster her courage -- and OMW is still hanging out on the fringes, surrounded by brown grass and semi-frozen piles of dwindling old snow.

The good news is, the Canada geese have been spotted flying their V-formations overhead, and the robins are here!  The robins are here!

To celebrate, I've been stitching on the piece of that same name: "The Robins are Here" from Brenda Gervais:

It's a tiny piece and will become a little pillow for my spring bowl collection, right there with Jeannette Douglas' "Chubby Bird" and "Chubby Ewe" and other such delights.  I'll post a photo when that's ready.

I am also stitching along with two Stitch-Alongs this month -- both from Jacob of Modern Folk Embroidery.  First, the year-long "Little Acorns" SAL, with very slow progress since my last post:

Fabric: 40 count "Platinum"
Floss: "Pippy"
Both from Roxy Floss/Evertote

And the new one -- just for April -- that he created to celebrate 15 years of designing as Modern Folk Embroidery: the "Quick Quaker SAL".   I'm really enjoying this little piece -- not as complex as "Little Acorns", and very soothing, especially when I stitch along to the short videos Jacob has been posting daily on his YouTube channel to accompany the project:

Fabric: 36-count "Bramble" from
Picture This Plus
Floss: DMC #824 -- both from stash

I still have my Sunday Stitch ("Cattle on a Thousand Hills" from Plum Street) and have made a new start -- "There is Always Room" from Maximum Cross Stitch -- but there's nothing much to show you at present.  Stay tuned!

I am still knitting away, a little bit every day, usually with morning coffee.  Through Lent, I participated in a Mystery KAL from Joy Jannotti.  It's now finished, washed and blocked, and set aside for my Warm Things Box:

Yarn: Condon's Yarn 2-ply fine (the
brown) and 2-ply medium (the orange)

The yarn is a bit rustic, but not unpleasant in this little shawlette.  It's 100% wool, from a long-closed Canadian company that operated in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, from 1931 to 1989.  I received it as part of a Christmas gift from my daughter in 2022 -- and she rescued it from a colleague whose elderly relative had passed on.

My other favourite knits these days are the bodies of two top-down pullovers and one new start -- a cardigan.  I mentioned the Sea Haven pullover in my last post.  While I've no photo to share at the moment, I've finished the beautiful yoke, split for the sleeves, and am about 1/2" along on the body.  

The other pullover is the Bustleton Tee, which I started about a year ago -- and I've not taken a photo of it since! LOL! I'm really only using the pattern as a guideline for the process -- size and construction.  It's one with definitive stripes, but I've ignored that and am making it out of assorted shades of pinky red/purple left-over fingering-weight yarn.  It's a plain, simple raglan, very soothing to knit but slow going with the fine yarn.  At the moment, I'm about 1 inch from the point where I have to switch to the ribbing for the bottom hem.  After that, all I have to do is finish the sleeves, which won't be 'tee-shirt short' but full length if I have enough yarn left!

As for the cardigan -- that's a new start, inspired solely by the fact I've had both yarn and pattern for well over a decade, and it's now time to make it up!  It's the "Shades of Spring Cardigan" -- a pattern from 2011 that I saved from an issue of "Love of Knitting" magazine and I'm making it with a bright variegated yarn, "Tajmahal" from Le Fibre Nobili -- long discontinued -- which I bought well over 20 years ago:

The yarn is referred to as sport-weight, but it's almost a fingering, and very soft because it's a blend of merino wool, silk and cashmere!!  I didn't buy it specifically for this project, but decided that it's just the pop of cheerful colour I need this year!

On the quilting front, I'm a bit between projects.  I still have to make up the April Block of the Month from A Quilting Life, and I've planned out and started a pinwheel baby quilt to give to friends of mine for the new granddaughter they've been told will arrive in mid-June.

But I did finish the "Lupines and Laughter" quilt top -- the 2025/2026 Bonnie Hunter Mystery:

I think it's one of the prettiest yet!  I made it 75% of the size, and it's turned out to be just shy of 70" square.  I now need to get it quilted -- I'm debating doing it myself, though it's rather pushing the limits of my abilities on my domestic machine.

All those projects aside, my focus for the last few weeks has been on designing and hooking a series of eight miniature landscapes -- 6" square -- for the Lacombe Encore! Art Show at which I'll have a booth again this year.  It runs April 17 and 18 -- a week from now!!!  

Yesterday I finished the last of them, and took the lot off the Cheticamp frame:

Each of these originated as "matted minis" in my art quilting days; I've now reprised them as hooked art.  Here are some close-ups:

"By the Slough" (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips hooked into burlap

(L) "Canola Fields"; (R) "Autumn at
the Slough" (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips in burlap

"The Old Barn: Elgin, Quebec" (c) 2026
Yarn, roving, fabric strips hooked into burlap

'St. Monica's, Mirror, AB' (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips hooked into burlap

"Vespers - Reprise" (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips, hooked into
burlap; embroidered accent

"Wide Alberta Sky" (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips hooked into burlap

And last but not least...

"Wintry Moon" (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips hooked into burlap

All now need to be cut out of the burlap, blocked, bound and mounted.  I'm experimenting a bit there -- planning to back them with wool fabric, and either leave them as such, or see if I can mount them on black foamcore as 'stand-ups'.  Time will tell...

Now then, about Makers Meeting Up -- the title of this post.  In March, as I mentioned, I was part of the "March is for Makers" group created by Deanne Fitzpatrick Studios of Amherst, Nova Scotia.

It was so popular that many of us didn't want it to end.  So...listening to her customers, her rug-hooking-lovin' audience -- Deanne and her team decided to make it a monthly subscription -- Monday through Friday (and maybe the last Saturday) -- and to see how it goes.  There are almost 3 dozen of us subscribed so far, and it has been a complete delight.  It's certainly brought me joy every day to be part of this online community, and it motivated me to get all those minis hooked.  It will continue to motivate me through the next several days as I put the finishing touches on them and get everything ready for my booth at the show.

Participants are international -- mainly Canada and US -- and we are learning a great deal about each other, our families, our joy in crafts -- hooking rugs, knitting, quilting, cross-stitch and spinning have been topics of discussion among us.  We've been learning each other's geography, and history, and travel experiences, and art-making experiences, and what it takes to run an art gallery, and how to blend yarns and fabric strips to create colour and depth and texture in our work.  It's just plain FUN!

The best part of it is the flexibility to 'unsubscribe' for a while -- this might happen with several of us over the summer -- and return when we are able.  Each session starts with a bit of fun as the whole group, with Deanne and/or her staff popping by, and then we break into small groups for an hour or so of hooking and talking, sharing and learning from each other.  Every month we participate, we'll have access to a free online pdf pattern, and able to view some of the videos from Deanne's inspiring teaching archive.

And it only costs $31 CAD per month -- a dollar a day.  Some folks spend more than that on a coffee at Timmy's or Starbucks...

So if you love to hook rugs -- as wall art or floor art or cushion art or just plain sources of colour and calm -- you might want to check it out.  For more information...HERE.  (And NO, I'm not being paid to entice you!)

I'll leave you now with my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she gives us a list of what she learned from the dear "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip.  Some of those lessons can be practiced when you meet up with other makers, to whit:

• Take risks;
• Keep exploring!
• Enjoy the present;
• Spend time with friends;
• Life is about the little joys; and this...
• Sometimes you have to take a plunge to see the magic happen.

Whether you hook, stitch, knit, crochet, quilt, weave, spin, paint, dance, sing, write, make music...all of it is better shared with others, especially in times like these.

So until next time, Gentle Readers, soothe your souls and Make On!

A bientot!

• 
  

Spring Startitis!

 

Living up here in Canada -- a good day's drive NORTH of the border with Montana -- I always feel like Spring arrives on March 1, even if Mother Nature disagrees.  This year, She has been undecided, and has sent mixed messages.

Today's been rather grey with that wonderful thing known as "mixed precipitation", and some fog, and Totally Grey Skies -- so I've spent it inside with all my favourite 'makes' and thought I'd catch you up on all things creative around here.  My objective is to Take Your Mind Off All the World's Foolishness...and just share some colour, beauty and art/craft goodness.  One day at a time, Gentle Readers; one day at a time! 🩷

Over at Deanne Fitzpatrick Studios, we're still in the throes of "March is for Makers".  I say "we" because every week day at 2 p.m. Atlantic Time, (rug) hookers from all over the place gather on Zoom -- via DFS -- to meet, greet, hook on our mats and share ideas with each other.  

Even those of us who are rather introverted and prone to Zoom Fatigue have participated.  

Alas, this was a Special Event and isn't a regular thing for the Whole Wide World.  We've been having a great deal of fun -- found friends who live near us (surprise!) or whom we've met at conferences/retreats.  A place where Canadians, Americans, and folks from the UK (rarely farther afield at the moment) can gather, laugh, tell stories, share our backgrounds and our love of the rug-hooking craft -- as well as our love of knitting, spinning, quilting and stitching because, of course, most of us are 'multi-craftual'.  None of us want this to end, so...we'll see what sort of challenge this poses the Studio for the future!

As for hooking, well...I've been focusing on what one of my friends calls a "Dreamscape".  I mentioned it in my last post in which I showed my initial sketch and a tiny start of the hooking.  Since then I took it to this:

And then, joining the 'hook-ins' almost daily...well...today, it's finished, though still on the frame:

Pussy Willows, Cat Tails
(c) 2026

I confess I'm not sure about framing it and putting it up for sale -- would it have any takers?  I've been accepted into the local Encore! Art Show & Sale in mid-April...any thoughts?

I've also purchased two online classes from Deanne -- one on 'Working Big' and one that's a "Sea Garden Abstract".  Both, I think, will be valuable -- though my 'Sea Garden' will have morphed into a prairie...Stay tuned for more!

Of course, aside from hooking, I continue to Knit Every Day.  It's tough to break a 65-year-long habit! 😉

I continue to enjoy my 'Train Knitting' and the Sylph Cowl is slowly getting longer.  My Spring Start-itis began when in my last post I showed you my cast on for the Sea Haven Pullover, a pattern by Jennifer Shiels Toland that I won from the "Recreational Knitting" podcast (thanks, Karen!)  I continue to love this pattern!  I'm now past the yoke patterning and finished the short rows yesterday -- my first attempt at German Short Rows.  Not hard to do but a bit challenging in that they are less visible than the "wrap-and-turn" version. 

Here's a couple of progress photos taken earlier today:

The wee red marker identifies the front...and indicates that from there, I have to knit 1 1/4" before I can split for the sleeves.

See the blue arrow? That's the German short row section I accomplished this morning (my first experience with those).

Having mentioned that I have Spring Startitis, I must let you know that today I also cast on stitches for a cardigan -- a pattern I've had in mind for a Very Long Time: the Shades of Spring Cardigan from Sara Louise Greer.  I apologize, as it's no longer readily available.  That just shows you how long I've had it in mind. Sigh...

I've decided to knit it in a rather colourful variegated yarn from deep stash, and even made a swatch (!?! Who? Me?!?).  So far...I've just cast on for the back so there's really nothing to show you.  Stay tuned for further reports!

In my quilting studio, I satisfied some of the 'Spring Staritis' by making the March Block from A Quilting Life.  You'll recall that I'm trying to stretch my Canada 150 fabric for a red-and-white version.  This is what the March block looks like:

Methinks I'm going to be even better at making points match -- in stars or elsewhere -- once this BOM is over! 😉

Speaking of 'matching points' well...Bonnie Hunter.  I swear, having made her mystery quilts (and some of her "Addicted to Scraps" blocks and "Leaders and Enders" projects) -- she is pretty much single-handedly responsible for my ability to make (most of) my points match in any given pieced quilt!

And yes, I'm on the last part of this year's 2026 Mystery quilt, aka "Lupines and Laughter".  This design was inspired by Bonnie's trip to Iceland in 2025 -- where, it seems, lupines are found in abundance.  I don't have to go that far north.  They are among my favourites spreading through my meadow/flower beds.  This was a natural for me and I've enjoyed every minute.  And yes, all fabrics have come from my stash.  

Quilt top, inner border, 1st outer border

Close-up of 1st border, attached to top

As I'm making this top at 75% of the called-for size, it took a bit of...adjusting...but it worked!

This is going to be an "almost 40" gift for my son's partner -- her birthday is in August -- so I'm hoping all will continue to proceed accordingly between now and then!

And then there's stitching -- where the Spring Startitis is really taking hold!

My work on the "Little Acorns SAL" from Modern Folk Embroidery continues...but I've started a slight move away from Jacob's recommended sections.  I'm on the third section from the top -- but according to the pattern, it's supposed to include two parts - the one on which I'm stitching and a second that's a good 80+ rows down in the charts.  Seriously?!  Neither my brain nor my 73-year-old eyes is prepared to do that. So...I will finish the current section this month and move forward in an Orderly Fashion! Ahem! 😉

I've set that aside for just a bit, though, given the State Of The World, and have turned again to "Disagree" from Rebel Stitcher.  I showed this in my last post, and have made significant progress thus far, as it's been almost a focus piece.

BUT

Last evening I discovered A Problem.  It's taken me close to the finishing point of this piece to discover that I may have (inadvertenly!) stitched it the wrong way on my fabric.  OOOOOOPS!!!

Yep!  See that blue arrow?  And the gap near the right side of the hoop?  There's only about an inch (!!) of fabric to the edge.  Sigh...

The lettering will work out fine; the motifs I'll adjust accordingly...and it will likely become a small hanging or a pillow or go into a project bag.  It's only for me -- not a gift.  I've never let perfection get in the way of 'Good Enough'!

And what about stitchy Spring Startitis? 

Yes; there is some!  First, I finished the "Winter" section of the Seasons from the long-ago pattern from Elsa Williams, so I am ready to start "Spring" -- because I'm doing it all on one piece of aida -- it's a kit from when dinos roamed the earth...

Back-stitch, etc. -
I'm rather chuffed!

And then...well...my Newbie of Choice is inspired by the hue and cry that went up in my home town (southwest Quebec) and family back in the day, and still (for me) marks the Actual First Day of Spring:

The robins are here! The robins are here!

The Robins are Here! -- Brenda Gervais

I confess, I got such a kick out of this that I had to kit it up and I'm ready to stitch -- even though the weather is still a bit too cold and so The Robins have yet to arrive here. It will be my Spring Start this weekend!

There's pretty much no waterfront to cover, Gentle Readers, as it's too early to spin outside and there's no gardening happening up here for some time.

Over at Nina Marie's, she's making a gift for a friend, which has required her to dust off her sewing/quilting skills.  Have any of you been challenged by that?  You might just go over and give her al hug.

Meanwhile, I light a candle for our troubled world and hope all involved in assorted conflicts will find That Eternal Light SOON.

A bientot!

'M' is for March

Mmmmmmm....SO many 'ems' in March this year! 😁

First off, my rug-hooking art inspiration, Deanne Fitzpatrick has declared, "March is for Makers", and created a month-long, Monday through Friday Zoom "hook-in" for all willing and able. For $31 CAD a slew of us from all over the globe have joined in.  Some show up every day. Some -- like me -- are Monday, Wednesday, Friday folks.  ALL of us are having the time of our lives and getting lots of hooking done in the hour we share together.

So...in the last week I've blocked, bound and fully finished two small hooked pieces, and sketched out, designed and drawn out a new, larger piece -- all of which I hope to show at the local Art Show/Sale in April.  (I await notice of acceptance; it's a juried show. Though I've been in it most of the past 17 years, and was Featured Artist in 2023, that's no guarantee of anything!  That keeps my halo from pinching my ears, as my mother would have said! 😉

Duo - 12" square, framed
Assorted yarn and fabric strips 
hooked into burlap

And...

Holly's Bouquet - 9" x 12"
Mounted on stretched canvas
Wool yarn and fabric strips hooked
into burlap

Once those pieces were done and dusted, I had to put a new one on the Cheticamp frame, and so..."Pussy Willows, Cat Tails" has come to be. It's inspired by this Gordon Lightfoot ballad: 

I started with a sketch, and then...this outline on the burlap:

I began yesterday to hook an outline of some of the leaves for the cat tails (bull rushes, so-called, where I grew up in Quebec), and have now filled in more of the leaves:

The vision is coming together...

Meanwhile, the 2026 "Piece-by-Piece" fundraiser opened at the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre on the evening of March 4.  It was dark and snowy, so I didn't attend the opening but dropped in yesterday afternoon when I was running errands in town, and took this shot:

The blue arrow points to my piece, "Under a January Moon", mounted on stretched canvas, which I mentioned in my last post.

The smaller pieces (i.e., not the requisite 12" x 12") were contributed by youngsters aged 10-12, whose parents are artists and who also participated in the exhibit.  For more information or to call in a bid, check out this section of the LPAC website -- with thanks.

To round out my good 'hooking' news this week, my dear friends at the gallery at Curiosity Art & Framing in Red Deer informed me that recently they sold THREE (!!!) of my hooked pieces in one day!  Gobsmacked?! You bet!  Gone are 2 small pieces ("All That Blue, Green and Gold", "Slough View") and a larger piece, "Tree Island".  To say that I'm 'over the moon' about this is missing the mark. Having been known for a long time as an art quilter, to find that these hooked pieces have found homes is a surprise, a delight and a blessing!

But there are other 'ems' in March...

In the stitching world, it's "Monochromatic March"! Who knew?!  Folks who cotton on to this theme are stitching one-colour projects.  A favourite is the 2026 Stitch-Along (SAL) from Jacob at Modern Folk Embroidery, of which I spoke in my last post.  Here's my progress as of February 28th:

While I'm about to start the narrow section just below all that I've done so far, I'm also -- given The State of the World Right Now -- working on another quasi-monochromatic piece.  I say "quasi" because the thread I'm using is a Sulky 12-weight "Blendables" thread and so is variegated with a blue and a green.  You'll see what I mean when I show you this bit from "Disagree" by Rebel Stitcher, to which I've returned after a few months "away":

Of course, other forms of stitchy commentary aren't monochromatic.  I'm not fussy.  If I like the sentiment etc., I'm happy to stitch along -- including this piece -- a free pattern -- from Ellen Reid of Maximum Cross Stitch, entitled "Go Show Love".  I introduced it in my last post; here is where I am now:

In the quilting world -- or, at least, in my corner of it, "M" is for the ongoing Mystery -- Bonnie Hunter's 2026 version, "Lupines and Laughter".  Though the last clue and the Big Reveal happened in January, it always takes me some time to get it all together.  As of now, I've prepared all the blocks for the size I'm making (75% of the full size in the pattern), which means I have 6 rows of 6 blocks each, and I'm starting to assemble them, row by row.  Here's my progress so far -- three rows assembled, but (NOTE) not yet attached to each other:

Of course, before I could lay them out for the photo, one of my trio of Studio Supervisors had to give her stamp of qualified approval!

Miss Sylvie, trying not to look the
least bit interested!

The other bit of a quilty 'mystery' -- the Block of the Month from A Quilting Life -- has a March block out too, but all I've done thus far is print out the pattern!  Stay tuned for that in a later post.😊

Knitters, not to be left out of this 'em is for March' trend, have ongoing Make Alongs (MALs), a Lenten Mystery Knit Along (MKAL) and at least one group focused on using an M-yarn, declaring it to be Malabrigo March. 

I'm participating in the Lenten MKAL, but as it's not over until Easter, I really shouldn't spoil the fun by posting a photo.

I'm not active in any MALs this month -- but I did finish my February socks on time for them to be included in the Socks from Stash February challenge:

Pattern: Fancy Rib Socks
from Patons & Baldwin book #37
published in 1947

This month, that group's challenge theme is "Folklore and Fantasy", and while I have a suitable pattern in my library -- from the Hobbit et al -- it's another richly textured pair and my brain is too full to take it on at the moment! LOL!

That said, besides the Lenten MKAL, I'm continuing to whittle away at my mitred-square blanket, the Bernie sweater, another plain top-down raglan pullover, and the Sylph cowl, which will be for my 2026 Warm Things box:

This photo is from December; it's now about 11 inches long.  As my 'out-and-about' project, it's not getting a lot of love, so it's slow going, as the pattern calls for it to be 26" long before seaming the ends together!  I'm using 2 yarns held together and have only 1 ball of one of them, so will knit until that one has only enough left for a cast off.

All that aside, what's a new month without a new start -- of something? 

A few weeks ago, I won a pattern prize from Karen of "Recreational Knitting" on YouTube.  I really get a kick out of her, her sense of humour and her outlook on life these days.  Anyway, it was a prize related to a key word in the comment section for one of her January posts -- having to do with the "12 Cast-ons of Xmas", I think.  I got to choose a pattern I'd had my eye on, and I picked the Sea Haven pullover from Jennifer Shiels Toland, a designer to whom I'd been introduced on yet another podcast: "Ruth Loves to Knit".  

It's gorgeous!  It's a top-down sweater with a textured yoke, and you can knit it with long or short sleeves (I prefer long).  Karen obliged, I received the pattern in my Ravelry "mail" and this past week I cast on, using deep stash: Elspeth Lavold's "Silky Wool" in a textured grey called "Stormy".  Here's my progress thus far:

I've had this yarn for at least 20 years, having bought it at my favourite LYS back when I lived in Calgary.  I've no idea if the LYS is still there -- it moved locations after I left the city in 2008; it was a great shop!

When Deanne put together "March is for Makers", she was thinking about how March is often a 'lean' month in much of Canada.  The stack of firewood is dwindling, the veggies and fruit that are in cold storage have nearly run out, and it's too early to plant anything but a few seedlings in pots in a sunny spot in the house or -- if you've got it -- under 'grow lights' or in a green house.

March can also be messy underfoot -- snow melting and refreezing for treacherous sidewalks, puddles of water with ice hiding underneath, or maybe even the start of Mud Season.  

And this March has become messy for other reasons, of which most of us are fully aware, by which we are appalled, about which we are more than simply worried.  And so, Gentle Readers, let us remember our role in this: to bring light, comfort, and caring into our small corners of this world -- working with our hands to create beauty, tranquility, warmth and firm, clear, unexpected resistance.  As Nina Marie has posted over at Off the Wall Friday: creativity is the way we can hold on to our own sanity and help others hold on to theirs.  As we are children of a great Creator, and created in love, let's remember our call to bring that to others every day.

And so, my friends, a bientot!