My Mother Always Said...

 "After you turn 21, the years disappear."  She was right! 🤣

'Love Lives in the Stars'

So...where have I been for over a month?  Well, Gentle Readers...ticking along.  Ticking along. 

I've been taking pains to further 'curate' my news-watching, which has been helping my mental health a great deal.  Some days are still better than others, but I'm finding the better ones out-number the others now.

For one thing, I've found a new faith community, one similar to my Anglican (Episcopalian for you in the US) roots, but also different.  A bit less formal, but with the sound theology I'm used to. One that's warm and welcoming, despite its modest size, and one with a gracious and caring woman as Pastor.  I'm sure my contributions will be very different than they were in my former parish, but that whatever I bring to the community will be accepted with loving grace.

For another thing -- I've been renovating, after a fashion.  I've finally stripped away the cat-damaged wall paper along my hallway, right down to the panel board (it's a late seventies mobile home dressed up to look like a real house).  There's still a bit of under-paper -- the last of the two (count 'em!) layers of wall paper -- and I'll remove that slowly over time.  Then I'm going to prime the wall and paint it in some sort of light, neutral colour, and re-hang my "Rogues Gallery" -- all those family photos I hold so dear.

For a third thing -- I've developed rosacea, which is apparently very common in Women of a Certain Age who enjoy waking up to a fresh cup of coffee or tea, going out to get some sunshine, excercising in said sunshine, maybe having a spicy dish for lunch (me? not so much) and a glass of wine with dinner.   What's left? Breathing? Sleeping? Creating with fabric, fibre or floss?!  Sheesh!

Anyway, I'm treating my face more gently these days to make up for the fact that I'm not giving up any of the above "causes"!  

There was one thing, though, that I have given up in the last couple of weeks: most of my living room furniture.

Yep. You read that right.

I moved here in the fall of 2008, two years into widowhood and still grieving.  It's taken a long time for that grief to ease up to the point where I could be honest and start sifting and sorting my material memories -- but that time is NOW.

During those 17 years, I've let my furniture go to the cats.  A little research showed that perhaps the down-to-the innards mess they made of my over-stuffed love seat and two chairs, combined with the fact they were crammed into a small space that made vacuuming a challenge, was ...well...not good for me.  At least, not good for my skin!

So...at the end of October I went to a furniture store in the town up the road, and bought two new small chairs.  They're "tub" shaped, with wooden frames, including wooden arms, beautifully finished, and with upholstered backs, seats and back cushions. Those cushions have zippers -- the fabric can be washed!

Armed with a bottle of "No Scratch" from the pet store and some of my own quilts and coverlets, I am now enjoying both chairs immensely.

But...uh-oh!  Now the carpet -- a sort of 'Berber' type -- is very visible.  So...I went out and bought one of those light-weight upright warm-water-and-detergent motorized carpet cleaners (a Hoover PowerDash Pet Carpet Cleaner) from my local Home Hardware (a Canadian chain of small-box hardware stores staffed by folks who remember your name).  In between assorted other activities, I've set up a schedule of weekly carpet cleaning sessions.  It's going to take a while, and my carpet will never look "like new", but it's making a difference!

The fact that my furniture is no longer spewing bits of dust, dander, sponge rubber etc. into the air, and my carpet is giving up all that the vacuum couldn't reach for over a decade has worked wonders on both my skin and my sense of peace.

Furthermore, having to clear out a small book-case in order to 'do' the hall carpet has meant that I've just filled my second and third box of books and old DVDs to donate to the local lending library -- for sale or circulation: their choice.

And of course the 'making' hasn't stopped!  We all know that our crafting, hand-work, etc. keep us sane, so let's explore what that's meant for me since my last post, eh?

In rug-hooking, as far as the Women's Show in Red Deer...it wasn't a roaring success for Curiosity Art and Framing, where I show my work.  It was an experiment, and won't be tried again.

But...I'm happy to report that my piece, "Love Lives in the Stars" (see the photo above left) was accepted into the "Winter's Night" exhibit in the lobby gallery of the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre!  The exhibit opens November 17 and runs through January 8, 2026, though it will be closed for the holidays:

I hope to go to the opening reception next week -- if the weather behaves!

In knitting, I've finished that one pair of mittens, and have been working on the gloves my son requested for Xmas.  I've finished one, and have only the ring finger, the pinky finger and the thumb to finish on the second. Given that I am challenged by 'reversing' a pattern -- in this case, for a right- and left-hand glove -- it's been a bit of "one step forward, two steps back", but I'm on track now and the pair will be finished, washed and blocked well before Xmas...

Pattern: Modified Army Gloves
Designer: Selyn Birnbaum
Yarn: 100% Corriedale
Handspun by Kristi, Alberta, Canada

As for my own handspun, the hat is progressing -- I'm past the ribbing -- but it's a "car knit" which means "while I'm waiting for the train" or "when I'm out with a friend for coffee" or whatever...so stay tuned for progress!

That said, once the give-away mittens were done, using the last of the same yarn, I cast on a pair of "Lawn Bowling Mitts" designed by my cyber-friend Kate -- she of "Arts and Socks" blog.  I've finished one (but for the thumb) and will cast on the second soon. They'll join the other things in the "Warm Things" give-away box.

And then there's quilting.  I finished the "Four-patch Fun" top -- Bonnie Hunter's 2025 "Leaders and Enders" project. As you may recall, I used the left-overs from the "Celtic Knots" mega-quilt project from the summer.  I opted for a 'straight-on' layout, rather than 'on point' -- and I'm glad I did. It's SO pretty!

It'll stay as a flimsy until its needed.

That said, on my first Sunday at my new worship community, I found out that a family with whom they were acquainted had recently lost everything in a house fire.  The couple in question are not in great financial shape, as they work as health care aids (not well paid here in this province).  So...this week I sandwiched and quilted one of the comfort throw 'tops' I keep on hand. All that's left to do is to bind it, stitch in thread ends and wash it.  I'll have it ready for the next service in the parish, on Nov. 23.  Below is a photo of the top that I finished a few months ago:

As for the November BOM from A Quilting Life...well...I've prepped the templates on freezer paper, but that's as far as I've gone.  Some of you will know how much I dislike templates. I'll just leave that there for now!

On to stitching!

In my last post I mentioned that I had some 'smalls' I wanted to stitch for Xmas gifts.  I'm happy to report that all three have been stitched!

Alas, it seems that as of this writing, I've photographed only one of them -- and it's only stitched.  It needs to be embellished with the charms that come with it, and then fully finished:

Design: "Coffee"
Designer: Hinzeit
28-count unlabelled fabric
2 over 2 with the called-for colours

NOTE: the above link is to US-based 123 Stitch -- a great company but not where I purchased this pattern. I've owned it for years, and bought it from a Canadian source. It appears to be unavailable from 123 Stitch; I have no idea where you can get it now, let alone the charms that go with it.  Sorry, eh?

In other stitching...

My November focus is once again on "A Quilter's Dream" from Modern Folk Embroidery.  Why?  Because this is a tribute piece to my late husband, my greatest fan as I took up quilting and then moved to explore art quilting not long before he died in 2006.  I began to work on this some months ago -- in February 2025, marking 50 years from our engagement to be married:

In August is/was our wedding anniversary -- the 9th of that month.  He died on that same date, 31 years after we were married -- so here is my progress on Aug. 31 this year:

And November is a) Diabetes Month in Canada (Canadians Dr. Frederick Banting and his partner Dr. Best and their team discovered insulin. Dr. Banting -- aka Sir Frederick Banting, was born Nov. 14, 1891); b) my father's birth month - Nov. 14, 1904; and c) my husband's birth month - Nov. 29, 1952.

So here is my progress to date.  With another 2 weeks to go, I've finished the first two pages (top and bottom left) of this piece.

As for spinning...no...nothing going on there in the last few weeks. No rug-hooking since "Love Lives in the Stars" either.  But that doesn't mean all is lost on those fronts.

I'm learning to go where my hands want to go, and to trust in my "little art spirit" (as Deanne Fitzpatrick is wont to say) as well as the greater spirit that governs us all.

Americans will be celebrating their Thanksgiving soon.  They continue to live in Very Troubled Times there, and up north here we can only watch and pray -- not only for them, but for those up here who would emulate some of the nastier forces at play south of our border.

So I leave you, Gentle Readers, first, with my usual link to dear Nina Marie, with her inspiring posts; and second, with hopes and prayers for a safe, happy, celebratory Thanksgiving -- in the US and every day wherever the ROTW (Rest Of The World) lives...for we have each other, the work of our hands, the skies above, the earth beneath, and the One, the Universe...however you express that...who cares for each and every one of us.

Blessings, 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!

It's About Time...

 I've done a lot since my last post, so I've lots to share.  My laptop is fully repaired now -- including a new power cord/adaptor that I bought directly from Dell, as the old one was being very finicky.  The probable cause of that was likely a broken or bent wire, but I wasn't about to fuss. It took two weeks to get the new one (we had the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday in there too).

It seems like a long period of ups and downs, but there were blessedly more 'ups'!  At the same time, autumn has truly arrived here.  Most of my lawn furniture is away, my flower beds and raised beds put to 'sleep' for the winter, blanketed with leaf mulch.

I planted several miniature Allium bulbs -- to replace tulips that are always decimated by the deer! -- and will be excited to see how they turn out over the next couple of spring seasons.  I'm told by the nursery that it takes a while for them to settle in, but then they should be lovely.

We've had such a gradual easing into autumn, that I've really enjoyed being out in the yard and taking walks in all the blue, green and gold around me.  

I was inspired by the landscape to explore these colours in my rug hooking, so have not only finished "Turning", which was under the hook in my last post, but have also completed three more 6" square pieces, ready to mount and offer for purchase at the 2024 "Under $100 Art Market" in Lacombe at the end of November.  Here's a sneak peek:

Turning - (c) 2024
Hooked yarn, fabric on burlap
6" x 6", mounted on stretched canvas

Top: Harvest Hills (c) 2024
Bottom: Winter Sunrise (c) 2024
Both 6" square, hooked on burlap
Shown just off the frame

All that Blue, Green and Gold! (c) 2024
6" square, yarn, silk, wool fabric,
hooked on burlap -- shown just finished
on the frame

And there's yet another drawn out, waiting for me to make a start:

"Little Shed on the Prairie" (c) 2024

I confess I don't hook every day, but when I do, I go at it for at least 1/2 hour -- usually, more like an hour.  I've been using some of the new yarns I bought for the purpose, too, which I mentioned in my last post.

To add to my adventures in my new-found artistic home, I've splurged on something called the Inspiration Sessions -- a year of inspiration with Deanne Fitzpatrick, recorded in her studio, watching and learning from her process, and monthly online Zoom meetings with rug-hooking artists and crafters from all over the place.  I attended my first Zoom a couple of weeks ago and the newly-recorded tutorial session is now ready for me to watch; I'm really looking forward to it!

Still, as I mentioned, I don't hook every day.  I still have my routine of doing a bit of each of my practices most days. I begin with knitting, then move to either hooking or quilting (when yard and garden work isn't calling!) and finish with late-afternoon/early evening cross-stitch.

So, next, the knitting: 

I've made great progress on my daughter's "Presto Vesto" for her Xmas/Birthday present this year -- and have finished the right front!

Pattern: "Presto Vesto"
Designer: Amy Gunderson
Yarn: MidKnit Cravings
Comfort Sport in "Shiraz" colour

The photo above shows the front lying perfectly on top of the back.  I used a coaster to show where the split for the pocket is.  😄  I'm rather chuffed that it's finally beginning to look like something, and the pattern is getting just a teensy bit easier to follow!

In Xmas/holiday knits, I've finished another Simple Gift Cowl, using an EMU Superwash DK yarn from my stash.  I just need to sew in the ends, wash and block it:

One more to make, and that trio of cowls will be finished so I can get back to the vest but first...a local young fellow and his partner are expecting their first baby a few days before Xmas, so I'm making a couple of pair of baby socks, using my trusty 'Baby Socks' pattern from River City Yarns (not available on Ravelry; sorry). I'll be making 2 pair -- one for a newborn and another in the 3-6 months size.

I cast these on this a.m. using some left-over Knit Picks Sock Landscape yarn (in the Rocky Mountain Dusk colour-way); since I took this photo, I finished the cuff, turned the heel and am working on the gusset decreases for the first sock:

I've done some more work on the 'Back Bay Boomerang' shawl, too, but haven't an updated photo.  Sigh...

On the quilting front, I've also done nothing more on the Celtic Knot quilt, but the pink pinwheels baby quilt top is finished -- made from "bonus triangles" from some forgotten project, plus a glorious darker pink-purple batik that was just hanging out in my stash  -- shown here in the autumn sunshine on my back stoop:

And the quilt I've chosen for my son's June birthday (2025), from the book Batik Beauties, has gone from a couple of stacks of fabric squares to...11 of 12 blocks completed.  Here are just the first three.  The backgrounds and the star points are the same in each, but the centre squares differ.  I'm using batiks from deep stash that I've long not known what to do with, and I bought a skinny bolt (about 7 metres!) of the background last May at the Central Alberta Quilt Show, from a shop whose owners were retiring.  It was just perfect for the colours I had in mind for this project, but will also make a great neutral going forward.

Block #1

Block #2

   

Block #3

I continue to enjoy the Block of the Month (BOM) from Sherri at "A Quilting Life", and this week finished the October blocks, still using my stash of Thimbleberries fabrics from a good 20 years ago:

As you may remember, Gentle Readers, I'm making the smaller block (finishes at 8" in a quilt) and create two of them each month, for a total of 24 for the year.  Not sure how the quilt will finish up, but I believe Sherri usually has options for that too, so stay tuned!

If those projects weren't enough, my friend Anne (former co-worker when The Crafty Lady was an LYS) came to me with a huge bag of fabric someone she knew had given her, from the estate of a quilting relative.  The deal was that I could pick what I wanted, and the rest would be donated to Grandmothers to Grandmothers -- Red Deer Chapter -- for their annual fabric/yarn/crafts sale.  

Well!  I made a small dent in the bag -- and then topped it up with some of pieces I'd been given by a neighbour that I know I won't use.  The biggest find was a print of chocolate brown swirls on an aqua background; the selvedge text referred to it as the "Deja Brew" line designed by Audrey Jeanne Roberts for StudioE Fabrics (www.studioefabrics.com).  It's long out of production, of course, but included in the bag was a piece of solid in a similar shade of aqua.  When I was telling my friend Annette J. about it, she suggested a Disappearing Four Patch might work well for it.  I dug about in my studio and found several large pieces of a tone-on-tone chocolate brown cotton that was left over from some wide backing I'd used on an earlier project.

Ta-da! I 'googled' for instructions (I've made a Disappearing 9-patch years ago but have no idea where my notes were from that!) and made a couple of blocks.  I figured I have enough fabric for about 3 dozen, each finishing at 8" in the quilt (using 5" squares), plus sashing, so it'll make a decent throw-sized quilt:

The green of my cutting mat doesn't do justice to the acqua of that fabric -- but you get the idea! LOL!  😆

And yes, the "Easy Breezy" blocks -- a tiny 4 1/2" unfinished -- are piling up; I have about 75 of them now -- and another 70 or so to go.  I've not run out of bits and bobs for the corner squares and rectangles, so I just keep plugging along.

As I mentioned, the late afternoon and evening are for stitching -- mainly cross-stitch.  Sampler September is over now, but I took advantage of Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to work a few days on a small sampler from Red Barn Samplers, which has a verse I like and which has, at the bottom, the word "Gratitude".

I bought the pattern 'way back in the winter of 2023.  Here's a photo from my post of February 1 that year:

I began to work on it and got as far as the "O" you can see in the photo below -- second line of alphabet letters from the top, close to the left-hand side.

The photo below shows my progress from October 12 this year through Thanksgiving Monday (Oct. 14) -- I moved right along, enjoying it immensely.  I confess, though, that by the time I finished that first line of the verse, done using 1 thread of floss over 1 fabric stitch...well!  I was grateful to put it down and move into Christmas gift stitching! 😉

"Betty Sumner 1822"
Reproduced by Red Barn Samplers

I've managed to finish one small piece for a knitty friend, but need to fully finish it (I'm thinking 'flat fold').  I decided because my friend and I are both Canadian, I'd adjust the bottom word to spell it the way we do here: 'Neighbour' -- with a "U".  It was quite the challenge, but I'm satisfied with it:

"Fred's Ewe-nifying Question"
Designer: Silver Creek Samplers
Modified by me! 
Stitched on the called-for fabric
with the called-for cotton flosses.

I'm now working on another gift for a friend -- a pretty little piece that I started a couple of days ago: "Precious Friend" from Bent Creek designs.  I'm stitching it on a piece of unlabelled 28-count evenweave, in an 'antique white' sort of colour, using a combination of called-for over-dyed floss and DMC from my stash.  I've not yet taken a photo of it...so, next time, eh?  

I think that's it for now, Gentle Readers. I've gone on long enough (through two cups of tea and over 2 hours of Tom Allen's "About Time" on CBC Radio)...so I will leave you first, with thanks for being such faithful readers, and second with the hope that you are well and safe wherever you are, creating beauty with the work of your hands.

Linking up with Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday", as usual -- but this time, be still my heart! WOW!  She's dipping a toe into a new-to-her technique. Yep!  She's learning to hook a rug!  I can't wait to compare notes!

So -- until then -- a bientot!