I'm Tired

Hello, Gentle Readers.

I know that September, which arrives a couple of days from now, is a "second New Year" for many of us. I've created many posts this time of year celebrating that fact, and talking about plans for my creative work, as well as reviewing recent finishes and works in progress.

But this year...well...I'm tired.

I've been writing this blog since February 2003.  Yes; that's a long time.

I'm Canadian (if you've not figured that out by now).  

And I live in the one province in Canada whose Premier (that's "Governor" for you in the US) wants to be, well, Texas.  I won't go into the details; if you're not American or don't live anywhere near Texas, research what that state is about, and isn't about.  Nothing about it is Canadian -- and I'll just leave it at that.

So...I've created, started and finished a lot of things since my last post...but I've no energy, no motivation to share it, even as we end the summer and start a "new year", so to speak.

I've found myself sharing less frequently in the groups to which I belong on Facebook, too.  I'd rather be making, stitching, quilting, knitting, spinning, gardening -- than track all of those things, progress or not, showing them to social media -- or not.

Right now, my province is fighting a threat from a sector that wants to remove it from Canada, to be its own country or (worse) the 51st state of the US.  Even worse than that, our Premier -- though she tries to hide it -- is sympathetic.  She is what we call up here a "Maple MAGA" but she tried to hide it, despite news reports and photos of her with He Who Shall Not Be Named in Florida.

Me? I'm an active participant in the movement to push that back.  To fight for Canadian unity.  So you can see where some of my energy is being directed. The rug-hooking, the knitting, the sometime-spinning, the cross-stitch, the piecing for quilts -- all of those things plus long walks, work in the yard and garden and the occasional stiff Canadian rye whiskey -- those help with the stress.

So I leave  you with some recent photos of work completed, and hope that if/when I show up here again at some future time, you'll still be here to read what I have to say.

Hooked art - just off the frame
Trimming, binding, blocking
and framing to follow.
Aug. 27-2025

"Celtic Knot" quilt finished, folded
116" x 116", double-fold binding,
mitred corners

August Block - A Quilting Life BOM 2025

"Songbird Cottage" 
Elizabeth's Designs (2005)
Finished as a needlebook 
Gift to a new stitcher

"For a Dear Friend" - BBD
A gift to a friend for her 50th anniversary
and in memory of her DH who died 
10 days before #49 -- in 2024

"Proverbs 31" - Plum Street Designs
Now at the framer's to be framed.

I've now finished a baby sweater, and have made great progress on "A Quilter's Dream" from Modern Folk Embroidery, which was my focus piece this month.  Photos might be shared eventually.

I am a fan of "Sampler September" so will be focusing on 3 samplers: 

• "Emeline Hotchkiss, Lacolle, 1846" from Cross-stitch Antiques; 
• "Ann Perrin, 1841 from Jeannette Douglas; and 
• "Memories of the Past" from Hands Across the Sea.  

My new Sunday stitch is "Hope" from Carolyn Manning Designs - her One Color (Colour) Collection.  I am also working on gloves for my son for Xmas, and have a few other Xmas stitch plans lined up.

That's all I've got to share at the moment.  For my American friends and readers: I know it's not you.  I know this mess is not of your direct making -- but I hope you will understand that as a Canadian, who grew up less than 20 miles north of the border between Quebec and NY State, and who has lived with and followed your history, mingled with ours, for all of my 73 years...I need to take time away in pursuit of wholeness and strength in the face of what has probably been the greatest threat to Canada in my life time -- being born some years after the second World War. 

Thus, until we meet again, I hope you are blessed, and that you remain well, safe, creative and kind.

A bientot!

A Month of Making

There's a lot of 'making' going on! 😁

Yes; I'm still here, and I'm still making -- but in the past month I've been challenged by the need to a) make sure I care for my body -- especially my arms and hands, which this winter were  plagued by aches and pains; and b) make time for sharing what I've made and am still making.

In terms of the former, I found that a major culprit re: my hands -- especially my dominant right hand -- was with computer work.  I dug out a wireless keyboard and set it up so that I didn't strain my hands reaching up to type on my laptop's keyboard, and I got myself a new mouse pad with a wrist support.  That's been a game changer!

I've also been making time for stretches, especially for my arms, shoulders and hands.  Doing that, and pacing myself with respect to arm/hand challenging yard work (digging flower beds, lugging bags of topsoil, mowing the grass), has made a big difference!

Moreover, I've been pacing myself with certain activities that aggravate my hands, which means my knitting is being done in sprints rather than marathon sessions.

As a result, I've finished another LOSY (Left Over Sock Yarn) hat for the give-away box, and have managed to finish one of the pair of Garden Fence Socks I wanted to complete this month.

Pattern: Garden Fence Socks
Designer: Nancy Wheeler
Yarn: Tanis Fibre Arts
Blue Label Fingering
Colour-way: Teal

I won the pattern in the Sox-a-long 2025 challenge for March -- and I'm really enjoying it, even if I can only do 8 rounds (two pattern repeats) at a time.

Friends of mine are about to become grandparents for the first time, so yesterday I cast on the "Little Coffee Bean Cardigan" designed by Elizabeth Smith.  I'm knitting it in a single colour -- more teal! -- using Berroco Pure Merino from my stash, and I'm going to put only one button on it, at the neck.

Yes, I have more knitting WIPs on my needles than I care to admit, but the sock and the cardi are my focus projects for now.

Speaking of focus, about 3 weeks ago, a mobile home a few blocks down from me went up in flames -- likely due to an undetected smouldering grass fire that found a great source of fuel and BANG! exploded.  The three dear folks living there, and their dog and one of their two cats, made it out -- with the clothes on their back, and their vehicles (parked at distance from the blaze) but nothing else.

It's a mess, but the community has stepped up to help with temporary shelter, and gifts of thrift-shop clothing etc.

And I had a quilt top ready, so I quilted it up and passed it on to the neighbour who knew the family and would get it to them.  It measures about 54" x 62", so is a comforting throw-sized piece that I could quilt myself:

Pattern: Easy Breezy
Designer: Bonnie Hunter
from her Leader/Ender projects

This is the second one of these I've made; the blocks are small so it takes some time to gather enough for a decent throw, but once they're together, they create a cheerful, colourful, scrappy quilt!

My other quilting focus has been on finishing the "Old Town" quilt (another Bonnie Hunter design -- the 2024/2025 mystery project) for my son, and yes, I got it bound and mailed off to him earlier this month.  He's delighted to have a new quilt and told me he loves the colours and patterns of this one:

Here's a close-up of the quilting, which was done by the good folks at Quilting from the Heart in Camrose, Alberta:

Speaking of QFTH, yesterday I took the Celtic Knot quilt top up there so I could pick out backing fabric and talk to them about quilting it.  I'd roughly measured it at 112" square but in their larger space, they re-measured it at 116" square!  

Here's what the top looks like, spread out on my lawn in 'flimsy' form:

And yes, they'll quilt it -- they can get batting that's more than wide enough!  So...I bought 4.75 metres of 108"-wide backing, and they helped me split it into pieces so I can make it wide enough.  Once I've done that, my daughter and I will meet up there to pick the over-all quilting pattern (no need for custom work on this one) and thread colour(s).  Stay tuned for the results!

What about stitching focus?

That's a bit tougher to pin down.  I've tried to be disciplined; really I have! 😉 But it's a challenge when I see so many wonderful projects going on floss-tubes!

Here's the update from my last post:

• I've finished the stitching of the Flanders Fields Biscornu from Heartstring Samplery -- but haven't taken a photo! Sigh...
• I finished "Chubby Ewe" from Jeannette Douglas Designs:
  
  
  
  
  

• I started and finished the May bouquet (Block of the Month) from Thea Dueck at The Victoria Sampler:

• I finished -- and fully finished! -- "Hope" from Modern Folk Embroidery:

• As "Hope" was my "Sunday Stitch", I've started a new one: "Proverbs 31" from Plum Street Samplers:

• And I've made progress on two other pieces -- one might refer to them as "les pieces de resistance" in light of the current state of the world:
• First, "Disagree" from Rebel Stitcher, which I'm doing on 40-count Vellum from Picture This Plus, using one strand of 12-wt Sulky variegated thread, over 2 strands of floss. I've actually done a great deal more on this, but the photo below is the last one I took:

• Second, I've also made more progress on "Ruskin's Penguins" from Modern Folk Embroidery.  Again, I've done more on the top of that border, but haven't an updated photo.  It's pretty dense stitching, 1 strand over 2 fabric threads on a 40-count 'Traditional' fabric from Roxy Floss Co's Fabric Club (Sept. 2024 installment) and Roxy Floss in "Gomez" (black) and "Betty White" (white, of course! 😉):

But that's not all!  The greatest blessing of this past week is that I finally put burlap on my new Cheticamp frame and began to hook a new piece!  I'm working through Deanne Fitzpatrick's "Playful, Joyful Rug Hooking" course, which has whetted my enthusiasm.  

I began by drafting a '3-line landscape', and hooking the foreground:

Then I filled in that foreground:

My original thought was to put in either a gravel road or a field of canola...but then I thought, what about water?

I liked it, so I kept going!

The working title is "Jewels in the Water".  I'm thinking I'll move into the background with low, rocky foothills below the sky...but I'm letting it 'percolate' for a bit.  Stay tuned! 😁

As I mentioned at the top, the yard and garden have also had a great deal of 'focus' in this last month.  To whit, 

• I've planted my 2 raised beds: a cherry tomato and 2 hills of zucchini in one; and green beans, leaf lettuce, basil and dill in the other.
• I put out my bedding plants in pots -- my over-wintered geraniums with my favourite lobelia; and my brown pot of bacopa with impatiens; and
• I've added some sedum and pinks to my perennial beds.
• My wildflowers are coming along, though the grass and dandelions hide several of them from view.  I don't mow the "Meadow" until June, so I've had to put stakes in to mark the spots where daisies, hollyhock, violas, wild geraniums and Alberta roses are sprouting -- I don't want to mow them down when the time comes!
• And I've added some marigold seed and poppy seed to a couple of bare areas, which I fortified with fresh topsoil and mulch.

With all those dandelions, I've made one batch of jam, and have picked another collander-full of blossoms for a second...

But the most lovely thing on sunny afternoons now is to sit outside with a book or some stitching, listening to the ornamental fruit trees as they hum with bees...

And with that image for you to savour, Gentle Readers, I'll bid you farewell for now.  As usual, I'll link this post to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she highlights the "3 Laws of Art", with which I heartily agree.  Make.  Make again.  Just keep making -- however you do it, create beauty every day.  It brings light to life!

A bientot!

Only a Couple of Weeks?!

I don't know about you, Gentle Readers, but it feels like a lot longer than 18 days since I last posted.  "Time flies when you're having fun" is one way to look at it.  Another is my mother's maxim: "After you turn 21, time simply disappears!"

That said, I'm here, still trying to make sense of and make some beauty in every day.

Here on the rolling prairie of Alberta, somewhere northeast of Calgary and south of Edmonton, it's trying to be Spring, but Mother Nature is arguing with Ol' Man Winter, so we're getting it in fits and starts.  The trees outside my windows (front and back) are filled with robins, jays, nuthatches and sparrows at my feeders, while the newly-returned crows bully them all from the feeder out on the lilac at the end of my driveway.

Snow has fallen two days/nights running -- requiring shovelling each morning because I live facing a 'public sidewalk' that the County insists I keep clear.  I've done so, to the best of my ability, with a bit of help from a neighbour and his plough-front ATV as well as "Mr. Sun" -- and I'm grateful.

All that said, I am also grateful that I have the work of my hands to keep me going through nasty weather -- be it *real* weather or...well...international/political "weather".

In my last post I showed you a new hooked piece that I gave to the Lacombe Centre for the Performing Arts (LPAC) for their fundraiser.  I went to the opening reception and was delighted to meet one attendee who'd just placed a bid on it!  She was from the Atlantic provinces here in Canada and grew up with hooked mats, so was thrilled to see a hooked piece in the show.

Since then, I've finished 2 new small hooked pieces and mounted them on canvas to take to the Encore! Lacombe Art Show and Sale, which is now only 2 weeks away. 😬

I've just finished 2 more small hooked art pieces, and today I mounted them on their respective painted stretched canvases:

Dandelions On Forever! 
10" W x 8" L
Wool yarn hooked into linen

Blue Pot Reprise
10" W x 10" L
Wool yarn, silk strips hooked 
into linen

Some of you who've followed this blog for a while might recognize the 'Blue Pot' because...well...I created it from this photo:

into an art quilt for a fund-raiser for the Alberta Society of Artists back in the day...

One of my very favourites.  And yes, I still plant geraniums and lobelia in that big blue pot...

But 'creating beauty every day' is not just about hooked rugs/mats/art.  It's simply about making -- as you, Gentle Readers, well know -- making life and light in the midst of everything.

On the quilting front, there's not been a lot since my last post, but I have, at last, finished my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2024 Mystery, "Old Town" -- now a pay-for pattern.  Low on fabrics, I decided not to insert sashing -- pieced or otherwise -- and let the blocks come together to form their own secondary patterns which (because she is such a talented designer) they did!  Then I added a narrow solid border, an outer piece border (from left-overs) and a wide outer border.  It measures about 70" x 72 ". 

As my local long-arm quilter has retired 😞 I've had to find an alternative.  At her suggestion, I'll be taking this up the highway about 45 minutes' drive north to Quilting from the Heart in Camrose, Alberta.  I've been a fabric and notions customer there for decades and had them service my Pfaff last spring so...now I'm taking them this top for an all-over quilting design. The price is right and I trust their service so stay tuned for the finish!

Lest I've forgotten to mention it...this quilt is for my son's 40th birthday in early June.  I don't know how he's managed to turn 40, as he was  born just last week... 😉

As for knitting, I actually managed to start and finish a pair of socks this month!  They're very pretty -- all credit to the designer...

"Wandering Rose" socks

I confess, a much better photo was posted in my last blog.  It was of the first sock of the pair.  Trust me; they match! 😆 Either way, on the foot they're both lovely!

All that said, I got the pair finished in time for the two Sock-alongs I'm in the "Socks from Stash" March Challenge" and the "Sox-along 2025" (hosted by Soxy Nana Alice and Diane of My Pink Bathtub on YouTube).

I'm now taking a bit of time out from socks and focusing on a hat from left-over sock yarn (for charity) and a sweater (for me)...more later on those.

And lest I forget, I'm making daily progress on the Lenten MKAL from Quail's Knitting Nest, but because it's a mystery....shhhh. No spoiler photos! You'll just have to check out her Ravelry project page! 😉

And once the Art Show is over, I'll be returning to the Celtic Knot quilt project in order to get the second set of blocks pieced and the top assembled so that my daughter and I can take the top to a long-armer in early-to-mid-July.  It needs to be quilted and bound for delivery to the recipients in early September.  So...more on that later.

But what about cross-stitch?!

Well yes...there is some -- pretty much every evening.  

I've picked up Thea Dueck's monthly floral bouquets (see her FB Group for details) and have finished January, February and March:

Done with assorted unlabelled stash
flosses, mostly 2 over 2 on 28 count
pearl grey fabric

I've set aside Thea's other pattern, "'S' is for Stitcher", for the moment, as well as Jeannette's "Ann Perrin 1841", to focus on the "Flanders Fields Biscornu" I'm doing for a friend.  I'm on the last of the four poppies on the top section now, and really enjoying this stitch!  This photo was taken March 26.  Since then I've completely finished the poppy on the lower left and have outlined the last one -- where the needle-minder is in the photo -- on the lower right.

I'm using 36-count "Grey" from Weeks
Dye Works, and the called-for WDW flosses

As well, I've been continuing to work on the "Hope" sampler from Modern Folk Embroidery, which I consider my "Sunday Stitch".  I'm working it on a piece of 32-count Thornfield from Needle & Flax, using 1 strand of #8 perle cotton from the Sue Spargo line of threads:

Isn't it pretty?! 🩷

And so it goes, Gentle Readers...so it goes.  Finally posting this on a Sunday, I'll be having a second cup of coffee and taking out that 'Hope' stitch very soon, so I'll leave you with a link to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" and the hope that you, too, will find some life, light, peace and (yes) hope in your making.  Until we meet again...a bientot!

A Bit of Everything

When I was a kid, my mother told me that one of her father's favourite expressions (he died when she was in her early teens) was "Six of a dozen assorted".  That's sort of what I have to share this go 'round.

The Madman to the South continues his threats on my country's very existence, so I continue to make, make, make in order to bring a modicum of order to the chaos swirling around us.

Blessedly, I have enough materials and ideas to keep that process going!

On Wednesday, I attende the Opening Reception for the "Piece by Piece" fund-raising exhibit at the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre (fondly referred to as LPAC).  My piece was one of two distinctly textile-genre pieces; there was also a piece that was mixed media (including found objects) and a variety of paintings, both in oil and in acrylic -- landscapes, portraiture and so forth.  Twenty-two artists in all.  

This is a silent auction and runs through May 2nd, so I hope my local friends will get over to the LPAC to see it -- and maybe place a bid!

"Prairie Gold" 12" x12" on canvas

I recently got word that I've been accepted for a booth at the 2025 Encore! Lacombe Art Show and Sale.  I was Featured Artist in 2023, but took the year off last year and will be returning this year with both quilted and hooked pieces.  Four of the quilted pieces will be the ones that have just come "home" from B.C. -- the ones I made for the 2022-2024 "Art in the Park" residency and touring exhibit.  Here's a shot of them hanging in the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre gallery:

I'm very excited to present them to a new audience in Lacombe!

With them, there will be several new hooked pieces, including smalls that can be taken home for very little expense.  

But besides that, I continue to work on the usual...knitting...quilting (piecing) and cross-stitch.

Last going first, the cross-stitch.  I've been a bit all over the place but still focusing (a bit) on what is (mostly) Canadian.

I've made more progress on "Anne Perrin 1841", a reproduction sampler from Jeannette Douglas Designs, and made my way over to the "berry bowl" in the centre:

I've also made some progress on "'S' is for Stitcher" from Thea Dueck at The Victoria Sampler:

I also started Thea's 2025 BOM -- a floral 'Block of the Month' in stitches.  I've done the first two months and, having the pattern for March, will do that one soon:

And I've made my way to what is essentially the centre of the piece, but there it sits for now -- along with the "Quilters' Dream" from Modern Folk Embroidery, because, of course, there are other things...

Such as the "HOPE" sampler -- a section from a stitch-along created some years ago by Modern Folk Embroidery.  I mean, after all, we could all use a bit of hope these days, right?  For this one, I'm using a single strand of a WonderFil #8 Perle cotton in Sue Spargo's line, colour #EZM89 on 32-count Thornfield linen from Needle & Flax, from my stash since 2023.

And for now, another project that I want to give to a friend is a biscornu.  Some months (maybe over a year) ago, that friend gave me a pattern and flosses for this pattern.  Her birthday is coming up and I've decided I want to finish it for her:

Pattern: Flanders Fields Biscornu
Designer: Heartstring Samplery
Fabric: 36-ct Grey (Weeks)
Floss: Weeks Dye Works

My quilting has been focused on the Old Town Mystery from Bonnie Hunter.  I've finished all 25 blocks and, lacking fabric for the called-for pieced sashing, decided to put the blocks together as a top:

Then I added a narrow inner border (blue-green to match the centres of each block) and pieced outer borders.  The latter consist of 4-patches that I made from what I had for the four corners of each block and for what might end up in a border; and from a series of hour-glass blocks made out of 'bonus triangles' from the flying geese in this project.

Pieced borders: 4-patches on two sides,
and hour-glass units on the other two.

There will now be a wider (3" finished, I think) cream-coloured outer border all around, taken from the wide backing bought for this piece (the only fabric I've bought for this quilt).  Then...off to the long-armer to be quilted and eventually given to my son for his up-coming 40th birthday.

As for the "Easy Breezy" throw, that top is finished but not quilted yet.  That will come.

Finally, some knitting.  I'm trying to finish 2 pair of socks -- one cast on at the beginning of this month, and another from the formerly-ignored WIPs.

The "Twizzler Socks" that I mentioned in my last post have been finished.  I'm keeping them for now...they'll be more suitable for wearing when the weather warms up a bit.

I've finally reached the foot on the first of a pair of "Cornflower Socks" I cast on a couple of years ago, and am approaching the toe:

At the beginning of this month I decided I also wanted to join the "Socks from Stash" Ravelry group's March Challenge -- and I needed a pattern that reminded me of nature.  So...I found the "Wandering Rose" pattern and a ball of Lana Grossa Meillenweit sock yarn in a stunning shade of red and cast on:

As of this morning, I've fully finished the first sock of the pair:

None of this has stopped me from being smitten by a renewed case of "startitis", though.  I signed up -- and even paid for a pattern (!) -- for a Lenten Mystery Knit Along (MKAL) from Joy Jannotti of "Quail's Knitting Nest" on YouTube.  The first clue dropped on Ash Wednesday and clues drop every Sunday thereafter.  It's for a shawlette in mosaic knitting, but that's all I can tell you.  You can find the pattern on Ravelry, and there's a community on both Joy's YouTube channel and on (I believe) Instagram (I'm not on IG).  Sorry -- no photos at present. No spoilers! 

I also stumbled on another shawl pattern -- another freebie -- can't recall where now -- and cast it on at the beginning of this week, using luxury stash yarn I bought a good 20 years or so ago: the Freesia from Annie Baker Designs on Ravelry.  I'm making it with Peruvian Baby Silk yarn from elann.com, in the Raspberry colour-way (#2010) -- but sorry, no progress photos yet. It's early days!

I've not paid much attention to the "Lake Reed" toque I mentioned in my last post, but I'm making steady progress on the "Missoni Accomplished" pullover.  I'm within 4 rounds of splitting for the sleeves, so stay tuned for more on that.

And so it goes.  I watch the news, I pray, I knit/quilt/stitch/hook/repeat.  I go for walks or shovel walks, as the weather dictates.  I rally online with my Canadian compatriots and hug my American friends and family across cyberspace, as we all try to figure out how to deal with what's going on.  Canada has been attacked and pushed into a non-violent war that is designed to weaken us so badly we'll capitulate and become part of the US...which is simply Not On.  And so it goes.  

For all of you, I leave you with a wish and a hope that you can find some time in the midst of this mess to create beauty.  That you are still able to be kind to strangers and known loved ones alike.  That you can get out into nature and do what you need to do to restore your soul.

I leave you with my usual link to dear, persistent, consistent Nina-Marie Sayre and her Off the Wall Friday sharing platform...and with this, written by a Canadian, for Canadians, but also, I hope, for those from outside Canada who seek to understand us better:

Until next time, a bientot!