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!

More in the Making!

This year it seems I've been having more bouts of 'Startitis' than usual.  I could blame it on our cool, damp summer -- unusual for us but welcome after two years of extreme heat and drought in these parts -- but seriously, honestly folks, that's just an excuse.  No matter the weather, I think it would have hit anyway.  So what have I got to show since my last creative post?

In knitting?

I've yet to cast on the second of the pair of "Shepherd's Socks" I started in June -- but I started and finished an entirely different pair in three weeks in July -- those Fable (fake cable) Socks I mentioned -- and miracle of miracles! I have a photo:

I used a ball of Lang Jawoll Cotton, which was lovely to work with and is delightful on the foot.  And look at the stitch definition!  I have one more ball left and will definitely make another pair.  

I've made a bit more progress on my "Simple Thing" scarf, but discovered I'd dropped a stitch on one of the knit-in i-cord edges and had to rip back some rows; then it was a challenge to get back into the rhythm of the 4-row pattern again, so it doesn't look much longer than it was in the last photo I showed...but it is. Trust me! 😁

In new knitting starts, I've cast on the first glove of a pair for my son for Xmas (his request), using a DK-ish weight handspun Corriedale I bought at the Rose City Fibre Festival in Camrose in May.  It's pretty dense fabric but I'm getting gauge...

Yarn: 100% Corriedale - Handspun by Kristi
Pattern: Good Basic Gloves
Designer: Rita Buchanan

My other new start was another pair of socks, barely on the needles: a pair of mosaic stitch socks to which I was referred by a fellow sock knitter in the Sox-a-long 2025 group in Ravelry.  Too early for a photo; I'm barely past the 1 1/2" of 2x2 ribbing. Stay tuned!  Meanwhile, you can get the gist of the pattern on Ravelry HERE. Funky!

Rug-hooking? I confess I've done very little of that, but I've drawn out a new landscape to fill the last bit of the current fabric on my Cheticamp frame:

Yes, I took the photo -- earlier this summer, just off a township road near me.  I've started some outlining of the piece, only to discover I have no black wool yarn (except fingering, which is too fine, even doubled), which I want to use for the fence posts, so yes...put in an order for 2 heavier-weight skeins of black (one on sale with a discount!) and added a yard (not a metre, even if it is in Canada) of 60" wide linen to shore up my hooked art backing stash.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! 😉 It's on its way and should be here mid-month.

Now then, about quilting...

I've not done so much of that.  

I'm still waiting for the Celtic Knot quilt -- the Big One (116" square!!) to be long-armed.  We took it in to the shop June 21 and were told it should be ready by the end of July...but no.  I just 'phoned and was told there were '2 small ones' still ahead.  I explained that it was an anniversary gift for a date shortly after Labour Day and that I still need to bind it and get it to my daughter's in Edmonton to give to her friends.  "The end of this month" was suggested -- not acceptable!  It's already been almost seven weeks!  I would acquiesce to no later than August 19.  The message would be passed to the long-armer (one of the owners of the shop) and I was told that if there were a problem with that, I'd be advised ASAP.  I must confess, I'm rather disappointed. 🙍

I have yet to start the August Block for "A Quilting Life", too, though the pattern is printed.

I did manage to finish another top for a comfort quilt, and this one has a bit of a story.  Many years ago now -- over 20 -- when Japanese-style prints were in vogue for quilting, I bought a selection of them plus some solid black fabric to make a quilt I'd seen in one of my magazines.  Every Friday I would go to my favourite LQS in Calgary (that's where I lived then) and that's where I began to work on it.  It involved cutting the fabrics into wide bands and reassembling them with narrow strips of the black in between.

And that's all I remember of it.  One Friday, I got home from my sew day to discover I didn't have the magazine in my things. I called the shop and they looked high and low (it wasn't a recent issue of that publication) and couldn't find it.  In the end we decided it must have been picked up and taken by someone who was also there that day -- and thought it was just an old, second-hand one free for the taking. I let it go.

Fast forward to now, when I am trying to use up stash to make comfort quilts -- and I decided to figure out how to make something of what I'd already assembled all those years ago.

I managed to slice up the wide pieces into blocks, which I reassembled into four-patches and put back together, with a nice black border.  It measures about in seven rows of six blocks -- about 54" x 62":

I'm really rather pleased with how it turned out!  That said, I have enough of the fabric -- all with the black strips running through it -- to make another -- so that will come in time.  Who'dda thunk it?!

Then there are the 'bonus triangles' which I'm drowning in!  I've found a pattern or two featuring hour-glass blocks, so I'm busy assembling these with an assortment of sizes of the 'bonus triangles', doing so as 'leaders and enders' with other projects:

Stacks and stacks...

Sewing pairs...

I've made a tiny dent -- but I'm a long way from assembling anything that makes sense, just yet. Stay tuned!

And then...when shopping for fabric for the back of my son's birthday quilt -- back in the spring -- I found a wonderful novelty fabric, just perfect for a gift for the future recipients of the Celtic Knot quilt.  They are big fans of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team so...I've made them a pair of king-sized pillow cases that will decidedly not match their new quilt -- but I hope they like 'em anyway!

So that's it from the sewing room...but in addition to the up-coming quilt binding, I'll soon be back there because I have two stitchy gifts to fully finish.

Yes, there's been lots of stitching!

I still have to turn the little "Songbird Cottage" into a needle book, and now I have another small piece, a gift for a dear friend whose husband died August 13 last year.  This year on August 23, they'd have celebrated 50 years of marriage...but that was not to be.  I hope this little piece, which I plan to finish as a tiny pillow, will bring her some comfort:

Pattern: "To a Dear Friend"
Designer: Black Bird Designs
Stitched with 2 strands of floss
over 2 threads on 34-count
unlabelled linen fabric (not
28-count as mentioned 
in my last post.

It's hard to see from the photo, but it's a heart-shaped design and will be a heart-shaped wee pillow. It's one of the sweet designs in the reprinted book from Black Bird Designs, "A Heart Remembers", which I bought a few years ago.

Then there are the stitching Works In Progress (WIPs)!

All through July, my focus piece was the good-sized Canadian sampler, "Emeline Hotchkiss 1846", reproduced by Kathleen Littleton of Cross-stitch Antiques.  I've made very good progress, but definitely have a ways to go!

Then there's my current Sunday Stitch, of which I'm very fond: "Proverbs 31" from Plum Street Samplers.  I'm so close to finishing this little piece -- I can taste it!

Yes -- now that the house is done, I just have the borders on the lower right side and bottom, and some small motifs -- et voila! It will be ready to finish.  I want to frame it, and have a frame in mind, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

And as it's August, my wedding/widowhood anniversary month, I set aside "Emeline" and have taken up the very stitch-heavy, very geometrical  two-colour piece I began last year, honouring my late husband's keen support of my quilting journey: "A Quilter's Dream" from Jacob of Modern Folk Embroidery.

I began to stitch it in February of this year, as we were engaged on February 11, 1975 -- 50 years ago.  Here was where I left it at the time:

Despite the fact that is is stitch-heavy and complex, and that I'm doing it with 1 strand of floss over 2 fabric threads, I find this work very rhythmic and soothing.  Here's where I am as of now,which is the upper left corner of the design:

Fabric: 40-count Porcelain 
Threads: red: "Pippy"; 
grey: "Greater Porpoise"
-- all materials from Roxy Floss/Evertote
in London, Ontario, Canada

Then there's some spinning, which I really enjoy in the summer. I'm participating once more in the Summer Spin-in, hosted by the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry.  In my last creative post I'd finished spinning the singles from the last of the hand-painted Falkland braid I'd won from the group's 2023 SSI, and had selected roving from stash with which to create new singles, so I could make two-ply marls.

I've managed to finish one of those marls!

Here it is on the bobbin:

And here it is, all washed, set and skeined up -- about 60 grams: the yellow-to-peach Falkland with a deep teal unidentified fibre:

It's rather a funky colour-way but I suspect it'll make some fun mittens!

What's left? Only the garden which, with the unusually wet, cool summer, has provided me with abundance, to whit:

• I've been eating so many salads with my leaf lettuce that I'm beginning to feel like a rabbit;
• The green beans are being enjoyed, and some have been par-boiled and frozen for later consumption; 
• Most of the zucchini have been manageable -- I've given away a couple of salad-worthy ones -- but I overlooked one, and he's now on his way to becoming muffins and Z-bread;
• The cherry tomatoes are just starting -- and there are lots more flowers but I'm not sure they'll amount to fruit (sigh); and...
• Then there are the raspberries.  I think I've got most of them, but I've picked at least four times -- 8 cups per pick -- and there may still be a few left. They've been weighing down the canes to the point of breaking, and in my last foray (Tuesday), they were falling off onto the grass if I so much as looked at them sideways!  I've made 16 cups of jam and have given away countless cups, fresh, as well as enjoying them myself!

Here's the veggie/fruit rogues gallery:

Bumper Crop -- July 21,2025

More!  August 6, 2025

2nd Feed of Beans - Aug. 5, 2025

The baking zuke - Aug. 5, 2025

More 'reasonable' zukes,
and first cherry tomatoes
Aug. 6, 2025

Raspberry Jam - July 22, 2025

Like every good crafter/gardener, I have assistants who love to supervise my activities, or simply pose.  Featured: my young fellow, Smokie, age 2 years:

"Still Life: Young Cat with Produce"
July, 2025

I think that's all the news that's fit to print for this time, Gentle Readers!  I'll leave you with my usual link to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday". She has fallen head-over-heels for rug-hooking, and I'm delighted!  

Let's all go out and -- however we do it -- Create Beauty Every Day (as my rug-hooking mentor, Deanne Fitzpatrick, is wont to say).

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!