Something for Everyone!

 It might have taken me almost a month to post an update but, Gentle Readers, I hope you'll find it worth the wait!

For a change, let's start with my progress on the work for Art in the Park 2022 -- which is to tour B.C., starting at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre, in 2023.

You might recall from my last post that I'd made several unsuccessful samples for ideas I'd had re: a "meadow" piece, and had finally returned to my passion for improv and "artful log cabins" in the style of Katie Pasquini Masopust.  Now that piece is finished but for trimming, facing and attaching a hanging sleeve:

As a reminder, here's the inspirational photo:

Next up, another "flora" inspiration: a plant called "False Hellebore" that grew in profusion in the area, but though pretty, is poisonous.  Here are some photos I took in situ:

Don't those leaves look luscious?!

I had a vision of something 3-D.  Along came a wonderful episode of The Quilt Show featuring artist Mary McCauley, who (by happenstance) makes pieces that resemble "pop-up" books.  Who knew?!  The show got me excited, so I bought her book -- in PDF format because the CAD exchange is out of this world.  At least this way I avoided shipping and printed off only essential pages.

I then tried samples in paper, using recycled file folders as Mary recommends:

Sample 1

Sample 1 - closed

Et voila!  Sample 1 opened

Sample 2 closed

Sample 2 opened

Ah well...neither of these would give me the look I wanted: 3 sculpted leaves meeting around a centre base, like the ones in the photos.  Sigh.

Then I did a bit of internet snooping and found a product that would enable me to mold leaves in the way I wanted -- and maybe this would also enable me to hand-stitch them onto a corded base.  And it's fusible!  Hmmm.   The product is "Inn-spire-Heat Set Moldable Non-woven Interfacing" and -- joy of joys!! -- I could get it in CANADA -- from a shop in Winnipeg, Manitoba: KTR Sewing Centre.  Who knew?!  There's a YouTube video on how to use it.  I ordered two sheets -- despite the flat rate shipping which was almost equal to their cost -- and lo and behold!  Because the actual shipping was significantly less expensive, this wonderful shop refunded me the difference!!  It arrived last week; I've  yet to return to sampling...so stay tuned!

Meanwhile...I moved on to a third piece, from the "forest" inspirational photos -- a section of fallen log:

This one is going to be full of texture.  I began with a simply wonderful commercially-produced background fabric, which I quilted with straight lines.  Next, I painted some used dryer sheets (courtesy of my daughter and one of her friends), and applied them to the surface with hand-stitch, using #12 perle cotton.  

Next I put the piece in a Q-snap frame and began to free-hand embroider the surface with straight stitches, seed stitches, sloppy French knots etc., starting at the top:

I decided to move slowly down the piece, applying all the surface embellishment in one section before moving on to the next.  To this end, I auditioned (and have now begun to add) some seed beads:

Because the fabric isn't easy to stitch through (2-3 layers depending on how I work it out, using threads of varying thickness), it's going to take me some time, but I think it will be well worth it in the end!  Stay tuned for more progress!

Now...what about the other stuff on which I've been working?!

Well...there's all the cross-stitching, mainly for Xmas gifts -- progress on several fronts, some of which I can't share here as the recipient(s) read my blog:

"Quaker du Japon" from Jardin Prive is 2/3 finished!

It's been sitting idle since just before Canadian Thanksgiving, because I've also been working on this:

For a young woman who I'm told likes to bake -- this is one of a series called the "Kitchen Counter" series from Hands On Designs.  The full caption will read, "Life is short; lick the bowl".  Great fun!  (I'm using my choice of DMC floss from my stash, plus a 30-count "mystery evenweave", also from stash.

And this week was -- once again -- a visit with the gnomes on the "Growth Chart" project.

In my last post it was here -- approaching the "90" mark:

As of late last evening (October 22), it was here:

Yes, I'm working on flowers and leaves, just past the "100" mark.  Coming along nicely!

Meanwhile, the other wee project for the baby who's going to be given the Growth Chart, was a promised pair (or 2) of socks as the weather grew colder.  These are now finished but to sew in the ends and wash them -- and they'll be mailed off this week:

Last but not least, one more Xmas/birthday gift has been in progress: a throw quilt for a young man of my acquiantance. The top is finished except for the addition of a border to make it a bit larger -- but still within my ability to quilt it here at home.  

The pattern is "Magic Tiles" but, true to form, I messed up the slicing and dicing a bit, so I'm calling it "Wabi Sabi" instead! 😉😆

No matter; it's going to be a cozy covering for TV watching, movie watching, reading, game-playing etc., and I hope it gets well-used!

My theology class is almost over, much to my relief, and I won't be taking another till the new year -- a good thing, because I have too much to do between now and then!

I'll leave you with my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  She's busy this week so is "just hosting" -- but there are lots of blogs to look at, and be inspired.  Happy end of October -- and if your in the Northern Hemisphere, get ready to hunker down and stay cozy!

'Bye for now!

Almost There...

 There's a great deal of "almost there" going on here right now.  It's been "almost autumn" for the last couple of weeks.  Cooler mornings, sometimes cooler days -- and sometimes days in the twenties Celsius -- from low to high!

All the while the leaves are turning, the grass has stopped growing, the geese are trying to figure out which way is "south" -- but my cherry tomatoes have refused to believe it's not summer!  Believe it or not, I picked these yesterday -- September 29 -- in central Alberta, Canada, Zone 2a to 3 (depending on who you ask).  Go figure!

Meanwhile, "Samper September" is nearing its end.  I didn't do as much sampler work as I'd planned, but I've enjoyed it nonetheless.  So..."Ann Turtle, 1810" has 2/3 of a border.  My September needleroll is snoozing, as is "Ruth Gibb, 1882" -- though I did add "q r s t"  before I set it down!

All that aside, I'm getting there with "Growth Chart" -- perhaps the most ambitious piece I've got on the go at the moment.  This is not just due to size, but also to the fact it's intended to be a 2022 Xmas gift!  So as mentioned in my last post, I focused on it for the better part of a week last week.  Here's where I left it on August 22nd:

and here's where it is now:

Lest you get your gnomes confused, the fellow with half a hat in August now has a full hat, and has discovered leaves and flowers growing behind, around and above him.  The next gnome goes on that blue step to the left of the ginormous pink blossom -- in about 10 days from now. 

With a few days left in September, I turned to the September "Back to School" mini-bouquet from Jeannette Douglas -- the 9th installment of her free informal SAL for 2022, which I'd not even touched.

These are delighfully tiny and colourful stitches, so I finished it up yesterday (Sept. 29):

And here's what it looks like next to its mates:

There's another border running horizontally below the bottom three; I've done just enough of it -- plus the border on the left side -- to enable me to place the October motif properly.  Coming soon!  😉

What next?!  Well...it's less than 3 months till Xmas now, and for those of us who give hand-made gifts, that means "Get a move on, eh?!"  

So...I've returned to the "Quaker du Japon" from Jardin Prive, starting now on a rather large motif that's pretty much dead centre in the piece. Here's the model photo (from Traditional Stitches shop site, which is where I bought the pattern):

See that BIG red and black motif in the centre?  Yep!  That's the one on which I'm working!  I'm about 1/4 of the way around the outer two black borders.  Having started at the top, I'm now making my way counter-clockwise around the design.  That's because I'm working from left to right across the piece, so I've positioned each motif based on what's either above it or to the left of it.

And because I've got at least 2 more stitchy gifts to make for Xmas, I've started one of those too -- for my son's lady friend, who likes to bake.  It's one of a trio called "The Kitchen Counter Series" from Hands On Designs.  This one is entitled, "Lick the Bowl".  Delightful!

As for Art in the Park 2022...I'm almost there too -- at least, with the first of at least 3 pieces that are required!

Remember all the samples I described in my last post?  Well...live and learn.  None of them -- no, not one -- would work for this first piece.  A large part of that was due to time.  I discovered -- to my chagrin -- that, in order to make a piece of any size, most of those techniques would take far longer than the time allotted for this project. 

What to do?

Rethinking...and trying without success to create anything that bore any resemblance to any landscape I'd been able to make "BC" (Before COVID). So...I went with what I'd been doing, and what I learned from Katie Pasquini Masopust's practice of "Artful Log Cabins" -- the same sort of technique I used to convert one of my wall art pieces into a bed-sized art piece, commissioned by a dear friend in 2019.

Back then, this... 

Trio (2012)

became this...

Prairie Quintet (2019)

Using the same sort of gridding technique, I've almost finished my first Art in the Park piece, with the working title "Meadow Impressions".

First the photo:

And now the "impression" in fabric -- on my design wall, still under construction:

Another four blocks and the top should be ready to assemble.  Then I need to decide on the quilting process, and whether or not there'll be textural additions (hand stitch).  Time will tell!  Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, the theology classes continue to challenge -- and irritate -- me (the author of the text takes up a lot of space to say very little)...and our poor wee parish has suffered the loss of yet another member.  That's two in as many months -- neither from Covid.  Both men, both stalwart, helpful, faithful, dear souls, and both at the end of short, unexpected illnesses. With another stalwart dying earlier this year, and the Queen's death so recently, we're a rather mournful crowd at the moment.

The only way to manage is to pray, to put one foot in front of the other, and to do what one is guided to do next.  For tomorrow, that means writing a homily and preparing the Order of Service for Sunday.  On Monday, that means writing up 3 of the silly questions in the theology text and sending them off to the prof.  At the same time, in the next several days, it means praying for two dear friends who are facing surgery...and sorting out what will be needed to remember the dear man who's just died.

After that...one must look forward, and live out what is set in front of one.  Finishing one art piece and starting another.  Working at Christmas gifts, which is always delightful.  Looking forward to Canadian Thanksgiving (next weekend) when I travel to Edmonton to visit my daughter, help her put her garden to bed for winter, and perhaps see some of her lovely friends at a pot-luck.  

Meanwhile, Gentle Readers, thank you for dropping by.  I leave you with my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday -- she too is finishing and starting, in the way of the world.  I hope you are all well and safe -- remembering especially my friends and family in Atltantic Canada in the wake of Hurricane Fiona, and friends and acquaintances in Florida and up the US coast as Hurricane Ian travels by.  May we find strength in the comfort and help we give to each other whenever and wherever it's needed.

As Tiny Tim said, "God bless us, every one."

When All is Said and Done...

 'And now these three [things] remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.'

-- Paul, the Apostle - 1st letter to the Corinthians, Ch. 13, v. 13.

Those Gentle Readers who've followed me for some time know that August is what I've come to call "My Anniversary Month".  I was married in this month 47 years ago -- in heat and humidity, in a little old church in southwest Quebec.  Thirty-one years later, on the same day, my DH died in a room just a wee bit away from the ER in a hospital in Calgary.  If you've followed me, you already know the story and I'm not going to repeat it here.

That said, that phrase from 1 Corinthians 13 was the tail end of what was read at our wedding.  It was true when Paul wrote it; it was true when it was read at our wedding, and it remains true today.

After everything has gone up in smoke and ash, what remains is...love.

Last year in August I began to work on a piece with that title; "What Remains is Love".  It's a sampler from Black Bird Designs, created especially for the 20th anniversary of one of my favourite needlework shops, Traditional Stitches, near Calgary.  I got a good start on it, but put it away after August -- until February of this year, which marked 47 years from our engagement to be married.

This month I took it out again and discovered that, lo, and behold!  I'd completed more of it than I'd thought -- so I decided to finish it -- and yesterday, I did.

It still needs a good press, and will be framed -- eventually -- but for now it's pinned up on my studio design wall:

And here's a close up of how I finished the bottom -- which differs from the pattern:

I used the alphabet provided in the pattern for the ornate "HMB" (my DH's initials) and adapted the numerals provided so that they'd match the size of the letters (vertically).

Typical of my challenges with counted cross-stitch, there are glitches -- mainly in the spacing of the motifs -- which (of course) produces a 'domino' effect.  I ended up lengthening the side borders a little bit, and, having some extra space in the lower left corner, added the heart motif -- taken from a different pattern, designed by Erica Michaels.  I look on that as a blessing, despite my fuding elsewhere in the piece!

Since my last post, I've almost completed the Erica Michaels piece, but can't share it here in case the recipient reads my blog post (it's a birthday gift).  And of course, once finished with "What Remains...", I had to start a new piece, right?!  You bet!

So yesterday I set out on the first motif of "Quaker du Japon", which I ordered to make up as a Christmas gift for my son.  It's a very soothing stitch thus far -- an "order out of chaos" sort of practice, which I really need right now.

Blessedly, though we're having a spate of Very Hot (for Canada) weather (again), there's been a bit of a breeze, so I'm able to sit outside to stitch -- and enjoy my garden.  The zucchini and cherry tomatoes are beginning to ripen at a steady pace, the Brown-eyed Susans are starting to blossom -- and then there's this bee balm blossom that looks double!

Bee Balm!

The bee balm's been blooming steadily for over two weeks now -- still going strong on the southeast corner of my house, with potentilla and lilies behind it trying to catch up.

Across the lawn to the east, under the small Mountain Ash (aka 'Rowan'), to my delight -- at last -- this year the poppy seed given me by my neighbour has not only sprouted but grown and blossomed!

Double-ruffled poppies in situ

Glorious poppies close up!

I planted them in a bed with other wild flowers, which are also starting to appear.  There are some forget-me-nots just out of camera range...and then there's the Whatever It Is right next to the poppies.  😆  I won't know for certain what it is until it blooms -- and maybe not even then!  No matter; I'll enjoy it!

Signing off with a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, and wishing you a lovely weekend, wherever you are. This week she's written about creating happiness -- especially if you're a maker.  It seems to come down to this: have faith in yourself, hope (and confidence) in your gifts, graces and abilities -- and love yourself enough to appreciate the unique being you are!

Thanks for stopping by!