Coping with Chaos Series: Frayed

 The last few days have been cold and damp-ish, with deep wind chill factors, keeping me from enjoying a good walk outside.  Those walk-at-home videos get me moving, but they don't include fresh air, the crunch of gravel or snow underfoot, and chickadees at the bird feeder.

I need to force myself outdoors when the weather's like this, but I'm finding it harder to do the older I get.  I spend time in my sewdio, and I knit.  I listen to music, and to the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral reading The Wind in the Willows, but it's not enough.  In this COVID time, though I've been trying to manage my news intake, there's added anxiety hovering about.  In my dreams, mainly unremembered, the people are wearing masks.

You may recall that in the first few months of this time, I couldn't make an original piece of work.  My first one showed up, at last, in June.  Then all of the piecing I'd been doing, and the playing with crumbs, resulted in two more pieces...

I continued to make crumb blocks with the idea of making a set built to 8" square, and assembling them into a top, probably with sashing, to give away.

Then I spilled my coffee.

It was on and under the cutting mat on my cutting table, dripped a bit onto a basket of yardage (from my "inheritance") that was sitting below the table, and was absorbed, at least in part, by a stack of these squares.

With less than charitable language, I cleaned up the mess -- all the while thankful that I drink my coffee black, so there was no sticky sugar or milk to worry about, and thankful, too, for that box of yardage, because nothing landed on the carpet!

I bundled the yardage into the washer, along with some other clothes that needed washing, and added the 8" blocks, stuffed into a net lingerie bag.  

All the fabric came out rumpled, of course, but otherwise none the worse for wear.  

I gave the blocks a quick iron and put them to the side again, resuming work on the other projects at hand -- the mystery quilts and the Christmas knitting etc.

But yesterday, in between assembling the "Frolic!" quilt (Bonnie Hunter's 2019 Mystery) and units for Clue #2 of "Grassy Creek" (the 2020 Mystery), the 8" blocks began to call my name.  "Do something with US!"

There were 17 of them.  I took four and assembled them into a four-patch.  I did the same with another four, and another, and another.  I was about to put all four four-patches (!) together, when during pressing, I noticed the back of one of them.  The washing had resulted in significant fraying of many of the fabrics -- not really surprising, as these were crumbs and scraps, small enough to fray easily.

I liked the look.  It expressed how I'd been feeling lately -- especially as the days are getting ever shorter here in the Northern Hemisphere, and ever colder, and as our Province's mandated health measures took a deep dive into increased isolation as of the end of last week.

Frayed.  As went the fabric, so have my emotions.  Grief is a very close companion, and my coping skills are being severely tested.

On Thursday afternoon I listened to the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Linda Nicholls, in conversation via video with Shawn Branch of the Diocese of Fredericton.  Somewhere in there, as she was talking about coping with these COVID-time experiences and feelings, she said something like, "Watch out for the 'strong ones'; they need support too."

Well.  I come from a long line of folks brought up to be "strong" in the face of adversity -- and they lived through much: the Great War (my father was born in 1904; my step-father, in 1914, and my mother in 1916); the Great Depression, WWII, racial and linguistic and other unrest in the nineteen sixties.  

Family deaths, miscarriages, financial worries.  They were of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" generations: practical, nose-to-grindstone, "mustn't grumble" people.  

And for a very long time, I was one of their ranks.  In the last years of my husband's life, my strong demeanour was beginning to crack, and immediately after his death, I was a mess for some years -- but now, 14 years on, I thought I was getting stronger.  Regaining my intestinal fortitude.  Being strong for friends and neighbours and my kids during this time of challenge.

But...yesterday, as I looked at those blocks, I had to admit that I wasn't as strong as I might appear.  So I put them together to show the forces wrestling within me.  There's the Strong, Competent, Can-do Person who feels good, stays fit, shovels her own snow, cleans her own eavestroughs, makes lists and crosses them off, makes do and mends, puts forth her creativity and enjoys making gifts for others out of fabric and yarn.

Then there's the Frayed, Grief-haunted Soul who gets achey and tires easily, hates fighting the wind chill to take a walk outdoors, is easily irritated and short with others -- and knocks  her coffee cup over on whatever flat surface it's resting.

The latest in my COVID & Chaos series:

Frayed: Watch Over the Strong Ones
- Side I

Frayed... - Side II

Frayed...Side I - Detail

It won't be quilted.  It may or may not end up with a sleeve -- or sleeves -- as I want it to hang so that both sides can be seen.  I may use clips, or add tabs; I'm undecided as yet.

Today, I'm allowing my frayed edges to breathe a bit.  I'm determined to walk to the Post Office, if not farther, and to get back into the sewdio.  A dear friend and his wife have just become grandparents for the second time -- and it's a girl!  A baby sister for a big brother.  Because her Baba knits, I'll make a tummy time blanket.  Baby is only 12 weeks old right now, so there's a bit of time to do so.  "What colours?" I enquired..."Oh", her Baba replied promptly, "She's a pink girl!"  I have just the right fabric -- in cotton -- from the "inherited" stash.  I'm on it.  

It's just the tonic to enable me to Keep Calm and Carry On.

And because I still can, I'm linking this post -- as I did the last one -- to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday. -- and to WIP Wednesday for Dec. 16, over at the Needle and Thread Network. 

Til next we 'meet', may you be well, stay safe...and do what you need to do to keep from fraying at your edges. 

Inch by Inch, Row by Row...

That's the start of The Garden Song, which is a lovely ditty I remember from my children's growing up.  

I'm a rather casual gardener, with distinct likes (blowsy, hardy shrub roses; peonies; wild flowers;  pots of geraniums and trailing lobelia; a few veggies in the mix) and dislikes (weeds, mainly, and rampant runners like yarrow and certain daisies).  I love my yard and working on stitching in my "Outdoor Studio".

My "Not So Grand Illusion"
on my bed...Pattern
from Bonnie K. Hunter

Similarly, I'm a rather casual quilter.  I have distinct likes (piecing, mystery quilts, blocks-of-the-month, scrappy quilts) and dislikes (most applique, using templates, making quilts in columns rather than rows.)

I don't do "fussy"...I don't worry about whether or not my points match -- at least not too much.  I try to cut straight, and most of the time I succeed.  Whatever magic my Scrap Queen favourite -- Bonnie Hunter -- works with her patterns, when I make them, they look like a million bucks!  This gives me a thrill!

During these COVID-19 months, my motivation to create original work has dwindled.  I like to know that what I'm making has a chance of being seen and taken to a new home -- not just online but in person.  I don't have an online shop; those who want to purchase my work can contact me, yes, but I don't "do" Etsy or any other sort of permanent presence.  

Instead, those of you who follow this blog know I've been spending a lot of time doing "OPI" (Other People's Instructions).  And though there may be a public art project in my future -- I have a meeting set for next week -- I'm continuing with utilitarian quilting, mainly for charity.

I'm almost finished the "Turning 40" quilt for my daughter, which I showed off in my last post (scroll down).  I've made it long enough and have added a row column (one of two) to one side to make it wide enough.  The second column (for the other side of the piece) is currently Under Construction. (Stay tuned!)

"Inch by inch, row by row..." 

At the same time, I've started two projects: 

1. Assembling a small quilt using Bonnie's 2020 Leaders-and-Enders Challenge, which she calls "Easy Breezy".    It can be used for a large piece, but I'm making small pieces, mainly baby-sized, that I can quilt at home and give away locally; and
2. Starting a new "row-by-row" project from the Canadian Quilters' Association (CQA).  I don't belong to the CQA but they're offering this through the "Quilting in Canada" Facebook group.  I came in on the intro to the second row of this up-dated project...so I hustled and got the first row done.  The second involves English Paper Piecing...I'm prepping, but not sure I'll keep up.

Here are the projects so far.  

Up top you'll see two rows of "Easy Breezy" blocks, quilted and joined by sashing that needs to be sewn down on the back (between blocks).  There is a line of sashing fabric 'auditioned' between the two rows.  It's all very colourful and scrappy!

Below that is the first row of the CQA quilt-along -- a row of  'Friendship Star' blocks.  I dug up some background fabric from my "inheritance" and will use it for as long as it lasts.  The other pieces are from 2 1/2-inch and 3-inch blocks I'm using from Bonnie's "Scrap Users System" -- meaning that some time back I'd already cut and saved them from remnants of other projects.

"Inch by inch, row by row..." 

And piece by piece...

So there you have it: where I am this week.

I need to make something useful -- something with a purpose.

Sometimes that "something" is "artful" but it's not "art for the wall".

And while I may be known more for the latter, right now, COVID-19 demands more of the former.  Any small-ish pieces that are baby/car seat/crib-sized/lap-sized will be done up and given away.  The rest?  The possible public commission? Well...we'll just have to see, won't we? 

"Inch by inch, row by row..."

Linking this to Canada's WIP Wednesday from The Needle and Thread Network...and wishing you a warm, safe, healthy rest of the week!  😊

Inheritance

 It's not been my habit of late to post weekly...but here's another one -- linking to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, once again just under the wire!

I know that somewhere in the last 8 months I mentioned that I lost an elderly friend in January.  She was in her 90th year and had been unwell for some time, with a "dickey" heart.  We met over a decade ago when I first moved here and was volunteering at the local lending library.  She, like me, enjoyed murder mysteries.  She was a fiesty Brit, from Yorkshire area, and we "clicked" and became friends.  At the time we met she was still quilting a bit, but had taken up card-making, which eventually took over as her main interest.

She also had several grandchildren and eventually great-grands, so she knit for them.  I would drive her out to the local farmer's market(s) and was the one who took her for her cataract surgery down the highway a couple of hours, when her children were unable to do so because of work commitments.

As she got older and went out less, I continued to visit her every week or so for a chat.  A few years ago (maybe 3) her daughter moved to our hamlet, bought a wee home not far from my friend, and arranged to work remotely from home.  She and I became friendly too, and we both kept an eye on "Mum".

Before she died, my friend told her daughter that she wanted the contents of the "cubby" under the stairs to be for me.

This morning was THE morning.  Daughter and I spent close to 2 1/2 hours on the contents -- sorting, tossing, re-directing...and I still came home with three (count 'em!) unsorted tubs of fabric.

It's been a very full day...and I've managed to launder two loads of the 'treasure'.  I'm a casual member of a local group of quilters, and have two good friends who quilt, so have put the word out to share the stuff.  There's also a fair amount of garment fabric, which will go to the local thrift store (a charity shop).

I'll still end up with some wonderful fabrics for backings, for scrap quilts, a bit for landscapes, some embroidery supplies and some glorious knitting magazines and books.  Am I spoiled?  Yep!  Am I grateful?  You bet!  

Here's just some of my "inheritance"...

The first sorted darks & lights,
with 2 of the special knitting books.
I have the earlier edition of "Folk Socks" --
but this is the updated one!

More sorted fabric and a basket of goodies.

On the left: "I'll do something with these";
on the right: polycottons -- light and dark.

 

A set of KnitPicks Rainbow Wood dpns (yum!), 
a bit of yarn, and a bag of baby caps to give away.

I've been asking the Good Lord to live long enough to use up my stash.  Today, I added a century or so more to the request!  Even with all I hope to give away, I'll have plenty to use up for charity quilts...till the cows come home, or Jesus comes back, whichever comes first!  😉

As mentioned, I'm late linking to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, and  WIP Wednesday over at the Needle and Thread Network too.  Have a great week!

More of This and That

I don't know about you, but I'm rather glad to see the back end of March this year!  In these parts it roared in like a lion, taking over Leap Day with a snowstorm -- and another the next week -- and COVID-19 cancellations the following week -- and then more snow.  As I write on this sunny-blue-sky April a.m., it's still in the minus-double-digits Celsius, and more snow is forecast for tomorrow!

Sheesh!

To make it even crazier, yesterday my laptop played an April Fool's prank -- or would have, if it actually had a brain.  I dunno; after yesterday, I'm beginning to wonder.  Perhaps it does!  I got up early as usual, turned on the laptop while I heated my coffee, and went to sign in.  I couldn't.  No matter how I tried, it would take only 2 digits of my 4-digit PIN.  I restarted it at least three times -- to no avail.

My son is a techy, but it was far too early to phone him (6:40 a.m.)  Hmmmph!  So...I called Dell, the maker of my aging machine (bought in 2013).  This is my fourth or fifth Dell PC; I love the brand.  Anyway, as my warranty had long expired, I was instructed to purchase a "single event" plan so I could talk to a techy and see if it could be resolved online -- a software/driver issue with the keyboard, perhaps.

$135.00 CAD later, I had an appointment with a techy; he called right on time (9 a.m. my time) and we were on the phone for over an hour trying to sort it out.  Finally he let me go and continue to work on the machine remotely.

While he was doing that, I distracted myself with some sewing.  On Tuesday I'd started the first section of Bonnie Hunter's "Unity" Sew-in-Place Quilt-Along, which I mentioned in my last post. 

Here's my selected colour palette:

Hard to tell, but there's a chunk of off-white neutral
fabric on the far left!

The first section is the centre medallion,
seen here starting to take shape on my design wall.

While the techy worked away, I added some more units:

A 4-patch of 4-patches!
BKH loves to construct in sets of units!

I really like how it's shaping up.

The techy called me back (as promised) and said...sorry...try as he might, he couldn't seem to fix the problem; it looked like it was a hardware problem.  He would be refunding my $135.00 -- Dell's policy for this plan because it couldn't be resolved online.  We talked about options and, in true Canadian Anglican fashion (😉) I chose the via media -- the middle way:

1. Purchase an external hard drive so I can back up my data in the event the aging PC should give out altogether;
2. Limp along using the on-screen keyboard OR purchase a wireless keyboard;
3. Prepare to replace the laptop as soon as I am able/ready/willing.

Staples had both the external drive and the keyboard...they should be delivered later today or tomorrow (free delivery too!)

What to do?  I needed groceries, and a break, and my LQS owner had my batting ready for pick-up at her door...so off to Stettler I went.  Got the batting, got the groceries...and stopped in at a dollar store and a hardware store, where I found potting soil and packets of veggie and flower seeds.  We may still have drifted snow a foot deep around here but ##@@!!!** it, I'm going to plant some seeds!  (If the shed door isn't frozen and I can get my starter pots out!)

By the time I got home and unloaded everything, it was after 4 p.m. -- and my PC had been asleep for over 3 hours.

I woke it up and signed in with the on-screen keyboard.  Then I went to FB Messenger to type a note to my son, and by force of habit, forgot the on-screen board and began to type on the laptop's own keyboard.  

Here's the spooky, weird thing: it was working again! 😲

I have no idea why -- but I have a theory.  After I put it to sleep and went away for a long while (3 hours at least)...it likely turned off altogether, or was in a state something like that...and the "reboot" it had when I returned to use it might have been sufficient to trigger success based on whatever the techy had done with it.  That's the only explanation I can hold in my mind...assuming gremlins aren't living inside my laptop!

No, I didn't cancel my Staples order.  I figure it's a good idea to have my own external hard drive and a back up of my data -- up-dated periodically -- and the wireless keyboard may come in handy eventually.  Neither were terribly expensive, and with the refund of the repair fee, I'm not out as much money as all that.

I finished off the day with a wee dram, casting on and knitting 15 rows of the first of the pair of socks I've chosen for the April Challenge in Ravelry's  "Socks From Stash" group:

Yarn: Bouquet Sock & Sweater (discontinued)
Pattern: "Canon" from Caoua Coffee***

This morning I shared this cast-on photo with the group on Ravelry, and discovered I'd won a door-prize following the March Challenge!  Whoo-hoo!  I'm to receive a free pattern ($8 USD value) from one of the group's designers!  😊  This made my day -- and made up for the grief from yesterday. 

Tomorrow marks the beginning of GE Designs' "Strip-Along 2020"...and I'm in.  Clearly I have a need for the repetitive, soothing work of cutting and piecing fabric, and knitting simple lace.  My brain relaxes and my hands are happy.

As Melanie Falick writes in her new book, Making a Life: Making by Hand..., I have been looking at my hands...and discovering the life I am meant to live -- need  to live -- right now.

So...I leave you with wishes for a safe, healthy, creative, blessed day wherever you are, Gentle Readers.  I'm linking this to WIP Wednesday over at the Needle and Thread Network, and to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

***Editted:  "Canon" was frogged last night (April 2) when I found myself floundering to follow the lace pattern (lots of yarn overs and ktbl -- Knit Through Back Loop -- in quick succession).  Clearly my concentration isn't spot on these days.  I'm using the same yarn, but have switched to a simpler pattern I've made before that will fill the requirements of the Challenge:  Hermione's Everyday Socks, designed by Erica Lueder -- another free pattern on Ravelry.

Nina Marie is talking about the comfort of routines in a time like this.  I'm happy to oblige.  How about you?

Do take care, Gentle Readers.

Find a rhythm and routine in your daily round,

and may the work of your hands be blessed.

Where To?

It's a new year; we're on the way in to a new decade.  It struck me this morning that a mere twenty (20!) years ago today, many of us turned on our computers with 'bated breath, wondering if they'd crash!

It seems a bit silly now, with so much water under the bridge since then, and so much more roiling and churning beneath our bridges nowadays.

That said, with every new year comes the hope and promise of a better, brighter era.  That has some folks pondering a 'word of the year' -- but this year, I've seen very little of that.  Perhaps it's a fad whose time has come and gone.

Ah well.

Last year, I didn't want a word -- but I 'got' one.  Like it or not.  That word was "MORE" -- but not as in "stuff".

Prairie Quintet -- the Wall-to-bed
Project - September 2019

How did it play out for me?  Let's see...

• More peace. More quiet. -- some;
• More time in the studio. -- Yes!  Including that "Wall-to-bed Project" that had me working in the studio very solidly for three months!
• More fruits and veggies. -- maybe...
• More water. -- yes!
• More rest. More sleep. -- well, more rest in the form of sleep -- I went to bed early most nights, and I think I may have even taken more naps!
• More giving (away). - Yes, actually -- including three quilts for a refugee family and one more for a neighbour burned out of his house, and a collection of paintings by artist Wadim Dobrolige to the Kuhl Centre in Edmonton.
• More fresh air. More long walks.  -- hard to say.  Our relatively mild winter is meaning more walks in recent months, but perhaps that only offsets our rainy summer that saw me indoors more than I'd like.  
• More poetry. - Yes -- I even wrote a bit!
• More finished projects.  I think so -- especially with respect to knitting UFOs that are now finished: two sweaters, a Shetland shawl and two pair of socks -- not counting new things started and finished this year.
• More connections with friends and family. - Yes -- largely due to a visit home to Quebec in

  

  Presenting CVR High School
   graduates with a family-founded bursary
  -- 50 years after my own graduation
  June 2019

  June, a visit to friends south of Calgary in August, and seeing my kids a bit more often.  
• More love. -- hmmm...well, I've felt loved more often this past year...and I hope I've shown it as well, but that's hard to tell.
• More forgiveness.  - probably not. 
• More patience. - maybe...
• More kindness. More gentleness. - well, let's just say I made more of an effort to be kinder and gentler.  And that took patience! 😉
• More self-control. - a bit.  But only just.
• More people remembered. - I hope so. 
• More letters written. - Not by hand...but perhaps by e-mail.
• More sweet memories made.  - Well, there were sweet memories made -- this last Xmas being part of that -- but more than before?  Let's just say, "more than in the last two years" -- and leave it at that!
• More joy. - not sure.
• More prayer. - Definitely!
• More contentment. - a bit, yes.

So...where to for 2020?  Is there another word following me around, nagging at me to be spoken into the new year?  A word, yes, but it expresses an attitude, one that I want to live into in 2020:

HOPE.

I choose to live in hope.

I want to weave me some sunshine into every day...

And then perhaps more of what I sought last year will appear

in my life -- and in yours!

Happy New Year, Gentle Readers...

Let's join hands and go forward in hope.*

*Sending New Year's wishes to my friends and fellow-makers on WIP Wednesday over at The Needle & Thread Network.  

Christmas is Coming!

Part I: How'd that happen?!

I know; I know.  It happens on the same day every year.  It's just that with every passing year, the months seem to evaporate more quickly.  Here it is November 25, over 3 weeks since my last post -- and I was going to try to post more often.  Ah well.

It's not as if I've been idle all that time!  A full ten days was spent at home because we got a Bag of Nasty Mix from Mother Nature: rain, followed by freezing rain, followed by snow.  And not once, but twice!  The roads were turned into snow-covered skating rinks and the County's sanders and ploughs couldn't keep up.  As I write, we're experiencing milder-than-usual temperatures, and much of the snow has melted.  The main streets and highways are in good shape -- bare and dry -- but the side streets here in my wee hamlet are treacherous with ice, making going for my usual walks an interesting adventure, to say the least!

So while the weather remains top of mind in conversations at church, in the Post Office and at the Shop, I've tried to focus elsewhere.

This week my daughter came to drop off her artwork for the Under $100 Art Market that happened in Lacombe on Thursday evening and Friday.

She had a good market with her photography, selling a large framed print, a good-sized photo-on-canvas, a matted print and at least a dozen of her lovely photo-cards (with envelopes).

Autumn at Cranna - SOLD!

Me?  I didn't fare quite so well.  After the initial excitement of selling one of my matted minis early on the Thursday evening, well...the other nine were admired but ended up coming home with me.  Ah well.  As artists we must live in hope, eh?

While she was here, Gina took several shots of the piece I want to enter into "Colour with a 'U'", and I expect she'll have them off her camera (a real one, with lenses, and a timer, used with a tri-pod -- the whole nine yards!  😉) and in the e-mail to me in the next day or two.

We had a lovely afternoon!

I've also been working to finish the last two bed quilts for the Syrian family that arrived -- as far as I know -- in Toronto on Tuesday.  They were to fly to Edmonton on Wednesday to be met by a contingent from the five churches (including mine).  I spent several of the 'iced-in' days finishing the sashing on the second string quilt, while my long-arm quilter, Sylvia, did a beautiful job of the one top that wasn't "Quilt As You Go".  I picked it up last week and finished the binding on it yesterday.

A QAYG quilt is simple to create, and ideal if you don't have the space to quilt a throw-sized (or larger) top on your own sewing machine -- but it is a tad time-consuming, because each section must be attached together using sashing.  It can be machine-done on front and back, but I don't care for the look of a machine stitch line on the front sashing, so I choose to hand-stitch the sashing on the back.

The photo below shows my 8" blocks, and a stack of sashing arranged in pairs.  The front sash is cut to 8" long, and is 1" wide.  The back sash is 8" long and 1 3/4" wide, but has been folded over and pressed in half.

You layer the top sashing, the edge of a block and the back sashing -- with the raw edges aligned -- and sew them by machine.  Then you press the top sashing toward the edge, layer it with the next block in the row, and sew that by machine.  Once that's done, you turn the pair over, and press the back sashing from the first block toward the second.  You pin that down and hand stitch it.  This is done until all the rows are created.

Rows of blocks in various stages of assembly
on my "design bed".  😉

Then you use the same technique to attach the rows together, and finish off with binding in your usual fashion.  I've never added borders to these quilts, but you could -- layering and quilting them first and joining them with a "zinger" (narrow sashing) in the same way.  Here's the second string quilt -- intended for a 10-year-old girl, and measuring about 50" x 65".

Altogether now!

And here's her mom's quilt, beautifully quilted by Sylvia, my long-arm quilter.  

She even donated the batting for the project!

"Chain Rail Fence" - 63" x 72"

Quilting detail

Between the Wall-to-Bed Project and these three quilts, 

I think I've had my fill of piecing for a while!  

Part II: It shouldn't be this hard!!

Now it's time to begin the Christmas Knitting in earnest -- and this year it's been 'one step forward; two steps back'!  First, about socks...

The Shop carries 'Reinvent', a yarn composed of 'everything but the kitchen sink' -- and I was able to purchase two skeins from the "Meow" and "Woof" collections:

"Border Collie"

and

  

"Maine Coon Kali"

My son has two Tuxedo cats, so I cast on the Border Collie using my favourite 2.75 mm needles, and 72 stitches -- my usual for his feet.  AAAARGH!!  The first sock came out 'way too big:

Sock for an Abominable Snowman
who's part zebra... 😆

Clearly an adjustment was needed!  I didn't change my needles but I did reduce to 64 stitches, and the result was much better:

More like a Tuxedo Cat! 😌

I frogged (rip it, rip it, rip it) the Abominable Zebra sock and knit it over again with 64 stitches, finishing it up on Saturday.  I've washed the pair now...and they're still rather light-weight and could be a bit large.  We'll see.  For Gina's, in the "Maine Coon Kali" colourway (honouring her aged 'Princess'), I'm dropping to a 2.5 mm needle and 60 stitches.  Fingers crossed!

In other knitting...I am making fingerless mittens for my neighbours this year, and chose "How Quiet Mitts", designed by Helen Stewart.  I'm using a yummy yarn -- "Finn" from Universal Yarns -- that was a shop sample passed on to me by my employer.  It's a Merino wool/Acrylic/Alpaca blend that is very soft and rather drapey, but it's proving to be lovely for this pattern.  And it's in this delicious colour:

Universal Yarns "Finn"
Colour #107 - "Jam"

Here's my sad story about this project:

I made one mitt and let the project sit for weeks and weeks while doing other things.  When I returned to it...I'd forgotten how to do the increases for the pattern on the back of the hand...Here's what I wrote about this on my Ravelry Projects page:

I’m finishing the second mitten of this pair -- having started it four times!!! First, I cast on the wrong number of sts (32 instead of 36).  Then I discovered I wasn’t doing the “m1r” correctly and had a pucker -- and it took me three (count ‘em!) tries to figure this out. Sigh.

I don’t know why the second mitten was so difficult, save to say that after I finished the first one, I tucked the project away for several weeks (I said I started it in October, but it could have been earlier) as I was busy with other things.

Now that I’ve figured it out, the “mantra” for the increases is becoming lodged in my brain and I should be able to make another pair easily. (I want to use the same pattern for my neighbour’s husband, using a grey DK.) Let’s hope!

Here's the first mitten, waiting for it's ends to be sewn in.  Note: it's hard to take a photo single-handed! 😣

Surely to goodness it will be all downhill sledding from here -- and all will be finished and wrapped in time for the holiday.   After Christmas...yes, there will be new art in the sewdio!

I'll leave you with a link (late as usual!!) to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" -- and another to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network -- as well as a wish to all my American readers for a Happy Thanksgiving.  

"...whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world." -- Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, 1927.

The Tale of Two Quilts: Editted to Update!

When I posted last week, I was pretty frustrated...but my frustration had been soothed by some wonderful news (click the link to find out what).

And...it would seem that that news was just enough to get me to pick myself up, dust myself off, and keep going.

First...this...

Had become this...

DYE RUN!!!

And everything I'd done by Wednesday night hadn't improved it:

• Two soaks in Blue Dawn liquid dish detergent;
• Two soaks in Synthrapol;
• One soak in Palmolive Original dish detergent; and
• Two soaks in Oxy-clean solution.

 (Photo taken Friday...in the aftermath.)

In my last post I mentioned getting colour catchers -- specifically, Shout Color Catchers -- but you can't get them in Canada, unless you order through amazon.ca, and I'd no time for that.  So...at The Shop on Thursday (July 18) I picked up 2 boxes -- 2 envelopes per box -- of Dylon SOS Colour Run.  I used them both, following the directions...and managed to improve/remove the pink from some of the whites but that one fabric -- that one with the black figures on it that comprised the background of the centre star and all the sashing?  It stubbornly refused to budge.

What to do?  I gave up.  I dried the **@@!! thing and put it in the mail to my nephew (it was his birthday gift) with a letter of explanation and the hopes he'd still like it.

Sigh.

Editted to Update: Culprit found!

I thought hard about what red fabric could have caused the damage and concluded it was likely the newest one: the backing/binding -- even though it had been washed before using, just like the other fabrics.

I did a test with a small strip of the stuff in a sink of hot water and Blue Dawn...

The culprit!!

Yep!

As I still have quite a bit of this left over (who doesn't, after using 108" wide backing for a twin-sized quilt?!) my plan is this: soak the remaining fabric in Retayne, dry it, then test again.  I'll keep you posted!

Thus ends the tale of Quilt #1.

There was nowhere to go but up, right?

Quilt #2 is, of course, the Wall-to-Bed Project, which I am pleased to say is humming along nicely.

It's gone from this to this...

Two trees...

To this...

Three trees...on my kitchen floor!

And here's how it looks when tested on the 'twin extra-long' bed in my guest room:

Currently 47" W x 69" L

At last I was able to send my client another up-date.

Now I'm contemplating how to finish the sides.  The bottom is straight-forward as is the right side...but the left (the 'tree side')?  I'm thinking about adding two more trees with background in between, to take it to a drop of 16" (finished).

The right side drop is about 7" so only needs another 9" to finish it, while a full 72" W x 17" L strip needs to be created of trees and grass in order to finish the bottom and bring the entire thing to a finished size of 72" W x 86" L.

The thing is, I have a deadline for this piece -- the sooner the better! -- because my client turns 99 in October.  Whoa!  And I want to ensure that when she eventually passes on (the later the better!), should one of her heirs want it, and want to hang it rather than sleep under it, there's some artistic merit to the entire piece, that it's consistently designed, even though it's meant to be utilitarian.

SO...off I go to contemplate...leaving you with a link to WIP Wednesday over at the Needle and Thread Network, and soliciting any ideas you might have about that left side!  Have a great rest of the week!

ETU - Saturday, July 27: Preparing to work on the last of the right-hand side of this quilt later today.  Meanwhile -- because I still can -- I'm also linking to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  Have a great rest of the weekend!

Wall-to-Bed: A Progress Report

The past several days have been "iffy" as weather goes.  Sunday was the loveliest -- and it still included clouds rolling in and out and around the place, with threats of thunder storms.  I spent the afternoon weeding the veggie patch at my sister's cottage, dead-heading some of her peonies and ensuring her tomato plants had TLC.

Happiness is a well-tended veggie patch!

Though she's taken care to bring in manure and compost to enrich her patch, she still grows a mean crop of chickweed!  It took me a good two hours and then some to clear it out (and she'd already done around the lettuce and zucchini the weekend before!)

The great thing about the cooler, wetter-than-expected weather (aside from the fact that it meant I didn't have to deplete my rain barrels by watering my own gardens) is that I didn't feel guilty about staying inside and tending to the Wall-to-Bed quilt.

Following on from Saturday's work, I sewed all four rows of the "sky section" together:

Sky Section - original on the left, "logs" on the right!

On Monday I set to and created the "bush" section.  This was a case of 'one step forward, two steps back'.  It was tricky to make the blocks to include both sky and "bush".  Instead of four rows of four blocks each, I was using one row of three larger blocks.  Instead of working right to left, I chose to work left to right...after I realized I'd messed up the centre of the three blocks.  Sigh.

I realized that to get it right, I had to start with the highest bit of "bush" -- the block farthest left.  Using that as an "anchor", I made two more blocks, moving "down hill" as it were.  In the end it looked like this:

SKY...and "bush"

That done, I moved on yesterday to the "earth" (ploughed field) blocks, and finished them today -- two rows of four blocks each.









Comparing the two...can you see where I'm going with this?











By now the log cabin version is approximately 27" wide by 50" long.  Adding the green "grass" section will take it to 70" or so.  Then...Side Two: The Trees!

Again, I'm aiming for a 'top' section that's about 40" x 70"; borders will carry on the theme to complete the work at 72" x 86" (finished).

Yesterday I visited my long-armer to pick up the quilt I've made for my nephew's birthday...the one I made from red, white and black scraps as a Block-of-the-Month using a modified version of Edyta Star's BOM for The Quilt Show in 2018.

TQS BOM 2018 -- before quilting!

Well...considering dear Sylvia (my long-arm quilter) is going to quilt the Wall-to-Bed Project quilt, I took it with me to show her.

Turns out she's a fan of Katie PM (tell me now, who isn't -- once they've seen her multi-faceted wonderful approaches to quilting?!) and she's excited!  She's got one of Katie's earlier books and has now been motivated to look up Artful Log Cabin Quilts...so she can think ahead to when she'll be quilting the one I'm making.

Ya gotta love it, eh?

So...it's Wednesday evening.  Tomorrow I work at The Shop -- a chance to knit a bit and take a break from the sewdio.

Friday = grass on the Wall-to-Bed project.

I leave you with a link to the WIP Wednesday blog...and a wish for a happy and creative rest of this week.

Once again, Happy July 4 to my American readers...with prayers and a hug...just 'cause...well...you know...

Spring Greens!

Today's the First Day of Spring -- so-o-o-o-o-o-o-o long awaited -- and Mother Nature has obliged us here with a clear blue sky, lots of sunshine and temps so warm I had to switch up to a lighter jacket, remove a sweatshirt and change from a toque to a cap for my afternoon jog-walk.  Whoa!  Who'd'a thunk it?!

I'm feeling so chipper and cheerful (after a couple of tough weeks) that I'm even posting on a Wednesday -- and will be linking up to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network for the first time in ages. Wonder if anyone there will remember me?!  😉

While I write, my bread maker is cheerfully churning up a loaf of multi-grain bread for me to take to church Sunday for the weekly Lenten Lunch.  It's soup (usually 3 varieties), bread and/or buns, and cheese...plus the usual coffee, tea or juice...all for a free-will donation.  Tired of trying to figure out the best way to schlep soup 43 km. over a country highway into town, I've opted to contribute bread the past few years and it works a treat. 😊

Meanwhile...what's been under the needle?

The plan for today was to stitch down the background for a small art piece and photograph and enter an up-coming art show -- Canada's "Grand National".

But first...

There was a call out from Helen at Angels in Gumboots in New Zealand quilters for quilt blocks -- with the goal of making (at least) 50 quilts to honour those who died as a result of the mosque massacres there last weekend. 

There are two types of 6 1/2" unfinished blocks -- hearts on white backgrounds -- being requested.  One features green hearts on white; the other, hearts in other colours on white.  I made 1/2 dozen green-on-white and put them in the mail this morning...

Heart blocks started, prepped

Heart blocks - 6 1/2" unfinished and ready to mail!

From there I went into "show entry mode". This was the planned "destination" for that beach-with-picnic table I've been working on.

It took me some time (over an hour!) to get just the right photos I wanted for this Grand National entry.  The piece isn't huge but it took quite a bit of work -- dyeing and then over-layering the sky to get the right blue, and hand-stitching the grass in the foreground.  In the end I sent in these two photos, with hopes that they'll be just right:

Before the Crowds (c) 2019
27" W x 16.5" L
Materials: self-dyed and painted synthetic fabric,
commercial cottons, hand-dyed cotton embroidery floss
Techniques: fused layers, machine quilting, hand-stitching

Before the Crowds - Detail

I had trouble getting my photo program to save the photos in the size the entry required (max 2500 pixels on the longest side) and still come up with a file size between 2 and 4 MB. Mine ended up with the right pixels but a smaller file size, so I advised the curator of that and told her if she wanted the originals she could have those too -- but that they were larger as to number of pixels. 

All this trouble was caused by a recent Windows update such that my favourite -- ancient -- Canon photo program ("ZoomBrowser EX", not supported by Canon for years) has finally stopped being compatible with my PC and had to be retired.  The "newer" program ("ImageBrowser EX") that came with my camera -- a program I've never liked -- isn't as user-friendly, and now...well, I'm coping!

It will be what it will be.  If it's not accepted and I find out about that before the Lacombe Art Show and Sale, well -- I'll just have one more piece to hang in the show! 

Now...it's time to relax a bit with some knitting and a touch of my new favourite YouTube video-cast, Last Homely House East of the Sea with Kate Jackson.  She's funny, prolific with knitting, spinning, quilting, gardening, preserving and enjoying her hens, goose and cats...and she shares her life online, which delights me no end.

Linking up, as I said, with WIP Wednesday...and see you later.

Have a wonderful rest of the week!