September in the Air

 

Living in a country with four pretty distinct seasons, I've been sensing September in the air for a couple of weeks now (at least!)  No matter that the forecast for tomorrow and Sunday will take us back into the Heat Zone -- though not quite as hot as July.  The mornings are cooler, the dawn arrives later and the sun sets earlier each day.  The kids started school this week.  September is coming.  The Mountain Ash* berries are turning -- though not yet as red as in this photo from some years ago.  Some of my neighbours -- and I -- are wondering if climate change is affecting the turning. Then again, for the moment, there's no frost on the horizon.  They need to be more red by the first frost...or so 'they' say...   *Rowan in the UK

I've stopped cutting the leaf lettuce in my raised beds, and simply pull it now; otherwise, I risk its bolting.  My dill is forming seeds.  My Savoury is flowering so it's time to cut and dry it.  

I still have some tiger lilies and hardy roses bravely flowering, and my verbena is brilliant!  It's become a staple in my garden.  It likes a pot, it blooms, dies back and blooms again -- and it's deer-resistant!  What's not to like?!

And now I am at last harvesting zucchini that have made me happy.  Salad and stir-fry size -- no footballs!

Perfection!  Not too big, not too small!

Though my Mountain Ash and ornamental fruit trees have long ago stopped flowering and have produced fruit for the birds, my Prairie Clematis has done its best to cover the west window in my living room, and take over that assignment!

Bee on Prairie Clematis - Aug 26-2024

This month, too, we've had much of the rain we should have had in July.  I don't exactly know what this has done for the ranchers -- grain and corn growers -- but it's got to have been challenging to deal with!

On cool and rainy days, I've focused on knitting, stitching and quilting, so let's review, shall we?

First, I finished a "summer" sweater: the Vincas top, a free pattern from Berocco.  I made it out of 100% cotton -- Estelle Young Touch Cotton DK -- long discontinued -- I've owned ot for at least 20 years!  Mine is in the fuschia colour-way; out of 9 fifty-gram balls, I used 7 1/2 -- so it was a good stash-buster.  Moreover, even though I've finished it late in the summer season, it also looks great as a vest over a turtleneck top!  Win-win-win!  😁  I can't take proper "selfies" because I don't own a fancy phone...so here it is, lying on the back of the love seat in my living room.  

The construction is easy -- two rectangles, seamed together -- but the design is interesting due to the texture, which is created by the bands of stitching in different patterns, separated by a narrow drop-stitch band.  I'll be the first to tell you that I avoid anything with deliberately dropped stitches --- BUT --- this pattern actually worked!  I'm delighted!

My portable project continues to be the socks for T. I made her a pair that were destroyed (along with most of what she and her new DH owned) in a house fire last year...so this is a replacement pair, and as you might recall, I'm on the second of the pair.  She has long legs and long feet -- so these keep me well occupied when I'm stopped during Construction Season on Hwy 12 West.  That's supposed to come to an end today (Aug. 31) but given some fog and rain delays, who knows?  And I always have knitting in my bag, in case I have to wait for the train on the west edge of town!

Waiting for the Train (c) 2013

But as I finished the Vincas top, I decided it was time for a new start.  Of course, Christmas is coming, so there are knits in the line-up.  This year there will be simple cowls (aka "neck warmers") for some -- though not my daughter.  (You might recall that she is getting the "Presto Vesto" -- about which NOTHING is "presto"; I will be returning to that in September too). And there will be a simple shawl (or mayb two). Time will tell.

I cast on the "Back Bay Boomerang" -- a boomerang-shaped shawl -- for one dear friend, and love how simple it is to create -- with a wonderful ball of fingering from my stash.  Thanks to Karen of the YouTube "Recreational Knitting" for the mention of this pattern!  (she has a group on Ravelry by the same name).

The yarn is a ball of Queensland Collection "Perth" fingering in the colour-way "Tasmania" -- and I simply love it.  The photo is a couple of days old, so it's grown from there.  All garter stitch; a 2-row pattern -- perfect for a gradiant yarn!

The other gifts (cowls/neck-warmers) will be made from stash DK in a pattern to be revealed once I actually cast on.  Stay tuned!

In Quilting News...

1. I finished the "Rectangle Pinwheel" (free block pattern from Pinker n Punkin Designs) and delivered it to my friend Annette in Red Deer for her quilting group to include in their next delivery to Klare's Corner quilt shop in Airdrie, which is collecting quilts (or parts thereof) for the victims of the wildfire that destroyed at least 1/3 of the town of Jasper, Alberta.  

Quilted and bound - in the Outdoor Studio

Here's a detail of this quilt, which is made from scraps, including a pieced backing and a pieced batting:

Most of the time I've no recollection of the source of the fabric I use in the comfort quilts I make, though I will admit that for this piece, much of the background was from a recycled bedsheet -- courtesy of my daughter!  In addition, there are several blocks made with the same fabric.  Those were from remnants of a wide backing I used long ago. There's a lot  of mileage in wide backing! 😁

2. I'm returning now to the Celtic Knot Quilt that my daughter's commissioned me to make for a special anniversary for friends of hers -- a year from now.   I showed some work on this in my mid-July post.  Now, I'm ready to construct the actuall blocks.

I began with constructing the sashing that will go between the units.

Next, I followed instructions to pin the sashing and block units for the first of five blocks of one colour-way onto my design board:

Note that this isn't yet sewn together.   It will measure 22" finished; I need to make 5 of these for the pattern -- BUT I am enlarging the pattern to fit a king-sized bed.  

This means that instead of 9 very large blocks (3 by 3) plus borders, in the end I will be making 16 such blocks -- 4 by 4 -- plus borders.  (And yes, I got help from Hamel's Fabrics, the owner and staff of which figured out how much extra I'd need.)

So that's where it sits at the moment.

In addition to that, after finishing the Rectangle Pinwheel for Jasper, I got caught up on the "A Quilting Life" BOM 2024, for which (as you may recall) I'm using my Thimbleberries stash:

July BOM - I make 2 @ 8 1/2" unfinished

August BOM - another 2 at 8 1/2" unfinished

I've been using a lot of greens...and so now may have to switch my focus, as I'm running out of those in this sector of my stash.  I might have to switch to blues!  No matter; I continue to enjoy the fussy aspect of these small blocks because it helps me be more precise with piecing -- even if I don't plan to aspire to greatness in that endevour! LOL!  And heck; it's using up stash!  

Next up?  Yarn/wool hooked art -- and a bit of spinning!

My friend Annette was remarking that I seem to have so much on the go -- and I suppose that's true -- but I love variety.  I also love order, and planning, so I've got a rotation.  The nature of the rotation depends on the season, as some of it I enjoy doing outdoors (spinning, hooked art and stitching) and others require that I be inside (quilting).

In my last post, for example, I showed you my outdoor set-up for hooked art.  And those of you who've followed along have seen photos of my "Outdoor Studio", where I love to stitch -- as long as it's neither too hot (as it was most of July this year) or windy.

This week, as the weather is cooling, I've moved my hooking frame indoors, finding that I can still stand to do it (which I like) if I put the frame on my cutting table in the studio.  I'm continuing to work on the "Simple Shading" project from Deanne Fitzpatrick's online course by that name.  Some of you might think that as an art quilter, I should know how to do that by now, but it's quite different working with wool fabric slices and lengths of yarn!  And this project isn't a landscape; it's a still life, which isn't something I've depicted much, even in my quilted work.  So...I'm learning a lot.  Here's my progress as of yesterday:

I'm not happy with the proximity of the leaves above the blue flower -- it looks like one large blob! -- so that' will be rectified in short order.  I've also added 2 things to the pattern: a leaf in the bottom left corner, for balance, and lines on the vase for guidance.  I found that I had a tendency to hook in straight lines on that vase, even though I know I need to indicate curves -- so I dre the lines to help me out!

As for spinning, the Summer Spin-in over on Ravelry -- in the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group -- ends this weekend (Labour Day).  I managed to get a bobbin-and-a-bit of 2-ply marl spun up:

The pink/purple you see is from one single source -- a shaded hand-painted braid of 100% Falkland wool.  The black is a blend of wool (70%) and alpaca (30%).  I now need to get it off the bobbins, wash and set it, and put it into a skein.  I suppose I could call it "finished" at the bobbin stage, but it won't be "fully finished" until it's a skein!

Last but not least...cross-stitch!

This is my favourite late-afternoon/early evening activity, though I'll confess I do sometimes stitch with my morning coffee, as I know some other stitchers do.

As I mentioned in my last post, in July I focused on Canadian samplers, in August, I turned to pieces that had flowers in them -- but weren't samplers.  And (drum roll, please!) I finished two of the WIPs!

Yes!  I got that border done on the "Vintage Blossoms" piece -- and it matched at the top!  

Look closely -- the border fades 
into the background.  I like it that way!

Then I went on to finish the little "Buttercup Alphabet" piece, designed over a decade ago by Cathy Jean at The Victoria Sampler (you can still buy the pattern from the TVS website):

It's a cute little piece -- quite different from what I'm keen to stitch now.  After all, I bought the pattern and threads back in 2008.  Still, I'm glad it's done, and I'll probably either turn it into a pillow or put a little frame on it.  Time will tell!

My third 'floral' is the Kathy Barrick "Wildflowers" piece I mentioned in my last post.  I'm just coming down to the bottom of the first page of the pattern and if I persevere, I'll finish that later today.  It's a simple pattern but there's a lot of filling it to do.  This makes it comforting and meditative, which has been just right to help combat the stresses and strains of my life this month.  Here's what it looked like as of yesterday:

And yes, there are 3 more pages to do!

My thoughts are turning now to Sampler September, and my plans for the next month.  I've developed a fondness for working on a piece for seven days in a row (each day for an hour or more, as time permits).  There are just over 4 weeks in a given month, and I have these four projects in mind -- well, 3 Works In Progress and 1 new start. 😊

1. A return to Emeline Hotchkiss 1846;
2. A return to Memories of the Past (my birthday sampler from last year);
3. A return to Ann Perrin 1841; and
4. The new start: Frances Lawson 1836 -- from the 1994 publication, Sampler & Antique Needlework: A Year in Stitches.  This book was given me by a friend who was culling her collection, and I've been hankering to do this one.  It's going to be my first foray into stitching on 56-count linen.  Yes, you read that correctly: 56-count, one strand over two fabric threads (except the lettering, which is one-over-one), using DMC on a cream-coloured piece of Kingston linen from Zweigart.  I'm doing this on a bit of a dare, or at least, a challenge, from Brenda of the Brenda and the Serial Starter (Laura) floss tube.  She gave 56-count a try recently, and now she and Laura are gung-ho to do more.  And yes...I'm following them down that particular rabbit hole!  I'll keep you posted!

Alas, the individual pattern for "Frances" is not in print, and I've no idea where you'd find the book, as it's 30 years old, but if you have a nose for library book sales or the online secondary market, you might be able to track it down.  I can't find a link to the particular pattern, but I found this information on Amazon Canada...so you can still buy the book through them, or other second-hand book sellers.  Note that there are two volumes; the book I have is Volume I.

Now that I've caught you up on my Life in the Making for August, it's time to refresh my coffee, pick up my early-morning knitting, and get on with today's "rotation"!  I'll leave you with my best wishes to for a safe, healthy, creative weekend, a Happy Labour/Labor Day for those who so observe, and my usual link to dear Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

A bientot!

Hunkering Down

Tulips planted near the house, covered with 
leaf mulch and up-turned open-weave trays,
weighed down, to protect them from critters!

In these parts, one can tell that we're moving ever closer to winter, especially as it's now past mid-October.  We often get snow around Hallowe'en.  There are fewer and fewer leaves on the trees, and the wind is brisk.  Time to hunker down.  

Yesterday, I put the last of the yard and garden to bed, covering the purple trunk (a home for pots of flowers in the summer) and the storage bench, both of which are too large and/or heavy to move into my limited shed space.  The other bench is in the garden shed, along with the outdoor tables.  

The last of the pruning has been done, the pruners cleaned, sharpened, oiled and stored.  The long hose has been drained and is in the shed; the water valve to the outdoor tap, shut off.  The snow shovel and the cord (for plugging in the car's battery in very cold weather) are within easy reach.

The baby Saskatoon bushes have been ringed by and covered with chicken wire and netting to keep the deer from snacking on their remaining leaves and branches. There's only one job left: to cover my apple saplings with burlap, as they are very young and susceptible to a variety of winter hazzards. 

Indoors, all my hands want to do is knit.  This is, in part, a sign of how emotionally wobbly I've been for the last 20 months (at least).  The last time I was in this state -- with hands that refused to do much but knit -- was when my DH died in the summer of 2006.  Now, kntting's long had a reputation for helping with emotional angst and stress -- as has other repetitive handwork, such as cross-stitch, piecing and quilting.  Those of you who've followed this blog for it's almost-18-years journey will know that it's title started as "The Lady Who Knits on the Bus".  Knitting was the first craft I learned, and the one I've never stopped practicing.  It's immensely helpful now, even as I wobble along, sometimes muffing a joint on a circular needle, or misunderstanding a pattern.  

"Why so wobbly?" you might ask.  It's the times...still.  And since my break-through case of COVID in late August, I seem to be even more wary, feeling a bit more vulnerable.   At the Post Office here in town, at the hardware store in a nearby village...there continue to be folks (mainly men) who show up unmasked, with young clerks seemingly unable to enforce the store's requirement for customers to wear masks as our Province battles a 'fourth wave' of the virus, a wave so large that the Canadian Army and Red Cross and personnel from other provinces have had to come in and help in our hospitals.  All but the most essential surgeries have been postponed.  As of last Thursday (Oct. 14), while things were easing a bit, without extra surge beds and staff, our ICUs would have been at 163% capacity!  

The respected realtor who helped me buy my "East Lawn" a couple of years ago was hospitalized this week with COVID-caused pneumonia; he's in his late fifties.  His wife is at home, also sick with it.  I've no idea of their vaccination status, given his line of work but still, it's a sad situation.  Case numbers in the County are so high that our parish church is closed again.  I'm back to recording hymns for it every other week -- but my voice is not the same since my COVID experience, and I still have a periodic harsh cough.  I don't have the range or timbre of voice I used to have -- and only hope it's temporary!

Everyone's on edge; the nearby public school is on alert/breakout status -- and tomorrow, when our Province's Chief Medical Officer of Health gives her next update, we may get a glimpse of the impact of our recent Thanksgiving holiday (October 10-11)...given that folks in these parts are still largely unvaccinated and very family-celebration oriented.

Blessedly, as winter moves in, I'm mindful that Christmas is coming; I'm immersed in projects.  I finished the toque for my son mentioned in my last post -- the "Ribbed Cuff Toque" from Sylvia Olsen's book, Knitting Stories  -- and I confess I'm not thrilled with it.  Even though I 'got gauge' for the 22" size, the thing seems awfully large! That said, the pattern is fine, and not hard to follow.  Rather, I'm thinking my "problem" might be the yarn.  The original pattern calls for wool, which I know wouldn't work for my son, given his schedule and the nature of his household.  One laundry "accident" and it would shrink to doll-sized!!  So...I chose a lovely acrylic -- Cascade Yarns "Anthem".  It's soft and squishy...perhaps a bit too squishy.  Certainly, it's not as firm and sturdy as a woolly wool would be!  

What to do?!  I decided I'd give him the hat -- and another as well.  I dug out a "vintage" acrylic (some black Baycrest Sayelle given me by a neighbour who's down-sizing and clearing out this sort of thing) and cast on the Bankhead toque -- another pattern that calls for a crisp, sturdy wool.  But this time, being a "vintage" acrylic means that it's also 'crisper' and 'sturdier' than the soft, squish Anthem.  I'm again doing the 22" size, and have just finished the 3" twisted ribbing.  On to the hat body.  I think it's going to be much better -- but he'll have both and can wear what he wants!

While I finished the Xmas socks for my daughter at the end of August, I now have another pair to knit for her -- at her expense, as she's asked for them for a friend for Xmas.  The request was for autumnal colours, in the same pattern I'd used for a pair for my daughter a few years ago.  The yarn, I have to say, is glorious!  It's another from Gathering Yarn -- a company that specializes in limited batches of yarn that's hand-dyed in B.C.  This time it's "The Harvest is Here Stock Lot/Mill End -- The Basics Sock", a wool/nylon blend:

The pattern is "Hummingbird", designed by Sandi Rosner, and found in Clara Parkes' The Knitters Book of Socks. I've made it before, but...this time there's a new wrinkle.  The pattern's written for feet that are quite a bit smaller than those of the intended recipient!  

I decided to go with 2.75 mm needles (instead of the 2.5 mm called for), and to cast on 72 stitches rather than the called-for 64.  That was fine for the ribbing but...the lace pattern in the socks is based on a 32-stitch repeat.  Um...right.  What to do with the extra 8 stitches?!  I decided at first to isolate them on the back of the sock, and decrease them once I'd knit the first 12 pattern rounds.  The recipient's desired leg length is 11" from the cast-on to the bottom of the heel, so I thought I could decrease two stitches every four rows but...

See that rather ugly bulge (circled)?  The result of too many decreases too close together!  Aaargh.  Back to the drawing board!  I frogged back to the cuff and started again.  It took me quite a while to get the math down in a way that my brain could manage it, because of the way the pattern is written, thus:

• Knit rows 1-12 once; then
• Knit rows 13-24 four times.

Uh, yeah.  I had 8 stitches to "lose" while, at the same time, building in some extra length by knitting an extrat "rows 13-24" set.  It meant I'd be spreading the decreases (four of them at 2 sts each) over 72 rounds -- one pair every 18th round.  It sounds straight-forward enough but with most of the rounds being repeats of rows 13 to 24...I ended up putting together a table.

I've now completed three of the four pair of decreases, and it's looking much better:

Yes, there's still a bit of a 'bulge' -- but it should block out and disappear when the socks are worn, in a way that wouldn't have happened if I'd gone with my earlier attempt.  Phew!  Onward!

And yes...I have done a bit of work on quilts.  "Grassy Creek" has its label and binding on two sides -- now needing to be hand-stitched on the back -- and my commissioned Rail Fence is finished.  It will be delivered on Wednesday, when my neighbour visits her sister, who is my client.  My neighbour really liked it, so she photographed it for my client -- and she's equally pleased.  Another "Phew!"...

"Rail Fence Variation" - quilted
(shown on my neighbour's bed)

Here's the wide backing!  All one piece of fabric!

And now, Gentle Readers, though I'm late to the party again, I'm linking this up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  She took a painting class recently -- something outside the box for her -- and had great fun.  Sometimes 'tried and true' soothes the restless soul; sometimes 'something new' works equally well.  Whatever you're trying your hand at, hunker down and have a great week!

Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving rituals seem different now -- at least, for me --than they were in my childhood.  Back then, as I recall, this holiday was almost -- but not quite -- as "big" as Christmas.  There were special decorations in the church, and special hymns and anthems (I was in the children's choir -- very amateur, and mostly female...).  

There was a big dinner in the dining room with all the good dishes, glassware and silverware: a turkey with all the trimmings, and gravy, and mashed potatoes and carrots and maybe creamed onions and dinner rolls and butter and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie and apple pie with cheese or ice cream...and extra guests, like our Grammie and Uncle Rex with Aunt Ena, and our cousin Georgina (aka 'Nina').

After I married and had a family, we had a slightly scaled-down version of this meal, but there were still decorations in the church (always given away to the food bank or families in need) and special music (again, by the nineties, I was often singing on a music team that Sunday).   Grammie, Uncle and Aunt were all long gone, and Nina and my parents lived miles and miles away in other provinces.  Sometimes my sister would come -- but she also had her own friends with whom she marked the holiday.

Nowadays, Thanksgiving for my and my family is not forgotten, but has definitely taken a back seat to Christmas, all things considered.  

My sister and I have celebrated together from time to time, but not this year, as she has to be in Calgary for work and will be marking the day with friends.  My kids are on their own; we've not celebrated Thanksgiving together in years. 

 Church?  Well, yes -- "pre-COVID"  there was a grand celebration, with harvest produce and flowers (later given away to those in need) and favourite music.  After the service, the Anglican Church Women of the parish put on a turkey dinner, and parishioners contributed salads, rolls and desserts.  There was much fellowship and much left over to share. 

This year, as last, we've been unable to worship in person. Parishioners with overflowing gardens have undoubtedly shared them with family, friends and foodbanks.  There was a lovely pre-recorded service with special prayers and the familiar Thanksgiving hymns that those of us of a certain age know and love.  I'll be having a friend join me this afternoon for some knitting time, and a larger dinner than I usually create (I'll be sending her home with some!)  A bumbleberry crumble is in the oven as I type...

Over time I've added other "rituals" to this time of year.  Although some are weather-dependent, I do my best to honour them -- in part because I'm blessed to have the resources with which to carry them out, and in part because they involve preparations for winter that must be done anyway.

In the past few weeks I've been preparing the yard and garden for winter.  I still have my spring bulbs to plant -- croci, narcissus and tulips this year -- taking special pains with the process because in the last couple of years, my tulips in particular have not fared well.  I've enriched the bed in which they'll be planted, will be placing them in deeper holes, and adding bone/blood meal to the soil for nutrients and to repel deer.  They'll go in the ground tomorrow -- the tulips, under my south window and the croci and narcissus out on the "East Lawn" because deer are less likely to go after them (or so the literature says...)

Another ritual I've undertaken since I'm on my own and now live in rural Alberta where wintry roads can be icy and aren't always ploughed in a timely fashion: car prep!  

Around Thanksgiving, this means scheduling winter maintenance and the semi-annual "tire swap", which refers to exchanging my "not really all season tires" with winter (i.e. snow) tires.  That happens later this week, prefaced by my personal 'around Thanksgiving' ritual: changing out the 'spring/summer' floor mats for 'autumn/winter' ones, and giving the inside of my car a good cleaning.  Yesterday I must have done well, because Miss Pookie went inside for close inspection and definitely approved!

And let's not forget progess being made on preparing for gift-giving...

I finished my Kye toque in honour of Canadian Wool Month, and will be sending it away before too long.  The CloseKnit yarn, from Topsy Farms in Ontario, is rather "crisp" -- even after a rinse with hair conditioner -- but is quite comfortable as a head covering.  Here it is, being blocked on my favourite hat-blocker: an upturned 1 kg jar that used to hold peanut butter!

Pattern: Kye 'beanie' 
Source: Woolmark.com (free)
Yarn: CloseKnit 2-ply Double Knitting
Supplier: Topsy Farms

Once I finished that toque, I found my 'hat mojo' had been triggered, so I finally began the toque I'm making my son for Christmas (by request, instead of socks this year).  I'm using a decent acrylic yarn for easy care -- Cascade Yarns 'Anthem' -- in black (main colour) and red (motif), to make the "Ribbed Toque" from Sylvia Olsen's pattern, Two Toques, published in her book 'Knitting Stories...'  I've chosen to knit the motif as a 'stand-alone' in the black background, as my son wanted only a 'touch' of red.  Knitter's privilege! 😉

Both pair of baby socks were finished and mailed to their new home this week...and the yarn on the far left of this photo has been cast on for the Socks from Stash October Challenge, as it was the hands-down (feet-down?) winner of the Yarn Poll:

And I've been quilting -- working away on that Rail Fence commission.  The top is now finished:

And pin-basted -- taking a good hour on my hands and knees on my bedroom floor!

It's now quilted and trimmed, ready for me to cut and apply the binding. (No photo yet.)  It's a blustery, windy day, so perhaps before my company comes later this afternoon, I'll get a start on that.

As far as art goes...no new work under contstruction, but I did take the plunge this week and sent in my application for Lacombe's "Under $100 Art Market: 2021 Edition".  It's due to be held in late November.  Last year it was switched online at the last moment, and I was thrilled to sell 4 pieces before it went 'live' -- and one piece after it was over!  I'm steeling myself for another postponement -- or switch to online again -- and have taken new pieces of the work I plan to submit (only 4 so far this year):

Abandoned: Alaska - 5" x 7" in a floater frame

Between the Woods and Frozen Lake - 5" x 7"
in a *deep* floater frame that can hang or stand alone

December Dusk - 5" x 7"
in a *deep* floater frame that can hang or stand alone

Canoes on Cranna - 5" x 7" in a floater frame
("Cranna" refers to Cranna Lake in Lacombe, AB,
one of my favourite places, with a walking trail around it.)

Well, Gentle Readers, it's time for me to clean up and get ready for my guest...but not before linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's slow stitching -- another tradition for which I am thankful.   Thanks to Nina Marie for enabling the sharing of these posts, and thanks to all of you for reading!

May those of you celebrating Thanksgiving this month have a wonderful holiday.  Till next time...adieu!

Closed for the Season

The Outdoor Studio, that is.

Friday morning I put away all my outdoor furniture, because by Friday afternoon, it looked like this:

We had more snow Saturday and Sunday.  Today the skies remain overcast, and there's the odd flake in the air.

To escape the grey, and the flakes (in the weather and elsewhere...), I moved into my sewdio to create a piece I've been thinking about.  I may make a larger one, but for now I experimented with the approach (abstract) in a size that's just right for the 2017 SAQA Trunk Show.

I call it "Autumn Colours", and it's based on these photos of my back yard, taken two days before the snowfall...

View of the East side of my house,
with the empty lot next door in the foreground.
Trees with coloured leaves are on my property.

View from the East side of my garage,
looking North.

The changing colours of
a Mountain Ash (Rowan)

I dug out a piece of hand-dyed "sky" fabric; sure enough, it was just the right size.  Then I went through my fabrics -- mainly batiks -- and set to work cutting strips and auditioning them on the background:

When I had the arrangement I liked, I fused the strips, sandwiched the piece and stitched it all with invisible thread.  I've always used that stuff with caution because my Husqvarna Lily 555 is Miss Fuss-pot when it comes to anything she deems is a 'fancy' thread.  This time out, though, because I was doing straight-line sewing with my walking foot, Miss F.P. cooperated beautifully.

Here's the finished piece...

Autumn Colours (C) 2016
approx. 7" W x 10" long
Hand-dyed & commercial fabrics,
fused applique, machine quilting

The paperwork's been submitted to SAQA online; all I need to do now is tack down that facing, apply a label and ship it off -- to arrive at Trunk Show HQ by mid-January.

Up next?  More embroidery on the Christmas stocking, more knitting for gifts of all kinds, and construction of the Annual Christmas Boxer Shorts...

Some of which I can do while catching up with everyone over on Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's returned to sewing with renewed energy -- and she too is working on a colourful abstract.  That's definitely the way to ward off the flakes!  ;-)

See you "off the wall"!  (And Happy Thanksgiving to any Canucks reading this.  May you have a blessed holiday!)

Edging into Autumn

September is slipping through my fingers.  It's almost Autumn...which this year officially begins on Wednesday.

Autumn...one of my favourite times of year despite the shortening days.  The air is crisp and fresh and some of the best trail runs take place because of the cooler weather.

My tomatoes are all in -- green ones in a newsprint-lined container for ripening.  My roses continue to astound me, as do the cosmos, so I'm leaving them alone for the time being.  And I still have to mow the grass at least one more time.  On the shopping list: spring bulbs, which I'll plant now with high hopes they will grace my south flower bed eight months (or so) from now.

It's a bit too cool to sit outside stitching so I'm back in the sewdio, working first on my "Lost Edges" piece.  I blocked it out on Friday using my usual technique of a foundation fabric (unbleached muslin) and lots of pins!  I wasn't about to risk fusing anything in place till I heard from EB!

While I like the piece, I was concerned it lacked a certain "spark"...

Materials: sky - indigo-dyed silk;
hills/"shrubs": assorted synthetic sheers;
background grass: "Fossil Fern", a classic
commercial cotton; foreground
grass: acid-dyed silk;
tree trunks: eco-printed fabric by arlee barr.

Detail 1

Detail 2

And here was EB's response:

I think you've done a very good job of contrasting the edges...and great fabric choices...I don't think you lack very much actually.  Perhaps some debris around the base of the trunks to "tie" them to the ground so they don't look as if they're superimposed...go back out to the area ...or ck your photo to see how the bases of trees  dovetail beautifully into the ground.  You want it to look as if these trees are just growing right up.  You might want to move the LH hand group a little to the left...allowing a view point through the gap...

I think the piece has plenty of pizzaz with that perfect mould (or whatever it was!) dyed fabric... and I love the way you have it going soft and softer...as it goes back.
don't think you need leaves...but maybe a couple of branches to tie the sides of the image to the frame....looks like a great place to go for a walk!

I grinned when I read "Perhaps some debris around the base of the trunks", because of course that will come with the stitching.  And arlee's fabric is printed with leaves...not mould! (grin) but yes, she still makes the best tree trunk fabric I've found!

So this morning I sandwiched the background, as I need to quilt it down (especially the sky) before I apply those trees...It will likely finish around 18" W by 14" L.

And what of the wrapped trees?  Just over two months in, this is how they looked on September 13:

Tree 1 - stains beginning

Tree 2 - staining too

Tree 3 - I'm wondering if'
these stains will last.

Tree 4 - least stained of all,
and I thought it was muslin!

The Christmas knitting is about to begin...as is the production of new minis for two shops, and one for a Christmas commission.

Speaking of commissions...My DD reported that her friends like the Maritime Memories pair...and this morning I picked up the medallion quilt from Sylvia Sawyer, long-arm quilter extraordinaire... Here's just a glimpse of some of the work she did...

Part of centre medallion, zinger, piano key border

Section of outer-most border (untrimmed backing on the right)

Part of inner border, zinger, piano key border

DD will select the binding fabric in a couple of weeks (Thanksgiving) and I'll bring it home to bind and wash before it goes back to her to wrap and give away.

I'm finding this balance of bed quilts and artwork healthy.  I find it satisfying to always have some of each on the go.  The bed quilt construction is rhythmic and methodical (for the most part); the artwork stretches my brain till it groans with that mix of pleasure and pain that is, I think, common to most artists.

This afternoon, I'm piecing the border for the Magic Tiles quilt I began a couple of weeks ago:

Pin carefully because this is sashed at an angle

You want the edges to be even in the end...

Linking this up belatedly to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...hoping you have a creative week and a happy change of seasons.

Till next time...