Still in Search of Sanity!

Since my last regular blog post we've managed to move from autumnal weather into -- heat wave!  Along with that, we're getting wild fire smoke across the mountains from B.C., some from Saskatchewan to the east (!) and perhaps a bit of our own from up north.  Try as we might, we can't seem to get it to travel south... 😉

But between the heat and smoke, work in the yard and garden has been a challenge, and I've not been able to use my Outdoor Studio as much as I'd hoped.  

That said, given all the rain we got in June and earlier this month, everything's growing like Topsy!  The peonies were glorious -- as you can see from the above photo -- and the roses, daisies and yarrow, profuse!  

I've had 2 salads with my own leaf lettuce and snips of dill; my green beans are flowering; my cherry tomatoes are cherry-ing and I've 3 zucchini plants gearing up to flower.

Even the rhubarb I transplanted into one of the raised beds last fall, saving it from being buried by the raspberries, has given me a couple of cups, diced, and is promising at least two more.

And speaking of raspberries -- my canes are loaded again this year.  This morning, before the heat and smoke set in, I picked my first large collander full:

From which I made this:

Seven cups of fresh rasberry jam!

And I have a few cups left over to enjoy fresh.  And there's more on the canes yet to ripen.

Don't worry, Gentle Readers -- my crafting is still in the spotlight, because it is the key to finding daily peace and sanity, as the World Order continues be most disorderly indeed!

In the cool of the mornings I tend to take up my knitting, with what little bit of news I can handle, several knitting podcasts and at least two cups of good, black coffee!  

I mentioned socks in my last post, and indeed, I'm working on the second of this pair of "Cock-a-hoop Socks" from Canadian Nancy Wheeler of New Brunswick.  The photo doesn't do the pattern justice, but I think the yarn I dug out from my stash is capturing what Nancy was getting at when she designed them.  Here's what the first sock looks like:

Yarn: Subculture Yarn SW
Merino Bamboo Rayon Nylon Fingering
Colour-way: "Unicorn Farts"! 🤣 

I've set aside the socks, sweaters and blanket projects though, in favour of small items to go in my "Warm Things Box", which I'll take to my parish church in November for distribution to those in need.  I'm working on hats and mittens, alternating projects in turn, and have finished two hats and a pair of mittens, and am on the second mitten of my second pair of those.  Here's the line-up so far:

First, another LOSY (Left Over Sock Yarn) Hat, the fourth I've made...

LOSY Hat - Left Over Sock Yarn

Next, I tried out a pair of colour-work mittens.  I liked the pattern and would probably knit these again -- but would crib the thumb from "The World's Simplest Mittens" pattern. I'm not alone there, as others on Ravelry had doubts about the thumbs in this pattern. Anyway, here they are, knit as written:

Pattern: Kuura Mittens
Designer: Helena Joronen
Yarns: Blue - Cascaed 220 - worsted
Colour: #9487 - Puget Sound
White/Cream: Unknown worsted-weight wool

Third -- a hat, of course -- to stay in rotation!  This was a new to me pattern that I found when listening to this podcast: Cathy W. Yarn with Heart (a Canadian but I'm not sure from which part of the country). It's the "Look Out! Winter Hat"  designed by Roberta Rich, and it's free on Ravelry. The pattern is size-inclusive, is knit partly flat and partly in the round -- but can be knit entirely flat if you choose. It can be knit in 2 colours but I chose to knit my first one in Berroco Vintage, a worsted-weight (#4 in US yarn numbering) wool-acrylic blend, in "Black Cherry":

It's mostly garter stitch, and has an applied i-cord edge along the bottom.  It takes a bit more time and thought than the LOSY or other more "basic" hats, but I think I'd make another if I have the right yarn (or yarns) in stash.  I'd like to try a two-colour one!

And now...I'm on the second of yet-another-pair of my very favourite mitten patterns. I'm sure, Gentle Readers Who Knit Mitts, you know and likely appreciate this pattern too -- 'The World's Simplest Mittens' from Tin Can Knits.  This go 'round I'm using two yarns: an acrylic solid for the cuffs and a wool/nylon blend for the main part. I remain undecided as to the thumbs, depending on how close I come to playing "Yarn Chicken" in the end!

Red yarn: Mary Maxim Parisienne
DK - 100% acrylic - colour #104;
Self-patterning yarn: ONline Supersocke
6 fach, wool/nylon - Arizona - Color #1970

While I've been knitting every day (it's my go-to Sanity Saver), I've been working a bit with...

Quilting: 

1. The binding is fully sewn on 2 sides of the "Lupines & Laughter" quilt (Bonnie Hunter's Mystery 2025-26) and machine-sewn on the other two, pinned for hand-stitching when it gets cool enough to put a quilt in my lap, or the weekend of August 1 -- whichever comes first!  The reason? This is a birthday gift for my son's partner -- her "almost 40" quilt (she turns 39 later in August this year) and we're having a family gathering on August 3rd, which is a holiday in most Canadian provinces/territories!  So I need to get a move on!
2. No new scraps have been cut into usable squares/bricks -- too hot!  And out on the back stoop?  Too windy! And...
3. I've printed the July block from "A Quilting Life" but...that's as far as I've got.  Too hot in the south-facing studio (no ceiling fan).

Rug-hooking:

Working in fits-and-starts here, but am eager to finish my current project by the end of this month if I can.  For my part in the "10-Minutes-a-Day Challenge" at Deanne Fitzpatrick Studios, I'm working on the pattern/kit I won at the end of March as a member of her "March is for Makers" program -- now continuing as the "Makers' Meet-up".  

The kit is a variation of one used for the "Kit of the Month" a while back, and it's lovely.  That said, of course I'm playing with the suggested colours and colour placement!  That's the whole idea, isn't it?! 😉

"Singing to the Choir" -- on the frame
Designed by Deanne Fitzpatrich Studio

All I have left to do on this piece is the sky...and my plan? To bind it and give it to the friend with whom I sung at church for over a decade -- first as a trio (we called ourselves "The Quartet" -- see why, below!) and then as a duo.  Precious memories:

"The Quartet": 2 vocalists, 2 guitarists 😉

And then there's cross-stitch. Those of you that do these crafts probably know well the commonality they share: hands working together, often hand-over-hand.  It's that quality that plays a key part in the search for sanity.

I really didn't have much to show you in my last post, so I'm making up for that now.

July, for me, is the month I focus on Canadian designers.  In July of 2024 I began a lovely sampler reproduced by a talent American -- Kathleen Littleton of Cross-stitch Antiques, and I've continued to work on it again this month.  It was stitched originally by Emeline Hotchkiss, a Canadian girl living in or around Lacolle, Quebec, in the 1800s -- hence the Canadian connection.

Here's where I last left it almost a year ago (July 31, 2025):

And here's my progress as of yesterday -- July 23, 2026:

Emeline Hotchkiss, Lacolle, 1846
reproduced by Kathleen Littleton,
Cross-stitch Antiques.

I know it doesn't look like much but I'm turning the upper right corner of the border to go down that third side. Once that's done, I'll be moving to the bottom section, closing in on a finish. 

I'm working it with 1 strand of floss over 2 fabric threads on 40-count "Vellum" from Picture This Plus, using DMC floss -- called for the odd close-colour substitute from stash.  

To celebrate Canada Day (July 1) I started this tiny piece at the end of June and finished it at the end of the first week of July: Canadian Flag from Erin Elizabeth Designs.

I stitched it on 36-count Antique White linen from Zweigart, using DMC #327, one strand over 2 fabric threads.  I've a red mat and an inexpensive black frame from Michael's, and plan to frame it up and park it on the indoor sill of my front window, just 'cause.

Last but not least, I've gone back to Jacob's 2026 SAL, "Little Acorns", for a meditative monochromatic stitch. I'm not following the suggested sections very strictly, so I've really no idea of my progress compared to others doing this Stitch-ALong, but I enjoy it.

While I've worked on it on and off, this is the progress I recorded in May (!)

And this is my progress as of July 22:

Yes! I'm nearly finished this latest section!  I'm working with 1 strand of Roxy Floss hand-dyed floss in the "Pippy" colour-way, over 2 strands of Roxy Floss linen, 40-count, in "Platinum".  

Long. Slow. Distance.  That's what these pieces remind me of.

You see, in my younger years (mid-late twenties to early thirties) I took up running.  Long. Slow. Distance.  My purpose?  To manage my weight (I'm built like a box!) and to have Time To Myself.  I would run at least 1/2 hour a day, and longer (up to 2 hours or more) on weekends. I entered 6 marathons and finished 5 (one I quit at 10 miles due to the heat).  So I understand the rhythm.

The rhythm of the feet and legs moving in time. Steady pace; steady breathing.  Managing hills -- up and down.  Navigating around icy patches. Dressing for all sorts of wind and weather.  All to find Sanity, Peace of Mind, in the pace. Long. Slow. Distance.

Nowadays it's Long. Slow. Stitches.  Whether knitting loops or hooking them. Whether crossing stitches, or hem-stitching bindings on quilts. Whether drafting a bit of wool roving and spinning it, or plying singles to make a yarn.

Quiet, rhythmic and meditative -- yet productive.  Creating beauty every day that can be both savoured and shared with others -- with those in need or those "just because".  Beauty, comfort, the quiet expression and sharing of the work of our hands.

I have to believe that if we keep on keeping on, there will always be Light in the Making.  This belief is what gets me up in the morning and keeps me going all day.  Perhaps it works the same magic for you.

I'll leave you with that to ponder.  Nina-Marie is off elsewhere this week so...until next time, Gentle Readers, a bientot!***

***She's BACK! So I'm linking belatedly to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  Have a great day!

More in the Making!

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

In knitting?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now then, about quilting...

I've not done so much of that.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stacks and stacks...

Sewing pairs...

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

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

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

Yes, there's been lots of stitching!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I've managed to finish one of those marls!

Here it is on the bobbin:

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

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

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

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

Here's the veggie/fruit rogues gallery:

Bumper Crop -- July 21,2025

More!  August 6, 2025

2nd Feed of Beans - Aug. 5, 2025

The baking zuke - Aug. 5, 2025

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

Raspberry Jam - July 22, 2025

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

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

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

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

A bientot!

Day In, Day Out

Yes, Gentle Readers -- I'm still here.  Still putting one foot in front of the other.  Still trying to stay informed without losing my mind.  Still trying to bring a bit of light into the world.

The Jury is out on how well I'm doing, but Today is a Good Day.  (Photo at left: my big pot of verbena, taken about a week ago. It sits on the stump of a former evergreen, cut down by the former owners of the property, and serves to keep the deer at bay, sort of.)

It would appear that I'm keeping up a monthly blog rather than twice monthly, and that's okay.  I find that even though I have this blog and belong to several crafty FB groups, as well as some on Ravelry, I am a poor 'sharer' of my work. It's begun to feel like having to account for what I'm doing, when I'd really rather be doing it rather than posting "progress" photos on line.  

Any of you feel that way sometimes?

Still, I know that some of you may be patiently waiting (or not!) for an update on my assorting makings, so let's catch up, eh?

Knitting:

I finished one sock -- count 'em -- one -- in June.  My hands were bugging me, so while I liked the pattern and the yarn, I set that pair aside for now.

One day this sock will have a mate!

That didn't stop me from casting on another pair for July! The Socks from Stash group on Ravelry had a challenge that filled the bill -- knit a pattern from a designer that is new to you -- so out of my queue, I plucked the "Fable (Fake  Cable) Socks", and from my stash, some Lang Yarns Jawoll Cotton (wool-cotton-nylon blend) and as of today, I'm at the toe of the first sock.

Have I take a photo?  Silly question! 🤣 Of course not!  I'd rather knit the sock than photograph it!  So...stay tuned.  

The sock progress was great the first few days, and then my hands began to bug me -- not because of knitting but because of other things I was doing with them, involving yard work and pruners -- so while I'd like to be working on the 2nd sock by now, well...it will happen when it happens.

The baby cardigan continues apace; I finished the body and am almost 1/2 finished the first sleeve -- but again, no photos. Sigh.

I did manage to finish the 'Bosquet Hat' and decided one was enough.  Perhaps another time, with a smoother yarn...but that's anyone's guess.  Still, I washed and blocked it and it is in my give-away box.

Following that, I cast on a scarf -- "The Simple Thing", which is an asymmetrical garter stitch scarf with a knit-in I-cord edging.  I'm rather enjoying it and would have made more progress had I not been so enamoured of my 'Fable' socks!

I'm using a rather funky self-striping yarn for this -- from stash, of course -- so it's creating a very different pattern as the one-sided increases continue.  No matter; it will keep someone warm!

Quilting:

I finished the Disappearing Four-Patch top and really like the results!

I've added it to my collection of tops (now consisting of 2 throw-sized and 1 crib/car seat sized) and am busy assembling another throw, which I'll show in a future blog post.  I've been in touch with a friend in Dauphin, Manitoba, because she has friends in a northern Manitoba guild, and there might be a need for donations once wildfire season there is over.

I made the July block for the BOM from A Quilting Life, and am happy with how it's using up my stash:

Here are the January-through-July blocks, laid out in a tentative setting:

And in recent days I've dug out a postage-stamp quilt that I sandwiched eons ago, and started to hand-quilt using perle cotton and big stitches.  I've got a drive to finish it, so there'll be a photo or two in an up-coming post.

Cross-stitch:

As my July includes Canada Day, I've made my focus piece the Canadian sampler I began a year ago: "Emeline Hotchkiss, Lacolle, 1846", reproduced by the American stitcher, Kathleen Littleton of Cross-stitch Antiques.  You may recall that I grew up near Lacolle, Quebec, Canada, which is where Emeline was from.  She died at age 14, about 3 years after she stitched this piece.

I've made great progress, and am moving into the second page (from left to right in the pattern, which is wider than it is tall);

Here's where I left off a year ago:

And here's where I was as of a week ago (I'm a bit farther on as of this writing.)

I've finished the little "summer" piece that I mentioned in my last post, too.  I've decided to fully finish it as a needle book, a gift for Claire, the young woman at Ellis Nature Sanctuary who, because she was a new stitcher -- embroidery -- and the Sanctuary's gift shop is carrying embroidery kits re: the birds they see and protect locally -- to invite stitchers/spinners/knitters to a weekly "Fibers* and Firs" gathering, every Tuesday evening this summer. 

All I have to do is press it, attach the charms from the kit, and put it together into a needle book.  Photos next time, I promise!

*She knows that this is NOT how Canadians spell "fibres" but the posters were done and dusted before she noticed that the US spell-check had..um...inserted itself.  Apologies to my Canadian compatriots and readers.

Even though I'm still working on "Emeline", I decided that having finished one 'summer' piece, I needed to pick up one that I'd left languishing, and that one is a section of a Black Bird Design I've started from the reprinted book, A Heart Remembers.  There is a piece in there that is technically meant to be five pieces, each on a different fabric and stitched together like a patch-work.  One of those pieces includes a very large house; I decided to leave out that one.  I also decided to stitch the remaining four on a single piece of fabric.  To date, I'd done the first two patterns, and now I am on the fourth (or, for me, the third): "My Day Complete".  

*My progress as I neared the end of the second pattern is shown HERE, from June of last year.

Having worked mostly on 40-count linen for the last year or so, doing this on 28-count with 2 strands of floss over 2 of linen, is a distinctly different experience!  No photo at the moment, but perhaps next month.

Rug Hooking:

I'm still doing some, but it is very much an indoor activity as I now work on my large Cheticamp frame.  When I hook, I do so on rainy days (we've had quite a few this July, which is a novelty here), and for hours at a time.

I finished the 'evergreen abstract' on which I was working in my last post:

Abstracted Trees - 8" x 8"

And I created a landscape from my imagination and experience, a bit more primitive than my usual:

"Old Red Barn with Daisies" - 8" x 8"

I have room for one more long piece or a couple of smaller pieces on this particular burlap before it's used up, and I have an idea (and photo inspiration) for one of each size...still contemplating.  I then need to check what fabric I have left and whether or not it will fit on the large frame or have to be done on my made-over embroidery frame.  Time will tell!

Spinning:

I spin much less than I do the other things, because my favourite place to spin is outside. This summer I've managed a bit, as our weather has been cooler (so far) -- but it's also been wetter, which isn't exactly ideal for outdoor spinning! 

In my last post I showed you what I'd managed to finish before the end of June.  Not long after, I tackled the remaining sections of the Falkland wool braid (hand-painted) that I began last year. These sections were a) yellow-turning to peach; and b) light grey fading to darker grey.

I've now spun each section into singles and selecting contrasting rovings for new singles, with which to ply them together:

First, the grey singles, which will be plied with singles to be spun from a deep orange-gold Shetland:

Next, the yellow-to-peach singles, to be plied with singles from a deep teal roving which, alas, has no label -- a mystery fibre!

As of a couple of days ago, the teal is now fully spun into singles -- but not enough to use up all of the yellow/peach.  This means that further plying adventures lie ahead! 😉

I'm truly thankful for the "Two Ewes Fiber* Adventures" podcast and group on Ravelry, for their encouragement!

*They're American; that's how they spell it. I just live with it. They're nice people, and as a Canadian, all I can do is nod and smile.

What's left? Only to show you what is burgeoning in my Zone 3-ish garden:

Raised Bed #1 - Beans and Leaf Lettuce
with hovering scallions

Zuchinni, a cherry tomato 'tree', 
raspberries and self-seeding dill

Hanging pot: geranium and lobelia
off my back stoop

Blue pot with geranium 
and lobelia

The came-with-this-house
Immovable White Planter
with geraniums and lobelia

All are fodder for hooked pieces, albeit impressionistic -- so stay tuned for them to appear again (and maybe again). While I'm trying to be careful with purchasing new supplies, this week I received two purples from Deanne Fitzpatrick Studios, the better to recreate those lobelia purples:

(L) Briggs & Little 2-ply; (R) River
Stream bulky.

Even though I like purple, I've almost nothing in my stash -- a ball of fingering (sock yarn)...and that's it.  So...now I have something to hook with!

And then, of course, there are berries. I'm starting to enjoy my raspberries, and have bought more jars and sugar for jam.  And yesterday morning found me at the local Saskatoon farm, picking this 4 litre ice-cream pail full...for muffins, bumbleberry crumble, bumbleberry pie...and maybe another picking to freeze...

If you've never eaten a Saskatoon, or picked them, or heard of them...I'm going to leave you with this little tune recorded by an old friend of mine (and my late hubby). I've lost touch with him, but I have a CD he made and gave to us years ago, signing the cover.  I love every song on it, but this one -- well, it's particular to the Canadian prairie. I tried to find a recording of my friend Tom singing it, without luck. Sigh. The best I can do is show you the lyrics -- HERE.  There's a fellow named Tim Hus who's sung it, but he doesn't have the right voice or presentation and sang it too fast. I'll spare you his interpretation of Tom's fine ditty.

Someday, if we meet up in person, I'll plug in my CD player and share it with you.

And so it goes. 

It's time for me to wind this up (or down!) and have some dinner. Tomorrow is Sunday, and I hope to be home, quietly quilting (or knitting or spinning or hooking or stitching).

As usual I'll leave you with a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. This week she's sharing about an exhibit she saw and appreciated.  It's been a while since I've done that too; there aren't many in these parts -- so I can enjoy them vicariously through people like Nina-Marie.

Have a lovely rest of the weekend!  A bientot!