Making, Making, Making!

 This blog is aptly named: Life in the Making.  There's been a lot of that going on 'round here in the past month, as I've been getting gifts ready for Christmas.  

There's been some studio work -- I'm ready to quilt a fourth piece for the Art in the Park Series -- but photos on that process will have to wait while I finish, finish, finish gifts!

And yes, there have been many finishes, to whit:

Knit socks and fingerless gloves for a friend in Montreal:

Pattern: Simple Fingerless Mitts
Designer: Tinksdarkerside
Yarn: ONline Supersocke Worker Color
 6-ply in "Blue Jeans"

Pattern: A Nice Ribbed Sock
Designer: Glenna C.
Yarn: ONline Supersocke Worker Color
6-ply in "Blue Jeans"

Fingerless mitts (by request) have been delivered to a friend in Calgary:

Pattern: Cielo Handwarmers
Desigern: Eweknits Toronto
Yarns: Filatura Di Crosa Fancy Line Gioiello*
and JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18
*glitz!

In my last post I showed you the simple cowl I'd made for my nephew.  Since then, I saw a photo of him on FB with a full beard on his chin -- and nary a hair on his head!  Now, he lives in Victoria, B.C., which has a mild climate, but seriously!  They do get snow there (even though they still have little idea what to do with it when it arrives), so it does get cold!

Thus, I promised him a hat.  I had enough yarn left from the cowl to start one -- and by a small miracle (and a deep stash dive!) I found a ball of similar yarn -- same composition, different producer -- in a dark grey, so here's his two-toned hat:

Pattern: Bankhead Hat
Designer: Susie Gourlay
Yarns: Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran 100
and Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed

Earlier in November I showed a glimpse of the cowl I made for my nephew's partner.  Here it is, fully finished, buttons and all.  So pretty!

Pattern: Gothic Lace Cowl
Designer: Tin Can Knits
Yarn: Black Cat Custom Yarn Everyday Sock
Colour: 'Widowmaker'
Buttons: handcrafted - wood - bought
at the Prairie Fibre Festival
in Lacombe, Alberta, September 2022

This year there's been far more stitching than knitting -- and things are getting finished there too.

The largest project was the Growth Chart, to which I've referred in several posts since I began to stitch the pattern in July.  Last week I finished it -- fully finished it, including a hanging sleeve and label -- and mailed it off to the recipient in Calgary:

Top end, trimmed and faced

Bottom end, trimmed and faced

Front and back

I only hope it's liked, hung and enjoyed!

This week I fully finished the pieces for my son and his partner, too.  (I can share these here because to my knowledge they don't read my blog!)  I decided to try to find a frame for my son's "Quaker du Japon" from Jardin Prive -- and lucked out at the same local vintage shop from which I got one before.  I needed one that was 10" square -- not an easy find -- but there it was!  It was a slender frame with a gold 'metallic' finish, and included glass.  In it was a very pretty little piece of unsigned, undated, unlabelled cross stitch.  I've managed to rescue that, wash and press it, and will show you a photo once I figure out what I want to do with it!

Anyway, here's my son's gift:

Pattern: Quaker du Japon
Designer: Jardin Prive
Fabric: 36-count Antique White
Edinburgh Linen from Zweigart
Threads: #321 and #310 from DMC,
stitched 1 strand over 2

I had to take the photo at a slight angle to avoid glare from my living room windows...and I wanted my initials to show above the frame so the piece sits right up at the top of the frame, but there you have it!

As for his partner's piece, "Lick the Bowl" -- I turned it into a journal cover.  I'm told she likes to bake, so I thought she might use this for favourite recipes...

Pattern: Lick the Bowl
from the Kitchen Counter Series
Designer: Hands On Designs
Fabric: 30-count mystery even-weave
Thread: my own selection of DMC floss

I lined it with batting and quilted the back (not shown) to give it more 'body'.  The cover was a tight fit, but it works!

I've finished another tiny stitchy gift for a friend, but she reads this, so no photo at present!

Last but not least in the gift-of-stitching department: two small pillows yet to be made.  They're gifts for my 'grandcats' -- of which I have five: three with my daughter and 2 with my son.  No, there will NOT be catnip in these cushions!  They're merely for decorative snoozing!  Both are identical, and one is finished but not yet "fully":

Pattern: There's Probably Cat Hair
Designer: The Scarlett House
Fabric 1 - 28-count mystery linen
Thread: Classic Colorworks 'Manor Red',
Gentle Arts 'Carriage Black 

Version II is currently under construction.  I've had to add in another black over-dyed floss, as I ran out of the 'Carriage Black' part-way through...

Fabric 2 - 28-count natural linen
Thread - Classic Colorworks 'Manor Red'
Gentle Arts 'Carriage Black'
Weeks Dye Works 'Onyx'

On the quilting front, the "Wabi Sabi" version of Magic Tiles that I've made for a certain young man is now quilted and has binding on 2 of it's four sides.  You can probably figure out what I'm going to work on this week! 😉

Meanwhile, Bonnie Hunter's started her latest Mystery -- I'm saving the patterns.  And...I've started a new litte throw quilt, a gift for an ailing neighbour.  This one is a collection of 9 traditional blocks, kitted up as a Block of the Month from the Thimbleberries Club back in...2005!!!  Yes, I bought it back then.  There were actually two quilts in the program: "Sunrise" and "Sunset".  I made the "Sunrise" quilt several years ago and gave it to my neighbours here for Xmas (2014!)  It was done in typical Thimbleberries colours, but in lighter tones to reflect the theme.

It's time for "Sunset".  This neighbour is a fellow, so the darker prints provided for this one suit a more masculine aesthetic.  I've finished four blocks, each of which will measure about 10" in the quilt:

Blocks on the design wall with the pattern.

And I've cut the pieces to start the fifth:

Step 1 layout on my pressing mat

The last block is really four of the same, to make a 9-patch, and then there's sashing and at least 3 borders.  It'll finish at about 60" square, so I should be able to quilt it myself.  I quilted "Sunrise" by hand but this one will be done on my machine, and fairly simply.

That pretty much sums up my month!  The snow is flying on and off today and the wind's been roaring around like a wounded lion since last evening, so it's a good day to stay inside and...make!

I'll probably not post again until after Christmas.  Hanukkah begins at sundown tomorrow evening, so I need to get out my menorah and ensure it's ready to go; our family celebrates both holidays, given that my late DH was Jewish. I'll be joining my kids in Edmonton on Christmas Eve (through Boxing Day), so it will be a double celebration together for the first time in some years.

On that note, Gentle Readers, I wish you all safe, happy, fun-filled times with friends and/or family over the next several weeks, and leave you with the link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  I hope her holidays are especially merry and bright, because she does so much to keep our little community connected!

Thanks for stopping by... a bientot!  

🌲🌟 🌲🌟 🌲🌟 🌲🌟 🌲🌟 🌲

Sunday, Lovely Sunday

When I'm doing well and feeling good, Sundays can be such a delight. I begin with my usual morning routine -- dark, hot, rich coffee and my Morning Pages, cozy in the early dark under a quilted throw, with a candle lit on the table before me and a good lamp burning brightly over my right shoulder. I follow these pages with a few notes in my Gratitude Journal. There was a time when I thought both of these tools were silly, touchy-feely, New Age-y things, but as I 've made a habit of using them, I've come to realize how good they are for my mental and emotional health. In them I first release all the worries (petty and not-so-petty), all the drivelling and snivelling I tend to build up inside, and then I take a look at my blessings, which are, really, what's most genuine and important in life.

After the Writing comes the Reading. Right now I'm working my way through a daily devotional that is simply reflection on a series of related scriptures, a different theme chosen for each day. I follow this with a short excerpt from an inspiring book; right now this is First Light by Sue Monk Kidd.

Today I began the chapter entitled "Simplicity of Spirit" which, by its very title, is both a reminder and an inspiration. Like Sue, I have come through life events that are "...exfoliating. They shuck me down to some place that is thick with luminosity and resilience, an enduring inner ground." In other words, when we endure trial or come through a rigorous program of spiritual discipline, we come to understand (rather like The Velveteen Rabbit) that which is real. Kidd writes, "It's as if the foreground of life, where we spend the majority of our time, fades away, and we are left in the great background that is God, against which all life exists."

All I can add is, how right she is! And when I glimpse Real life, I find myself, like C.S. Lewis, surprised by joy.

Today is such a day. I went to church where I worshipped, studied, learned, celebrated, communed with God, shared food and drink and good conversation. Now I am home, listening to the most beautiful music (the CBC's Sunday Afternoon in Concert has been featuring that of Mendelssohn and Schumann in their bicentennial years), and catching up with my online reading and correspondence. I am in that place of beauty, joy and delight in all that is in my life, and it would take a great deal to shake my equanimity.

In Knitting...

Part of the celebration of this morning was giving my dear friend, L, the prayer shawl I'd made her for her Ordination to the Transitional Diaconate (Anglican) next week. The pattern I selected was the "Seven Sacraments" shawl from The Prayer Shawl Companion by Janet Bristow and Victoria Cole-Galo. I have been

knitting like mad for the past 6 weeks -- ever since we learned the Ordination was going ahead -- and I finished it last night, laundered it, and added the fringes this morning.

Some shawl patterns can be very boring and monotonous, but to date, I've found that the patterns in this book are not so. This one was easy to memorize, but used a combination of threes and fours -- garter stitch, seed stitch, stocking stitch, and a simple lace -- that was both fascinating and spiritually meaningful. Like those yarns that are self-striping, I wanted to keep knitting to see what the next section of the pattern would bring. I measured my progress according to where I was in the pattern, assigning partial or whole sections to be completed in a given sitting, which made working to a deadline much more enjoyable.

Knitting Notes: For this project I used "Sonata" from the Endless Summer Collection, available once upon a time from elann.com. It knits up easily, and is completely machine launder-able, coming out soft and light, all of its pre-wash stiffness gone. I also used a 5 millimetre circular needle; in this case, Addie Turbos. The only tricky bit in the pattern is the "YO, k2tog*" section. If you, in haste, drop a stitch in this section, be prepared to frog. There's little else you can do because of the nature of that hole-y lace pattern! (I know this from experience on this project!!)

On Other Fronts...

I've been working in my studio, creating a series of small quilted pieces based on the natural sights and sounds of the countryside around me. I have been journalling this on my wiki page at The Visioning Project, under the auspices of SAQA University; I'm not ready to share this work here. However, I am also investigating website development, and when that comes to fruition there will a link, never fear.

Now I am in the thick of constructing Christmas gifts. Because my DD reads this blog, that's all I'm going to say about that... except to add that I love to give a combination of commercial/monetary gifts and handmade ones at Christmas. It gives me a chance to put my heart into the season in a deeper and richer way.

My DS has arranged to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, and will be making the trek up here -- 5 hours' driving each way, not counting stops. That alone is a gift for me, as he accompanies me to church on Christmas Eve and we revel in the old hymns and the glorious story of the Incarnation. My DD will be here for The Day, and I am hoping my sis can join us too. Diesel-cat will make a fuss over the tree and the treats he might find under the table. Whatever the weather, we'll be cozy inside. I hope for and look forward to a rosy glow of family feeling, good food, happy memories and much laughter, followed by a good night's sleep at the end of the Very Best Day of the year.

This week my American friends experience some of this early festive, ward-off-the-dark, count-your-blessings season, as they celebrate their Thanksgiving. Best wishes, all of you, for safe travel, for happiness and health, and for the gift of giving and sharing the holiday with others -- the discovery of that which is Real. :-)