Finishes, Starts and Ideas

There's a lot goin' on 'round here.  Mother Nature hasn't been able to make up her mind about allowing us to have Spring this year, which my tulips, my budding trees, the returning birds and my schedule have found rather chaotic.

As if the outside world weren't chaotic enough! 😆

I've been fighting back attempting to stay calm with routines -- roughly reflected in the title of my April 1 post. Knit, quilt, stitch, repeat.  To that, when possible, I've added "walk".  It's helping -- somewhat!

As a result...I've managed to get a few things finished, a few started, a few under construction and a couple of new ideas.

In my last post you saw my finished blue-and-gold quilt for Ukrainian refugees.  It -- and three other lap/comfort quilts -- were delivered to the local Blankets of Love rep a couple of weeks ago.  Now I'm roaring ahead on "Hearts of Hope" -- Bonnie Hunter's contribution to Ukraine support.  All of the pattern parts are posted now, and I've seen some finishes online.  I'm not there yet -- but I'm getting close.  Though not a difficult pattern, it's rather labour intensive, but I've been working on it every-other-day or so, and have 4 rows completed, with the blocks of the fifth waiting to be sewn together, and those of the sixth under construction (there are 7 rows plus borders).

"Hearts of Hope" - what a single row looks like

I have to say I've really enjoyed this pattern and will probably make it again with different colours -- or completely scrappy!

Aside from my little embroidery piece honouring Ukraine -- which now hangs outside my back door -- I've finished some other pieces, and am gearing up to start a couple of new ones.

This one -- "Crowning Glory" from The Victoria Sampler -- is now at my framers for a special mat to be cut.  I've asked her to mat it, then back it with foam core, so I can simply mount it on a stand once a year as an Easter Season Stitch.  

It's a pattern that I acquired a good 12 years ago; now it's available as a PDF.  I had some trouble with it (to put it mildly).  The fabric frayed tremendously in the midst of one of the pattern features...  Take a look at the pattern on the website, and see if you can figure out what I did differently.  😉😆  

I also finished this one -- "Schoolgirl Basics" from Just Nan, started one summer (2018?  2019? -- I can't remember).  It's very pretty, and when I'd done it up, I wondered why I waited so long to finish it!

"Schoolgirl Basics"

It's also at the frame shop. I want her to frame it as a companion piece for this Just Nan pattern I did in 2005 ("Summer Night"), that currently hangs in my bedroom.  The mat and frame styles have changed, of course, but she thinks she can get something close to this:

"Summer Night"

And speaking of finishes re: Just Nan designs -- I've finished the stitching for the first of a pair of pieces entitled "Marching Orders".  This first one is going to become a needlebook for one of my favourite "floss-tubers".  Here it is just out of the frame.  There's a red hat charm to be sewn on, but I may leave that till I'm close to a "Final Finish".

"Marching Orders"
Needlebook

And...I happily finished Jeannette Douglas' "Mini Bouquet" for April: "Be Well" -- shown first here in situ...

And here's a close-up

I played with the reds on this one, so it's a bit brighter than "called for" -- I just think it's delightful!  And the next installment comes out on Sunday!

I have three pieces under construction: "What Remains is Love" from Blackbird Designs, which is a memorial for my husband and is stitched only from time to time; "Stitcher's Prayer" from Kathy Barrick, a pattern I've had for ages (it was published in 2001!!); and a third on which I'm making great progress -- but won't show any links or photos, as it's a gift for one of my friends who occasionally reads this blog.  Sorry...

Of course, there are 'starts' in my future now: "Marching Orders" as a line sampler is top of mind, along with the May 'mini bouquet' from Jeannette.  

In the sampler/cross-stitch world, apparently there's a group that celebrates stitching in the month of May with "Stitch Maynia".  There was a Facebook page...but it's evolved and I can't find it for 2022.  Nonetheless, the Floss Tube world is all a-buzz with this year's projects and plans.  The general idea is that you start something new every day during May!!  Whoa!  

But wait -- you don't have to!  As with so much today, there are no hard-and-fast rules about that.  Just start one new thing, or one a week or one for Mother's Day and another for Victoria Day (or Memorial Day in the US) or...or...well, you get the idea.

So I'll have the two starts mentioned (which I'd have started anyway), and...I've a stack of options for another start.  I'm thinking of Mother's Day because of this red-stitch sampler:

"Ruth Gibb, 1882"
Designed by Hands Across the Sea Samplers

 
I bought mine through my favourite LNS, Traditional Stitches, located on the west edge of Calgary.  

Margaret Gibb
ca 1910

It was the name that got to me: Ruth Gibb.  My maternal grandmother was Margaret Gibb, and she named my mother Margaret Ruth.  Mom always went by 'Ruth' -- and my DH and I named our daughter Gina Ruth (she uses 'Gina').  I think it only fitting that I do this as a "Mother's Day Start" then, eh?

Of course...that's lead to another 'rabbit hole' -- finding out more about the Gibb family, emmigrants from Barrow-in-Furness, England, in the late 1800s.  And seeing if I could find a Scottish sampler created by someone in my father's family, which originated in Kilsyth (Stirlingshire).  My GGGrandfather and his bride came to SW Quebec in 1826 to join his two half-brothers.  My Scots cousin (on Skye now) said he didn't know of any, and that may be true -- I'm not sure how many of the farmers' daughters went to school in those days (where many samplers were taught). 

That said, I had the delightful honour of a Zoom chat with Nicola Parkman of Hands Across the Sea (HATS), and she's encouraged me to select some examples of Scottish samplers, including ones from Stirlingshire (there are some distinctive features in those), and design my own.  Needless to say, photos are being collected and ideas are percolating!!

On the art quilt front, my little piece, "January Picnic" is up for bid at the SAQA Spotlight Auction, which opens today and runs online at HandBid, through May 7.  (Bidding opens at 3 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Mountain).  My piece is on "Table 1", which will be the first to close on that date (4 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Mountain). Every piece starts at $20 USD.  Shipping is $30 USD for up to 5 pieces.  Each is matted and backed, so it will present beautifully when you receive it.

And...several pieces are in at the framer's, including my latest piece, faced and mounted on 16" x 12" stretched canvas:

In the Tall Grass (c) 2022
Rusted cotton fabric, machine quilted

It's actually rather "good" that my art-making has taken a back seat to knitting, stitching and charity quilting.  The pieces are stacking up at the frame shop due to supply issues including the acquisition of the particular mouldings used for my work -- that black 'floater' frame I like so much -- so I don't know how long the process will take.  As I'm showing in the shop's gallery, I do have some work on exhibit -- as it were -- but there'll be no local art show/sale again this year (I'd be there right now if there were!).  Thus my framer can take her time getting them framed -- and I can save up the $$ for when it's all finished!

As for new ideas...well, aside from designing a Scottish sampler (and maybe an English one too!), I've at least two art quilting 'experiments' brewing.  One is the quilting of an almost-all-white string/improv piece that I thought at first might be a background, but now think might stand on its own.  The other is some sort of improv work with a selection of "prairie greens" I've gathered over time.  It includes some sunprinting I've done, some hand-dyeing, and some lovely stretchy velvet bits (6" square) dyed by my friend arlee barr -- and which I've finally mounted on stabilizer so I can  use them!

In addition to continuing my making, over the next while I'll be attending the SAQA Conference -- brought to us again online this year, from a team in Florida (where the in-person plans were cancelled due to...you know).  So while I'm 'travelling' to "St. Petersburg" via Zoom...I'll leave you with wishes for a great weekend, and a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  Nina-Marie isn't there right now though; she's also travelling. Check out the link to learn where!

"Be Productive...Yet Calm"

 Those are the words of Lizzie Kate, one of my very favourite cross-stitch designers and now, reportedly, retired.  Regular followers of this blog might remember that in the last several months I've been working on patterns she designed, the latest being "My To Do List".  Last week, I finished this phrase:

"Listen to My Heart"...

And this week?  

Yep.

"Be Productive...Yet Calm"

Both of these reminders are apt for what's happening around me these days. 

I know that some of my Gentle Readers are in the U.S., and their world has opened up somewhat -- for better or for worse -- even as other countries struggle with the onoing pandemic.  Canada (dare I say it?) "as usual", is somewhere between a Much Better Scenario and...Horrific.  

The latter is probably personified by the dire situation in India, and even though we don't produce our own COVID-19 vaccines here (YET -- a long story), we, being Who We Are, are indeed sending aid to that country, so devastated by this virus and its variants, even as it, itself, has done research and produced some of the vaccines against it.

That said, right now my province is experiencing a Third Wave, and has retrenched into stricter regulations, which -- at last -- are being taken more seriously by Those in Law Enforcement.  

Close to home (as in, within a few blocks), a local truck stop has rebelled over the past few months.  The owner didn't want to keep open only his gas pumps and convenience store.  No.  He wanted to keep open his indoor cafe, and to allow freer movement outdoors on his patio...etc.  He didn't want to enforce mask wearing among his staff (in the kitchen, waiting tables), or among his patrons.  He enlisted support from outside sources (I won't go into this here), some of which had already faced consequences in other provinces, but travelled here to support the "resistance" here.  Sigh.  ("After all, it's just the flu!")

After several months of its patience being tried, Alberta Health Services put its foot down.  In recent weeks, the establishment in question has lost its liquor (beer & wine only) licence and it's operating licence.  Despite this, the owner kept the place open and openly publicized what he was doing.  A few days ago, the AHS had enough.  The locks were changed on the premises and the operation was technically closed.  As of today, a court order confirmed that and pre-empted a planned "protest rally" as a result -- not because Canada bans protests, but because NONE of the participants would be masked or at distance, clearly contravening current public health protocols (no contact info either -- for contact tracing) during a Global Pandemic.

It's called "entitlement" and "my freedom to operate my business trumps  your freedom to stay healthy/alive".

Today, the police showed up and the rally was pre-empted.

"Be Productive...Yet Calm"

Ah yes...thus I've tried to be -- both in the yard/garden and in the studio.

So...what have I been up to?  I'll start with the yard/garden...

My indoor seedlings continue to grow.  Depending on the weather, I've put them out into the sunshine, fresh air and wind on and off for a while now, to get them used to the idea.

I've planted leaf and Bibb lettuce in my raised beds -- and after a brief bit of rain a couple of days ago, they've started to poke through the earth, but are not yet photogenic,  Stay tuned!

I've had no luck whatsoever with the daffs and narcissi I planted on the "East Lawn" last fall...but in recent days -- whoo hoo!  Crocuses!  (Croci??)

Crocus #1!

Crocus #2!

Though #1 was allowed to fade on its own, #2 was attacked and chomped by something -- perhaps a deer (though research before I'd planted said they didn't like croci), but I'm thinking a rabbit.  As a result I've put the lot under cover at night for now...and hope for the best.

To put these tiny blooms in perspective, here's the long view on my "East Lawn":

See what I mean? 
Find the crocus!  ;-)

The other Momentous Thing I did this week was to plant a tree.  I've ordered 3 apple trees and 3 Saskatoon berry bushes from a local nursery, but they're not available just yet.  However, undaunted, I decided it was time to transplant a small spruce, which had planted itself several years ago into a large pot near my garden shed, into a spot on my "East Lawn"...

Preparing the ground to plant -- removing sod

Planted!

Planted -- side view

In the course of the digging, I found several "treasures"... 😉

There were the dandelion "trees"...

And the ephemera, including rusted metal, 
broken china and glass shards...

...and something my neighbour tells me is probably
left over from an old water pump of some sort...
it's a valve or something...

I'm just happy to have the tree planted, to have cleared the errant grass out of several flower beds, to have the lettuces showing signs of life in the raised beds...and...to continue to pray for rain.  It's been in the forecast for days but hasn't materialized to any extent.

And so...I wait, I water, and I quilt!

I've been joining rows of "Bali Sunrise" blocks (sorry, no new photos), to be sure, but...last weekend I spoke with a friend of mine from university (we were room mates in first year).  She and I were never BFFs, and for several years we lost touch -- but recently reconnected.  She's been chronically unwell for some time now, and I've decided to make her a lap quilt so, since my last post, I've undertaken a 'Disappearing 9-Patch' piece, composed mainly of long-stashed 4" squares -- the kind one could get by subscription in the years before "Charm Squares" were created -- and which I've finished off with borders of 2" squares (1.5" finished):

On the design wall: the central motif with 1 border

Now...top and bottom border and one side

As of today, I've attached the 3rd side (seen in part on the right of the photo above) and have constructed the 4th...just have to sew it on.  It's not a large piece (44" x 42") but the recipient is also a tiny person...so I am hoping it will make her a bit cozier when she puts it over her lap.

I've also been inspired to make a new art piece.  You already know the extent of my scrap stash (and if you don't, consider yourself blessed! 😉)  Inspired by an artist I very much admire -- Cindy Grisdela -- and an interview she did with art quilter and former SAQA President, Lisa Walton -- I started a new "crumbpilations"* piece -- all in greens, golds/yellows, browns, creams and a touch of dusty blue...

Under construction

Prairie on My Mind - horizontal orientation
22" W x 16" L - before quilting

Prairie on My Mind - Vertical orientation
16" W x 22" L - before quilting

I'm leaning toward the vertical orientation.  It'll be machine quilted with straight lines and less-than-obvious thread, then faced.  So...we'll see how it works out.

I have no inclination to make it larger.

And so...another few weeks have gone by.  I survived my 1st COVID-19 vaccination -- Pfizer -- and the second is booked for mid-August.  I'm not going to push; we have challenges in Canada with the supply, and I'm happy to wait my turn.

For those interested in my knitting, I've almost finished a summer tank top which, truth be told, I want to use as a layering tunic.  I've washed and blocked it, but have yet to finish it because it needs a bit of crochet around the armholes and neck, and the back has an overlap closure that's included in that.  Here it is as it dries on my bedroom floor:

Pattern: "Split Back Tank"
Designer: Allison Griffith
Yarn: Schoeller & Stahl "Micro Cable"
Colour: #08 - Dark Purple

I decided to try a pair of socks for the Ravelry group, Socks from Stash, May Challenge -- knit a pair using at least 2 different colours -- from two different skeins/balls of yarn.  My choice was to try stranded colour-work (yet again) with a new pattern.  Below is the first sock with the first pattern chart completed.  I've now completed 2 charts, the heel and the gusset, and am making my way down the foot of the first sock:

Pattern: "Funfetti"
Designer: General Hogbuffer
Yarns: assorted stash in cream, navy, burgundy and bright gold

It's an adventure...but I'm hoping that by using more stitches than usual and sizing up my needles, I might actually manage a pair of stranded-knitting socks that fit me!

What's up for the next while? Who knows!  I'm hoping for rain for the garden, time to do more quilting ("Grassy Creek has been sitting idle while I work on these other things) and knitting...and when it gets warmer and the wind dies down, I might even get to play outside with fabric and paint.

Meanwhile, the apple trees and berry bushes I've ordered should show up soon...

A gal can hope, eh?

I'm linking this up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, wherein this week she dips her toe into the art/not arena...I'm squarely in both camps...how about you?

Have a wonderful weekend -- stay well, stay creative, stay safe, stay productive, stay calm! 😊