Sunday 7 February 2021

Sunday Stitching Along, Free Patterns, Great Book As Snow Falls

Views from our bedroom windows this morning.

The black thing is my compost bin. Snow softly falling all morning.
This week has been productive with the reading, stitching, moving the body and feeding it too.  I hope the same can be said for the upcoming week. And here is Murphy's contribution to the wood getting. She always chooses one stick (or several) to have a good chew each morning. 
Do you know what a boxing band is on a pillow? I'd never heard of it till Rachel at Stitched in Color shared how she made her pretty Penny Bird Pillow-pattern is available as a digital download. Aren't those fabrics pretty colours.


 There is Of Course, a video on YouTube about the box banding.

I've started cross stitching Quilting Bee from The Blue Flower and like the colours Jeannine chose very much, mustard yellow and lagoon blues. This week I hope to make inroads to the bee itself.  

I got out my Scrappy Hearts runner I sewed last winter. Enjoyed working on these hearts very much and this one was my favourite.


 Meg Hawkey at Crabapple Hill Designs is running a stitchalong that she calls Beautiful World Stitchalong. It features free snippets of her lovely designs to embroider.  I'm planning on downloading these to use as one project panel.


Both daughters are readers and this has finally happened. They are recommending books to me these days. I started reading this book, Pulitzer Prize winner, The Overstory, lent to me by younger daughter and I am quite taken with it. The writing is wonderful and how trees figure into each story is ingenious. Overstory itself refers to the layer of foliage in a forest canopy.  Inspiring to me and my awareness of trees has certainly been heightened by having the pleasure of living on the last two properties here in Ontario.

As I mentioned this week was a good one and my mood did not drift into over reflection as my mind is wont to do.  I'm deliberately not reading as much news which has been a help too.  Hope you are enjoying your Sunday wherever in this beautiful world you are.
 

17 comments :

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I am not reading or watching news as much easier now that things are settled a bit in the states - I too feel better. I have not heard of the pillow thing - boxing band. It looks like Murphy has made you some wood shavings for the fireplace. The bee looks like a pretty stitchery

Ruth Hiebert said...

Your quilt work is gorgeous.I really like that heart.

Brian's Home Blog said...

WOW, Murphy was sure having a good time with that stick. Your snow sure is pretty. We had snow yesterday, just a dusting, but that's pretty unusual for us.

Little Penpen said...

You’ve been busy! I had a dog who loved to sneak sticks into the house. 😉 your snow is beautiful. I love your heart runner. Thanks for the heads up on those lil embroidery patterns.

Jackie said...

I'm trying to stay away from the news as well. Some days I succeed better than others.

Love the colours in the cross stitch.

God bless.

dq said...

You live in a beautiful place, Jocelyn.
I checked out that book on Goodreads.com. It has some pretty good ratings. I may add it to my to read list.

piecefulwendy said...

I am so tempted to make a Penny Bird block, but I missed the information on the boxing band, so I'll have to go back and read her post (isn't her blog lovely?). That little heart is just beautiful! Thank you for the book recommendation!

PaintedThread said...

Pretty snow. I'm amused that Murphy helps with the kindling. I love your latest cross stitch! And that scrappy heart is really cute. Lots of good stuff!

Libby in TN said...

Ooh, I look forward to seeing your bee progress. Our yard looked the same yesterday morning -- about 3 inches. Today it's supposed to get up to 50F.

MissPat said...

It is serene when you can look out the window at gently fallen snow, especially if you have no need to go out in it. It was 1 degree F when I got up this morning at 7:30. It's going to be a cold week. I tried to read The Overstory, but just could not get into it. I used to feel compelled to finish any book I started, but that's no longer the case. There are just too many others to read and certainly not enough time to read them all. The news has been less stressful since a certain someone has been banned from Twitter. Still much awry with our world, but it feels like the adults are mostly back in charge.
Pat

Chopin - A Passionate Quilter said...

Love the pictures of the snow - of course that is because we never have snow! LOL. Murphy is a mess isn't he with his twigs!

The pillow is nice and thank you for the video link.

Love the Heart! And I like the pattern you chose for Cross Stitch - I may get with the program on that soon.

Reading is getting to be something on my list. I may check into some audio books that can be streamed.

No news here at all. Hugs

CathieJ said...

That book looks interesting and I really like the cross-stitch you are working on. Murphy makes quite a mess with the stick chewing. It looks like she really enjoys it.

Stewart M said...

I miss waking up to snow on the ground - not really a thing in most of Australia!

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

Linda said...

Beautiful snow scene from your window. We miss our Buddy the dog who always used to find a stick and carry it around with great intention. :) I have seen boxing bands but did not know what they were called or ever thought about doing one. It's nice to know about them! That is a beautiful heart in your photo. Thanks for the Meg Hawkey link!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Sounds like you did have a good week! I hadn't heard of box banding either so found that interesting. Seeing the heart reminded me that I just read something about people doing them and then leaving them outdoors for other people to find. Similar to the painted rocks.

Angie said...

Jocelyn - the photo of Murphy's bed was hilarious - I suppose chewing on sticks is one way to keep your teeth clean! That heart from your table runner is gorgeous! I have never done a stitch-a-long although I have read about many of them - I will pop over to Meg Hawkey's site and see what it is all about.

Jenn Jilks said...

I'm glad you explained about the stick!!!!