Serious Talk, A New Sighting, Redwork Hanging, Cross Stitching Feet

I  finished another biographical book about Eleanor Roosevelt called Eleanor and Hick by Susan Quinn.  Here is one of Eleanor's lines I like and wrote in my journal.

" You can not live at all if you do not learn to adapt yourself to your life as it happens to be." 

How to remain caring and sensitive yet adapt and accept the unkind things life throws at us. Not easy. Especially those times when "you think you've lost a lot and then you lose even more" times. One foot in front of the other with music in my ears is the way I coped at one such time. I think I logged miles. But this thought applies also to the bigger picture of learning to live with what seems like a lot more complexities in the world not the least of which is a war, drastic effects of global warming and a pandemic that just isn't coming to a clean end. I feel like nothing is simple anymore but maybe that's my age talking.

After that little serious bit, I have to show you something that I spied and loved.

From my kitchen window-late afternoon, nearing dusk which accounts for the odd colouring, sunlight through trees. That always seems like a symbol of hope to me.

And close up on the late July Phlox- first I thought this was a Wolf Spider but with a little research, I now think it is a Nursery Web Spider.  It was lucky to spy this one.

I've been a bit lazy about the indoor chores lately especially after I did a big clean up when the dogs, Petey and Abbey, went home. And I haven't really been putting a lot of effort into meals- just cobbling together easy meals with the excuse who wants an oven on when humidity is so high; it's 34C as I write this. I feel like I haven't made anything really tasty lately. So this week I need to get back to deep corners of the house and also think up meals with meat and vegetables, etc.  

My Flight of Fancy quilt is moving along. Ned was happy when I changed up those two adjacent striped blocks  I've added a border and got ready to make a backing. Here it is in the back hallway and it really suits a wooden house. 

 I was dissatisfied with what I was sewing together for a backing and thought, you know what, this piece deserves better than this.  So I've been looking online to order backing fabric that would suit the birds, colours, etc. That was a TO DO item but has now been done. 

My Jack Rabbit is also growing feet and a tail. Love when that happens!

A couple of things I want to share.  Piecing the Past Quilts has opened registration for a free BOM beginning September 26. It is called Harvest Gatherings and is quite lovely. 

I'm a little obsessed with keeping my hands and fingers mobile.   This article on How to Improve Hand Dexterity -and Why That is Important is a pretty good one for providing simple exercises you can do to help keep the fingers in good shape. I had to smile when I read the author's opening where she says she is 30 and noticing some changes in her hands.  30!

My Acer is acting up and also more odd things happening with Blogger. I found comments going to a whole other place and not showing amongst my emails. Sorry if I've missed some of your comments.  I absolutely love reading them and will respond to any questions or queries. And if you have a blog, I promise I will visit you back.

Hope you all are off to a good week in your corner of the world!

Sharing this post with Texas Quilt Gal, Floral Friday Foto, Creations, Quilts, Art, Quilting Patchwork Applique and My Corner of the World.

Three Free Patterns, Favourite Summer Spot, Panama Pyramids, Flight of Fancy Progress

August 25 view of the pond. 

In the midst of all the pleasures of this property is this little pond, I sit down here most summer mornings with my camera and Ned beside me. Both of us looking, looking, looking. Me for birds- haven't a clue what he is looking for but he keeps his head on a swirl and seems to enjoy the experience as well. We don't speak and seem to hold our breaths waiting for something great to appear/happen. It always seems we are both reluctant to finally give in, leave the peace and quiet, head back to the house and breakfast for Ned and coffee for me. 

As a matter of interest, you can visit a number of other calming sites on YouTube that offer live cams around the world. Like this one.  You could check out if your city is featured.

Thanks for the enabling(as if I needed it :D) that went on concerning the Pileated Woodpecker cross stitch pattern! Overwhelming number of you think I should order it. THIS POST

Meanwhile, here are a few more of the Panama Pyramid blocks sewn together...these are EPP so taking time. I have no deadline in mind for this project, just keep the triangles prepped and ready to pick up and stitch here and there. My goal each month is to stitch 6 of these together and so far this year I'm doing that.  This is such a great project to use up scraps and kind of have fun with. 

And I have the Crabapple Hill Design's Flight of Fancy blocks sewn together; it is a flimsie which was my Elm Street Quilts August OMG. I followed Meg's guide and sewed 13 four patch blocks using reds and tans/creams. Simple stitching. 

I need to choose the fabrics for the borders now. Ned is pointing out I have two striped blocks adjacent and he doesn't like it. What do you think?

Thursday's Three Free

I love Marcus fabrics and one of their lines in particular caught my eye. Aunt Grace Sew Charming by Judie Rothermel.  It features soft colours and prints, kind of reproduction style but many that would blend with more "modern" style fabrics.  Two of the free patterns that I liked using that line was this one called the Aunt Grace Sew Charming Heart quilt.  Here is the link to the PDF

And the second one is this Aunt Grace Sew Charming Flower Quilt-

Free Pattern Download Here

I found all this to love at the Hancocks of Paducah site.

Further digging and I discovered Judie's home is the Schoolhouse Quilt Shoppe in Canton, Ohio. A lovely site to explore and I came across her book, Aunt Grace Scrapbag 10th Anniversary on sale presently. It features 15 patterns for full size quilts. 

Susan at the very popular Quilt Fabrication site has a wonderful bank of free patterns both blocks and quilts as well as tutorials to guide you through.  Click Here to explore. Susan graciously hosts the weekly linky party Midweek Makers. Susan's Etsy Shop is HERE and I really like her dog patterns in particular. 

Melissa at  Pinker 'n Punkin Quilting is hosting a very cute Mystery Autumn Stamp SAL with free to you cross stitching patterns. The first is a beautiful basket of apples.  These are small so quick to finish. Perfect moving into autumn stitching for us here in the northern hemisphere.

Hope you found something that tweaked your interest on your visit today. I'm off back outside with garden chores. I've noticed the purple fall asters are opening. Summer is definitely waning. 

Always happy to share this post with Not Afraid of Color, Wendy's Quilts and More, Powered By Quilting, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Traffic Jam Weekend, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and True Blue Quilts.

Bird Behaviour, Crochet Granny Stripe, Karnak Wall Hanging Sewing, Watching Love Me

Our week is off to a good start here at the wooden house. Weather wise, it has turned humid again with rain and thunderstorms. But that hasn't stopped me from  sitting down by the pond with my camera early mornings- so far I have captured nothing. But using the quiet time, Ned with me, to have my inside voice repeat how fortunate I am and grateful too for my days here on this wonderful land. 

Closer to the house I did capture something a little unusual. I saw movement in the flower bed one day and it turned out to be a Mourning Dove. 

It has returned often to the bird feeder. 

And one morning it faced off with a red squirrel three times and the squirrel gave up and ran away. I've often witnessed these small feisty squirrels drive away the big black and grey squirrels so to let a bird scare it off was unusual. Maybe it just didn't feel like a fight that day. 

This was the bird's display.

I've only known Mourning Doves to be very passive so this also was a strange sight. 

We enjoyed this Australian mini series we found on Gem called Love Me. It was interesting to see an older couple featured along with the two younger ones all looking for love.

Linda, the Texas Quilt Gal, sent me happily chasing several squirrels last week. The first was when I saw her circular afghan idea and of course, I had to check that out. I immediately got out my yarn stash to see what I had on hand.  I have this one bag of Stylecraft Special DK in blues that was ordered when I got a request for an afghan in blues.  Which I fully intend to do. 

Here Petey is helping with the inspection.  He's totally agreeing that though this looks like a lot, I need more yarn, :D. His very expressive eyes are saying "clearly you don't have enough here Nana. Remember the long winter months are coming-perfect crocheting weather."

 What Petey didn't see was the rest of the stash....And the afghan I'd started with , mauves, greys and pinks. I've brought that one out to include in the t.v. viewing stitching rotation and hopefully move it along this week. Simple granny stripe.

I also followed Linda's lead to Janie Crow and her wonderful July newsletter explaining the amazing mental health benefits of crocheting. And I fell in love with her colour choices, flowery style and the gorgeous Mystical Lanterns!

Below is a video about something I've never thought about...washi tape. If you have the one with quilting lines drawn on it, you never have to measure and draw on fabric again! In this short video here Melanie at Southern Charms Quilts explains how it works. 

I need this item!

 In fact I could use it right now in the sewing room as I continue what Christine at Tessellate Textiles calls colour play and placement. I am pleased with the accuracy of the stitching so far...no points sawed off...but I'm doubtful I have the eye for fabric choice. I do hope to get this-whatever it will be- to the flimsy stage this week. Miss the sun for picture taking and sadly my sewing room is the darkest in the house even with my solar light. Have I mentioned this is Christine's Karnak Pattern and I wish I didn't have to try to duplicate the fabrics/colours from my own supply. 

That being said it's good to feel challenged and learn new things so I'm not complaining.  

Hope your week is splendid!

So happy to also share with My Corner of the World, Life in the Scrapatch and Alycia Quilts. 

Three Free Patterns, These Shoes Are Made for Walking, Jackrabbit Is|Growing Ears

I have really enjoyed most of these summer days especially since the humidity moved out. The swimming and dog walking and playing have kept me on my feet and moving. As a happy consequence, my body is feeling fairly energetic and free of aches.  I feel like I've kept on top of the indoor chores too; it always gives me satisfaction to know the house has been tended to. 

We have our first basket of Ontario peaches for the season. Hubby loves crumbles and crisps so that's what will be made of those not eaten as fruit. 

Jackrabbit's ears continue to grow. This is a fun cross stitching project and so much smaller than the last one, the Floral Motif Sampler. Seeing steady progress is encouraging. 

I bought one of those magnetic needle minders and wish I'd bought one before. Any loose needle is caught by it which is a good thing for me. This one has an old fashioned lady in a field of poppies. Needle minders can get fancy and you can buy them to match your actual project. You can see examples of that HERE at 123Stitch.com.

Recently I showed you a photo of the Pileated Woodpecker I spied in our side woods as I call the area to the back right of our house.

Another of Cottage Garden's  A Year in the Woods series- this is #9, is that very woodpecker, the Pileated.  Very neat.

Think I should order it? I am very tempted.  Look at those wonderful autumn colours.

Our I Like Prompt from LeeAnna for this week was to share foot wear that we enjoy in the summer time. I have two favourites to share. I consider shoes comfortable if they stand up to a lot of walking in them and both of these did and do. 

First, are these espadrilles that are kind of fancy with two kinds of leather. Over the years, these have been to Newfoundland, the Dominican Republic and in May, to Toronto. I like that they are very comfortable for lots of walking and also look fairly stylish. They were expensive, from Brown's (for those who like trivia, that would be Jessica Mulroney's family business), but have paid for themselves by longevity. 

My second and fun summer shoes are these pink/fuchsia Skechers below. I'm really proud of these because I think they are my second or third best thrift purchase.  I don't buy shoes at a thrift store but these still had remnants of a tag on the bottom and looked brand new. And when I saw they were labelled Goga Mat, I had some idea of what they cost...very expensive. Though I wished they were a different colour- pink shoes are bold for me, I was torn as I do love Skechers. They work so well for my feet somehow. Anyway, fitting perfectly and with a $10 price tag, I decided they were coming home with me. These are very, very light-like having nothing on your feet and of course, so comfy with what Skechers calls "rebound technology", LOL.  I've also washed these in the washing machine once and they came out perfectly.  

Thursday's Three Free (and I always find more to share)

 Sewing With Scraps has a wonderful cache of free patterns, just right for using scraps including very small ones. I went to that site for the Mini String Quilt tutorial and wound up straying far exploring all their material. 

Ann Wood Handmade  That is the link to generous Ann's wonderful cache of free patterns to stitch her whimsical and interesting items. She has added a quilty book since I last shared her work.  Just love her chickens.

Jennifer of Elefantz writes one of my favourite blogs on the web and I've been following her for years. She is a talented designer of very cute patterns and a skilled embroiderer. Besides sharing her gardening, recipes and stories of her life in northern Australia, she shares many free patterns. Like this one which is called Books and Roses and she has worked it into a bookmark. 

In fact Jennifer is offering a free pattern for each month in this series. 

She just recently shared that all 6 grandchildren got Covid and lost their fingernails. I'd not heard of that as a side effect. Had you?

Not free but really really neat. I love this idea from clever Deborah at Fish Museum and Circus. Fabric with imaginative stripes that can be used as fabric or cut on the straight lines in it to use for amazing looking bindings. Very brief video shows what it is.

And at her fun filled site you can find a free PDF pattern for her colourful Circus Tent quilt. 

I hope I've shared something that struck your fancy and that you'll come back again to see what else I'll be sharing- a post of my latest thrift finds will be up very soon.

So happy to link this post with Traffic Jam Weekend and Kathy's Quilts.

Dog Days of August, Geometry in Quilting, Lori Holt's "Stitch"

 Enjoying the free buffet are these three Chipping Sparrows. I've begun including small seeds with the sunflower and that has attracted more sparrows this summer.

The three dogs are enjoying their summer days together. The vernal pond is back to nearly its full level and of course, being Labradors, they love the water. They enjoy watching and trying to chase the odd frog but luckily have never caught one. 

This was the indoor/now outdoor Geraniums at their glory. I was so happy with this colourful display.  Geraniums never disappoint!

Here is a block of the Wheel Within A Wheel project showing additional "wheels". Still some adjustments needed here.  I have ten blocks now more or less to this stage and would like to have them all sewn to this stage soon. My main TO DO stitching the rest of this week. I'll be linking with Linda's To Do Tuesday Party.

My July project to practice accuracy was the Kaffe table runner. This month I've been using more of the HST's to continue some colour play with different colours (for me) and geometric arrangements while keeping the HST's points, etc.  I'm not good at this and critical of my efforts even when following someone else's pattern. More about this pattern I'm trying to achieve later. Hopefully, I'll do better with it than I've been so far. 

I ordered this bundle of Lori Holt's fabric line for Riley Blake called Stitch. I really like the turquoise greens and the range of browns too.  I was also intrigued with the motifs mimicking crochet and cross stitching in particular.

.

This guy, Petey, is under my feet whether at the computer or the sewing machine. Daughter works from home and he spends his time under her desk so he's just carried on with that I guess. 

Here he is pawing me while his eyes are saying please it's time to play ball, Nana. 

Which I'm off to do now. Hope you all have a great week!

Linking up with the folks at My Corner of the World, Quilt Fabrication, Quilting Patchwork Applique, Floral Passions, Brian's Home Blog, Alycia Quilts, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Quilt Paint Create.

Three Free Patterns, Orange in the Garden and in Reds, Pigeon's Rare Visit

Day lilies are all in bloom. So many striking colours it's hard to choose one to show you. But this orange is so bright it's like a blinding orange is what I'm calling it. Reminiscent of the poppies I shared last month. 

Here is a visitor we had for one day last week. Have never seen a Rock Dove (Pigeon) here before. It was of interest to see he was sporting bands on both legs and they were different. Wouldn't it be interesting to know this fellow's history!

Ned enjoyed keeping a close eye on him.

LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color prompt this week was to name a food we especially enjoy in the summer time. I do love all the summer fruits and this one immediately came to my mind. Fresh cherries. When they become available I eat quite a few.  Below is my goat cheese with red chili jelly topping on rye bread little lunch. Do you share my love of cherries?

 And do you have an Idea Notebook?  I've mentioned before I love notebooks and always have one at hand to jot down things/ideas/writing, etc. to remember.  I haven't cottoned on to doing that on my computer though I do use my phone to take pictures of things I want noted. 

This week I took a little break from the dogs each day while Hubby kept an eye on them. That gave me a chance to spend some time at the machine and finish a number of these four patch blocks for the redworked Flight of Fancy project.  The colours are very warm and give me a cosy and good feeling whenever I'm in the room. I did a little research and found out that the warm reds are the ones biased towards orange. So that is a thing and these must be warm reds. Someone asked so I'm going to see if I can get some close up photos of the embroideries. 

Thursday's Three Free

Becky Goldsmith and the crew at Piece O' Cake have put together a  group of very cute free e patterns found at that link.  For instance, there you will find the pattern for the Tisket Tasket Basket that a lot of folks are making and also the wonderful Searching for Beauty project.  In the video below, Becky chats about background fabrics. Speaking of backgrounds, that is a gorgeous winter/Christmas quilt behind her.

All People Quilt I was struck by a particular quilt designed by Avis Shirer.  A simple fruit outline to applique using pretty spring/summery fabrics. You'll find the pear pattern and tutorial there at that link.

I Love Quilting Forever has this gorgeous free pattern, Abundance. 

And here is the link to their Free pattern cache to explore.

And for my embroidering friends, generous Amina at Stitch Floral has many free patterns to download. At that link you will find three patterns for pretty potted plants. 

I've made note of her Tulip pattern.

I thank you all for your visit here today and I hope you found something that will encourage you to visit me again. 

Sharing this post with Floral Friday Foto, A Stitch in Time, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Alycia Quilts.

Het Klossie Challenge, Panama Pyramids, Labrador Love, Flight of Fancy Fabrics

 Even in what I think is the fulsome of summer, a little nagging thing has happened. Hubby pointed out that the light is fading a tiny tab bit earlier each day. As much as the continual heat waves and humidity are unwanted, the thought of the summer fading is not a good one.  

So just have to enjoy the growth while we can. Below is a neglected part of the garden behind the house. With so much in the front areas to maintain, this bit gets left out often.  The blue flowering bush hides the ac unit and I'm not sure what that undergrowth is. It is quickly taking over this area this summer.

August days have brought bright sunshine, heat wave warnings...35 C here on Saturday.  Heavy downpours of rain late evening the last two days have kept everything hydrated and blooming well despite the scorching heat. 

Many hummingbirds around this summer...not the easiest bird to photograph because they tend to flit about like the butterflies. 

The three Labradors are together again! Tail wag blur there. You can guess what Tony is saying. 

Time to share more of the EPP worked scrappy Panama Pyramids. A variety of colours this time. I will have to dig out my scant orange fabric if I am to join the August RSC party.

 I really should press these a little before showing.                              And I've been auditioning fabrics for the Flight of Fancy birds. Love these warm reds with a little cream too. Have to make a decision and begin the machine stitching of the 4 patch blocks this week.  I have yet to see a Magpie here but was delighted to watch many of them while visiting Alberta a couple of times.

Speaking of creams, the folks at  Het Klossie have started another challenge, this one called Kniertje Challenge using light, meduim and dark blues with ecrus.  You can find the free pattern downloads at that link. 

I am ever so tempted.  I really enjoyed the project I made with one of their earlier challenges. That one with reds and white. 

This week I will be keeping the three dogs busy and happy.  No doubt the extra walks will do me good too.  Take care all!

I'm linking this post with Linda's Tuesday's To Do Party post where she shares her own Peanut Butter Cookie recipe and also that a Christmas Squirrel got into her sewing room!

Also sharing with Quilt Fabrication, Brian's Home Blog, Life in the Scrapatch, Quilting Patchwork Applique and My Corner of the World.