Stitching Challenge, Liberty's Birds, Food Hack, A Little News Too

So what's new at the wooden house. Last weekend our fridge died. It came with the house and is old. I've moved things down to our freezer and the tiny drinks fridge downstairs. And this house came with a cold room intended for wine (our little joke is how ridiculous Tony's monthly box of wine would look in it) but now has come in handy to house most of the fridge stuff. Actually I'm quite settled into a routine of going downstairs with my basket for whatever I need in the kitchen. Logging more steps is a good thing so I've not been in a rush to get a new fridge. And they really would have a challenge getting it up the front steps which disappeared under all the roof snow. Anyway, we have ordered a new one to be delivered in a couple of weeks when, hopefully, most of that snow will be gone. 

I've been stitching on a tiny scale lately. I kept thinking I would like to try higher thread count fabric like so many of my cross stitching idols use. In my new determination to make Sometime Now, I ordered a small piece of 36 count fabric to cross stitch the England Quakers piece. But with the caveat that if I couldn't manage the tiny-ness of the required stitching I would not get down on myself and happily pass it along to another stitcher. So I began with a little trepidation and what do you know, I am doing just fine with it. Here is my first little motif...one I substituted for the St. Georges Flag, the flag of England. I'll see if I can fit that in somewhere else. 

I want to honour the late Queen with her own little pattern and this one features a crown so will be just right. 

I found it in my Brenda Keyes Ultimate Sampler Motifs Source Book which is proving to be very helpful for switching out tiny patterns. 

And I am managing this without eyestrain-so far- thanks to my Ott light and its ability to go to a third level of brilliant light. 

And here is a better photo of Tudor Bee finished. 

This pattern is one of a Tudor inspired series from The Blue Flower. There is a Tudor Ermine, Goat, Swan, Maiden, Hare and Hound. HERE is a link where you can look at these gorgeous patterns. 

I've also been stitching more EPP Stars. This was taken from my stitching chair in the tv room. (How many quilty things can be spotted here?)

Tony's spot is at the further end and Ned's is this end, close to me always.

And I've started to make the applique patterns for Barbara Brackman's Liberty's Birds Block 6 which features a bright yellow bird. 

 I saw a hack, as they call them, for how to upgrade Cinnamon Roll Grands so I gave it a try. You just have to carefully unroll each bun and add a mixture of dried fruit and then reroll. I used cranberry, raisin, ginger and lemon bits. It added more flavours and worked well. Will definitely do again with maybe a little butter and brown sugar mixture added too. If you cook for someone who has a sweet tooth, then these make a very quick little treat. 

On a personal note and as promised...five days after Tony's CT scan, we got an email from our family doctor. He forwarded the results which consisted of four pages of examiner's notes. We were both surprised by the thoroughness such a scan can achieve. Every organ had been examined from different angles. The worrisome news-it did reveal an issue in his right lung- a tiny tumor about 1.3 cm. He now has to see the Lung Cancer Clinic folks to determine treatment, if any. Initially we were both naturally upset but then realized we needed to adapt a wait and see attitude because we don't know what we are dealing with of course. And in a way, Tony feels vindicated for complaining so much about feeling tired, an issue that appears to be worsening by the week. Thank you all again for reaching out with kind thoughts and suggestions. We both appreciate it very much. 

March Quilt and Slow Stitching Update, Food Chat Too

We had a snowfall warning yesterday which didn't materialize and now are under a rainfall and freezing rain warning. The ground is still very frozen so where will the water go is the worry. I'm hoping it won't get as icy as we have had it so often in winter. Turkeys from my sewing room window...

Yes, I've been busy in the sewing room stitching more of the Everglade blocks together. This project is entering its second year? but I'm no longer berating myself about timelines. My stitching world is just for me, myself and I and the three of us are fine with it. ;)

 And I've been choosing fabrics and cutting out the initial templates for Liberty's Birds. I notice the original photo showed mostly the primary colours in solids were used. But I don't have many solids so I will have to use more prints. The yellow fabric below is gorgeous and I do want to use it for the Yellow Goldfinch. 

How many of us said prayers at night before going to sleep, I wonder. I know I said a prayer every night that Mom had taught me. I don't know when she stopped listening to it but I continued to say it long after she stopped hearing it out loud. At the end, I would always add family names for God to bless. I came across a sweet cross stitched version of it at This Etsy Shop. Past Pattern Palooza is a great place to visit...lots of familiar items us older folks would recognize. 

It's thought this prayer originated in 1698!

 Meanwhile in my cross stitching, I'm finishing up another of the bees. This one is Tudor Bee and I'm enjoying putting in the finishing stitches. I wanted this one completely stitched before my new start which I'm itching to begin. 

Wanda over at Exuberant Color shared her lovely Tilda Whimsy quilt. Such a neat and simple pattern and perfect for showing off pretty motifs in fabrics. The free pattern is found at Tilda's World; actually I think that is a link to the pdf of it. How generous these fabric designers are!

For tonight's meal I'm trying out the Easy Baked Spaghetti recipe from the Feel Good Foodie. I love when you can eliminate pots and pans. Since I'll have the oven on, I'm going to try the roasted potatoes recipe I saw on Instagram. You just put potatoes, olive oil and an envelope of dry onion soup mix all together and bake. It's been years since I've used this soup mix in a recipe...I used to make a chicken recipe with it that was tasty. I'm going to be adding carrots to this as I have some that need using up.  I'm making this much food because with a freezing rain warning we might lose power. Always good to have leftovers in any case. I'll let you know how these recipes worked out. I love to read about what is cooking at your house. 

We are almost finished the latest batch of Raisin Buns or Biscuits or Scones, whatever you call them in your part of the world. 

I used my old recipe and they were fine, a little dry maybe but we eat them with butter and jam so that helps, washed down with tea. I cut back the sugar as always. I don't know if that affects dryness; you wouldn't think so. 

Well, I'm eyeing the weather out there trying to decide about a walk which I badly need. Should get it in now, says Ned, who knows what the afternoon will bring. Good advice.

Hope you are warm or cool in your part of the world and your stitching fingers are flying!

Sharing this post with The Inquiring Quilter, Sew And Tell, Creative Crafts, Alycia Quilts, Days Filled With Joy, My Quilt Infatuation and Quilts Art Whatever.

Art, Sunny Stars, Ned News, Comfort Soup

 From reading blogs, I'm quickly realizing I'm not the only one thinking February flew by. The weather outside my windows is back to frightful so nothing is indicating a new spring like month. Here March is an in between month anyway and can go either way, keep us snowbound or bring on rain and melting. Weather is not that important to me. I would never move somewhere just for weather though I might avoid some areas because of the kind of weather they have. I don't think I'd do well where there is high humidity a lot of the year, for instance. I wonder is there a place on earth that does not have acts of bad weather/insect/animal/civil unrest/gun issues, etc. challenges. 

I love The New Yorker iconic covers. This one below is the March 10, 1980 one-the artist is Eugene Mihaesco who designed more than 70 New Yorker covers. This looks like a watercolour piece, my favourite art. 

I enjoy their online site where you can find many interesting things such as podcasts, cartoons, do the daily jigsaw puzzle of these covers and also a crossword puzzle, all for free. At this link, The New Yorker, you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to find these items if you'd like to check them out. 

I've been doing some prep for my ongoing projects. Lots of diamonds and some in yellows for my EPP Stars. My side work table in the tv room. I am so pleased to keep using up scraps for these.

Two finished. Yellow is definitely a sunny colour.

I've started tracing the templates for Liberty's Birds. In the spirit of sometime is now, I've gotten out the fancy freezer paper that I've been hoarding for years, to press into use. I'll share the fabrics I've picked out next time. Among my quilting books is this one below by Kay Mackenzie. I sewed a number of these simple flower appliqued blocks a while back. Kay has a book of wonderful teapot applique blocks that I love. You can take a look HERE.

We took Ned to the Vet yesterday for his annual checkup. He got three shots; the only one I can easily pronounce is rabies. He also got his medication to take monthly that prevents heartworm, ticks, etc. (Wish there was a medication for humans to repel ticks.) Ned was so good but we had a long wait and then both the practitioner and the vet saw him and he became very, very stressed. They were tied up with an emergency and operated on a dog to remove an athletic sock, a big one, from him (second time having to do this!) and there were a lot of stress smells in the air. Poor Ned! I took him outside as soon as they were done so he could have a walk about before getting in the car. He slept all afternoon and is still low key this morning. 

I have my crockpot out to make a pea soup with leftover ham. True comfort food on a windy, wintry day. I plan to make tea buns later this afternoon. Comfort food is still needed...how about at your house? What would be comfort food for you?

I always add chopped onion and carrots.

The Alberta Clipper that arrived overnight making March blow in like a lion is still making the wind whistle around our windows. Sounds worse than it really is so Ned and I are heading out. 

Hope your weekend is going great!

Also great to link up with amazing linkie parties like the one at Songbird Designs.

Snowy Goings-On at the Wooden House

 My eyes are drawn to the tops of trees these days. No leaves so I've been rewarded with a glimpse of something or other-birds, nests, etc. Lately I've twice seen a turkey way up in the branches. Especially up so high there, they look completely out of place. How do they rest that long neck I wonder. Surely it can't be comfortable. Once a week, a flock still wanders through the front yard area. And lately a small flock of Dark-Eyed Juncos has been around the feeders. They are on their southern holiday from the Arctic. What hardy birds! I liked how the shadows on the snow looked interesting in this photo. 

Then it warmed up so much that the snow began to melt. That meant all these hanging snow covers on the eaves slid down and dropped. It sounded like gunfire at times; Ned would bark but then he got used to it.

Staying calm with hand stitching...I've been stitching EPP Stars in the evenings while watching tv. We just finished The Bridge which made me hate drugs all the more. What a scourge on society that illegal trade is! On a lighter note, we are enjoying this Netflix series, Zero Day, starring Robert De Niro.

I've prepped several stars in yellow which is the RSC So Scrappy colour for March. I finished one last night. Yellow will work well for the side triangles with the blues too. I don't have much yellow fabric but I am excited about using different colours now for these edge triangles.

I received my Quakers in England pattern from 123Stitch.com, who provides such wonderful service.  It's a rare treat to get stitchy mail as my determination to not order any/much stitchy stuff is holding strong.

And the pretty DMC colours to use too.

You too can eat your marmalade toast off a Royal Worcester Mansfield gold trimmed dinner plate ( $30 US) if you pick them up at the thrift store for $3.99, :). 

 I can understand how folks are tempted to become resellers.  A part of me is tempted myself if it weren't for the bit of having to deal with money. Is that something you would like to try? YouTube is full of channels of folks sharing their thrift shopping ventures and how much they later make on different items.  

Though not a reseller, the most well known person in giving you an idea of what items are worth is Dr. Lori who has a PHD in Antique Appraisal. She is so knowledgeable in just about everything including purses which is covered in this video. I was very impressed that she can not only date dishes but electrical cords used on lamps. She can tell what is original to the age of the lamp, etc. Perhaps you might like to know what some item you have is worth. Pretty sure she has covered it in one of her videos. 

On that happy note I'll stop blabbing on. The dryer is getting put back together as the needed part arrived and I've been giving Tony a hand-I'm a good holder-upper. Which reminds me...LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color had a prompt for this week which was what compliments you and your spouse might give each other. Tony has given me praise for how hard (he thinks) I work at everything...the house, our healthcare, my fitness, my hobbies, etc. I compliment him lots on how smart he is like being about to fix the dryer, any of our computer glitches, financial dealings, etc. He's so fortunate his brain is still sharp as a tack even though having the feeling his body is physically weakening by the day. 

 Robbie's hockey team is in the playoffs and we have a game tonight which we really look forward to. Hope there is something in your day to look forward to too.

Take care all of you!

So grateful for linky parties at Quilting Patchwork Applique, Melva Loves Scraps, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Kathy's Quilts, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Creations Art Quilts.

 

Stars To Hexagons, Barbara's Free Bird Patterns, Companions on the Journey

I've just made myself a nice decaf coffee with frothed milk made from sweetened almond milk. I think of this as a tiny treat- this time after picking up a load of sticks to use as fire starters while walking Ned. Toting the bag and with Ned on the leash made the going a little rougher especially as our trails are still not flattened. A good little workout though. The cute appliqued bear placemats were found at the thrift store, still in their original ( I thought) box, which was quite crushed, but they were completely unharmed. Finding such makes me wonder how some things wind up there. Who wouldn't like checkered bear placemats?

I've been adding to the EPP stars and realizing I need to work out the background for them. I mentioned I might applique them to a neutral shade of fabric. On Saturday, I tried out adding the border triangles which changes stars into hexagons which can then be hand stitched together. Here is the first one.

I think these coloured triangles are more interesting than the plain backgrounds would be so I'm going to proceed with these. More hand stitching overall which I don't mind. And I get to dip into more of the scraps so it's all good. Here are some of the pinks and blues huddled together for a group shot.

It took me a while to realize the talented Barbara Brackman writes two blogs, both of which I've been reading for years. The history of quilting is interesting and I love to know the background of blocks we use today. ( One of the reasons I enjoy reading Michele's Pennsylvania Piecemaker blog where she often includes history, etc. about quilting). Barbara's blogs are  Civil War Quilts and the other is Material Culture. Barbara is offering a free applique 9 block SAL featuring birds at the Civil War Quilts site. 

Well, you know that caught my eye and I always like having an applique project on the go. These are simple shapes to work with too. Anyway I downloaded the patterns. One of these days I'll get a colour printer. 

I'm trying to decide which colours/fabrics to use. I'll check out similar quilts to see what inspires me. What a wonderful conundrum to have. 

The hospital visit went as well as such could be. We are fortunate to have 3 A+ accredited hospitals surrounding us and just short, easy drives from us. No longer having the long drives on busy highways to the big Ottawa hospitals is such a boon for us...just the parking alone was always a nightmare. I hate huge parking garages especially when at busy times we would have to wait for someone to leave and try to take their spot. We both would feel stressed just getting into the hospital, never mind what medical issue of Tony's that brought us there.  

In comparison, going to these country hospitals is a breeze. The CT scan of his midsection went like clockwork with no wait time for Tony. This had been ordered by his cardiologist who is attempting to rule out cancer. We are really not thinking this is his problem so we will wait now for the results. We thank you all sincerely for the good wishes. 

While I waited a woman arrived carrying a well worn quilted bag and, of course, I had to ask did you make that and she did. She was happy to let me take a picture to share with you. We didn't get to chat at all which was disappointing as she got her call almost immediately too. 

I have lots of hand work to keep me busy which is good. I'm pleased with how I'm keeping the home fires burning -literally- and the house mostly under control. But especially keeping the big bad thoughts at bay. 

Ned is such a wonderful companion too and I'm so grateful to have this little soul who watches my every move with me on my journey (as I am on his).

And I'm so grateful for all of you too! You put a smile on my face with your thoughtful and kind remarks. Thank you!

I'll be linking this post with Days Filled With Joy, My Quilt Infatuation, Alycia Quilts and The Inquiring Quilter.

Flower Embroidery, EPP Stars, Sometime is Now

 I watched Brenda and Laura yesterday while I was stitching. 

Besides the beautiful stitching, an important point talked about in the episode was how Some day needs to be Now. You know how we all have things we'd like to do, learn or try but put off for some day. But without being morbid, none of us know how much time we have so the point was some day needs to be now. For me as an amateur quilter, I have nice fabric in my stash and the plan was always to keep it till I got better at quilting. I'm more comfortable using scraps. Brenda is learning to crochet, something she had always wanted to do but put off. What do you think? Is the time right now for something you've always been wanting to do, buy, learn, etc.?

In slow stitching this week, I was inspired by LeeAnna's post HERE where she learned to make pretty tassel flowers in wool. I remembered I had a kit I'd been hanging onto for a long time that featured embroidered flowers, but mine are embroidered in floss. So I dug out Floralies from the Swiss Canevas Folies and I decided the time is now. The design is stamped on beautiful linen. Embroidery is really my first love in the stitchy world. You can check out their beautiful designs at that link. 

There are 12 different stitches used in this project, most to be worked with one thread so rather delicate. I enjoy stitching satin stitch the most. Sharing my love of hand stitching with Kathy's Quilts.

And I finished stitching more EPP stars in blues. Here's a few together. I've got more somewhere. And I still have a tendency to keep my stitches too tight...I have this thing that hand stitches won't hold up like machine stitching if I don't pull them tight. Last week for February Blues at the So Scrappy party.

LeeAnna asked us to think about this interesting point this week...do we give ourselves the same compassion we extend to others? I had to stop and think about it as for me it is complicated. I like to think I'm compassionate with others, of course, like we all do. But towards myself...the voice inside my head is generally a stern one, full of concern and worry. It doesn't put me down but it does raise lots of questions about what I'm doing, my decisions, etc. But when needed it can also be encouraging and reminding me to be strong and of the good things in my life too. It has gotten me through some really tough times without me relying on anything or anybody. So I guess I could say that's compassionate with myself in that regard. What about you?

Side View of the House

Lots of snow clearing has gone on this week and we plan to run the snowmobile over the trails soon. We will be spending this afternoon in a local hospital with Tony getting more tests. I have to get my kit together that I take with me when I have no idea how long he will be. On the up side, in hospitals, I can always find a place I can tuck myself away to read and write a bit. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Sharing this post with parties at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Life in Pieces and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

Snowy Days, State and Provincial Flowers Chat, Appliqued Mini Placemats

The dig out from the back to back snow storms that dumped almost 18 inches of snow here was fierce. Here is Ned's path out the back...he needed encouragement to give it a go.

I photographed two Blue Jays in between complete whiteouts who hung around the feeders a lot which kept getting covered in snow.  It was good they were there with their larger beaks at the height of the storm to uncover the seeds. I noticed the chickadees would then appear to quickly grab a seed or two. 

We kept warm by our fire. 

And very importantly, we did not lose the power which happens often here with high winds. One stormy night, I made a broccoli and potato soup with open faced cheese and bacon sandwiches heated a little under the broiler. Tony is not a broccoli fan but he liked the soup. I am using this product to make chicken broth and it works well to add flavour to otherwise kind of bland homemade vegetable soups.   

I have deliberately not looked at the ingredients...I'm using it sparingly- whatever it is you just need a little to get flavour.  

I completely finished the two mini placemats. I realized I'm not one for much fiddle faddle about choosing borders. So these found polka dots for the blues and stripes for the pinks in my scraps were a quick and easy choice. And easy blanket stitch around the edges of the valentines too.

Using old leftover scrappy blocks for the backs was a win also. I had the thought that perhaps Dresden blocks are my all time favourite blocks. I sure enjoyed stitching these and more of them, about 80, are shown in my featured post in the sidebar.

  I think I've shared this before but it bears repeating...6 Alphabet Patterns for Hand Embroidery, a free collection found at the Needlework/Craftgossip site. These are neat if you want to stitch a little monogram on something like a Christmas ornament.

 I've always wanted to stitch a quilt featuring the flowers of the Canadian provinces and American states. I found the patterns for the American states at Vickie's lovely site Pattern Bee and downloaded a copy. I used to follow her blog, Turkey Feathers, which seems to have stopped in 2022, sadly. 

I also found free patterns for the 50 State Flowers at one of Debra's Slow Flowers Journal post. Now I have to find patterns for the Canadian provinces (several are the same as the American as it happens). More about this quest later.

My dryer broke down and Tony has been trying to fix it. So far it is in this state but he cleverly found the defective part deep inside and has ordered a replacement.

He explained to me how these inner workings operated.😴 And I did get to give it a good cleanout which I don't think had ever been done; actually that's a silly thing to say -I'm  sure it had never been done as who gets inside a machine like this!

I'm pleased and thankful with how much shoveling I've done with no ill effects, as such. We'll get out the snowmobile this afternoon to run over the trails and make them accessible for walking again. I've just made a pot of tea so it should be ready. 

Hope there is something to comfort you, interest you and please you this February day. ✨ 

Enjoying sharing this post with linky parties at Alycia Quilts, Creations, Art, Quilts, Whatever, A Stitch in Time and My Quilt Infatuation.