All quiet just now here at the Wooden House. Morning chores all done including the best and most important one- a big walk about with Ned and Petey. Heavy rain showers are forecast for most of the rest of the day which are much welcomed. It felt marvelous outside in the much cooler temperatures. Even the dogs were friskier. Ned especially doesn't like heat which may have something to do with his very dark brown coat.
Here is a side view of the overgrown Hydrangeas outside my sewing room windows with Petey taking his morning sniffs. These bushes are so pretty I hate to trim them down though it might be better for them if I did. I usually do some cutting after all the blooms have died but I am a hesitant trimmer.
They are changing colour and turning pink due to the cooler temperatures. A sure sign the season is changing.
And here is a close up of one of my Great Mulleins just coming into bloom. I have four tall, very ungainly Mulleins in the garden this year and, though ugly like the Thistles, I let them grow.
Many birds and insects get sustenance from Mulleins. Three Red-breasted Nuthatches have been pecking at the one in the front garden. You can see how much this stalk has been pecked at.
And this disheveled looking Downy Woodpecker has been here a lot too. Mulleins can be a medicinal plant for humans too.
Are you particular about the mug you use? I have smaller ones more suited to specialty teas like my peppermint and I own much larger ones for coffee say or my regular tea. I like to have enough cups so I can pick and choose and suit to the season even. This is something Hubby just doesn't get. In fact, it baffles him... he will stand in front of my cobbled together -at least half are thrift store finds- mug collection and shake his head. Anybody else feel like the cup you drink from is somehow important?
I remembered to grab a photo of my birthday cake. The marshmallow frosting was so good. The recipe is Rock Recipe's one bowl Black and White Cake with fluffy marshmallow frosting...yum!
I'm reading an ebook right now. Though I can get ebooks from both libraries I joined, it seems to slip my mind that I can do so. Or maybe I'm a bit torn about adding more screen time to my day or it could be after all these years, I'm still addicted to paper. But whenever I do check out an ebook, I marvel at the speed of delivery and convenience. I don't have to leave the house and can even borrow books from my bed if I want to. I'm reading East of the Mountains by David Guterson and enjoying the beautiful writing. I've set my ipad to a special reading nighttime mode that's easier on the eyes. This book was made into a movie by the same name and starring Tom Skerritt. I'm going to look for it.
I have the wonky partly hand sewn Propeller quilt top done. It measures 50 in x 50 in and I liked this slightly stained glass look of it outside.
After much looking and mulling over- no gnashing of teeth thankfully, I settled on a fabric from my man's shirt collection to use for borders.
Btw, you can get from 2 to 4 fat quarters of fabric from a man's shirt depending on the size it is. I always start my thrift store search in the XXL section.
It echoes the pattern and in a neutral very dark grey, works okay with the colourful blocks. It looks busy up close but isn't really in the big picture. It's looking much darker in this photo than it is.
I am now stitching the pear on my G. Leger 1898 project. Panicked a little about the called for yellow thread as it just didn't show up against my fabric. I could have proceeded but using a colour you'd have to strain your eyes to see just doesn't make sense to me. I had to search in my box of Mom's embroidery thread leftovers to find a shade that was a tad more colourful to suit.
A couple of points about this photo above. It shows the slightly peachy/golden mottling in the fabric which has been hard to catch in photos; this provides a little more interest in blank areas of a design. And the quilted mat there shows my hand stitches from four or five years ago?. I'm thinking my stitching is not improving with age. I must do a comparison with how they look on the mat I'm presently quilting. Or perhaps not...
So are you stitching or starting to think about stitching leaves, pumpkins, Halloween? How we love all the good and wonderful things each new season brings us!
The Japanese Anemones did not put on their usual wonderful show this year. Later to bloom, they were affected by the July drought. I regret not watering more, a lesson learned for another season. They are a very hardy perennial and, hopefully, this won't affect future growth.
They are such a pretty flower and the bees love them.
I read a wonderful and detailed post at Rebecca Grace Quilting where she compares hand stitching in applique to using her machine to applique. She is appliquing blocks for her Stonefields project. The Stonefields Quilt is by Susan Smith, a lady who has had her quilts featured in movies.
I was interested in Rebecca's discussion as someone who loves appliquing. I've read the number of tiny stitches needed is often debated. I once compared my number of stitches to those Jenny of Elefantz said she made. Mine were fewer per inch for sure. Btw, I am so sorry that Jenny did end her blog as I enjoyed her posts very much...they were the kind you look forward to reading because she kept things real and shared, besides lovely stitching and beautiful food, so much of her day to day and sometimes bumpy life. All very interesting and of course, it became one of the most successful stitchy blogs ever on the web.
Jenny of Elefantz is still available for reading and retrieving the free patterns and recipes too.
My own stitching the last couple of days was to find...not an easy task, orphan blocks that would suit for a backing for Tony's bureau mat. The searching for such took up a lot of time as I wound up doing more organizing as I went along. Here is what I've cobbled together.
And here is the top blowing in the tiny breeze that appeared that day just as I was taking photos.
I've now readied the three layers for hand quilting. And I've marked stitching lines with chalk which I've seen many of you use. First time for me so we'll see how that goes.
While autumn squirrels have been sneaking into my sewing room...Anyone thinking of Christmas stitching?? I've saved a file of free Christmas patterns sites so I should start sharing those. Here is the link to the American Quilters Society page with the free patterns for their 2022 Christmas Countdown with Janome project. There are twenty five very cute blocks in this project and they included pinks and aquas with traditional reds and greens for, I guess, a more modern vibe. You could pick and choose a few favourites for a table mat or runner.
So I had my birthday. Yes, 74 trips around the sun complete. As the joke goes, no wonder I feel tired sometimes. What we wound up doing was a complete surprise. I'd thought we were staying local, maybe visiting the thrift stores but no, Beth and family took me all the way downtown! The surprise destination was the Chateau Laurier, my favourite hotel (not that I've been in that many) and a place I joke I'd like to live in. (The fellow who conceived the idea of this castle like hotel died on the Titanic so that gives you an idea of how old it is; yes, older than me.)
We had reservations for their popular afternoon tea. What a treat! I've had the pleasure of doing their afternoon tea a few times and it is always special. Here are a couple photos. I read that the ornate gold and pink china pattern by William Edwards was created just for the chateau to suit its historic decor.
We chose mint tea.
The scones with cream and jam were delicious...
I think I may have shared this before but here is a scone recipe that I've used many times and works well should you have a hankering for such today. The English pronouce it without a long o, so just "scons" which defies the spelling to me.
Walking around downtown was interesting too. Tourists were about and traffic was heavy. We passed an entire wedding party, led by the bride, heading to a church which was fun. Living on the outskirts in mostly farm country here we tend to completely forget there is a bustling city just 40 minutes away.
And now I have a chocolate with marshmallow frosting cake to eat too...photo next time. Having birthdays is a good thing!😊
I'm just back from the library. For a small town library, it sure is busy there which I love to see. I passed by the Carp Custom Creamery Ice Cream shop and thought of LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's question this week... did we grow up going to Dairy Queen? No I did not as they were not around in Newfoundland back then but I do have fond memories of summer visits with my Gander grandmother (the war widow) and going to the restaurant there. We always got banana splits as she was an ice cream lover. And summer Sunday drives in Corner Brook often involved stopping at roadside stands and getting ice cream cones. Good memories. I don't have much of a sweet tooth and seldom eat ice cream other than a once a year McFlurry or fudge sundae these days. There is always ice cream in the house, though, for Tony as it is a favourite dessert for him.
Here is appliqued Basket Loves, basically a flimsie. I decided at the last moment to add those deep green leaves on the side panel and, since I had cut more circles, I just might add those too.
Tony mentioned he liked the shades of reds in this baskets project. They are mostly brick reds and go so well with all the shades of brown. I decided to make a table mat for his tall bureau out of the leftovers while I still have them out. Luckily I have enough to emphasize the reds.
Fall stitching vibe there.
I'm having a look in the sewing room for any orphan blocks I can use for the backing. That leads me to From Small Things Sue again as she is a marvel at using up those kind of blocks in quilt backs. Here is her latest video, this one on Scrap Management.
I mentioned I've learned so much from her videos and two things in particular. One was the spray starch from Walmart I talked about in this post. The other item was something called Star Singles for sewing HST's. Sue got hers from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. Since my issue with accuracy is still with me, I am very interested in those. More about that later.
Learning from commenters too...
I'd shared a photo of the huge curve my cutting mat had mysteriously acquired. Commenter Carolyn kindly told me the tip to put it out in the sun. I did that for one of the very hot days and what do you know, it flattened it right out. Wonderful! Thank you so much, Carolyn, for taking the time to tell me that awesome tip.
And thank you for all the comments and emails about hanging onto carboard boxes. They put a smile on my face as I read about the keeping/storing and even the hiding from your partner of "good" boxes and also the creative uses of such. For instance, someone told me they can be broken down and stuck in the ground to form basic flower beds...here is the video. I knew about using old newspapers in soil but never about cardboard. This is a no dig method for starting a garden/ flower bed.
Said box has made its way from the living room to the back porch area.
Here are the photos of me with the dogs on the back veranda. Quite the challenge to get both dogs and me to look at the camera at the same time. Ned is on his leash because we are about to go on a walk.
I'm wearing my Handmaid's Tale type straw hat and my comfy linen blend blouse that has navy blue birds on it. It matches these pull on navy linen pants. It was a thrift find and I love it. Also the pink slip on Sketchers running shoes...I don't buy shoes at thrift stores but these were brand new with the tags and I love them as well.
Just look at the Coleus there. I wasn't kidding when I said it has gotten ginormous...we are wondering how and where it will fit back in the house!
Thank you for mentioning the new header. I don't have any photo aps but finally sorted out how to add words to photos with what is available on this laptop that I write on...each seem to have different features.
Local stores have moved past Back to School and are into Fall now and moving on to winter coats on display. How they move the seasons along is ridiculous. However, we had a dramatic drop in temperatures with an overnight low of 5C degrees one night this week. Just a hint that Fall is already beckoning.
I have lots more to share...next time then. Take care all!
We had a terrific rain, thunder and lightening storm on Wednesday, breaking the drought. It didn't rain nearly enough though. And the heat remained steady throughout, no cool down at all. But then on Thursday, it dropped down to the mid 20's and it felt heavenly outside.
Late season perennial flowers are in bloom...the pink and white hardy Phlox...If I had my time back, I would have planted many more of these to have more bright flowers to enjoy after all the lilies die off.
I found an unusual little creature on the veranda one morning...sadly dead. I wanted to show you and Tony thought it might be upsetting to some, but I think you can handle it. It is a Star Nosed Mole and I'd never seen one before and was fascinated. I took the time to study its very special front claws and, of course, those tentacles. Other than mussed up fur, it didn't have a mark on it so may have died of fright like the groundhogs do. Yes, that is a real thing for certain prey animals...fatal stress response to extreme fear. Poor things!
Okay forget about that now and look at this. Grandson Robbie, the bass fisherman. He stayed most of the week with us which was awesome. What a wonderful energy kids bring to a house!
Having an almost 12 year old here certainly livened us up, a much needed thing, let me tell you. While the heat slowed us down, he and I got some outside chores done. He also took over the ball throwing for the dogs and helped me move some boxes/furniture around. We worked around his 2 hour a day hockey camp. He was off to the links to play golf with his dad (he did a golf camp earlier this summer and loved it) the day he went home. He's a busy guy so we were very happy he could fit us in!
On the summer stitching front...Baskets Love is a flimsy. I'll show a photo next time. I've sewn another row of Propeller blocks...would like one more row to finish that project. I've finished the alphabet on G.Leger 1898 and have the recommended threads for the pear all ready to go. This photo was taken outside with sun dappling through the trees which is nice but sorry it remains unpressed. I don't like doing that till the end as it squashes the threads.
Okay now to new squirrely temptations I mentioned in the title... Did you see the Bonnie Hunter QAL shared by Frederique in her Stitch Along Section? Bonnie's QAL is called Leaders and Enders QAL and her special 4 patch version features pinks and golds. Oh my, I think I fell in love a little bit.
And another quilt I've ogled and loved for a few years and appears to continue my love of blades/moving things these days is Cordelia's Spinning Wheel Quilt from Bridgit Giblin. I finally was able to purchase a PDF pattern from Bridgit's site. I'm tired of working through the scrap bins and wonder what fabrics I would have in the stash to pull this one off...seems like a lot of low volume prints. More research is needed and a deep dive into the cupboards too. This photo doesn't do the quilt justice.
And this marvelous third thing turned my head too. I know many of you share my love of embroidery, especially redwork, and have stitched Kathy Schmidt's sweet designs too. Kathy is offering a Merry Minis Workshop where she has a joint offering of PDF's of 100 new designs plus access to many video tutorials for a year for one very reasonable price. These are little and would stitch up fast and I love the novel ways to finish them in this particular program. A Link is there to check it out.
And I gave in to one temptation...There have been wonderful sales online and I did order a cross stitch pattern from 123Stitch. It is Lila's Studio Peace on Earth, a winter quaker sampler. Yes, I can't seem to get enough of quakers! I love how the letters of winter are scattered about as well as the woodland animals that are also here and there. I started eyeing this pattern back during the pandemic and decided I would buy it now to mark my upcoming birthday.
I had to use their excellent personal service to help me figure out which of the many, many 32 count fabrics in the right size would work for this project. I have a fear of stitching away and then realizing the fabric isn't big enough for the design. Dylan responded right away and within a minute or so returned with that information as well as fabric suggestions for this pattern...very helpful. And per Dylan's suggestion I bought the 32 count light Mocha Belfast Linen which is very close to the soft camel colour of Lila's finished project.
I sincerely believe we, who have many hobbies in older age, are blessed!
But I've also got the mundane to do... notably laundry which means up and down a few flights of stairs which I don't mind...keeps the legs moving. Especially since I haven't been swimming as much lately...the pool water was actually hot, not at all refreshing and breathing deeply of humid air is not something I want to be doing. (Though I do wonder if such is good for the sinuses.) And I'm also missing getting out on some of the wonderful trails in this area. I'm not exaggerating when I say most of this summer has been unpleasant outside and not at all good exercise weather. And like the horrible dreadful forest fires still raging around the world, there continues to be a warning in place for Ontario. It's a genuine concern for us here smack dab in the middle of our woods and is why the original builders put the metal roofs on all the buildings.
Okay enough meandering. I've got to get on with the day. Two dogs here wanting a walk about but I'll put the laundry in first so it can swish away while I do that. Always have loved double dutying...do you? Oh and Tony tried his best to get a photo of me with the two dogs one day. I'll show you the result next time.
I did get outside for a little veranda stitching before the heat wave returned
and, on the front of the house, the Hydrangeas are definitely dominating the space just now.
The lawns are getting crispy and there was an announcement that the forests here in Ontario are under great stress. They've asked even hikers to stay out of them lest they start a fire. We are up to 19 days straight without any rain. Due to break with rain tomorrow.
Here is Petey getting his morning greeting and tickle from Tony.
Besides wonderful balancing Petey, I want to point out that box...Tony's new lap top arrived in it over a week ago and guess what we are debating about it. We both agree it is a really good box, perhaps, maybe even too good to throw out. Tony is more reluctant than I am to get rid of it. He keeps saying "but it's a really good box". Now I lived with a box hoarder for 34 years so this is a very familiar conversation to me. Maybe for you too? I'll let you know the upshot of this one and since I'm in charge of putting out the garbage these days, its' fate is in my hands. Though it really would make an excellent sturdy box to house Christmas ornaments, for instance, or large quilt blocks. What do you think...the burning question...will the box stay or leave???? (:
Great days for in the cool sewing room...
Those leaders and enders tiny blocks are mounting...I found some in blues and even two in aqua to share for the RSC challenge.
I've joined all the basket blocks and added one border...it's getting massive!
And my Free Pattern file is overflowing. Time to share a few with you.
Free Patterns from Tiny Orchard Quilts include quilt patterns and also free motion quilting lines patterns which was especially interesting to see. Megan also has a great YouTube Channel. I loved this pattern called Gift Boxes and is such a great Christmas quilt idea.
Debbie Kratovil at Quilter By Design offers what she calls calendar blocks where she shares various blocks for each month, some made by friends, plus many with free patterns right there in each post. So many free patterns!
In her July 28 post "By the Sea", she shares 3 boat quilt designs. I've always wanted to make a boat quilt.
The Bear Creek Quilting Company has 100 pages of free patterns like this one called American Beauty in such pretty fabrics. Who knew pinks and blues and reds could look so pretty together.
Yarnspirations has a whole section of free patterns dedicated to beginners. If you've ever wanted to try crochet or knitting, this would be a great spot to check out.
Speaking of which, Brenda at Brenda and the Serial Stitcher has begun crocheting! A surprising event for such a lifelong dedicated cross stitcher. She's still cross stitching, of course. But she is following Lori Holt's tutorials and making very pretty large size coasters.
Brenda has discovered this hobby is a great way to give the eyes a rest and suits very well for "in front of the tv" stitching.
I love this message below. Seriously striving to live it.
I've more to share including next time my stitchy temptations and maybe a little stitchy mail. Yes, I fell off the no stitch shopping/ purchases wagon.
August has brought welcome cooler temperatures here this week to the Ottawa Valley, Canada. The season of growing things with all the greens and the buzzing things is at its height...this meadow below was literally abuzz, so much so I would not walk through it. In particular, there was a large fly there we used to call stouts as kids. Have no idea what exactly is a stout but we were afraid of them as they could bite.
Speaking of green, I saw this frog and was intrigued by his 2/3's brown and 1/3 green colouring. This one has his bases covered to blend in with either mud or plants. Nature is amazing which seems like not nearly strong enough of a word to even begin to describe it.
And speaking of blending in...one morning we rounded the path to the pond and something at the furthest end caught my eye. I immediately led the dogs away and went back by myself to investigate. Another of my "can you spy it" shots. Something so tall and standing so still to almost camouflage itself.
A Great Blue Heron
I was sorry it was so far away and also it took off just as I had adjusted my camera. I would have loved getting a better photo of it. Oh well, I saw it and enjoyed the sighting.
I'm still using the Bear Bell on Ned's leash to alert any critters nearby when out on our walks. So far we have not met any so I hope it means the bell is working.
Michele in this post at Pennsylvania Piecemaker mentioned she watches Sue at From Small Things on YouTube. I'd also discovered Sue and am enjoying her unassuming attitude and also thrifty ways all the while sewing marvelous quilts. She can get the most amazing deals on men's shirts to use for quilt fabric at regular church rummage sales, for instance. As well as all the great Oceans quilts, Sue shared and demonstrated two things that I've noted to purchase. More on that later.
Meanwhile, I've been stitching more of the Propeller blocks to bring my number to 60. Each little block is hand sewn then the four propellers machine stitched together. I'm sorry to be boring you with more photos of this simple block but this happens when there are not that many WIP's being worked on.
July 30 was International Embroidery Day and I did stitch along while watching the amazing YouTube video. I just loved seeing so many stitchers from all over the world - I wonder how many countries were represented. And the great variety of methods they shared was incredible. Oh my, some of the surface embroidery pieces are works of art truly.
I've stitched up to V ( no U in this alphabet) in my G. Leger 1898 alphabet. I'm eager to get to a pear but I've realized the alphabet actually takes up most of this design, not the pears or house. I don't know why I'm just understanding that now. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. These are the fanciest letters I've ever stitched.
A small matter but one that makes a big difference...Tony has put new lights in my sewing room ceiling fixture and I've decided not to put the very heavy ornate light dimming shade back up. It is wonderful to have this much improved lighting and will be especially important in our short darker winter days.
LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's conversation starter this week is did you play with hula hoops? Yes we girls all had hula hoops on Charles Street, Corner Brook, Newfoundland where I grew up. I am reminded of that as we are watching Offspring on Prime and in the opening song, which is really catchy, one of the characters is swinging her hips in a hula hoop. The Australians have a brilliant way of combining serious with humour so we are enjoying this one very much and loving that there are so many seasons.
I enjoyed reading your reactions to the photo of my messy sewing room I shared last post. How kind you all are! And funny too. No, sadly no, I did not throw scraps all around just for the photo, LOL.
Hope something is putting a smile on your face and stirring your creative juices these days while you try to stay cool or keep warm, wherever you are in our big wonderful world. Take Care All!
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They are changing colour and turning pink due to the cooler temperatures. A sure sign the season is changing.
