Squirrely Temptations, Stitchy Purchases, Special Summer Guest

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. 

Sharing this post with parties at Kathy's Quilts, Melva Loves Scraps, It's A Small Town Life and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.