Free Patterns, Colour Talk, Embroidery Stitch Along

We are deep in winter,  a time here for the fleece wear and flannel and staying cosy by the fire. Not a problem for us retirees. I just got out my winter coffee table runner that I sewed a couple of years ago.  Kathy Schmitz Snowbound fabric and EPP hexagons.

It's been through the wash a couple of times and has a nice crinkly feel to it. I mentioned at the time that I certainly would be stitching hexagons again and someone recommended this little tool below.  So I bought one on Amazon but haven't used it yet. It's supposed to make it easier on the hands with all the cutting of thin cardboard.  Any of you ever use this?

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week was how do we feel about Pantone's colour of the year, viva magenta. It is a stunning colour!

 Years ago I had a student tell me she could "feel" the colour green. I am not  in touch with colour like that but there is one colour experience that is thrilling to see in person.  An offering of nature's own shades of yellow/purples/magentas.  I've had the pleasure of viewing the Northern Lights many times in my over 25 years of living in the far north and Labrador.

 I follow Newfoundland photographer, Brad James, on Facebook. Brad had the honour of this photo of his being chosen for the cover of the William Collings 2022 Bird Photographer of the Year book. It's not exactly viva magenta but those magentas are amazing especially in contrast to the little Yellow Warbler. 

Thursday's Three Free

At Freda's Hive you can find the tutorial to sew this sweet cottage.

It caught my eye because I'm a member of the  Corinne et Cecile Quilt Along group on Facebook. The present challenge is to sew houses and it's been so much fun to see the array of houses/villages folks from all over the world are stitching. 

There are also links to free patterns too of course. Houses must be a very popular pattern no matter where you live and that got me thinking about the wonderful architectural pieces to be found at Magpie's Mumblings where Mary Anne often includes buildings, barns, houses, etc. in her stitching projects. The realism is phenomenal in her fabric art. 

Beyond Valentine's, from Leslie, the Seasoned Homemaker, comes the pattern and tutorial to make this very cute Easter Peeps Mug Rug. Ah Peeps, yum!

Leslie also shares how to make the perfect Valentine Star using HST's which is really easy and neat. 

From  Subrosa comes another cross stitch freebie that is lovely and delicate like everything she creates.

And last but definitely not least, I was very happy to see this announcement from Meg at Crabapple Hill Studio. I  have stitched so many of Meg's wonderful patterns over the years and just know I will definitely enjoy whatever she designs. The Crabapple Hill 2023 Embroidery Month Stitch Along is found at the Crabapple Hill Studio site under  Other Stuff in Downloadables file.  In fact I've downloaded the first free pattern. 

How great is our stitchy world and the talented folks in it!

Also great to link with Wendy's Quilts and More where talented Wendy has made herself a lovely sheath style dress from Kaffe fabrics. Also linking with Alycia Quilts where Alycia shares a beautiful red, white and blue quilt featuring lovely Friendship Stars. Linking up with Quilting Patchwork Applique too where Frederique shows how her village of houses is coming along for the Corinne et Cecile QAL. Also joining the slow stitching folks at Kathy's Quilts where Kathy is cross stitching sweet little hearts that have deep meaning behind them. Joining too the gang at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework (yes it is!) where Cynthia shares a gorgeous pieced heart. 

Free Patterns, Renewed Interest in an Old Project

It's all about the weather again here in south eastern Ontario. Weather does not know borders, LOL. It's a good thing I love the snow, with the caveat that I don't have to drive in it. 

It started snowing yesterday mid day and is still snowing. Looking out my kitchen window this morning. Everything swaddled in a fresh blanket of white.

Ned and I ventured out for our early morning walk and didn't get too far. We wound up walking just the laneway and even then the going was tough.  I know it's hard for some to understand how invigorating walking in winter air is. But it always makes me feel great. Bundled up, it is not cold at all. The cool air clears my sinuses, my mind and science says it boosts my immune system too which I believe. It also makes me feel grateful I can walk like this and then have a warm house to return to.

We are finally watching this series, The Morning Show, and enjoying it very much. For some reason, I am always surprised by how well Jennifer Anniston can act.

Thank you for all the encouraging words about the recent quilting projects I've shared. Yes, the yellow is working out for the Panama Pyramids.  And I'm feeling a renewed interest in the Wheel Within a Wheel project. Have the sections all sorted again and will continue the hand stitching parts tonight. 

Our prompt this week from LeeAnna, Not Afraid of Color, is what is our favourite colour/colours. I like the idea of thinking about colours now with my outside world white, white, white. However, it is hard for me to pin down a colour I adore as such. Having a colourful flower garden and also flowering bushes has added so much enjoyment to my life in general. And now that I am white haired, I've been wearing brighter colours, red, for instance, which used to be my least favourite next to purple and orange. I used to wear camel and grey which totally wash me out out now. 

But in keeping with red, look at how joyous the Sumac become when the summer season starts drawing to a close. Who could not feel brighter in spirit when looking at this. 

What about you? Do you favour one colour over another? Have your colour choices in clothes changed like mine over the years?

I keep saying I want to make placemats. Perhaps with tea cups. I was totally smitten with Anna-Jantina and her beautiful cups. I love everything she sews and you will see why if you look her up. She is on Instagram and I had sincerely wished that she kept her blog going. 

Thursday's Three Free

So I'm looking at free patterns for cups and there are so many. Here is one from the kind folks at Bear Creek Quilting.

And another freebie from  the Quilting Daily site...I've downloaded this template.

Sewing cups/mugs would be fun. 

 From Moda Fabrics comes this unique design called "Latitude". I think batiks were use to make this one but the free pattern includes a colouring sheet to work out your own pretty palette.

For my slow stitching friends...do check out Mary Corbet's Needle n Thread site if you haven't already. I've been a fan ever since I got the internet years back. I've followed her stitching lessons, copied patterns and bought patterns and books through her site as well. Mary has a wonderful bank of free patterns and links to patterns for both embroidery and cross stitch. Besides loads of tutorials. 

I need to draw this post to a close. Thanks yet again for the lovely comments, emails, suggestions, etc. I read them all and take them to heart. They mean the world to me!

Love to share this post with the weekly linky parties at Alycia Quilts, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, So Scrappy, Quilting Patchwork Applique, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Wendy's Quilts and More.

Friendship Star Blocks, Manly Quilt Talk, Six Quilt Trends, Artist's Gift

It was a beautiful weekend here in our corner of Ontario with windows open and a little wind making the leaves dance about on our walks. Our kindest of autumns is continuing it seems. I had already moved our winter outerwear upstairs and some of the lighter clothes to the basement closet. I've had to go down and bring it back up. Just don't need a parka when it is 15C + outside. Meanwhile, several Canadian provinces out west have had a number of snowfalls, as have some of my American blogging buddies far to the south of us. Being superstitious about weather, I wonder when it hits us, how bad will it be. Ottawa and area winters are classified as Harsh meteorologically, the same rating as Labrador. Who knows!

When apples were talked about here recently, I heard from many of you about your favourites but no one mentioned this one below.  When I saw it at the grocery store, I couldn't resist the name- SweeTango. They are delicious, crisp and sweet. Any of you tried this one?

Sitting atop The Fens by Francis Pryor, my heavy reading book at the moment, alongside much lighter stuff. I enjoy architecture as a topic and even ancient especially through the eyes of such a talented archeologist. Francis is one who hates leaf blowers, btw, and our obsession with neatness in gardens...we should live alongside nature, he thinks. 

 Creative LeeAnna, Not Afraid of Color, sent me a gift...interpreting one of my photos in her artwork. She says she was inspired by the glint in my Junco's eye which I had not noticed till she pointed it out, using her artist's eye. She talks more about her painting Here and you can check out that glint Here. Thanks, LeeAnna; this made my day!

Some stitchy talk now...
 

Top 6 Quilt Trends as seen recently at Quilt Market 2022.  #5 is one I love...the hand stitching trend growing bigger all the time.  And overall, it's great to have confirmation of how strong quilting remains as a beloved craft which is good news for us all.

Recently I wrote best men's hand sewn quilts into google search and I emerged a couple of days later. Not kidding...Oh my, what a journey that was. Just so much to see and read about in the search for ideas about sewing a manly quilt.

 I came across these videos produced by Michelle Fox, The Simple Quilter.  She asks her husband and son questions about the kinds of quilts they like.  I had a smile on my face all the way through.  These lovable guys love the quilts Michelle has sewn for them. This initial video was so popular the men have returned, with the dog, to answer more questions about quilts and quilting. 

So what do you think of Pantone's Colour of the Year for 2023?  Are you a Lavender fan?

Meanwhile, I've pulled fabrics for grandson's quilt and sewn several more of these Friendship stars. I will be sewing more of these this week.  No lavender here!

But there is lavender here! I laid Plaid Tilda over the sofa in the t.v. room to take stock.  I have the left hand corner still to quilt. It's too big to get a good photo of no matter how I try.  Most nights, this is my handwork while watching t.v.

We had a fairly busy week last week...busy for us that is. Today we have to pick up Hubby's medicine and we always treat ourselves to take out when we do.  I'm looking forward to that. 

Hope there is something to look forward to in your day too! 

Happily joining Linda's Texas Quilt Gal's To Do Party. Also sharing with The Inquiring Quilter, True Blue Quilts, Alycia Quilts, Wendy's Quilts and More, Quilting Patchwork Applique and My Corner of the World.

Thursday's Three Free, Rare Moth, Tasty Meal, EPP Pyramids, Loving Labradors

I took this photo a couple of weeks ago in August when the fall Asters just began to bloom. If it is the Yellow Wooly Bear Moth, I would be delighted as I have seen a couple of the pretty yellow caterpillars around the property like this one I photographed in 2019.

 I watched the moth forever, fascinated with its furry like long legs and overall ghostly appearance.

Wendy at  Pieceful Thoughts- this post shared a link to a slow cooker sausage and shrimp boil recipe that sounded delicious. I made my own version and this is the leftovers...shrimp all eaten you'll note. I used quinoa instead of potatoes for a base and used up some Roma tomatoes for a sauce, nothing too fancy. Browned the sausage before putting it in the slow cooker which helps with the flavour I read. Hubby loved it. It was the tastiest thing I've cooked in some time.

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week was sharing a craft other than quilting that we have an interest in. I already share my "other" crafts which presently are cross stitching, embroidery and crocheting.  Perhaps improving my photography skills could be included in this too. In the grand scheme, I have a goal to return to watercolours. Sort of lost my mojo for that when all my supplies and a large work in progress... a botanical iris I was working on during a course I was taking, were lost in my fire. But maybe one of these days I'll jump into that again. I liked the brushes, mixing colours, and loved the names of the colours- Prussian Blue, Vermillion, Raw Siena, Cadmium Yellow, Payne's Grey.  Aren't they neat.

Meanwhile, my stitching fingers have been busy.  I'm early with my monthly EPP Panama Pyramid blocks done for September. Perfect nightly stitching in front of the tv.

Abbey and Petey come over every afternoon for ball playing on the side lawn. Ned begins watching for them around 3.  Here they are at the finish one day, tongues hanging out. Exhausted but very happy. 

Thursday's Three Free

Donna from Jordan Fabrics makes a pretty fallish quilt in this video called Donna's Free Twinkle Little Star Quilt Pattern.

The pattern is on the Jordan Fabrics free pattern page website you can find HERE. Loads of PDF patterns to look through. Many table runners and small designs.  Lots of inspiration. I liked this pattern called Painted Meadow. 

And this one, a Lone Star Hanging. I do love red, white and blue.

Kristy at Quiet Play Designs offers a free pattern of her wonderful Geo Compass Medallion design  HERE. Her generous Freebie Page is HERE.

And from Nancy at Liberty Needlework I found this cute fall cross stitch pattern. 

It seems the whole world loves pumpkins! 

I should mention that Tony and I both took the covid test while he was under the weather and they were negative. He's still struggling with his lack of energy but we agree that it is what it is for his age. He's never been what you would call super energetic- he's more a slow and meticulous kind of worker.

Hope this week has been a grand one and the weekend even better!

So grand to link with Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Small Quilts and Doll 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.

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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.

Eight Everyday Tiny Wonders

 I didn't look far to find things to be grateful for and happy about this week. Here is my list.

When I got to the bottom of my bowl of oatmeal and saw a beautiful cardinal...The relief I felt when I found the pom pom Neddy chewed off my woolen cap-  after I thought he ate it!

When I saw this beautiful painting and it stopped me in my tracks because back when I was trying to paint I thought my desire to outline things was only for cartooning. And I do love tulip shapes in paintings, drawings, quilts, etc.

The Blue Jug by Samuel John Peploe. (Do you love these colours as much as I do?)

When my ex included something in my Christmas gift he knows I will love.

When I got this Christmas card and wanted to keep it because it features all the critters I love and have sighted right on our own property.

When the juncos arrived and stayed because I kept lots of old garden vegetation for them to have a nibble of something good during these cold days.

When I got this new small appliance, a waffle maker, to add to my little collection, and the delicious breakfast for supper we enjoyed. 

Having something so cheery, all this pretty brilliant red and white scrappiness in my lap...

and especially thankful for being retired providing me all this uninterrupted time to lay hand stitches when the spirit moves me...

Hope your day is filled with tiny, monumental things too.

Joining up with Not Afraid of Color and the Thankful Thursday group. Also happily linking with Kathy's Quilts, Quilting Patchwork Applique, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts,  So Scrappy and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.