Wordle, Gail's Jewel Box, Wooliest Pin Cushion, New CAL, A Show to Watch

 I have a bunch of stuff to share in this post.  

Have you heard of Wordle?  My sister alerted me to this new word game that folks have gone wild for. One puzzle is released each day and I won't talk about the details here; if interested you can read them yourself. The creator does not want to make money off it so it isn't an app. I think. Doesn't take long to do; I like it. If you try it, let us know what you think.

One puzzle a day found here at Power Language UK

Talented Gail, the Cozy Quilter, shared her Jewel Box quilt with me in an email. And gave me permission to share it with you. Isn't this a beauty! In the blues...there's something about blues together that I love. Thanks, Gail!

Another Christmas gift all the way from Bonavista, Newfoundland, the area where my Dad was born and raised.  This one, a very special pin cushion made from  wool of the sheep in the area. 

That grandmother always spun her own wool and knit many, many sweaters, mittens and socks. The cardigans, mittens and socks were always a part of the Christmas box from them along with new pyjamas each year.  And I have a strong memory of the very heavy bulky hand knit sweaters my grandfather wore under his oilskins fishing. 

My Yuletide Blanket didn't get finished for the Yuletide but pert near. I'm on #64 of the 78 rounds and where I could do three or four rounds an evening not that long ago, now I can just do one.  It is keeping my legs warm as I crochet. 

Lucy At Attic 24 is just releasing her newest CAL, the Harbour Blanket.

  These are the colours and I'm intrigued by the pattern (which is free and there is no sign up necessary) she's using in this one to create little waves. The wool bundle is available at Wool Warehouse.

I did get this table runner finished, the one using Kathy Schmitz's Snowmen embroidery patterns. But I have to work at getting a photo that shows true colours. Slate blues are a challenge. And clearly I need to learn how to depict true colours in my images in general, especially during winter months. I think this center block is a Turkey Track pattern. 

We watched this series, Irvine West's Crime on Britbox and enjoyed it. So often the detectives have emotional turmoil themselves, poor home lives, etc...it's almost a cliche. Well this fellow was so distraught throughout...the character was  in relentless anguish it seemed. I felt sorry for the actor who had to play the role. When casting, the first question they must have asked was Can you cry?

I told you how the cardinals come to the feeders at dusk. I took this photo of the female one evening. I do hope the sunflower seeds are providing them a little nourishment to make it through our cold nights. 

Those nights have suddenly become much colder averaging -20C, but it is January in Canada just outside the second coldest capital city in the world. So Bundle Up time!

So happy to link with Not Afraid of Color, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt, Life in Pieces and Life in the Scrapatch.

Christmas Parcel, Cross Stitching Birds, Jewel Box Quilt Finish, Supportive Blogging World

 I've been giving Fraktur Flowers attention for the month of December. Hard to believe we are down to just hours of 2021 left, isn't it. 

My sister always sends me a lovely Christmas parcel. I've not read this book. Any of you?  And of course, Liberty of London little sticky notes are very pretty.

And the tiny owl ornament with its' message is also so appropriate for me on both counts.

My happiest thing this week is having the Jewel Box Quilt all finished off. Funny how that can happen when you spend all your stitching time on one project. I used my walking foot to run quilting lines through all the red blocks.

For the backing, I used up these two coordinating fabrics I had in my cupboard for ages. 

I made a sashing of red, then pulled the backing around for a narrow finishing edge. Since I wound up using batting for the middle layer, it is really too fluffy for a tablecloth.  Better suited for a lap quilt so will be a little gift in the future for someone.

Another  week in another year almost done... an early winter sunset. 

What a supportive world the blogging stitching community is!

Thank you all for the sympathetic comments about maintaining good mental health throughout these very strange times. 💖Thank you to those who shared with me your experiences and suggestions; I appreciated that so much. I'm feeling well and almost back to my mostly very positive self. 

It will be a quiet ringing in of the New Year here at the wooden house. But it's all good!

Enjoy your evening, your day tomorrow and cheers to a wonderful new year for all of us!

Linking this post with Not Afraid of Color, Powered By Quilting, Wendy's Quilts and More, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Kathy's Quilts, Devoted Quilter and Create...Quilts...Art, Whatever.

Depressive Feelings, Lounging PJ's, Jewel Box Quilt

 My 70th Christmas went by in a flash. All of it enjoyable and very thankful for that too. 

Though I will admit now that I had several very low days before the holidays with no accounting for exactly why. My mood was down in my boots. I worked at it though -spent extra time in the woods walking and with my camera, went through my photos, emailed friends, took my Vitamin D and exercised. I have no idea if any or all of that was what righted my mind. Perhaps it would have happened anyway if I'd put myself to bed for the duration.

 Hubby thought it was because of the new variant and lockdown talk. I really don't know but I will say again I have a new appreciation for the suffering that depression brings. It is definitely not a "snap out of it" or "buy yourself a new hat and you'll feel better" kind of experience. My wish for you who read this is to never ever have to experience it. 

Here is an ebook I recently read and enjoyed very much; the short story format really suited my mood. I got my copy from the library but Thriftbooks has it in paperback for less than $5. I also enjoyed reading the essays from the jurors about what influenced their choices for the prize. 

I got these lovely red flannel pyjamas for Christmas. I am going to use them for something I'm pretty sure my grandmothers never heard of- lounging. 

Since passing the shortest day of the year here, our light will now lengthen by approximately 20 minutes a week. I am reminded of the old saying, As the days lengthen, the storms strengthen. My parents used to say As the days get longer, the cold gets stronger.  That is definitely true for here in the Ottawa Valley, Ontario.  Have you heard this or something similar?? Hopefully there will be no truth whatsoever in these old sayings this year.

 

A few close up photos of my Jewel Box quilt which is now a flimsy. Someone thought the bigger blocks were in blacks but they are a mixture of dark colours.

This is a really fun block and the possibilities with it are really endless it seems.

I've chosen the backing and will get it layered today. I haven't decided if I will add it to my hand quilting pile or not. My Quantum Singer should be able to handle the quilting. 

 Though it isn't perfect, I am happy I didn't lose any points in the stitching.

Hope your Christmas week is everything you hoped it would be. Keep safe!!

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

Christmas This Year, Nana Time, Jewel Box Quilt

I heard from talented Robin at I Like To Create that she had stitched the quilt I showed Santa stitching in the last post.  Robin and her husband do the jigsaw puzzle each year and it was her inspiration for the quilt.  She also called the pattern Rising Sun. Thanks Robin for letting us know and allowing me to share your pretty quilt.

In my sewing room, the Jewel Box blocks continue to grow. This is an easy block to stitch once I'd figured out templates for the parts. I do seem to get good use from those Marti Michell templates I purchased to stitch the Farmer's Wife quilt all those years ago. 

Trying to keep preciseness with the cutting is a challenge; my mind tends to wander during that part. This is the layout so far and I need one more strip for the right side there and then I'll say this is large enough. 

Schools here shut down a few days early and I've had the pleasure of Robbie being with me this week. Being a grandmother is a definite plus of aging. We spend time outdoors of course. 

Which Ned loves as well.

Besides testing ice strength all over the property, we spent some drawing time indoors which is one of his favourite activities.

He also shoveled the snow off the veranda which he told me was his one act of kindness that day. He said he's doing one act of kindness every day. One day he brought chocolates to the lady next door and I asked what did she think of that, he said "her reaction was overwhelming...she absolutely loved it."

This happened to me once...went right from school (where I was teaching) to a party and there was a tray with broccoli and the most delicious dip. I was starved and ate too much. By the time dinner was served- let's just say I'd taken the edge off my appetite. Ever happen to you???

It is white for Christmas here and Lady Google has been playing Christmas music. We will visit younger daughter for Christmas Eve but forgo the get together on the Day when all the family meets up. Older daughter who is a health care worker has to work on Christmas Day, which so often happens for her. 

 I sincerely hope this is the variant to end all variants. 

Merrily linking with Not Afraid of Color, Applique Patchwork Quilting and Brian's Home Blog.

Santa Quilting, Vintage Blocks, Tiny Trees, Jewel Box Blocks, Hope For Better

 I was a little concerned about our 95 year old Queen there for a couple of weeks. I was relieved to see her back on duty greeting this fellow, Thomas Trotter, and presenting him with the Queen's Medal for Music on December 8th.

I was a Girl Guide for a number of years and took my weekly pledge to do my duty to God, the Queen and my country very seriously.  This Elizabeth has been my queen all my life. She has never put a foot wrong and I feel very sentimental about her, foolish I know. And the Girl Guide motto, Be Prepared, has also been with me all my life. 

I've mentioned before the whimsical idea (so say meteorologists) that nature provides for wildlife by having more cones grow that fall when there is a hard, long winter ahead. This year there are massive numbers of cones on the trees. I've seen one year before with the trees so laden with cones and I noted that it was a hard winter. I do wonder what we are in for this year. I was aiming for the junco here and you can't see that the top of the tree was so heavy with cones, the branches were all drooping.

These little foundation pieced trees are really fun to sew. I prep a few in front of the tv and have them by the machine ready to go. I wish I had more interesting low volume type fabrics for the backgrounds. After talking about sewing from stash last post, now already wishing for more fabric. Sigh

We got our third shot or booster on Tuesday evening at a clinic in a nearby town. I was surprised to see families there, the children too, getting their vaccines. Everyone was so kind to us and each other and several times I heard we are all in this together. It made me think of the togetherness the world wars made of certain nations. 

With my brain, one thing always leads to another and I thought of the videos I'd watched about quilt making during wartimes. This one below is very good and explains too how women in different nations worked together for the common cause. Especially between Canada and the United States.

And speaking of vintage.  I recently tested a very old pattern called Jewel Box, which also goes by other names. I would really like to make a large tablecloth for Christmas use. I have a few blocks sewn and on the wall to try to decide if I like it enough.  I decided on adding reds for more or less the nod to Christmas. 

 Update: I've continued on and made enough blocks now. Photographing anything down in the sewing room, especially on cloudy days is certainly not showing them well. So I'll get a photo (in another part of the house) as soon as I've sewn them all together.

I enjoyed this photo when it appeared in my Facebook feed, the work of Tom Newsom.  Lots of comments about which pattern it is that Santa is stitching. Any ideas? 

The closest someone came was saying it was Rising Sun. I was able to find a tutorial for stitching this Santa's quilt at Victoriana Quilt Designs. And more of Tom's beautiful Santas can be seen here at Tom Newsom Art.

We have  about 10 cm of fresh snow this morning and the sun is shining. A brilliant Christmasy look to everything. I have my little Snowmen hanging, Bonhommes en Chapeaux, up. I have to smile when I look at them. I've seen tracks lately, but haven't spotted a fox in a while.

And it looks like we will again be sticking close to home. Too much of the new variant around and numbers rising rapidly. We just have to keep hoping this time will be the end once and for all. 

My hope for you is that you are fine, coping well with whatever life has thrown at you this week. And if it's something wonderful, enjoy every minute.

Also wonderful is linking with Kathy's Quilts, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt, Our World Tuesday, Texas Quilt Gal and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.