Shopping, Books, Slow Stitching

Our trails have dried up and there is no ice on the pond. The geese have been floating around on it.  MUCH earlier than usual and such a welcome sign of spring. LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week is if we have a favourite flower of spring. Truthfully any of the early blooming flowers are a welcome sight for me, I really can't pick just one. But I do especially love to see the Lilac tree bloom which is brief but showy. What about you?

Robbie spent part of his March break here with us and it was fun to have a 10 year old in the house. Children really have their own unique energy, so different from us old folks. I noticed how fast he talks with such enthusiasm, for instance, compared to us. His hockey season is winding down and he has started football lessons just for fun and loves it. I don't think I've shown you something I bought for his Christmas present this year...one of those human dog beds. It was a gigantic hit! Everyone agreed we'd all like one. 

I'm doing okay with the full coverage on my HRH Block #7. I swapped the called for blue of the sea for a slightly brighter one. Folks had an rare issue with this pattern when it came out in that the colours in the picture didn't match the called for colours.  The called for colours were much more subdued, even dull.

Did I tell you already I ordered The Woodpecker, #9 in the Year in the Woods series by Cottage Garden Samplings? Ned and I have watched a juvenile Pileated Woodpecker at the top of the lane going about from tree to tree. It stays far enough low on the tree trunks, which right now are leafless, that Ned can see it. One morning we trailed it for quite some distance till it finally moved to the tree tops. Ned surprises me with this because he often misses a rabbit darting to the side of us. Anyway, I think it appropriate that I stitch a bird now to join the Jackrabbit. Summer stitching maybe. Here at 123Stitch.

 I'm reading(rereading) this book of short stories by Canadian author, Alice Munro.

Alice won the Nobel Prize for Literature which was remarkable. Often Nobel Prize winning authors are novelists writing about major events, wars, unrest, injustices, etc. so it was rare to have it awarded to a short story author who wrote about ordinary people dealing with the ups and downs of domestic life. For example, some of you may have seen a movie called Away From Her starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent about a husband coping with a wife whose memory is fading. The movie got two Oscar nominations. It was based on Alice's story called The Bear Came Over the Mountain. 

Alice had dementia herself when she was given the prize and could not attend the ceremony. Her daughter went in her place and did say that her mom understood and knew she'd gotten the award. I really hope so.

I promised I'd show the tops I bought at the Real Wool Shop. Here they are. The colour of this one was what caught my eye. It is a deep violet/mulberry colour and will look good with white hair. It was a winter item so on sale.                  

This second one is a summer top, 3/4 sleeves, very light rayon like material and a pretty design on it. 

 Would these suit you?

We are off to the vet's with Ned to get his spring time vaccinations and tick meds. Afterwards, we might go through the McDonald's drive through and get egg and sausage mcmuffins and seniors' coffees. Do you ever do that?

Hope your weekend is fabulous and you get a chance to do something you love.

Sharing this post with Days Filled With Joy and Kathy's Quilts.

Redwork Stitching, Marking Pencils,Gardening, Movies

 I shared a photo of the vines that grew so well in winter inside the house a while back. Here they are still alive and well outside all summer. I had put a few seeds in soil just to see what would happen knowing that, while I had no success growing pumpkins, I loved the leaves and these, whatever they are, look so pretty. A very tiny critter also loves them as there are little nibbles taken in some of  them.

And the Marigolds are the ones I grew from seeds planted in my garage green house in May. I have three pots of them and they grew well but were late to flower. I also planted a new to me flower- Zinnia seeds at the same time and here below are what remains after another critter raided the plants when I first put them outside. These have surprisingly strong stems and faint quickly without water. This is an annual and I'm going to try to harvest a few seeds for next year. 

Thanks again to Texas Quilt Gal, Linda, for mentioning the heating mats for propagating seeds indoors. I will definitely be adding more next spring. 

Inside, while I've layered two quilting projects, I've spent my evenings in front of the tv stitching 2 more patterns from Mom's redwork project. Here are the Caribou and the Moose, two very common animals at home. 

I ordered these erasable marking pencils from Amazon...here is the link (not affiliated) Amazon Clover Water Soluble Pencils and they came to me all the way from Hong Kong.  Three colours to a pack-white, pink and blue and they are another way to achieve removable marking lines to follow for hand quilting. Work perfectly but wear down fast. You need to keep a sharpener handy.

Jack and I went to see this movie. I enjoyed it very much and learned a lot. I realized I  knew very very little about that whole event. Wonderful performances. I was surprised again by how comfortable movie theater seats have become with the movable head and leg rests, especially good when you are sitting there for almost four hours.

We are hoping to see the Barbie movie this weekend. 

I'm off to make lunch. Daughter gave us a basket of locally grown tomatoes and they are delicious. Hubby loves a white bread tomato sandwich with a little mayo, salt and pepper. How about you?

Hope your week is going well!

Happily linking with Creations, Art, Quilting and Kathy's Quilts. 

Thursday's Three Free Patterns, Halloween Talk, Sharing Quilt Backs, Special Video

 Autumn turned this maple tree into quite the marvel. 

Now those limbs are bare. And for a short time, we will enjoy our golden leafy carpet under foot on our walks.

Someone asked...yes the Swedish BungyPump Walking poles are fabulous in my opinion. You do get a workout- I can feel my heartrate rise, and I do believe my upper body and arms are getting stronger.  I usually spend 15-20 minutes walking  with them as many days of the week as I can get in. Not affiliated in any way.

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week was a favourite costume of ours. All I remember is having face masks as kids.  Those made of a stiff plastic like material that made your face overheat and sweat so much. Not pleasant. I always wanted a rabbit as in those days, my nickname was Bunny. No fancy treat bags either, an old pillow case to carry about. Gosh it all sounds like Olden Days doesn't it especially compared to the Halloween animatronics items available today. 

Speaking of Halloween, I went to see Halloween Ends with older grandson and I enjoyed it for what it is. I did not find it scary. Fun to see Jamie Lee Curtis again. 

I will not be able to meet my OMG for October, that is hand quilting Plaid Tilda. However, I am pleased with how much is quilted and how it is looking. It's over 3/4's of the way finished. I haven't shown the back before. I'm happy my stitches are catching the fabric through those layers okay. I like these pretty fabrics.

Remember the Super Scrappy table runner.  The hand quilting on that is done.

And I'm likewise happy enough with the stitches...here's the back as well. Not perfect, by any means! I'm no Gretchen or Karen! I could go on there with naming wonderful hand quilters. Check out Sunday's Slow Stitching party post at Kathy's Quilts and you will see lots of wonderful hand work including Kathy's!

Time for Thursday's Three Free!

Linda, the Texas Quilt Gal, alerted us to this free Mystery Autumn Stitchalong from Joy at Days Filled With Joy. Every Friday for 4 all together, Joy will release an embroidery pattern, free for a limited time. 

I'm sharing this idea because I just don't think of fussy cutting motifs enough or using fusible applique either for that matter. And the projects those techniques could be used in are endless. This one below is part of the free cache at Connecting Threads and is called Acorn Park Triptych. I love little scenes like this. Perfect for small scraps for a pin cushion or needlebook maybe too.

Gay at her wonderful Sentimental Stitches site shared this lovely free pattern called Friendship.  Available as a PDF download.

Interested in applique basic techniques? Erin Russek at her blog, One Piece at a Time, is sharing a series of posts showing how to applique. Her instructions are very clear with large photos to follow along. She also has a page of free patterns with tutorials. Great stuff!

I am ending this post with this wonderful video from Karen at Just Get It Done Quilts called My Dutch Textile Tour.  Karen and her mother went to Holland to visit the grave of her grandfather who died fighting to help liberate Holland in the Second World War. Along the way they visited several textile and quilt shops. While I had tears in my eyes during some parts, I also was thrilled to see the Petra Prins shop, which as Karen says, was like stepping into Quiltmania. 

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today and maybe found a little bit of inspiration-there are so many talented folks sharing their skills with us. What a time to be be a stitcher!!

Great to be able to share this post with Quilting Patchwork Applique, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Stitching Stuff,  Sum of Their Stories and Kathy's Quilts.

Thursday's Three Free, September 20th Design Wall, Christmas Movie Favourite, Rare Bird

Design Wall September 20.  The Wheel Within a Wheel blocks are each labour intensive I'm finding...so many bits and bobs to each one and most of it sewn by hand. Though I've lagged recently while getting Karnak finished for a gift, I'm still liking this. 

See the bit of Kaffe fabric on the bottom...it is Roman Glass and I heard him say in a video interview that this was their best selling pattern of all time. Kind of surprised me as it is brown but he said people thought it blended well. Update...folks are telling me it is available in a lot of colours which makes more sense to me.

I'm curious if this was a thing- covering school text books in brown paper,  anywhere else but Canada? Mom would iron the paper I remember.  We had to do this in my younger grades...it seemed to have ended by the middle grades. 

I was fortunate to get a photo of this bird or one like her several times at the bird bath. Up till this summer, I'd only seen and gotten a photo of one before.  A small female Rose Breasted Grosbeak so may be a younger one. Leeanna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week was what favourite movie we have that we might watch over and over. I seldom watch a movie a second time unless a lot of time has elapsed between viewings. But there is another exception and that is Christmas movies. For instance, I've watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation many times. I know it is a little lewd and silly but I can still smile when I think of the 25000 Christmas lights fiasco, the out of control hill slide and the fussy couple next door featuring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. 

Is there a movie that fits that category for You?

                     

Thursday's Three Free

Jennifer at the Hopeful Homemaker still has all the steps on her site to make this delightful quilt though she made it a while ago in 2013. By following her directions, I think I could do this.  It's basic squares and hst's. 

This quilt caught my eye. It is popular around the net and I've seen it in a number of different colourways. I clicked a lot of buttons searching for the pattern and had to smile when it led me to the Fat Quarter Shop. 

From the Smart Cross Stitch Folks comes this great little Autumn cross stitch design. You can download the pattern at that link. And here is the link to over 150 free patterns they so generously offer. I especially liked the Christmas Deer one.

I need to share the QAL's I've noted that have popped up now with autumn here almost, and Christmas on the horizon. I'll include one in each of the next few posts.

Meanwhile, hope you are feeling energetic and inspired and gearing up for a great weekend. 

Happy to be linking with Kathy's Quilts, Life in Pieces, Wendy's Quilts and More, Love Laugh Quilt, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework. 

Family and Movie Times Again and Yuletide Blanket

This post was meant to be my Thankful Thursday one but life got in the way as we often note in Blogland. 

We are catching up on some appointments and outings that were postponed because of the pandemic so have been busy with outings just about every day.  

Littler grandson turned 8 and all the family got together for the first time in several years.

Our gift to him was drum lessons at the local School of Rock. He had his first lesson and enjoyed it. 

Being able to go to a movie with older grandson again is wonderful! Dune, wow, and what a movie it was! The musical score and special effects were amazing.

Also wonderful was getting this parcel that made a very long journey around the world from blogging friend, Jean at All Points of the Compass. Just spying New Zealand on the big fluffy parcel was a thrill.

 She so generously stitched an array of cozy hand warmers, scarves and neck warmers and included enough for the family too. Jean and I have been friends since I started Canadian Needle Nana and we have emailed back and forth throughout the years sharing hellos and words of encouragement when needed.  Funnily the package arrived just as our temperatures dropped below zero during the day. 

Oh and she included some cuts of batiks...one featuring these birds that I will keep and treasure. 

I'm sorting out the Yuletide Blanket pattern. Here's where I am now. But I'm questioning my tension and thinking I will start over again with a slightly smaller crochet hook. I hate these "technical" decisions and losing the time I waste on them. 

However I am loving the colours and do find them Christmasy. 

I got to hold this teeny tiny nest in the palm of my hand and wonder as always about the fragility yet strength of birds. Found yesterday at the base of that very large tree. 

I have older grandson on his way to help us move and stack more firewood around the house so a very busy Saturday for us.  He is also bringing their new very tiny little dog which will be interesting for Ned.  More about that later!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. 

Happy to link with Kathy's Quilts , Love Laugh Quilt  and My Sunday Snapshot.

Comforts and Small Joys to Pass a Canadian Winter in Isolation

We had a wolf moon last week- the first full moon of a new year. Early morning stepping onto the front veranda for wood I was surprised by how it looked so brilliant and illuminated the landscape.  This photo taken around 7:30 am. and look at those colours...cobalt? purples?  What colour(s) do you see|?

I am toting a lot of wood these days, part of the routine here in winter.  I'm pleased my joints aren't creaking though I think my arms may be an inch or two longer by the end of the winter. Never fear, I know exactly my limit with the hoisting and carrying. 

 We'd talked about doing this and decided it was time... We registered with the goodfood folks to get a box with three meals a week delivered. I still have to cook them but besides choosing from a menu, don't have to think about the groceries for them, or that interminable question what will we have for supper. Several have been enough for two nights for us especially with a salad added or an extra veg or bread, etc. We've enjoyed all of the 6 meals we've had so far, even his nibs saying they are tasty. This has buoyed me up as I was feeling tired of my own cooking. The meal below was oven roasted veggies on quinoa with a cream sauce that was very tasty. Maybe this will see us through till the present stricter lockdown is lifted.

  I do wonder what do the folks who don't have hobbies do during these days. Though I guess the internet and tv do offer loads of entertainment. I know a couple who are enjoying movie marathons, in their case, all their old favourites. That sounds like a great idea. We watched this movie on Netflix and enjoyed the calm, understated way the story got told. Always liked both the main actors, Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. 

My shawl is this big. The very simple knitting pattern, Seed stitch, offers an easy rhythm while relaxing in front of the tv. Btw, several of you wondered and here's my answer- if I can do this, you can do it. Knit and purl patterns are easy to learn.  Shades of that sky above...

I finished this piece Find the Good Every Day by Erica Michaels on 32 count linen, two threads over two. I changed a couple things... chose a lighter colour for the background scroll and omitted the edging which I began and didn't care for. There has been a massive resurgence of the past time of cross stitching with many folks either trying it for the first time or returning to it after years away. It's been wonderful to read their accounts of newfound comfort with needle and thread.

 I also did what a lot of cross stitchers do when stitching an alphabet...put the initials of family members in a different colour, in this case those of my two girls and their two sons. 

I always loved receiving mail. When I lived in isolated communities on the coast of Labrador and in the Far North, the arrival of the mail plane was a joyful event. In one Labrador community, if the mail plane made it before Christmas it meant the children had gifts from Santa who would put their gifts on that plane. One time the plane arrived on the day school was closing for the Christmas break. When we heard the unmistakable sound of a plane's engine, the children, all 23 of them, ran outside and began waving, laughing and hollering at it. We watched, so happy for them and clapping too.

 Children have such joy in them and to share it was one of the best things about being a teacher. (By the way, I am friends on Facebook with one of the students who was there that day. She was in Grade 1 at the time and is a retiree herself now.)

But getting back to present day mail. Two books arrived...This one by Jen Kingwell called Quilt Lovely featuring 15 different projects, came very quickly from Amazon, the only place I could find it.    

I've had Jen's Glitter pattern noted for a long time, another great scrappy pattern. 

And this one from the Blackbird Designs ladies who straddle the two creative worlds of quilting and cross stitching.  The Bells on Christmas Day features five patterns for cross stitch of a primitive and sampler kind of style. Here is the link to their blog and a design called Frosty's Night Out that is very cute.

Nattering here...Hubby in his new Eddie Bauer fleece lined shirt, more happy mail.  I told him it's called a shacket, and he said why not call it a jirt.  He points to how hard it is to warm an old man (he doesn't shy away from calling himself that) citing how many layers he is wearing...in this photo, four, even as he's planted directly in front of the fire.  

Later that day, it was bitterly cold but bright, eye-blinding sunshine as we ventured out for our walk and I said to him, look at that sun. Turn your face to it and let it warm you.  Take it in.  Though things are different in our world just now, this sun is the same old warming sun as far as I can tell. 

Another small but not insignificant joy is linking up with these fine folks....Not Afraid of Color, My Corner of the World and It's a Small Town Life.

Inspiration, Indoor Gardening and Outside Chores, Fans Quilt, Free Patterns,

We've been blessed for a week now with unseasonably warm temperatures. Just wonderful for walking outside and doing more chores like gathering kindling and window washing. Here is a look into one half of my indoor garden. I use the 3 step ladder for the washing- too bad if the window is higher than that! I just can't risk going any higher these days. You can see my kitchen window in the background and just beside the top of my shoulder is my camera with the good zoom pretty much set up there permanently.

While out there, I heard a loud and familiar tapping on the house. Rounded the corner and there was Mr. Woodpecker pecking away at one of the knots in the house siding. Every few months, one of them decides this is a good idea. 

I can't tell if this is a Hairy or a Downy but Murphy decided to bark at it which made it fly away. 

I had made a large curried butter chicken recipe and then decided to try my hand at making naan bread to go with it. We both love the naan bread you get at Indian food restaurants and I'd been told it is easy to make. After researching how to make it in the bread machine, I chose one recipe and gave it a go. Of course, I got busy right at the crucial point of taking the dough out of the machine and when I checked, the baking process had already started. Darn it. So we had a loaf instead and it is quite tasty. I've never added yogurt to a dough before but it was good.  I will definitely be trying to make real naan bread another time. The recipe is here at the Taste of Home site.

Our Saturday night movie was The Lie starring Peter Sarrsgard and Mireille Enos (of The Killing fame). It was good...certainly portrayed parental agony well and held our attention.

I've added stitching lines to what I was calling parachutes and have since renamed them Fans. That is more in line with the Japanese theme anyway so thanks goes to Patricia (no blog) for that idea. 

Just wondering how many now to make. Perhaps 18 which would give me 7 rows with alternating 3 and 2 fans for a nice sized hanging. Does that add up?

I'm using a running stitch and this Sulky variegated thread in red, white and blue. Fun stitching. I'm also using my Hera tool to mark the lines. Since they are short lines and on dark fabric, it is working well for this.

Inspiration

Jenny of Elefantz has begun a free stitch along she is calling Joy to the World. It features her unique designs on a traditional Christmas theme. The first two blocks are at that link.

I love houses and one of these days I'm going to start a house quilt. In this marvelous video below, Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts shares how to make a tiny house, a perfect use of small scraps and could certainly be a Christmas theme as well or an RSC Challenge at So Scrappy. Her small quilt is so cute too and I like how her earrings match her top. 😊

I also like this project...more scrap busting possibilities and the reusing of those lovely Moda ribbons...I have a few of those myself.  From the talented Jen Van Orman and the link with instructions is HERE. 

2 Humane Mouse Traps-Number of Mice captured and released, 12!! An even dozen; who knew so many mice run around the garage at night! 

I have bird feeders to fill and wood to stack. Always chores here to keep the old body moving which is a good thing. 

Also have to link this post with these fabulous parties:- Kathy's Quilts, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt, Our World Tuesday, My Corner of the World and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.