Covid Thoughts, Stitching Stars and Crosses, Bouncy Bird

I said yesterday can we really keep doing this. This being just the two of us here day in, day out with only a far wave or a shouted hello very occasionally to other people. Of course, we can and I know we can; after all we have no alternative even though it is feeling like this pandemic is dragging on far too long. Almost a year now we remind each other and we've made it this far, still safe and healthy which is the main thing. So good then. Then we go about our activities, watch our shows, eat our good food, stoke the fire and feel badly for feeling even the tiniest bit of sorrow for ourselves. We can't imagine how rough and worrisome all this must be for some folks, never mind the deaths; my heart goes out to them all. Funny how you can feel so grateful yet have dispirited thoughts all at the same time.

Can you spy what they call the fingernail of the moon in this photo?  The skies have been pretty lately especially later in the afternoon. This is the little skating shack down by the pond. 

 Natter here when not talking vaccines, covid numbers and can we make it...

Do you think large eggs are as large as they used to be?  We both agree they seem smaller. For many years, I bought medium because I'd read medium eggs had exactly the same amount of nutrients as the large. Seems to me the large I'm buying today are the old medium size. What's the natter in your house?

Happy to have a little sewing done. A sawtooth star start...I liked this simple design enough to want to sew more of them and they provide the perfect chance to highlight extra pretty fabric in the center.  Tula Pink's pretty pink chipmunk gets to be framed in this one. The sawtooth star is simple yet offers variations that can add extra interest. A great star block for scraps too.

I found this tutorial at A Quilting Life for how to make a truly scrappy Sawtooth Star. 

These have been on the picnic tablecloth design wall since December. I'd like to do something with this fabric. If only something would come to me like that lightening bolt that would appear in cartoons when a character was struck with an idea.  They are so pretty in their shades of reds. I do love toile. 

I have this Erica Michaels cross stitch piece almost finished. Such an enjoyable project.  It's resting on a woolen shawl that was a gift from daughter Christmas, 2019 and a colour I'm struggling to describe. It's kind of salmon pink leaning towards the browns. Whatever it is, I'm thinking it would work well in a quilt. 

Can you spot the chickadee here?  It was foraging in front of the kitchen window (amongst that ugly gardening) a couple of months ago. I have a healthy number of chickadees visiting the feeders and do enjoy watching them flitting about in what I think is a bouncy, joyful manner.

One of the things that is helping me make it through is you and your lovely comments and emails. I love reading every one, invariably, with a smile on my face. Thank you!

So happy to link this post with the folks at Not Afraid of Color, So Scrappy, Viewing Nature With Eileen, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Paying Ready Attention. 

Blue Flag Quilt Blocks, Spring Strings Quilt, Spanish Rice, Brilliant Wildflowers

As I make my way about the property, I'm so happy not to be colour blind. This would be the saddest season to be unable to see all the pretty colours, each it seems more vibrant than the one before.

Wild Canadian Thistle

Living in a wild garden, for that must be what this really is, as from my kitchen window I watch hummingbirds at the feeder, a chipmunk run under the rose bush, two red squirrels uncivilly(chasing each other about) taking turns drinking from the pot of water I put out, and the surrounding spruce trees, interspersed with many brightly blooming things.  A sight this morning I'm going to try to hold in my mind's eye for later when I know summer will be a dream.

I have finished a couple of projects so it's time to pick up some new ones. No shortage of ideas in my notebook thanks to the constant inspiration I get from you folks!
 I've been getting a new scrappy project up and running in the sewing room this past week.  I found inspiration for this idea at Pinterest and followed up at Sew Delicious (where Ros hasn't posted for a while).
                                                       
 Small corners of colour reminding me of flags representing all the colours of the rainbow in one quilt. I was influenced by the gorgeous blue of that flower below to begin with blues. I don't have that many low volume fabrics for the backgrounds so there will be repeats.

I don't know enough about photo editing on Windows 10 yet so this is its true blue colour...electric.

Viper's Bugloss, sometimes Blue Thistle

 Lucky because blues are my biggest stash as well.  A messy process though as all the fabrics must come out for an airing and look over. But a great way to get to the bottom of the pile and always find something I'd forgotten about.
The result has a restrained kind of look yet there is such freedom to choose any and all colours of fabric. You can tell I enjoyed stitching the first batch of blocks very much.

I have all the papers removed from my Spring Strings and the hand stitching held up. It feels softer and is ready to be a sandwich. This bundle of wool, the Debbie Bliss Andes, has been with me for a few years now. I wrote about it in this post way back in 2015- I Love Debbie Bliss Andes Wool. It is so soft and needs to be used-another crochet project. With the blanket finished I can start this one...guilt free. More about that later.

And an equally brilliant shade of yellow.

Birdsfoot Trefoil named after the seed pods

Today I'm going to be stitching on my cross stitch Summer Storm piece. I am listening to this audiobook (second time I've tried it). Still not really grabbing me but I'm hoping it will.
                                                       
Karen at Quilts...Etc. is listening to a John Grisham novel, The Litigators; I just might have to look for that.

It's leftovers today for supper. I made meat loaf and baked potatoes last night with enough meat loaf left over for today. I knew the weatherman was promising high humidity to arrive by Sunday here so I would not want the oven on.  I've had this recipe from Simply Recipes bookmarked for a while, so today's the day to try it out.  I'll be using one of my most useful small appliances, the rice cooker.
Spanish Rice

2 tablespoons	olive oil (can use up to 1/4 cup)
1	onion (finely chopped, about 1 cup)
1	garlic clove (minced)
2 cups	long-grain white rice (or medium)
3	chicken stock (cups, or vegetable stock if vegetarian)
1 heaping tablespoon	tomato paste (or 1 cup of diced fresh or cooked tomatoes, strained)
add pinch	oregano
1 teaspoon	salt

So that's all that's cooking here today.  No outings planned so a quiet day to putter about.
Btw, if I've mislabelled these wild flowers, please let me know. I am absolutely an amateur at this.
This post will be linked with Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and  So Scrappy

October is About Leaves

I found the title of this post under my feet.  Literally.  I had to get a photo quickly while the reds were still present as they are the first to fade.  The weather has been changing things up this very strange fall by remaining remarkably warm.  But oh so wonderful for walking which I love.

Here is the very pretty L is for Leaves block from The Prairie Schooler Alphabet design (also on my watch list).  Goes without saying I love this.


                              


Got sidetracked by this when I was hunting for a link for you...their Fall Fields to cross stitch. The only one I haven't seen here on this property is the pheasant.


                                 

Are you like me and would have to live to be 120 to stitch all the things you love!

I usually walk a couple times a day and have caught sight of a Great Blue Heron down at the pond several early mornings.  Frightens easily so no photo.  Twice I've caught its great long legs up in the sky which just looks so odd  till it straightens out.

The walking trails on this property are wonderful for us old folks to toddle around.

Love how the ornamental grasses, which I guess you could say are leaves, are so showy this time of year.
And this about leaves- here is a photo of my Painted Lady hanging with the big leaf motif on one side.  These are such joyful colours to work with.  I'm enjoying the hand stitching too.

I just love this little poem which could have been written for our Canadian autumns.

October, baptize me with leaves! Swaddle me in corduroy and nurse me with split pea soup. October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace!

Rainbow Rowell

Hubby would second the candy bars and the teakettle! How about you??

Please check out Not Afraid of Color where LeeAnna is hosting #60 of Thursday Likes.  Where has the time gone!! Happily linking with Good and Random Fun and It's A Small Town Life.

Thread Spools Have Secrets!

Did you know this?  It is new to me.
  The Gutermann thread spools are hiding a secret.  SuperMom No Cape  wrote this wonderful post about the secrets in your thread spools.  And I had to go right to the sewing room and check it out-sure enough, there is a tiny secret compartment in the middle of the spool especially if one end is covered.

What could one hide there?  Needles are obvious, but perhaps a dollar bill or a couple of aspirin. Wouldn't it be interesting to know just what some women hid there.  These Gutermann spools have been around since 1864.
Imagine learning a new thing about something I've been handling for decades!

A surprise package in the mail gives us all pleasure, I think.
This a fat quarter bundle I had bid on awhile back and forgotten about from Massdrop.  Enough of us had entered the 'drop' as they term it, to bring down the price 42%. This is Morning Song by Elizabeth Olwen for Cloud 9, kind of modernish designs with some deep mauves and cool colour combinations.  Good to shake me up a bit.  The  Massdrop quilting and stitching community continues to grow and people are suggesting very interesting items.

I felt lucky to have spied this on the outer garage wall when I went there to give Hubby a hand with the mowing tractor.  I raced to grab my camera and it rewarded me with just a few seconds, long enough to get one shot, before flying away. It is the marvelous Luna Moth, about four inches across and I was lucky since they only live for about a week, do not feed and have to rely on the food they ate as caterpillars. Isn't nature fascinating! They are an interesting border crosser and have been making their way into Ontario from the United States.

I promised to find out more about Japanese embroiderer Kimika Hara and I did.  Along the way I visited some wonderful embroidery blogs and almost lost my way, but eventually found this.
Here is the link to Kimika's blog.  Amazing interesting embroidery in her Etsy store too.

And I'm just as taken with her self portrait as I was with her fox at night piece.


                         


Thank you all for the concern about my poor finger.  It is surprisingly quiet...not hurting at all which I don't know if that is a good thing or not.  Have I killed it!!

Be sure to click over to lovely Not Afraid of Color and visit the likes that others are linking. Also linking with the wonderful thankfulness to be found at It's A Small Town Life.

UFO's Can Be Inherited

UFO's 
This term in the needlework world has nothing to do with aliens, it simply means unfinished objects.  It seems that many crafters love to start projects but have a hard time getting them finished.  They languish on shelves, in drawers, or put completely out of sight in boxes. You can tell I am speaking from experience here.
Meanwhile, we just found this UFO belonging to my deceased mother-in-law.

Hubby discovered this partly needleworked Siamese cat in an old suitcase.  And it comes complete with all the wool which appears to be in immaculate condition.  Just begging to be finished.

 So it is true you can inherit UFO's too. And just like your debts you can also outlive them.  So who will inherit yours?  :)