Calming Winter Walks, Colourful Icy Walls, DMC #3801 in Herringbone Stitch, Pretty Flowers

 The word for the start of February is SNOW and lots of it. I've been shovelling and shuffling about the trails. So pretty. Thursday's walk was through a winter wonderland. I kept stopping to look up,  gaze around at how beautiful the forest looked. Despite it is a bold look, and stark too with the brilliant white against all the black looking branches, I felt it was very calming.  

And the view through the window on the back stairwell always makes me stop and admire...in all the four seasons.

We enjoyed another delicious cake from Daughter. This one was orange flavoured and I really liked it. I thought the orange went well with the chocolate icing.

That same daughter built this wall for Robbie's snow fort. That's Abbey's and Petey's tails there, LOL.

It took her quite a while to get it so big. Gorgeous at night.

I got this tower of Happy Elephant gourmet teas and special drink cup for Christmas from older daughter. I love the designs on both. Remind me of Liberty prints or maybe Tilda's. 

I finished the scrappy Lily Challenge hanging. I picked a red tiny polka dotted fabric for the backing and used DMC #3801 which is cheery looking to stitch a herringbone stitch to hold down the edging. It took longer than running it through the machine obviously but I thought the lilies turned out pretty and deserved the extra hand stitched touch. 

Thanks so much to the folks who gave this project a feature on their link party!

I've added several more flowers to my The Scarlet House Floral Motif Sampler. Slow stitching which is a part of almost every day here at the wooden house...

The two of them have a hard life...

With Neddy nodding off dreaming about sticks to chew and squirrels to chase (which I am too!), I'll leave you. Hope you are dreaming of wonderful things too!

Check out more happy thankful things at Not Afraid of Color, Brian's Home Blog and It's a Small Town Life. Also linking with these wonderful parties... Kathy's Quilts, Creations Quilts Art, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts,  Quilting Patchwork Applique and Alycia Quilts. 

Shopping A Bargain, Project Roundup, OMG, New Scrappy Patterns

I must mention how much I appreciated your marvelous comments and emails on the the Sliding Post. I heard from so many folks all over the world who shared their sledding memories, some so special with tales of brothers or sisters or the whole family hitting a town's local sliding hill.  It made me so happy (and sometimes gave me a tear) to read these wonderful little vignettes of childhood times well spent in fresh air and safe fun. Thank you all!

I know where the hills are definitely covered in snow and that is the whole Eastern Seabord.  A huge Nor'easter blew all the way up the east coast and even reached into the Maritime provinces in Canada. Our little deep freeze has lessened and we too have a forecast of snow for midweek which is what happens here when it "warms" up. 

I cannot say how badly I want to start a new scrappy project!  Halo is on my mind probably because I bought the templates for it. I'm also thinking of  Glitter, which I have the book it is in.  Both are Jen Kingwell patterns and beckoning to me with not just a finger but the whole arm!

 I've been gathering a few modern fabrics for these as I would like to be somewhat current and in line with how Jen uses colours and prints in her work. 

I love Sentimental Stitches. I've purchased a 2022 program from Gay called Little Blocks 4.5; they are foundation paper pieced blocks. So far I'm downloading the patterns.  Gay also has a cache of free patterns and BOM's well worth checking out, btw.

But all that lovely stuff aside, I'm holding fast and finishing two current projects. My OMG for January was to finish the QAYG Courthouse Steps which I very nearly did. I am binding it now and that is surprising me with how large it is. Taking absolute ages to finish a side! 

I settled on this for the binding, a tiny print black on white. Sort of neutral and goes well with the red.  The grey is my soiled ironing board cover.

 I'll have to carry on with this and make it my OMG for February at Elm Street Quilts too. I have one side left to finish. Handling it on the machine felt like I was mauling it to death but other than loosening the odd pucker and it taking so long, it is all going well. Now not show worthy or anything like that, but passable. LOL

A little shopping...

Before I forget and while this is on an excellent sale.,,  I'd ordered one for myself when it was almost half price and I liked it so much I ordered two for the daughters.  Very light and also very warm. The Eddie Bauer Fireside Plush Pullover. Mine is in teal. (Not affiliated just sharing something I love).

I know Nanette at A Passionate Quilter From Texas mentioned this recently  but I've had a lot of questions about cross stitching so thought I'd share it as well. The fabulous Fat Quarter Shop is offering cross stitching lessons from Kimberly on their Floss Tube channel. 

And this wonderful free PDF design below. They call their program Cross Stitch University and you can even buy a t-shirt.

TO DO this week besides the above quilting project, is finish crocheting the border on Yuletide Blanket, 

 and finish the border on the Lilies hanging. I'm using a herringbone stitch which I'm loving the look of. More about that next time.

I have Robbie here for the day as his school has a PA Day so we will be outdoors roaming about very soon. 

Hope your Tuesday is going great!

Sharing this post with Texas Quilt Gal, Life in the Scrapatch, Wendy's Quilts and More, The Inquiring Quilter, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Quilt Fabrication.

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.

  

January 2022 Blizzard, Lily Challenge, Big Project Mystery Clue

This fall the little gray squirrel has been a steady visitor to the bird feeders. I was struck by how beautiful his tail is.

He looks very healthy.

How appropriate to have my Snowbound (Kathy Schmitz's fabric line) Hexie runner in use. All day Monday we were mostly house bound while a blizzard blew around us. That is unusual for here as while we get lots of snow, we lack the winds to create a blizzard. 

 Neddy and I had a bit of a hard time doing our early morning walk. I had to stop twice to catch my breath. But I was determined to get him out because he was a bit sad that Petey has gone home. He was not tired at all and developed a very cute kind of high, spritely step to get through the snow. 

Good thing I did the walk in the morning because so much snow fell we can't walk the trails now till the ski do does some flattening. 

Suddenly our world is very white.

I was able to get back in the sewing room and complete the big tidy up while the snow flakes flew. It felt so good to have that done even if it is three hours of my life I will never get back. LOL

Here is a clue to a big project I uncovered.  All the border blocks are hand pieced and completed.  I need the center medallion finished.  I got hung up on how I thought the birds were a bit odd looking.  Ring any bells to any of you?                             

"Finish" is my word for stitching for now and I pulled out this project below to be next in the to be quilted line up. This was the 2018 Lily Challenge Project run by Het Klossie. I kept a basket with the pieces all ready to be stitched and made a habit of stitching one each evening while supper cooked. 

Hand stitched blocks with machine stitched borders. What an enjoyable project!

The sewing room will be busy this week. Hope yours is too!

Sharing this post with Love Laugh Quilt, Quilt Fabrication, The Inquiring Quilter, Life in the Scrapatch, Alycia Quilts, My Quilt Infatuation, So Scrappy and Texas Quilt Gal.

Fox and Owl, Lilies and Milkman

I wonder how the early pioneers did it for we are not long from those times here in Ontario. Their marks of old stones for fences zig zag through this property still.  Their triumph over nature in the true sense of the phrase puts our complaining about winter weather- a snow storm today, into perspective especially when I read detailed accounts of their agonizing experiences settling Lanark county.

As  you may know we are surrounded by woods here and this allows us to get up close to nature.  Here is an instance that was very close.
 I glanced out the kitchen window and caught sight of a fox under the bird feeder. He made one quick movement, turned and was off back to the tree line immediately where he paused to enjoy his meal.  In the blink of an eye we are down one red squirrel.
  I keep my "point and shoot" camera there so was able to snap a couple of photos, albeit bad ones.

He had the most beautiful bushy tail and looked quite healthy. I wish I could have gotten a better photo.

Mama Barred Owl in Indiana has now laid two eggs in her nest.  I'm so happy the Cornell Lab camera is back on line to follow along with the hatching and raising of the owlets. This is year 3 for me to watch them and I am ridiculously in love with this.

All About Birds: Barred Owls

I've sewn two rows of red scrappy blocks around those lilies.  I'm wondering if I should go for a third...you know that old rule of threes being more pleasing to the eye. What do you think? No shortage of little red blocks...just where did they all come from!!!

Today I will be back to the hand stitching, the first part of the alphabet, having finished the last half, on the cross stitched Cornwall Cottage, progressing.  While I watch the snow softly fall...

Or while listening to this, Milkman by Anna Burns...just arrived in my email from the library as an audiobook, after a long wait.  I have my hopes up as it won the Man Booker Prize in 2018.

                                 

Gay at Sentimental Stitches is hosting another patchwork block of the month this year called Cheddarback. Patterns are free for the first month they are posted. You may remember Gay also shared a sampler style project last year called Dear Daughter.  Thankful for all these generous quilters sharing their talents.

Thank you all for the sweet comments and emails about my husband's brush with what I still think was near death. He continues to get stronger and and is able to walk once a day with me now.
However, he will have to be careful not to cut himself while on this particular blood thinning drug.

Happy Sunday all.
Joining Kathy's Quilts, Viewing Nature with Eileen, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Busy Hands Quilts, So Scrappy, Esther's Quilt Blog and Em's Scrapbag.

Red Lily EPP Quilt, Mascarpone Blueberry Cake, Primitive Quilts

So the world is now simply white. Yesterday we had a snow storm which, while we get lots of snowfalls here, seldom is there a good enough wind to make a storm of it. But this one had a stiff breeze as I would call 60 km/h of wind. Flakes flew enough to obscure the views and give us the sense that we were house bound.

And this morning outside by my pet chair, a rabbit has made its' way.  Hubby thinks one may be living in the piping for the ornamental pond near this and if so, is extremely cosy under a layer of rock, soil and now 30 extra cm of snow.

We enjoyed our Indian food very much especially the fresh naan bread; perhaps that is my favourite part. Younger daughter treated us to one of her cakes, which she loves to make and decorate. This one had mascarpone in the frosting and blueberries which made it delicious.

I bought this magazine (which I seldom do) because it had a number of features I liked.  Baskets, houses, hearts...

Including this article with pattern about the wonderful Cheri Payne who passed away last year. I love that her contribution to quilting and stitching is still being acknowledged and celebrated.  The facebook group called Quilts by Cheri ~ Friendship Group is thriving. There are now many, many pages of free patterns in the Files there, btw.

I wanted to show you hearts but have lilies on the wall instead.  But they are reds.  I'm starting to wonder how many to make.  The border was easy to choose as I'm going to sew together left over little blocks in keeping with what a scrappy project this is. 

I'm stitching my lilies the EPP method but here is Teresa sharing the way to cut and sew this block on the machine. Nifty!

If you celebrate Valentine's Day, hope it is wonderful for you.

I must go and break the bad news to the dogs that there will be no second walk today...the first one was hard going. Hubby and I have massive digging out to do first and being old, we must pace ourselves. 😊
So happy to link with Not Afraid of Color, Esther's Quilt Blog, Em's Scrapbag, My Quilt Infatuation,
It's a Small Town Life, and Quilt Fabrication.

Unsewing, Cake Making, QAL's

On the phone, my mother, who is days away from 85, asked me if I had my Christmas baking done. She loves to talk cooking and baking with me and laments how her kitchen days are behind her. She still speaks with surprise of how I don't bottle things because we are so alike and that was something she did often with food.  Her reasoning being, if company dropped in, you always had something you could make a meal out of for them, the real Newfoundland way.
 Bottling food was something I never really had an interest in, perhaps because it sounds like botulism(LOL), and I know I would be terrified of getting the whole tight seal thing right.  But she bottled jam, meat, vegetables, etc., fed it all to many and never harmed a soul.

Speaking of baking, I made Christmas scones on Friday.  Several facebook friends have links to King Arthur's Flour and I saw this recipe for Ginger scones scroll by. I love anything with crystallized ginger in it.
 It was chilly yesterday with -20C windchill so it was nice to come in from the morning dog walking to this.  Hot tea and a scone with extra old cheese and pear for lunch, a combination Hubby loves.  There he is lurking with his newspaper at ready waiting  for the photo shoot to end so he could chow down.

This is finally a flimsy and on the wall.  I freaked a little when I saw it together for the first time...thought it just too much red.  But having it hanging around has enabled me to get used to it and now I'm okay with it.  It is a Christmas project, so is what it is.  Some of the hearts need their papers removed still and here is what I'm pondering :- adding more hearts to the plain blocks, more cornerstones, substituting those two red blocks for the gray starred ones.  I am definitely going to stitch another star in the hare block.   The more I look at it, the more those two red blocks have to go. My stash pile is a whole lot prettier from this project!

While I had the little Brother machine out stitching these blocks I sewed together more of the scrappy Lily blocks, a super stash busting project.  Cutting the pieces for this in front of the t.v. is a great activity for me...suits my multi tasking personality.

I love the idea of QAL or SAL's.  2019 promises to be a great year for these events. For me, I have to proceed with caution as I have finishing requirements on a number of projects.  I can't believe I've fallen into this as I used to be a strict "one project at a time" stitcher.

Kristin at Simple. Handmade.Everyday is joining with Patty at Elm Street Quilts to conduct a sewn by hand quilt along. This promises to be interesting with two such experienced quilters providing tutorials, etc. along the way.
                                  

Another lovely Quilt Along is happening at  Patchwork Posse.  And there are baskets...which I love.

                                         

The wonderful Myra at this post of Busy Hands Quilts is again collating links to many of the 2019 QAL's.  Nice to find them all in one place if you want to have a look. Also great to see what is still available from her 2018 list.  Please let me know of any you are finding interesting...

Besides the unsewing in my day today, there will be cake making...have the eggs out of the fridge to get room temperature whites for my meringue...wish me luck.  So all good here at the wooden house.  Hope it is likewise for you in your corner of this world.

Lots of lovely hand sewing happening at Kathy's Quilts as always. Also happy to link with
Free Motion by the River, What a Hoot Quilts, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Em's Scrapbag, and
Love Laugh Quilt.