Embroidered Journals, Quilty 365, Tiny Tree Trains, Aging Thoughts

The Snow has arrived!

 Here is my Tuesday deep thought...

Now in my seventies (you have no idea how weird it is to write that), I realize my face is changing. My nose appears larger probably because my cheeks are sinking. My teeth look and feel bigger while my hair is thinning. It goes without saying but I'll say it anyway, how grateful I am to be here and still have my wits about me to be able to even note these changes. I also thank goodness I've never been overly vain, just the normal amount of vanity, enough to make me want my hair done and be nicely dressed for work. This natural aging process has given me to understand better why the beautiful actors indulge in cosmetic surgery...it must be quite the blow when they realize there is no cream known to humans that can halt these changes. And these changes happen to us all if we do the thing we dearly want to do, and that is to live longer. 

Having a laugh is good...

Pinterest

I notice lots of folks are making temperature quilts or temperature cross stitch projects. They are such a fun stitchy memento of a particular year.  My interest in such a thing led me to join Audrey's QAL- Quilty 365, A Year Long Journey back in 2015. I loved the idea of stitching a circle a day to mark the time. 

I enjoyed keeping them in a tin

A happy Russell Stover Santa tin (small things amuse me)

And the resulting rainbow like quilt is on the hall wall leading to our bedroom so I see it every day. Hubby can't get beyond the wrong sized birds that would be the size of helicopters, he says. :D

 Also I've always been intrigued by the idea of making an Embroidery Journal...this is a link to an article detailing how to make one... An Embroidery Journal is the Prettiest Way to Remember Your Year. Many such journals and ideas can be explored here at this Pinterest Link. 

Before I forget and while still on the topic of embroidery, I wanted to share this sweet design of Meg's from Crabapple Hill Design Studio. It's called the Polka Dot Mitten. You would learn how to do the Fly Stitch to achieve the knitted look of the mitten. Really neat!

Meanwhile, I spent a couple of hours in the sewing room finally joining the Tiny Trees blocks which are finishing at 5 and 1/2 inches. Hope to finish all that I've made so far this week.  I realized something while I was working with them.  I like this easy foundation paper piecing enough to turn them into a fun bed quilt, if I make enough of them of course.  It is such a great way to use up scraps too. So I think I will keep this going for now and see where it takes me. 

A Tree Rainbow

I have some veggies- carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and red peppers simmering on  the stove with a little chopped onion. I added a container of Campbell's Vegetable broth instead of my usual chicken broth. I had a sip of the vegetable broth and it doesn't seem to have much flavour. I don't like to have to add lots of stuff just to get a flavour but bland is not good for a soup either. I wonder what else I could add. Any suggestions?

Thank you all for the ideas of how to finish the Old Fashioned Redwork Santa.  

I'm off to do some shopping, online that is. I'm going to check out the Black Friday sales that seem to start earlier each year. Going to start my Christmas list. Be sure to drop by on Thursday to see another set of great Christmas patterns. So many generous creators!

Linking this post with Linda, the Texas Quilt Gal's party, To Do Tuesday. Also linking with Quilt Fabrication, Wendy's Quilts and More, Quilting Patchwork Applique, So Scrappy and Alycia Quilts.

Biscuits and Gravy, Scrappy Tiny Trees, Colourful Coffee Table Runner, October Photos

 

Haying time in the Ottawa Valley- as neat as it is to see these you don't want to get stuck behind it on a narrow country road..I had to wait for it to turn off to get past.

I'm a cautious driver-I will ever only pass one car at a time and seldom even that.

Thanksgiving dinner was a success.  It was nice to use the fancy glassware and dishes from Hubby's family. I enjoyed the preparation very much. I made biscuits for the gravy this time and used Melissa's Bless This Mess easy recipe for The Best Butter Biscuits. They were really good. I made two batches so we are enjoying the leftovers. They are great with a little butter and jam too. The big one in the front there is the cook's, the one made from leftover dough bits. My second batch browned nicely and the company ate those. The first batch was a little pale.

Having all the company here exhausted Ned...he was so happy to have them. He fell asleep as soon as they left and slept in till 8 the next morning. He usually wakes me about 6:30. He has stayed small for a Labrador, about a quarter smaller than Petey and his mother.I've added two more rows to my coffee table runner. The backing is a neutral polka dot, nothing exciting. I figure there's enough going on on the front.

And added the border as you can see. Also experimenting with a little hand quilting in red.

I tried quite a few fabrics to find a suitable border and kept coming back to black.  A bit boring but it seems to work the best with all those colours. Luckily I had enough of this particular fabric to go around all the edge. This week I have to settle on whether I like those red quilting lines enough to quilt the whole top with it. 

I keep forgetting to show more of the tiny trees project. I have their basket beside the machine and stitch a few bottoms or tops when I finish something else. Foundation piecing of this simple kind is good for that. Here in the pale autumn sun. I should put a push on to get more sewn because the end of the year is my deadline for this project.

A bit more focused garden work needed this week. I have to lop off all the old hosta leaves, the ones that have wilted and yellowed. I'll use my electric hedge trimmer which is so much easier on my hands. This is done every fall and I think it does aid their growth in the spring...the hostas are always healthy here.  The Goats Beard bush will similarly get its' used up canes all shorn. 

A failure...my attempt to grow kitchen herbs in veranda pots was a dismal failure. Something kept pawing the soil and eating the seeds. I wonder if I could grow them inside this winter. 

Thank you for the emails and comments about the Matisse painting I showed in the last post. Many of you know so much about art and Matisse in particular. I was told that piece was an experiment in scale for him. Interesting!

Hope your week is likewise interesting and as productive as you would like it to be!

Happy to link with Texas Quilt Gal, Brian's Home Blog, True Blue Quilts,  Wendy's Quilts and More, Floral Friday Foto, Quilting Patchwork Applique, Alycia Quilts, So Scrappy and Quilt Fabrication.

Loves, 7 or 8 of Them Today

"Love each other or perish."

                           W. H.  Auden

Monday is a public holiday here and in many of the Canadian provinces, Family Day. It's a day for families to take a midwinter rest or get outside and enjoy winter fun together. This year there are lots of planned activities. We will be dog sitting as daughter and family take a little overnight trip. 

 Love these faces...mother Abbey with her offspring, Petey and Ned. These Labradors love the snow.

The family was here last Sunday for snowmobiling. They all had a great time.  Both the grandsons were here.

I love to see them having a good time in the fresh air and the snowmobiles beat down our walking trails which makes them easier to tramp. 

 Truthfully, I'm not getting in the sewing room much lately because it is cold back there. Even with a little heater, it stays cool especially as my sewing machine is by the big window. But one of the milder days, I sewed a few more of the foundation pieced trees which made me feel better. This time in some greens. 

Love this free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop.  Scrappy Brick House is a quilt I'd like to make someday.  Always fun to dream.

However, I'd made these four houses below for the Sarah Fielke BOM, Grasshopper project back in 2018. Sarah's pattern was easy to follow and I remember enjoying stitching these very much. I was a little new to EPP back then.  That project is resting in its' own big tote. The houses aren't placed together like this in the overall design.

 The fabric line I used is Bloomsbury by Frannie and Jane. It came with this saying by Virginia Woolf...

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well". I could not agree more!

I have all the blocks stitched, just need to finish the central appliqued panel.  At least it is back on my radar!

But up next right now TO DO this week and in line with my plan is to get a few more of the smaller projects completely finished. More hand stitching thoughts as I figure out how to quilt this one below, my Fans piece. I have it prepped and ready to start. I've done some research and will be trying out an idea today. Wish me luck!

We've been enjoying this series, Inventing Anna, on Netflix.  To think it is based on a true story. The audacity of this girl is mind blowing. 

A wonderful performance by Julia Garner of Ozark fame.

Love the internet...I feel lucky to live in a time when I get to experience all that it has to offer which is endless it seems.  And the pleasure of meeting up online with so many of you all over the world. That makes me very happy too.

Also happy and thankful too to join these quilty folks...Kathy's Quilts, Quilting Patchwork Applique, Brian's Home Blog, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt, Texas Quilt Gal and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

Two Sewing Room Additions, Great Gift Idea, Foundation Stitched Scrappy Trees, The Thanksgiving Star

 I have two additions to my sewing room, neither of them are brand new but I'm enjoying both very much.  

Daughter was updating her den tv and had her bedroom tv available so she gave it to me for my sewing room. I'm able to watch whatever I want, well, listen to really.  So that's been fun.  I've watched the new Dexter which Hubby has no interest in. Yes, and another place to drape fabric!

My little $79 Brother sewing machine bit the biscuit last week. Wow, it served me well and I treated it horribly. Certainly did not clean it as much as I should have or oil it, etc.  This Singer is 7 or 8 years old but has not been used much at all and certainly not day to day.  It's been a surprise treat to have such a quiet, beautifully functioning machine to sew with. Perhaps I will enjoy machine stitching more. 

Speaking of sewing rooms, it was so interesting to read about your sewing room treats or lack thereof when I asked that question in this post about sewing room snacks. I guess a bad experience with spilled drinks or dropped peanut butter splotches would definitely deter you from having food or drink around the stitching. I heard about M&M's, tiny Halloween bars, and caramels...I guess easy to pop in your mouth treats so not messy.

 But I was surprised  by how many of you have no food or drink whatsoever in your work area at all. I thought of you when I took a large cup of tea and one of those health bars with me to my sewing room recently. However, the drink is always in my Yeti cup which is safe if the little lip is closed. Btw, this is the best of these insulated drink cups I've found. In the heat of summer, the ice cubes would still be in the cup after all night. Mine is just like this, 20 oz silver.  But I really like the cool colours you can get them in like the pretty Seafoam colour here at Amazon.  Great gift idea.

We are rewatching Deadwood.  A bit raw to say the least but so well acted with such interesting characters. Calamity Jane! Wild West indeed! Hubby has watched it before but I never did.  Fun to see a young Timothy Olyphant who we enjoyed in Justified and also Paula Malcomsom whose performance as Abs in Ray Donovan we really enjoyed. Many consider Deadwood the greatest American tv series ever made. I did not know that.

This is making me think of my dad and his love of Louis L'Amour novels. He read them all and I remember he would be so happy when another one was out in paperback so he could get a copy. 

I've sewn a few more foundation pieced scrappy trees. Great little project for in between kind of stitching. Also to use up odd scraps too.

I loved this post at With Strings Attached. Nann visited The Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts for a showing of Victoria Findlay Wolfe's retrospective exhibit.  Very interesting to read about Victoria and to see her displayed quilted journey. Her quilts are artful beauties!

I'm enjoying reading about the wonderful Thanksgiving so many of my American friends enjoyed. I thought of you all as a flock of ten turkeys weathered in our front yard yesterday trying to stay dry in the downpours of rain.

Such pretty feathers to view as they finally exit by way of the side lawn. 

Have a great weekend all!

Always great to link with Not Afraid of Color and Wendy's Quilts and More.

Stitchy and Small Appliance Shopping, Foundation Pieced Trees

It was a banner autumn for mushrooms.  I photographed many around the trails and especially liked the tiny little one I spied growing inside this log.

You all know how I love my small appliances! 

 I've been wanting a Yogurt Maker for a long time. Hubby ordered this Electric Yogurt Maker below and it came a week ago. Only then did I remember I need the starter mix too.  So that has now been ordered.  I'm anxious to try it out this week.

I had one years ago when I lived in the far North and used it for three or four years before it konked out. I enjoyed the yogurt it made very much. I don't think the local Hudson's Bay store even carried yogurt and the price would have been prohibitive even if they did. This particular one earned a lot of stars on Amazon.

We had to drive down to Brockville( an hour from us) for Hubby to have his hearing aids adjusted at a clinic there. I made a quick visit to the local Michaels and bought a few DMC threads I needed for the present autumn project and for two smaller ones I have tucked away. I was able to get every single number on my list!  It is wonderful to have the materials on hand when the mood strikes to start a project.  

I struck up a conversation with a woman while there. She spied the threads in my basket and said, cross stitching heh?  She said she cross stitched too, was working on a piece with praying hands.  We parted with her saying, it helps keep my sanity. I couldn't agree more, I said back.
                                   

While there I also bought two new crochet hooks, smaller sizes than my current one, to start my Yuletide Blanket over again with the correct tension this time.  That got crossed off my to do list.

I found the time to experiment with foundation sewing a couple more scrappy trees. I realized I really like the way this can showcase fabrics and their pretty designs.  I'm treating this like small stitching in between big stitching so hopefully I'll have a few to show from time to time...with trunks attached, :).

I have to replenish our Vitamin D supply. I take the pills and Hubby likes the drops. With a Canadian winter upon us in a couple of minutes, we have to be sure to keep up this very important vitamin. 

I'm beavering away on quilting the Courthouse Steps and really hope to have the slabs all quilted by the end of the week. That's a great goal for now. 

No pressure though, just enjoying the stitching journey which I hope all of you are too. 

Enjoying linking with Texas Quilt Gal, Quilt Paint Create, Quilt Fabrication and Life in the Scrapatch.