States of "Done-ness" and Odd Little Creatures

If you look you will find....

I went through every single bin and tote I have in the sewing room.  I pressed all the little pieces of fabrics and trimmed the raggedy tails and sorted everything by colour.  I uncovered a couple WIP's that had been tucked away for one reason or another.  I have made a decision to bring each of these to some state of 'doneness' before beginning anything else.

Meanwhile I finished stitching another of the blocks I had appliqued last May.  It is relaxing to do this.

The colours of this block match my living room curtains so I think I'll make it into a cushion for the couch.
I saw this fellow making his way around one of the patios while I was weeding.

 I was a little shocked at its size.  It was bigger than my little finger and in these parts, we don't see caterpillars that large. And it was an unusual limey green colour.  I took a couple of photos before moving it outside the fence to the trees beyond the dogs' reach.  I noticed it had quite a grip and wasn't that easy to pick up.
  Later I looked it up and was pleased to see that it was the caterpillar of the Polyphemus Moth, also large as moths go...4 to 5 inch wing span.  Oh I wish I could see one.  We don't keep outside lights on at night so I don't know how I'd go about it.  But isn't this a beauty!





The only provinces where you won't find this moth are Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Another little visitor hanging around the back yard patio...

A gray tree frog.  I've seen two of them and it is hard to know if it is the same two as they change colour which has to be just about the neatest feature a creature could have. Not very attractive even as frogs go but I love spying them.

Speaking again of 'done-ness', I will show you the fully finished Floral Bouquet next week.  And I'll talk about my next cross stitch project, Strawberry Fields Forever by Blackbird Design.
 Oh and I'll also show you a few great finds I came across at the thrift store.  Hadn't been there in ages and was so rewarded for dropping in.

 Have a wonderful weekend!

45, A Movie, and Harvest Festival

Why No Stitching Last Weekend

  I had to spend Saturday you-know-where tidying the greenhouse and sweeping out the barn.  Hubby had to do the mowing again and so it goes.  I brought home the gardening tools that I had stored in both places that the movers had missed.  There always seems to be more.  Like I had completely forgotten about the tall bird feeder stake on the front lawn; it was a rather pretty one with wrought iron leaves and green beads so this time I remembered to get it.

 Hope I'm not boring you to tears with these 'house' updates.
However, though dog tired, we were both in good humour leaving because "the end is in sight", at least the moving of items is.

Sunday, I had an outing with Daughter and Little Grandson.  The Lanark Harvest Festival is a traditional September gathering in this area. There were  lots of booths displaying locally grown food, honey and maple syrup and also artisans showing their wares.  I'm sure wherever you live, there are many such events staged at harvest times.

All the animals got along in this smallish pen- goats, pigs, hens, ducks and donkeys.  For a loonie, you could buy an ice cream cone full of feed pellets and feed the goats. They also ate the cone.

And Grandson got a ride on a pony which he loved. Gosh, he loves horses.

45 A Movie

We watched a movie, 45, starring Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling.   I enjoyed it very much.  It is about a couple who are just about to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary when they receive news about the husband's former lover.  This is fascinating to me...the notion of the seemingly ideal marriage, the underpinnings of which are, in reality, ever so shaky.  As the song at the end says "how do we know our true love is true".
Trailer is here...

I love Charlotte and enjoyed  her roles in many movies as well as Dexter and Broadchurch more recently.  She was considered quite a beauty in her day and did lots of modelling, but did you know she is also a singer.  And her voice, that also famous sort of gravelly voice, can supposedly be attributed to lots of cigarettes smoked with the filters torn off!

Stitching in the Great Outdoors

Thank goodness for all the fresh vegetables in the house these last few weeks; it has made dinner ideas easy and healthy at the same time.  I have been so busy, when I have a 'down' day, I just want to sit and read or sew.
 I haven't even gotten out and about in our new little town to explore.  Soon, I keep promising myself.

We've been blessed with a lot of sunny days.
I've spent as much time on those down days as I can outside and stitching.
 The front veranda (at home I would call this the bridge) is proving to be a wonderful sewing spot for me.  With shade from the sun,brilliant light, my lap top, my ice water, and my bit of stitching, I have all I could want including pretty views every time I glance up.

 Hubby got this shot of me one day.  I can tell you I am listening to a podcast called Someone Knows Something on the CBC radio web site.  It is a series of episodes chronicling the story of the only unsolved mystery in the Renfrew County Police Department, the case of a missing little boy, 5 year old Adrian McNaughton.  Adrian wandered into the Ontario woods one day in 1972 and was never seen again.  The link is  HERE if you would like to check it out.  I thought the episodes were very well done and I especially liked the interviews with local people.

Meanwhile I haven't shown you the little sewing room for a reason.  Truthfully, it is still a bit of a mess and I haven't had the time to really go through everything and sort like it needs.  It is working its way to the top of the 'to do' list.

I want to call your attention to the white blossoms poking into the window frame on the bottom right.

Outside, here is that same bush and it is gloriously laden with huge blossoms.  It is a Peegee Hydrangea, one of the most reliable hydrangeas for blooming.

They are gradually acquiring a pinkish tinge that is so attractive.  After shaking off the ants, I'm finding them very pretty in a vase.  And with their size, you need only one for a bit of show.

Oh what I'm working on in the outdoor light is the Floral Bouquet; yes, still not finished but nearly there.  I am almost at the point where I need to hold it up to the light to see if I've missed any stitches.

Toile Bedroom Curtains and Tool Hunting

Have I mentioned before that as well as Jacobean, I also like all things toile.

 I guess it is the designs ( not the linen material) usually found and labelled toile that I actually love.  They are often rustic depicting scenes in nature, the country side, children and animals. Occasionally, you see rich people with their horses or picnicking.  These days you can get toile in a range of colours from the classics, reds and blues to tans and aquas.  I love this one with the birds in black and white.  So elegant.

                                        

I have had cushions made up in toile in the past and decided my bedroom curtains would be toile this time round.  I chose a soft red against an off white background.  It looks more pinkish in this night time lighting but it really is red.

There are two large windows in the bedroom and I needn't have worried about the design being overwhelming in the room.  Just like in the living area, wood seems to soak up colour.

On a different matter...

Looking for tools

With the move, I got to see for myself how many tools Hubby has amassed in his collections.  He takes having the right tool for the job important both for making the job easier and also achieving the result he wants.

I decided to take a lesson from that.  It's time I take tools more seriously.  I've always kept my "tool collection" basic and just last year for the first time bought fancy quilting templates.  I've always used Freezer paper from the grocery store instead of buying the nice applique backing papers.  I'm going to invest in some and start building my own tool collection for my stitching hobbies.

After reading the Every Stitch post where Hilda  explains how she makes great use of a simple tool called the HERA,( Hilda, by the way, is a master quilter and generously shares information about her tools and materials.) I did some research about it myself.  Marking fabric for the all important final quilting is a bit of a challenge.  Quilters use all kinds of things...chalk, pencils, pens, tissue paper, cellophane.  As Hilda describes, the hera doesn't leave any permanent mark on fabric but it does make a delible mark that can be followed to stitch on.  I found the video below on Youtube which explains how the hera works.

The hera seems like a good tool to have on hand.  What do you think?

And on another note:  Turnips or Swedes

A reader asked if Swedes and turnips are the same thing, this in response to the Cornish Pasties post.  No they are not identical and have a few major differences.  Swedes are bigger, sweeter and yellower than our turnips.  Having said that, turnips are used exactly like Swedes in recipes.  I grew up with us calling them turnips even if sometimes they might have been small Swedes or rutabagas. Thanks for your comment, Daisy.

Out on our Trails

Our lane way, looking slightly purple in the late evening.

One of the trails is a grassy one...

And another is through the trees.

We walk the dogs first thing in the morning and pick up the paper.  I haven't seen any wildlife on our walks and only one chipmunk lives in the front garden.  But I know they are out there...

Then breakfast...

Hubby reading the paper over breakfast.  Taken from what is becoming my "stitching chair" in the corner.  The light from the large window is wonderful for stitching.
You know what is the best part of that paragraph.  The fact that I can decide to stitch in the morning if I want to.  The joy of retirement and believe me, I am so grateful.

They had all the Sharwoods on special at the local grocery store. This is a brand I like especially their chutney so I bought a few bottles for the shelves.  I have leftover chicken from one of those store roasted chickens so it will be an easy chicken and vegetables red curry for supper tonight.

Me, Afraid Up On Ladders

I consider it a little fitness challenge to get the old house into shape for whatever we will wind up doing with it...renting or selling or holding onto it.  We manage one visit each week and I have a list of chores for each time I'm there.  Last time, I scrubbed the oven.  It is a Jenn-Air stove, very old - several decades but still working beautifully. Not sure if you know but with a Jenn-Air you don't need a range hood; the outdraft is built in so you save valuable space in your kitchen.

 Cleaning the oven is definitely not my favourite thing to do but it gives so much satisfaction to see it all shiny and sparkling at the end.  I guess that is the upside of some of the tedious household tasks...the body gets stretched and the end result is pleasing.

Sunday was another trip back, this time to give the outside of the windows a clean.  This meant me afraid to go up on ladders because the windows on the back side of the house are quite high in places.  In the end, I decided not to risk it.

I decided to give the three regular sized basement windows another shine inside and out.  This meant me, deep in the grass, on my knees outside.  The weather was glorious and I had steady accompaniment from a couple of birds.

Late afternoon, on our return to the new house, we were surprised and in awe to see a barred owl sitting in the middle of our laneway.  I didn't have my camera and my arms would have been too tired to lift one at that point, but I recognized its features.  If finally lifted itself up to a tree just like this one and looked at us quite casually relaxed, me only a few feet away by that time.  It finally opened what looked like huge wings and swung itself rather majestically and silently off into the woods.
I considered that sighting my own personal  reward for a hard day's work.





We have engaged the movers for one more day with us.  They will get to finish all the basement, gardening and outbuilding stuff.  We thought we maybe could manage this ourselves but it was being moved in dribs and drabs and we are feeling like we need this all clued up. I like the idea of the house all clean, snug and secure with the winter coming on.

Meanwhile, harvest time is in full swing here in Ontario and the farm stands are dotting the roads.  We've been enjoying fresh corn for the last month and now the tomatoes, cucumbers. beets, green beans, peas, etc. It is a food bonanza to enjoy fresh picked food even if only for a few months of the year.

A time of year I wished I canned or bottled.  My mother is the queen of bottling.  Many times we would leave her house with a case of samplings of all the things she bottled.  She bottles lots of stuff, jams, beets, moose, carrots, berries..even her baked beans to keep handy for a quick meal.  She always says to me..so you're still not bottling anything?  with a kind of disappointed tone.

And now the apples are starting...
 


I love these old vintage style paintings.

Flowers, Moons, Hearts and Free Patterns

I've been listening to Floss Tube on YouTube while doing a little afternoon stitching.  I am amazed by all the cross stitchers out there posting little videos of their stash and stitching.  And all the projects some of them have 'on the go'.  It makes me feel my own little group is actually manageable.

Another of those fusible applique blocks I prepped BTM.

I decided to use a button hole stitch around the flower edges and a herringbone around the vase.

Ms Oh Sew Crafty is one of the Youtube channels I watch.  Stephanie has lovely projects she is cross stitching and beautifully, I might add, and she is a fine knitter as well.  

My wall of Moons as I think of them, is growing. 

Free Patterns

Crafts On Sea is a site with lots of free crafty stuff plus links to other free stuff.  Kate, a multi-talented lady, generously offers these designs for adult colouring.  What a popular past time that has become! And the research is holding...it is beneficial in lots of ways.   Who knew all that colouring we did as youngsters would have been so good for our minds.

I also want to remind you about this site...Make It Coats which has a bank of free patterns.  I love this free pattern with full instructions you can download.  It is called From The Heart, rated Beginner skill level.  This version was made using Tula Pink fabrics so very colourful. Hearts are a very popular motif and it is the choice of fabrics that make a simple design look outstanding.




Flowers, moons and hearts...sweet things.

Hope there is something sweet in your weekend.