Finishing Some Ornaments

I finished a couple of ornaments today. I just needed to make the cording and attach it.

I stitched this on 32 count fabric 1 over 1

I used a little heart button on this Lizzie Kate ornament.

This was a different way for me to attach the cording.  It makes a little tassel at the bottom.

I've had this stitched for several years. Today I attempted to attach it to a Mason Jar lid. Once all the glue is dry, It could be stuffed with pinwheel candies for a little hostess gift.  The glue is still drying. I'm hoping it stays glued when I unscrew it from the jar that it is on. Fingers are crossed.

 Our guild has an ornament exchange next month. I haven't decided which ornament I'll contribute. I'd better get cracking, though.

Barb's Project Bag

Barb came over this morning so I could coach her through making one of my infamous project bags with a vinyl window.

She arrived with all the preparation done: fabric cut, interfacing ironed on. I provided the vinyl as I have a lifetime supply of it. However, the vinyl that sheets and duvets are sold in work very well for projects like this.

Barb is a fairly new sewist but did really well on the construction of the bag. She had selected fine Japanese sashiko-style fabric for the outside. It was almost like suiting.

After only 1.5 h her beautiful bag was finished. She did an amazing job with the straight sewing following the horizontal lines on the bag.

She proudly posed with it. Now that she's been through it once, she can easily crank out more for herself. Nice job, Barb!

Fall Elim Retreat 2018

This weekend was the stitching retreat at Elim Lodge on the east side of Pigeon Lake. On the way up on Thursday, Poppy and I stopped into CraftWorks at Fowler's Corners and From the Heart Quilt Shop in Bethany.

I picked up some gold-coloured wool to use for the houses on my wool appliqué project. Poppy bought a quilt pattern and fabric.

Several of us arrived on Thursday and fended for ourselves food-wise. We stitched...

Barb, Poppy, and I stayed in Sunset - a building about 200 feet away. We each had a room to ourselves with private bath. It snowed overnight. I was really glad I remembered to bring boots.

Kim, Siobhain, and Jen arrived on Friday. 5 of us went for dinner at Jesse's in Ennismore. The rest were reluctant to get on the road again and decided to eat at the dining hall.

I didn't take a lot of photos but did walk around the table and got some shots of some of the pieces people were working on.

Jeanette is working on a whitework piece by Jenny Adin-Christie.

Mary decorated the fireplace with her panoply of Christmas trees.

She also decorated several large Crazy Quilt stockings with buttons, beads, and costume jewelry bits.

Poppy is working on an extremely detailed tulip design from Inspirations magazine. She painted the canvas first with acrylic paints.

Carol has her hexies all organized and alternated between creating more with the Kaffe Fassett fabrics and and working on a beautiful garden quilt.

She brought her finished armchair caddy from last year's challenge to show us.

Many of us brought snacks to share.

Jen is very intrigued with these fabric trays called 'French purses'. This is one Edith brought.

Our room has lots of windows on each side. Here, Poppy is in full concentration mode.

After lunch on Saturday we went to see what the quilters were doing.

The snowman was created using embroidery machine lace.

This flower pincushion is well used. The petals are good for holding clips.

Marilyn and I loved the reindeer pillow. What a simple, yet effective, idea.

Many people were making these zipper bags. Inexpensive, quilted placemats were used.

We saw a few examples of selvedge projects. This one is a sewing machine cover.

These 'stained glass' quilts are created with a fusible appliqué technique on a black background.

I liked the muted fabrics and simple design of this quilt.

This braided rug inspired Poppy to get all the necessary bits for one for herself.

This stained glass quilt was very precisely pieced.

The owner of this machine has attended one of the Missouri Star Quilt Company events. Her machine was autographed by Jenny Doan.

This bit-mouthed frog was a great thread catcher.

Back at Hawthorne, I finished one side of my quaker pear. It's stitched with one ply on 36ct antique white fabric I purchased on our way to Twist last August. I'm using the DMC conversions from the Weeks Dye Works threads.

Yvonne showed us this lovely pouch she had quilted with squares of fabric and cross-stitched pieces.

What a clever idea.

I also got a Christmas ornament stitched and almost half of my punch needle project done. I only have the sky and the rest of the grass to do.

We also got our wool pieces cut out for our wool appliqué class next month. Some of us used the fusible Shape Flex and others used freezer paper. I left my black wool and felt home by mistake so still have to cut them out.  I am really liking my micro serrated scissors.

It was so fun to get so much stitching done and learn all kinds of new things from the other folks in attendance. Now I have to wait a whole year until the next one as we will be down south for the spring one.

A UFO that is L O N G overdue

I've been trying to sort out stuff from the closet in my craft room/office. Yesterday I unearthed this ornament I started stitching for a former colleague almost 20 years ago. It only took me an hour to finish the stitching. Today, I made it into an ornament.

I didn't have any appropriate Christmas fabric that looked right for the back, but this turquioise fabric in my stash was the right colour. The pin in the bottom is to camouflage the beginning and end of the gold cording. The gold cording has been in my stash so long it still has the 'White Rose' sticker on it. They've been out of business for over 20 years.

I'm going to put it in the mail tomorrow.

We are getting quite excited about our upcoming stitching retreat. There have been emails back and forth among several of us: what we're bringing to stitch, eat, knit, demonstrate, etc. Tomorrow is my last day to get everything ready to go. The dining room table is covered in projects, project bags. lamps, needle cases, embroidery hoops, etc., etc. It's going to be a very fun weekend where we each get a room to ourselves and don't have to plan, prepare, serve, or clean up after meals.

Wool Appliqué

Next month, a bunch of us are taking a wool appliqué class at the Quilter's Cupboard in Uxbridge.

Yesterday we went up there to pick our patterns and fabrics. Marilyn and I selected a fairly small pattern (8 1/2" x 8 1/2") from Buttermilk Basin.We then picked the colours of felt. The grey-brown at the top came from Alda via Jeanette.

I have printed the template onto freezer paper which I will use to cut out the pattern pieces. I have ordered micro serrated scissors especially for cutting the wool. I hope they come in soon.

Next Thursday I am heading up to Elim Lodge for our stitching retreat. On the way I will be stopping in at From the Heart in Bethany and Craftworks to do some shopping.

Maple Leaf Stitching

I finished the stitching on the Maple Leaf from the Fall 2014 issue of "A Needle Pulling Thread".

The difference between stitching with two adjacent threads maintaining the colour integrity or with one thread doubled, can be seen to the left of the centre vein. Where it is mottled-looking is where I just double the thread over. The clearer colours are where I threaded the needle with two adjacent threads. I did the crosses of each stitch before going on to the next one. I also outlined the leaf with backstitching when I was done.

I could make this as a lid for a box I have. In the meantime, I have a bunch of Christmas ornaments to get finished.

2018 Needler's Retreat

Last weekend, Jen, Barb, and I attended the Needler's Retreat sponsored and organized by Deb at Sheeps Ahoy. It takes place at the Glen House Resort on the Thousand Islands Parkway near Gananoque ON and there are 60+ attendees. We departed from home on Friday morning, stopping at several yarn and fabric shops on the way. We also dropped into Karen Keiser's rug-hooking studio just off the 401 in Belleville.

There, I had a quick intro to rug-hooking. All three of us purchased some of her lovely hand-dyed wool felt for appliqué projects. We also beheld some wonderful designs of Karen's.

Tesselations:

Elephants

Seahorses

Cat

etc.

We arrived in time to check in and get to the 'Meet and Greet' before dinner in the bar area where we signed up for 'Show and Tell' and our class schedules.

Jen and I stepped out on our balcony for a quick selfie.

We had a cozy fireplace in our room.

At 'Show and Tell' after dinner, a group of people showed off their Caitlyn Hunter 'Sunset Highway' sweaters.

This was one of her two sock yarn blankets completed since last year's retreat.

A beautiful crow sock. It was recommended that the beaks be done by duplicate stitch rather than trying to use a 3rd strand in the round.

 Robin and Nancy showed off their Fair City Knits "Up Helly Aa" sweaters. I believe Robin was a test knitter for the project.

 This would be such a fun knit. See the Viking heads and flames? Up Helly Aa is an annual event in Lerwick, Shetland on the last Tuesday of January. The day involves a series of marches and visitations, culminating in a torch-lit procession and the burning of the galley.

I loved this cow sweater.

The spots were added by duplicate stitch.

This was a very cool Christmas tree quilt. The blocks were knit in sequence very much like pieced quilting.

 During dinner the second night we had a discussion about sock heels. Here, a Fleegle heel was being displayed.

 One project bag had been specially made for the retreat by an attendee's very good friend.

On Saturday night at the raffle of donated items, Jen won a Shetland shawl and a rolled up, woven  needle case with knitting needles.

Barb won yarn

and I won all this loot in three draws.

The Joy of Color by Janine Bajus, Handywoman by Kate Davies, Laine - a book of patterns and recipes, and from Wild Wooly - a project bag, 2 soaps and a lotion bar. Wow!

Over the two days we took classes on reversible slip stitch knitting, knitting a set-in sleeve into an armhole, and designing asymmetric knits.

The sun even came out! This panoramic shot was taken from the deck off our classroom.

We love many things about the retreat: the cozy rooms, delicious food, seeing people from previous years, getting inspiration from everyone's 'Show and Tell' items, winning cool stuff at the raffles while supporting the scholarship program, getting away from our real lives for a couple of days, a beautiful drive through the autumn colours, the camaraderie of scores of people who really 'get' you, etc. etc.

We are already looking ahead to next year's retreat which will again be held on the first weekend of November.