Good Stuff is Coming in the Mail

A couple of months ago, Teresa Kogut contacted me to see if I could do some more model stitching for her. It was the same week Lori from Pansy Patch Quilts and Stitchery gave me the fabric, threads, and pattern to begin stitching her new Houses on Pumpkin Lane series. I had to turn Teresa down because she had a very short deadline - last weekend's Needlework Expo - but I did encourage her to send me something to stitch for her that didn't have a short deadline.

Yesterday, she mailed me the materials to stitch this model:

There's a lot of filling in but the patterns on the dresses, bee and flowers will be so much fun. And there's no deadline. 

I also asked her to include the three new star-shaped ornaments.

I particularly like Jingle Bells and Rudy. I still have the Star Shaped Snowman to FFO. Vonna Pfeiffer had an excellent, detailed finishing article in one of the Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher magazines.

I might even add some HotFix 'jewels' to the tree.

In the meantime, I putter away on my own projects.

I Had Forgotten all About It

I was watching Teresa Kogut's latest YouTube video and almost fell off my chair when she showed a piece I had stitched for her last fall - Hello Autumn. It was a downloadable Patreon pattern and will be released for the general public in February 2023. This photo does not do it justice.

I had totally forgotten I had stitched this for her almost a year ago, but looking back, I did find photos I had taken before sending the finished piece back. Check it out at 12:49.

The colours show up much better here and the red barnwood frame really makes deep reds in the barn, fruit and quilt blocks pop.

This might be one I actually stitch for myself some day.

The later on in the video, at 43:15, Teresa shows off a piece stitched by one of my Monday morning stitching friends, Joanne Moore, Stylin' Snowman. It's so cute!

Joanne's husband, Tom, framed it for her. Again the colour of the frame really made the dark reds in the scarf 'pop'. 

I have the punch needle version of this pattern. Yet another thing on my 'I really should start that' list.

Had to Make a Cute Little Thing

Inspired by someone on Instagram, I charted and stitched this precious little design yesterday. I used DMC 115 (my favourite variegated red thread) and 32ct dirty linen, one strand over one thread.

The back is just the plain dirty linen. I stuffed the little pillow with some fibrefill and added cording made with the same floss.

Siobhain suggested that a little magnet is also good to put in scissor fobs. It gives them weight so the fob lands before the scissor point does when dropped, and it gives the fob a dual purposed as a needle minder.

I picked up the Willie's Quaker Sampler #6 again and finished the numbers.

I enjoy stitching with one strand and one colour. This is 40ct platinum linen and will be framed to match this one I completed a couple of years ago. It's the same designer.

5 Random Facts about Me

 1. Began playing the oboe in Grade 9 then majored on it in a Music Education program in university (of Western Ontario). I play all of the brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments well enough to impress a Grade 9 student. I taught high school music plus math and some other subjects for 30 years.

2. I used to crew on racing sailboats. My main job was to pull the spinnaker into the cabin while the boat heeled at 30º or more, and re-pack it in the bag - hoping for no hourglasses next time it was opened up on a downwind leg.

3. I have a pretty good understanding of Spanish, French, and Italian. My speaking ability is significantly rustier but my comprehension is pretty good and Google Translate really helps fill in the gaps. I also took Latin for 4 years in high school.

4. I didn't get married until I was in my mid-40s. It was worth the wait.

5. I do not enjoy cooking. My favourite thing to make for dinner? Reservations.

3 More Project Bags

A friend asked me to make her three more project bags. She provided the fabrics, zipper and thread and I provided the vinyl, zipper pulls, and sweat.

This was nice autumnal fabric.

I made her another one with a similar pattern 

She wanted it a little bigger than I usually make. I also centred this one carefully.

These batik fabrics were very pretty - hard to see the pretty inside fabric.

What a lovely paisley batik!

You can see a bit of the lining fabric in this shot.

Each one takes more than two hours to make. I may have finally figured out the right length to cut the vinyl factoring in all the 1/4" seams on the front. This makes it possible to use up some of my fat quarters. I ordered a point turner that looks like a big caliper which should help me do a better job of getting nice, pointy corners in the future.

It's here!

I really don't want to make any more for people - I've done 6 commissions in the last month plus 3 for myself . I do like to make them for my own use or to give as gifts. I still have the second William Morris checkerboard bag to put together. 

I purchased more vinyl and fusible batting today. I bought a couple of fat quarters at Len's Mill Store on the way to Sarnia last weekend and some more at the Ultimate Sewing Centre in Oshawa last week. 

I want to do some of the paper piecing with the three kits I bought. 

The kits were only $8US apiece! The patterns were slightly less and available in .pdf. Shipping was under $20US. They were part of a block of the month club from Silver Linings Originals.

They're somewhere in a pile on my dining room table.

Stealth Projects Revealed

For Poppy's birthday, I made a checkerboard project bag with a couple of dark and light Susan Winget jelly roll strips and made a couple of others from fabrics in my stash.

I alternated the relatively plain squares with the butterfly squares.

Once again I drew 2.5" squares on interfacing and ironed the squares in place, then with right sides together, sewed the columns of squares along the folds of the interfacing. This video shows that technique.

I'm using my new method of creating the front and back separately then sewing them together, rather than my old way of attaching the large piece to the zipper and folding it over. I finally cut the vinyl the correct size, minimizing excessive trimming at the bottom of the bag once getting ready to sew it all together. (Truth be told, I screwed up the size on the first piece of vinyl I sewed in and had to take the strips above and below the vinyl completely apart and re-do it with the correct size vinyl). 

I had the butterfly charm and coordinating glass bead for the zipper pull in my stash. Woo hoo! Finished size is 13.5" x 11.5".

I also made a personalized scissor case/pincushion.

It's a wonderful Faby Reilly pattern that I stitched for this project months ago. Of course, I left fully finishing it until practically the last minute. I really wanted scissors with a guard as slipping them into the pocket would create wear and tear on the interior fabric. Fortunately Amazon came through again.

It's usually easier to match the threads to the back fabric but I lucked out finding a bit of this red batik that matched the red stitching perfectly.

One reason it took me so long to finish it was the time I spent agonizing over what font I'd use for Poppy's initials. I finally decided on one that I thought would look good stitched over one thread.

The actually assembly was pretty easy. I used a Frixion pen to draw right on the back of the linen which served as my sewing guide. The pen line disappeard with the heat of the iron and was drawn on the back of the linen anyway.

A few of months ago I learned how to paint poppies from this book.

And they turned out pretty well. I thought they'd make a great card. I didn't get a shot of the particular one I gave Poppy but it was pretty similar to this one I did for practice.

15 minutes is about all the attention span I have to create my little paintings. I do need to do some more for cards as I keep running out of them. I know I'll never take the time to make big masterpieces or try to draw, or master any type of realism, but I am enjoying making my little masterpieces.

BTW, Poppy liked all her birthday treats. :-)  And that makes me very happy.

Bluebirds and Bluebells

Lori from Pansy Patch Quilts and Stitchery gave a sneak peak of another of her Needlework Expo releases on Instagram today - Bluebirds and Bluebells.

I stitched and finished the triangular scissor case and scissor fob that accompany the sampler. Lori's mom stitched and finished the pincushion.

I can show more once Lori reveals more. Right now I'm writing up the finishing instructions for the scissor case as an alternate to the ones given here. I need to take some photos tomorrow to help clarify what I'm trying to explain in words.

I finished another stealth project this afternoon and would really like to get the materials ready to stitch the Blackwork Pumpkin designed by Kim Beamish from the October 2022 issue of 'Just Cross Stitch'.

Since it's all over coverage, I'll probably use 28ct or 32ct Aida. 

Sunflower Farm

Skip and I planned to go to the Sunflower Farm in Beaverton on Friday but when I was googling the location, a much closer one came up. Bragg's Farms in Bowmanville is a lovely setting and the second field is full bloom right now. So we decided to save some gas and driving and visit it instead.

It was a blisteringly hot day. Upon arrival we paid the fee and I grabbed my water from the car and headed out to field #2. 

At this corner of the field, we were told to listen for the indigo bunting(s). We heard it  (them). My trusty Merlin Bird ID app confirmed it.

The sunflowers are well over 6 feet tall.

Here's one ready to bust out.

Of course, I had to take a selfie with my beautiful subjects.

There is a lookout spot we climbed to get a shot together. 

Unlike most sunflower farms that just plow the crop under at the end of the season, Bragg's sells all of their seed locally - either at the farm, on their website, or at local feed stores. They also grow corn for feed, either on its own or to blend with the sunflower seeds.  The corn looked really good and was even taller than the sunflowers.

This perfect little one was just randomly placed beside the foot path. Now I'm inspired to paint some more of them.

At another spot in the field an antique tractor is placed for folks to have a photo op. This Massey Ferguson 165 dates back to 1964. It is quite shocking for me to realize things manufactured when I was 10 years old are now considered antiques - gasp!

All around us, bees were enjoying the pollen from the blooms. Many leaves just below the blooms were dusted with yellow pollen. I hope someone nearby keeps bees.

On our way out, I purchased a 6-pack of butter tarts with shortbread crusts provided by Eat My Shortbread - a bakery in Whitby. Yummeeee!

On our way home, we stopped in to Mexico Lindo in Whitby for lunch. With full tummies, we spent the rest of the afternoon recovering from the heat.

It was a truly splendid day.