An Embarrassment of Riches

My birthday was on Sunday. It was not a milestone one - that will be next year. Marilyn hosted a stitching day and a luncheon in my honour. It was a wonderful day.

We spent the day stitching, 

and enjoying her beautiful spread for lunch - little sandwiches and crudités.

I opened many presents - all very thoughtful, and beautifully wrapped.

I cut the wonderful, chocolate Dufflet cake which we enjoyed with the many other delicious tarts, cannoli, and cakes. 

Marilyn also provided non-alcoholic sparkling wine for our enjoyment as 4 of us had to drive home.

Presents? Oh my goodness, they were definitely an 'embarrassment of riches'*

Jeanette gave me a beautiful, laminated, floral tote bag,

a tea towel and dish cloth set, hot chocolate pack, and note pad.

Jen1 gave me two cross-stitch patterns (one calling for 7 different colours of red threads), 45ct Jersey cream linen fabric, and a skein of my favourite DMC colour 115 (a variegated red).

Marilyn gave me a set of 16" Happy Zippers from the Lori Holt line from Riley Blake.

a silicone spatula, and a very comprehensive book on English Paper Piecing which includes templates that can be printed at 100% onto card stock and cut out for use.

Barb gave me the French General fabrics and 5" charm packs I asked them to buy for me on their road trip last week - sneaky! Exactly what I wanted!!!😊 I have some ideas in mind for these...

And Poppy made me a beautiful, reversible tote bag with French General fabrics, 

(inside/other side with a pocket!)

and two beautiful Kaffe Fassett fabrics - which would coordinate well with a couple of those Lori Holt zippers. 😃

They certainly know me and my interests well and they share many of them with me.

I felt very special and loved by these women to whom I refer as the 'guardians of my mental health' during my current situation with Skip's ill health. I know they and many others have my back and are there to support me. 

It means so much. I am so fortunate.

*An embarrassment of riches is an idiom that means an overabundance of something, or too much of a good thing, that originated in 1738 as John Ozell's translation of a French play, L'Embarras des richesses (1726), by Léonor Jean Christine Soulas d'Allainval.

One of the Redwork Pears

 I FFOd this pear a few weeks ago but forgot to post pics.

I used a twig from our yard for the stem.  I had the green wool for the felt leaves in my stash.

On the next one, I'll stitch it closer to the top of the stitching and leave more room at the bottom where the stuffing goes in.

The two pear-shaped backs make for a 3D shape.

It really didn't take long to fully finish. I just need to get cracking on the other two pears to display with this one.

Annie Beez Folk Art also published a trio of pears in bluework.

Crafting from my Stash

I watched Kate's 'The Last Homely House' video the other day and was so inspired by the English Paper Pieced hexagon pillow cover she made using a 5" charm square pack from Kaffe Fassett. 

Wouldn't that make a nifty back of a project bag???

The front is 72 - 1" hexies . Each hexie is created from a 2 1/2" square which can be cut from 10" layer cakes (each 10" square yielding 16 hexies), 5" charm squares (each yielding 4 hexies), or jelly rolls. 

She created the back from twelve  5" squares but any coordinating fabric would do. I would probably make a zipper opening rather than the pocket opening she created. Kate also suggested the option of quilting the fabrics for more texture. It would be a good idea to have a pillow form in mind and gauge the final size of the pillow cover to it, Kate says this is 12 1/2" square when finished. I just checked the cost of a 12" square pillow form and was shocked at the price. I figure I could make one myself with an inexpensive WalMart pillow.

Kate also had two others to show us.

Blues/purples, greens, reds/pinks.

She has kits for sale on her website for £65 - in 4 colourways. The three colourways mentioned above plus an orange/yellow one.

I am very taken with the scrappiness of this project, combining English Paper Piecing and using several fabrics from the same colourway. I was all set to order her kit when I realized I already had everything in my stash! Years ago when I was spending the winter in Florida, I ordered a bunch of 10" squares from Amazon. I year or so ago, I also purchased a Free Spirit Kaffe Fassett jelly roll at one of the Len's Mill Stores I visited.

I already have 1" hexie templates that I printed and cut out a while back so I'm all set to go. Kate uses the thread basting technique for her EPPing. I prefer the glue basting method.

Today some of my besties are on a road trip to Guelph ON and New Hamburg ON. Poppy asked if I wanted anything from the quilt shop they were visiting. I asked for another 5" pack of Kaffe Fassett charm squares but they didn't have any. HOWEVER, the shop did have an extensive French General selection so Poppy picked up two 5" charm packs in red and blue colourways and coordinating fat quarters in a lighter shade from the same collection. 

I have a couple of projects in mind for them. Jen1 previously gave me a pack of 1 1/2" squares in the La Grande Soirée colourway. My mind is swimming with ideas...

Speaking of Poppy. Last year for her birthday, I made her a scissor case using a poppy design from Faby Reilly.

She's going to be attending several stitching retreats/seminars this year as well as our guild meetings, so I thought she needed a coordinating name tag.

It is stitched with DMC floss, one thread over 2 on 46ct fabric. It was my first time using this high a count and it worked out quite well. The finished piece is the size of a business card. I even had the petite black Mill Hill beads in my stash! Much to my surprise, I didn't even need a beading needle to sew them on. A regular size 28 tapestry needle fit through the beads.  I glued a metal slug to the back with E6000 glue and added a rare earth magnet so it can be worn without pinning. 

I spite of the new fabrics that I purchased remotely today, I am making a conscious effort to 'shop in my stash' as much as possible. I do want to use as many of the fabrics I already have in my sewing and stitching projects. I do a lot of substituting of stitching fabrics and threads and I'm OK with that. I am not a purist by any stretch of the imagination.

Skip's chemo treatments are finished this week. It's been pretty hard on him, physically and emotionally. Then he is scheduled to start immune therapy at the beginning of May. I have been taking it pretty easy beyond caring for him and our home with my friends being the guardians of my mental health through all of this. 

It was only at the beginning of this process that I felt somewhat overwhelmed - managing all the scheduling of appointments, testing, visits with various specialists, managing everything at home, helping Skip when he needed it and having to prepare ALL THE MEALS for the first time in my life. I'm happy to do all this if it makes things easier for my 'honey bunny'.

I continue to squeeze in as much crafting as possible. During most of the late winter, my creative mojo pretty much left me but I'm getting it back bit by bit. 

To my readers... I apologize for not posting stuff more frequently but the model I'm stitching for Teresa Kogut is still under wraps so I can't show its progress. Thanks for hanging in there with me anyway.