Spring Garden and Stitchalong

My daffodils out the side door are always early to bloom. They have a mostly sunny, eastern exposure beside a brick wall which absorbs then radiates heat. They're almost under the warm air vent from the dryer.

The daffodils in the front yard are in the shade so don't get the sun's warmth. We had a couple of inches of snow two nights ago and because it's not been above freezing, the snow hasn't  melted. The rabbit(s) have already nibbled on the tulips on the front right as can be seen with one ragged, bent-over leaf.

 

I've been binge-watching 'ER' on Netflix; I've watched 32 episodes (25 from Season 1 and 7 so far from Season 2). Only 299 (!) episodes to go. The show ran for 15 seasons with most seasons having 22 episodes.

With my nifty new 5.0 magnifying glasses I've been able to stitch in the evenings while seated comfortably on the sofa whilst watching TV. Part 3 of my Spring Garden Biscornu arrived in my mailbox today. I finished all of Parts 1 and 2 last night.

Part 3 is almost exactly the same as Part 1, just rotated clockwise 90°. I'm using colonial knots and since I'm stitching on a light green fabric, am using Blanc for the bee's wings. I'm curious to find out of there will be a beehive on every corner... stay tuned.

A Craft Day

Note: this mistakenly didn't get posted when I composed it a few days ago. Sorry it is out of order.

I didn't have anything pressing planned for today so spent part of it on this project.

First, I ironed the freezer paper onto the felt pieces for the Garden Bowl Fillers. Then the pieces were separated into the respective bags for the three 'pillows'. The watering can, 

beehive, 

and flower pot.

They're all ready to be cut out.

A New Start/Stitchalong, A WIP, and Binge-Watching

I signed up for Stitchonomy's 'Spring Garden Biscornu' stitchalong which started this week. The instructions strongly urged the use of Aida but I'm using some evenweave and am stitching 2 over 2. There are 21 colours in the legend. I'm substituting about half of them rather than buying new skeins for only a few stitches. Yesterday I got started on Days 1 and 2.

There are 8 segments to the top piece (two triangle segments are shown) and 8 segments to the bottom piece. Oops! I missed a couple of stitches on the beehive.

Because of all the changes in colours, this little bit of stitching took hours. 

Also, there are supposed to be backstitched stems for all the flowers but the designer didn't provide colour keys for them. I took an educated guess for the white wing backstitching. Considering how adamant she was about the size of the fabric (much larger than I used), and using Aida (which I didn't), I'm surprised she didn't include complete stitching instructions. Update: I just received an email with the explanations for the backstitching colours.

All that being said, I think it will be a very cute biscornu when finished.

I had a look at a bunch of my UFOs/WIPs in preparation for my 4-day stitching blitz at the upcoming guild retreat. I realized I don't actually have that many cross-stitching projects on the go as I originally thought, I have several whitework projects which I abandoned for various reasons - a couple of which I may take to the retreat anyway.

I pulled out this Bees in the Greenhouse project and have done quite a bit on it this past week.

I miscounted the sizes of the squares many times and did a lot of unstitching but I'm on the right track now. I'm substituting several colours of flowers and bees to make them more to my liking. There is one major mistake that I may or may not fix as it would involve a lot of unpicking stitches. I could conceivably get all the stitching finished at the retreat now that I'm stitching at night whilst watching TV, thanks to my new 5.0 magnifying reading glasses that I got on Amazon. They eliminate my need to sit at a table and peer through the magnifier on my lamp.

Also in preparation for the retreat, I cut out all the little felt bits for the Garden Bowl Fillers. I had previously printed or traced the reversed designs onto freezer paper and ironed them onto the felt.

I'm taking all my DMC floss to the retreat to get started on the appliqué process.

Speaking of watching TV at night; after getting hooked on 'The Pitt', I thought I'd go back and watch 'ER' on Netflix. I've been watching several episodes at night and just yesterday started season 2. Holy moley, back in the 90s, seasons were over 20 episodes long! And there are 15 seasons (1994 - 2009) for a total of 331 one-hour episodes! It catapulted Noah Wyle, George Clooney, and Juliana Margulies to fame. I do remember watching the Season 1 episode when a woman dies while giving birth under Dr. Greene's care. I even remember that I watched it at a friend's place in New Jersey before flying down to the Caribbean to board a Windjammer cruise ship (schooner) for March Break 1995. It's funny how my memory works sometimes.

I heard lots of wind while in bed last night or this morning. I was shocked to see 2" of snow on the ground when I rolled up the blind in my bedroom this morning. The wind has died down but it's still cold out there - minus 3C and minus 11C with the windchill. Scooter has gone out for a run. Brrr.

I got my taxes done yesterday and paid what I owed. I need to call a couple of places to tell them to take a higher percentage of withholding tax in the future. I hope to owe quite a bit less next year.

I think I'm Finished

I put a push on the last few days to get this finished.

I still need to take a good look and see if I missed any bits. Will order a frame, too. I tried to find the order for the frame for Winter Rose Manor but I must have tossed those emails. I just wanted to check that the dimensions are right and the I order the same style frame.

I do most of my stitching on 40ct fabric with one strand over two threads (20 stitches per inch). This is largely because I prefer not to stitch with two strands and have to 'railroad' to get the crossing stitch to lie flat. On the 40ct fabric, I need magnification most of the time but find it somewhat annoying to use the magnifier in my lamp. I had been using 3.0 magnifying reading glasses but never saw anything stronger than that on any racks of glasses at the pharmacy or dollar store. However, on a recent Fat Quarter Shop FlossTube episode, 5.0 glasses were mentioned. I had no plans to purchase the Lori Holt specs from FQS but found a couple of pair on Amazon. They arrived yesterday and worked very well for the last bits of this project.

Two modifications I did:

1.    For all the 'berries' on the border, I did Algerian eyelets instead of the 4-stitch clusters. I prefer the look of them.

2.     I also used DMC Blanc for the snowflakes so they'd show up a little better.

I keep rummaging around my office for more abandoned UFOs or FOs that I might fully finish. Another project I would like to start is Merry Christmas by Hobby House Press:

I have appropriate fabric in my stash. I just need to decide what floss I'll use. DMC 115 has the right dark red but there is also a lighter, brighter red in the variegation that I'd rather not use. Meagan and Kim recommended a substitute colour but I don't remember what it was. I'd like to settle on something before the upcoming retreat.

Odds and Ends

I have continued to work on The Light of Winter - even at stitching yesterday. I didn't make any errors that had to be 'frogged'. Am feeling more confident that I can get this finished by my birthday later this month. (Actually, I just noted one boo boo - a misplaced stitch that will need to be removed - no biggie).

The Quilter's Cupboard is offering a class on wool felt appliqué soon. I was concerned that the kit I wanted to work on next would be sold out so I headed up there this afternoon to get it. It came with the pattern

and all the required quantities of wool to complete all three bowl fillers.

They have lots of models on display which motivate us to make purchases. I also like that they make the effort to kit up many of the projects. I'll be transferring the patterns onto freezer paper sometime soon as I'll definitely be working on this project at our guild's retreat the weekend after Easter.

I finally ordered the frame for the Drawn Thread 'Stars' project I stitched back in 2019. I enjoyed learning the specialty stitches - three sizes of stars and leviathan stitch and using the different hand-dyed yarns.

I also took a look at how I would finish the 'K is for Knitter' piece I'd finished stitching in 2020. The Victoria Sampler kit had been given to me several years before that. 

I was going to frame it as is but noted the hemstitching all around in the photo on the cover of the pattern.

After reading and re-reading the instructions for the hemstitching, I finally figured out how to do it so have added this to my 'to be fully finished' pile. I may even have the bell pull software in my stash somewhere.

One of our Monday morning stitchers is in the hospital and her birthday is tomorrow so I paid her a visit this afternoon after visiting the quilt shop.

Lately, my little bears have been providing a lot of comfort and enjoyment for some of my friends who just needed a little 'pick me up'. I'm convinced they also have some therapeutic powers. Today Rusty went to live with my friend.

Here's the gang before Rusty took his leave. Rusty is on the far right. The perspective is a bit off - he's really not bigger than most of the other bears.

We'll miss you, Rusty, but know you will doing great things in your new life. To quote a  famous saying by Roman poet, Catullus, 'Ave atque vale' - 'Hail and farewell'. 

More About Wool Felt Appliqué...

Many folks fuse the wool pieces to the background with an iron-on fusible product. When I took my first wool felt appliqué class, the instructor just had us baste the pieces in place with sewing thread using big stitches which were easily removed later. This also allowed the felted piece to be a bit puffy, adding a bit more dimension. However, I prefer to staple my larger pieces in place - a tip I picked up from a YouTube video. The staple holes were easily blended back into the felted wool afterward.

For really small pieces, I just use a dab of craft glue to keep them in place for stitching. 

I cannot recommend micro-serrated scissors more highly. The blades 'grab' the wool and pointy blades allow for very precise cutting. I used the bigger scissors for cutting the pieces out and the smaller ones for more detailed cutting. I always have a pin cushion handy to hold the needle when not in use (i.e. when cutting more thread). It saves me the panic of losing the needle somewhere on my work surface or having it stick to my clothing or fall on the ground.

As I may have mentioned in a previous post, I use a freezer paper method to transfer my pattern to the wool pieces. Freezer paper is a thin parchment paper with a thin wax coating on one side. Basically, I iron a piece of freezer paper onto a piece of printer paper, shiny/wax side against the printer paper, using the 'wool' setting on the iron. Then I trim any excess of the freezer paper to the borders of the printer paper. This is done to give the freezer paper some firmness to go through my printer.

Then print the pattern(s) onto the freezer paper, reversing the image in the printer's software settings if necessary. The orientation is particularly necessary if transferring printed messages.

I then cut out the pattern pieces well outside the printed edges and peel the printer paper off the back of the freezer paper piece. Then iron the pattern piece onto the wool making sure the waxy side is on the felt.

Then cut out along the exact printed line. You can keep the freezer paper attached until you need to use that piece, then easily peel it off. That piece of freezer paper should work for multiples of the same piece.

When fully finishing, I use Fray Check around the edges of the thin homespun that the kit provided with the backing. It dries clear. This would also work with a flannel backing. 

I was so pleased with how quickly I was able to stitch and fully finish these three little pillows! 

Now I want to get this nifty kit - Garden Bowl Fillers - by the same designer - Heart to Hand. I have seen models and they are so cute! 

They could be displayed from spring to fall, too!

But before that, I need to finish the embroidery and fully finish the little sunflower quilt I started at the retreat. 

On A Roll...And a Bit of a Digression

I finished the sheep yesterday. I would have preferred a lighter brown wool background which would have made the legs show up a bit better.

Instead of the called-for white dots on the sheep, I opted to do chain-stitch swirls. Am happy with that choice. Colonial knots were again used for the pink flower 'buds'. 

Then we had the photo shoot on the kitchen counter.

and then in their natural habitat (the kitchen table).

I'm happy to display the pysanky - Ukrainian Easter eggs - I drew almost 20 years ago. A couple were autumn-themed, possibly from the Martha Stewart website long, long ago.

We were instructed not to blow the yolk and white out of the eggs - they were raw when drawn. After a few months, they'd just dry up and the yolk would rattle around inside. However stinky gases would also be created. I couldn't put them out when we had Ollie, our last cat, as he liked to bat them around and often would pitch them off the table. They really stunk when they broke - pee you! 

These are most of the ones that survived.

One of my former colleagues, Shelley, did an after-school tutorial on drawing them. We had a local supplier of all the materials, Mrs Salmers, who sold her wares in her husband's barber shop in downtown Oshawa. Of course, I had to have 'all the things' and still possess all the dyes and kiskas. I found several step-by-step patterns on the Internet and still have a couple of books on the subject.

Back in the aughts (2000s) Skip, Scooter, and I visited Vegreville Alberta to see the world's second largest Ukrainian Easter egg.

It's 9m (31ft) long and 3 storeys high, weighing over 2 tons. It is a big attraction 100km due east of Edmonton along the Yellowhead Highway in Alberta. 

According to Wikipedia it is made of aluminum, and composed of  1108 congruent equilateral triangles, 524 concave hexagons (3-pointed stars), 3,512 visible facets, 6,978 nuts and bolts and 177 internal struts. To me, the most remarkable feature is that it is perfectly balanced to work like a wind vane - rotating depending on the direction of the wind. 

I Finished Another Project!

Buoyed by my success finishing the bunny, I was motivated to tackle the chick from the trio of Heart to Hand Bowl Filler Buddies.

 

I thought I'd try doing colonial stitches in the centres of the flowers on the bottom. Mary Corbet had an excellent video on the subject. I liked them so much I also did them on the centres of the bigger flowers and the white bits around the chick's neck.

For the centres of the bigger white flowers I used some DK weight yarn which made them proportionately bigger than the little flower centres on the bottom. A hotfix 'jewel' was used for the eye as I had done for the bunny. 

I totally forgot to use interfacing on the homespun backing before cutting it out and attaching it. Instead, I cut out the backing and ran a line of Fray Check ™ all around the edge so it wouldn't fray when I was using the blanket stitch to attach to the front. It worked out OK. The fabric has more 'give' than the stabilized one.

So two are done. 

Today I will work on the sheep.

I have about 35 'lanterns' completed out of the 158 required for my Mystical Lanterns blanket. I didn't bother taking a photo of my progress. Basically, there is no colour pattern - just grab any colour for any of the 4 rounds. I'm trying to keep the number of colours I do for the 4th round/border balanced, though. I'm also adding some of the leftover yarn from my Persian tiles blanket. I have some decisions to make about how I'll join all the columns of lanterns as I don't really like the look of the whip stitching that was used for the model.

This evening will be the Trillium Guild's debut stitching night at the public library in Newcastle. One of our new members, Lisa, is a librarian there and thought having us stitching there once a month in the evening would attract folks for informal crafty get-togethers. I hadn't planned on attending but only 3 or 4 people from our guild will be there so I thought I'd help fill out the ranks this time. I have informed Scooter he'll be on his own for supper as I'll eat and run earlier than usual.

I Actually Fully Finished a Project!

After getting all the pieces for the Bowl Bunny cut out at the retreat, and starting the stitching after getting home, I finished all the stitching last night. I cut out the homespun backing. It's pretty flimsy so I ironed it onto fusible stabilizer and cut it out again. Today I finished the blanket stitching and stuffing and just finished it a few minutes ago.

Instead of the white French knots in the centre of the flower, I did yellow ones. I also used white DMC Etoile thread for the stem stitch around the flower's centre.

I think I'll start the chick next.

On Sunday I had the girlies here for a craft day and lots of crafty discussions. Marilyn and MaryK were unable to join us due to other commitments.

I cleverly forgot to take my threads to work on this project at stitching yesterday. I did more work on this last night. I'm using DMC Blanc rather than Grits for the snowflakes so they show up better.

I just may get this done by my birthday next month.  Regardless of my progress, I plan to start this on my birthday.

Wool Felt Appliqué

I started attaching the wool felt pieces to the little quilt centre. I had watched a Lori Holt video on the topic and thought her idea of stapling the pieces together was a good one.  Some folks like to use a fusible product on the back of the pieces and iron them in place but I prefer a 'puffier' aspect so some type of removable basting is my choice.

I used my light box to trace the lines with a white pencil. The marks can be removed with water. The staples are easily removed and the little holes don't show.

When selecting a matching thread, I use my DMC thread colour card. The colour card has been so useful for selecting colours and substitutions for projects.

I used the freezer paper method to transfer the patterns onto the felt. My (Karen Kay Buckley) micro-serrated scissors were perfect for cutting out the pieces. 

My buttonhole stitch is a bit wonky but it's a whimsical piece so no big deal.

Then came the embroidery of the stems.  It will need a good pressing before I attach the buttons.

With Easter fast approaching, I thought I'd better start my Heart to Hand 'Bowl Filler Buddies'. I had printed the designs onto freezer paper (which had been ironed onto printer paper), and cut them out at the retreat. 

I decided to do the bunny first. The directions are very sketchy and some of the pieces overlap others. It's important to put the partially-covered pieces in place first, then do the overlapping. For example, the right, back leg of the bunny was attached first. 

The instructions also state to use three strands of floss for the buttonhole stitch. I decided to use two instead. First, because I didn't want the stitches to be so prominent. I had used three strands on the hind leg and wasn't keen on how it looked. Second, because when using two strands, I thread one long strand through my needle, match the two ends and stitch with the doubled thread.

I then crocheted a couple more 'lanterns' while watching TV with Scooter.

Tomorrow most of the girlies will be here for a stitch/craft day. Should be lots of fun.

Anita Retreat 2026

My nieces invited me to their quilting retreat which I attended earlier this week. It was only about a 2h drive via the $$$407$$$.

On the way there I stopped for gas at an ESSO station hoping to use PC points at the pump but I was informed over the speaker that I had to go inside and they wouldn't do the PC points things. They did ask for a deposit so I put $60 on my card, then went out and pumped $38 of gas. The guy came out with my receipts and I drove off (more about this later).

The Anita Retreat house is in a very upscale enclave of homes just inside Wellesley township - and only a few km west of Heidelberg. Counting all the finished areas of the house I would say it's 6000 square feet.

Among the 5 bedrooms there are 12 beds which can accommodate 14 people. I shared the 'master bedroom' (4 twin beds) with my nieces, Ana and Rosa. There was a huge ensuite bath attached which included a big soaker tub. Each bed had a bed warmer. Towels were nice and fluffy. Most amenities were provided. Very chi chi poo poo.

Downstairs was our work area. 14 six-foot tables, three design boards, and a big ironing station.

There was a kitchen down there as well with full-size fridge, dishwasher and microwave.

I got a lot done; finishing most of the ornate border of The Light of Winter. Just need to fill in the centres of the pink flowers.

I got two checkerboard pieces sewn and quilted onto the batting - ready to make them into project bags. 

The two colourways are in the fabric line. I'll use the companion fabric for the lining.

I also started the half square triangles for the little Black Eyed Susan mini quilt. 

One of the attendees, Reg, gave me a strip of the nifty 1/4" guide tape which made sewing 1/4" away from the diagonal MUCH easier. I didn't have to painstakingly draw a line on each of the 72 - 1.5" squares. I just lined up the top tip of the diamond with the left side of my 1/4" presser foot and aligned the bottom of the diamond with the line to the left of the centre red line.

The seam guide tape made chain-piecing was very easy.

I also got all the wool felt bits cut out for the wool felt appliqué Bowl Fillers - a kit I had purchased ages ago at Quilter's Cupboard.

A registered massage therapist was hired to massage any retreaters so desiring. I had a one-hour deep tissue massage yesterday morning before packing up and heading out. Such a luxury...

I then packed up the car and met Rosa, her son, Derek, and Ana at The Cactus Mexican Restaurant for lunch and a nice visit before I headed home. 

This morning, I finished all the pinwheels for the mini quilt.

Those pinwheels only measure 2 1/2" square! The individual squares before making them HSTs were 1 1/2" square. Thank goodness Reg loaned me her nifty Slotted Trimmer ruler. This was the one with 1/2" gradations and there is another with 1" gradations. 

Once the HSTs are cut, they don't need to be opened and pressed. Simply line the seam line on the triangle up with the trimmer and trim, the slots in the sides are for trimming the dog ears. So cool!

I'm really glad I took a photo of the sample at Hobby House.

as the fabric description in the pattern didn't exactly match the fabric in the kit. 

I then cut and labelled the rest of the pieces and sewed everything together. I learned to nest the seams when joining pinwheels which made aligning the seams much easier.

I'm taking a break from this and will read what the next steps are - probably cutting out the felt pieces. I'll use the freezer paper but this time I'll reverse the pattern so my elements face the right way.

I also crocheted a few of the Mystical Lanterns for the blanket project.

Here's a recap of the list of projects I planned to take to the retreat:

This is a partial list of what I planned to take to work on at the retreat:

• amigurumi zebra kit (didn't take it)
• Mystical Lanterns crochet project (15 lanterns completed) √
• light interfacing for drawing 2.5" grid for more checkerboard project bags √
• knitting - helix sock, more little bears (didn't work on them)
• The Light of Winter cross-stitch project √
• my 'stealth' small for the guild's competition in June √
• my birthday start project (I may start it early) (didn't take it)
• 2 wool felt appliqué projects to cut out (probably not do any sewing) √
• Smitten cross-stitch project (didn't work on it)

About my ESSO experience - it's 4 days later and the 'deposit' has been removed from my transactions but the $38 charge of gas I did buy hasn't appeared. Did I get a free fill-up? Time will tell.