Feeling Better

I caught a cold last week and spent most of Friday to yesterday (Sunday) either in bed or napping on the sofa.

I had to miss stitching this morning so I could sleep in and didn't want to spread my germs. I have my spinning and weaving guild meeting on Wednesday and a stitching day chez moi on Thursday.

While I was clearing off the dining room table aka, my sewing area aka Geri's Sweat Shop, I found the sheepy pincushion that I needed to finish up. I had already stitched the heart on the square and attached the button with some matching red thread. I just needed to sew 1/4" seam around the two pieces of wool leaving a gap for stuffing it with fibrefill and crushed walnut shells - all of which came with the little kit. I got all the sewing and stuffing done and just needed to do the buttonhole stitching around the edge and got that done during the Federal Leader's Debate this evening.

It's simply two squares of wool fabric. The back is plain.

Thank you again, Marilyn for giving me the little kit.

I finally bought the frame for Cinnamon Stars. The stitched piece measured 5 3/4" x 9 1/2" - not quite right for an 8 x 10 frame. Then I realized there were frames for 8 1/2" x 11" documents. I saw this one at the $1.25 store and it came with a mat. The actual frame was 11 x 14 with with the 8 1/2 x 11 mat. I'm happy with the proportions. I struggled with signing it and finally gave up so will put a sticker on the back of the frame with the particulars.

I put batting on foamcore that fit the frame and pinned the stitching into the edges. I also used two-sided tape on the back of the foamcore to anchor the loose edges. I'm glad I had a 3" margin all around because I needed every bit when using the mat.

I love the little pumpkin button I used.

Kim at Kimat designs had many shapes and sizes to choose from. This was it before I sewed it on.

I should have waited 'til daytime to take these pics but I couldn't wait. I'm happy to have another finish (FFO).

Chemo Cap and Cottage

I'm knitting a chemo cap for someone I know who is losing her hair due to chemotherapy treatment for cancer. I found this pattern  and rummaged around in my stash of cotton yarns for something appropriate. Cotton yarn is recommended. I didn't want to use dishcloth cotton but remembered I had some nice pima cotton DK weight and I actually found it!

I modified the pattern by casting on 16 more stitches and going down a needle size.

This should whip up pretty quickly.

I spent the weekend at Marilyn's cottage. We spent a lot of time crafting. I worked on my diamond painting, knit a bunch on my latest crescent swallowtail shawl, and some stitching on my Quilting Bee. There was no Wifi and very poor cellular coverage. We watched some movies on DVD, napped a lot, took walks, ate good food, and gabbed.

I took a couple of photos.

From the deck.

Sunset from the dock.

Looking up at the cottage from the end of the dock.

It was very quiet and relaxing. The leaves are just starting to turn.

I am so fortunate to have friends who want me to visit their cottage. It was a lovely way to spend the last days of September.

End of Another Season

Tomorrow is the beginning of autumn. We're having a splendid, hot day today and I got a lot of chores done around the house - swapped out the new wasp trap, programmed and installed my new garage door opener keypad and took the previous ones down, washed and bleached the caterpillar castle to get it ready to store for another year.

Yes, folks, I released the last two monarchs today. They were my 37th and 38th releases of the season. It was a pretty good year and I'm hopeful the overall population is up from last year. We'll know better when they amass in Mexico a couple of months from now. Aerial photos are taken of that area to determine the population. Here's a photo from 2014. The orange hue on the trees are the butterflies.

Then we need to keep our fingers crossed that no disasters happen while they're down there or their offspring are on the way back north next spring.

At one point today, I had 2 monarchs in the castle and three others flitting about the yard and garden. There were also painted ladies and white cabbage butterflies.

Next year I'm going to tag the supergeneration - those that eclose after the beginning of August. It would be great to have one of my tags recovered.

Crescent Swallowtail Shawl with My Handspun

I actually used my handspun to knit something! I really like the Crescent Swallowtail Shawl - the adaptation by Susan Rainey of Evelyn A Clark's 'Swallowtail Shawl'.

I've knit it a couple of other times using hand dyed norbouillet yarn,

and using Yarn Indulgences Indulgent Fingering yarn.


I don't even remember what this fibre was but it is lovely - if I do say so myself.

It really is all about the blocking. I run the bendable blocking wires through the main points and pinned out the points and then each picot. The picot edge was *CO2, BO5. Repeat from * making sure the 5th BO is on the point at the end of the k1 column between the yarn over columns. I bought the blocking wires several years ago here on Etsy.

I love these colours together.

The wall by my front door is great for displaying my knitting projects. Stuff just sticks to the bricks.

You'll note it doesn't scoop up in the middle of the straight edge because there is a 34 row garter stitch tab to start.

The first pattern is called 'Budding Lace' and is a fairly easy 8-row pattern.

Then there's the 'Lily of the Valley' pattern using 'nupps' (rhymes with scoops). I was supposed to do it twice but knew I wouldn't have enough yarn so I only did rows 1 - 12 of that chart (B).

The lace edging was supposed to be deeper but I eliminated a few rows - again because I was running out of yarn.

I used a picot bindoff mentioned above. I didn't have enough yarn for that so I rifled my stash for laceweight or fingering weight yarn and found a skein of KnitPicks Gloss Lace in the Port colourway. 

It wasn't an exact match but good enough, given the variegation in the handspun. It also made for a very consistent bindoff.

I really love this pattern. This is not the last time I'll be using it.

In the Garden This Morning

There is still so much going on in the garden. Painted ladies and other butterflies are still enjoying the butterfly bush.

This painted lady had a chunk out of its wing. It came back a few times to nectar on the countless blooms.

There were a couple of chunks out of this cabbage white butterfly's wings as well. It's also faded.

This one is intact and is brightly coloured. A recent eclosure perhaps?

I released two more female monarchs today.

This was the ceiling of the caterpillar castle three days ago.

I used to peel the empty chrysalids off the ceiling until I pulled a bunch of full ones off in the process as the mesh that attaches them to the ceiling is enmeshed with neighbouring ones. I now leave them until all in the area are finished.

There are 4 left. All should be finished by the last week of September.

Fat Quarter Project Bag

I made a project bag using only fat quarters - 18" x 22" each. I wanted the same size as my others so I had to make the vinyl window proportionately bigger.

This meant less fabric below the zipper and below the vinyl.

I also thought I'd try to use batting instead of interfacing.  I used the 30 degree marking on my cutting mat to draw the first line in chalk and spaced the rest of the lines 2" apart. This is my go-to method for doing basic machine quilting.

The Kaffe Fassett fabric was a fat quarter I picked up for $2.99 (Canadian!) at Len's Mill Store.

I had the gold fabric and zipper in my stash.

Because there was so little fabric below the vinyl, and the batting made it thicker, the lining bunched up on the bottom and was clearly visible.

Next time, I'll make the big piece at the back that is folded over an inch shorter and will add the inch to the bottom piece of fabric. Also with a window that big, there really should be a decorative fabric for the lining. I'll also skip the batting and just use firmer interfacing.

I learn something every time I sew something.

Busy Day in the Garden

I haven't brought in any eggs for a couple of weeks. The second-last larva is getting ready for its 'j' formation and the last larva is still eating voraciously. It will pupate in a day or so as well.

Out in the garden we've been getting lots of monarch visitors. Could they be ones I've released? New ones stopping in on the way south? Who knows?

The butterfly  bush continues to be a big hit. This monarch has some damage to its wings. There's a chunk out of the fore wing and a bit of crumpling on the hind wing.

Another landed on the orange zinnia.

Two seemed to prefer the yellow zinnias.

This one didn't seem to mind sharing the zinnia with 2 Japanese beetles. After the butterfly flew away, I zapped the two beetles with my racquet zapper like one of these.

The butterfly bush is a bit hit with the bees as well.

This time of year the Joe Pye weed is at its best and quite popular with the butterflies and bees.

The warm, sunny days are the best for the monarchs. They're mustering along the lakeshore, preparing for the long trek south. They need to get a move on because the cool weather is coming. I still have a few pupae and 2 larvae on the go. Things should be wrapped up by the last full week of September.