24+ Hours of Fun

Poppy, Jen1, and I hit the road on Friday afternoon and headed up to Gravenhurst where we spent the night before the Muskoka Yarn and Fibre Festival.

I was very pleased to find us lodgings in an efficiency unit that could comfortably accommodate three people in three beds at the Pinedale Inn, on the shore of Gull Lake. 

The view from our balcony

For a Friday night in the cottaging season, it was very quiet. We chatted outside on the balcony until almost sundown. The temperature was perfect, the view stunning, and we reveled in the rustling sound of the poplar leaves in a nearby tree. One could almost feel one's blood pressure dropping and the stresses in our lives drifting away.

I took an array of bears to see if Jen1 was interested in having one come and live with her. She picked Lola.

We took a selfie with our little friends and had ChatGPT make it into a cartoon.

Jen1 with Lola, Geri with Thomas and Ernest, Poppy with Daphne

The next morning we had breakfast at Stacked in Bracebridge then headed to the Fairgrounds for the yarn fest.

We split up - each interested in different things - and determined a meet-up time. Jen1 had pre-ordered something she went to pick up. Several of the yarn merchants had models on display. We all were intrigued by the Mautinoa shawl designed by Malia Mae Joseph. The pattern is available on Ravelry. It would work very well with a couple of contrasting skeins of laceweight. I could see knitting wider bands and making it into a lap blanket.

I was intrigued by a Knitted Bliss Stitching kit which featured several specialty stitches to look like flowers and balls of yarn.

Other colourways were also available. The blue kit I purchased was complete with 2 needles, a threader, all the DMC flosses separated on a floss card, the printed fabric, and 6" hoop. I do plan to vary the flowers with other colours. There are instructional videos available for the various techniques required.

What first drew me to their booth was seeing a floral embroidery on a sweater on display.

Of course, I dragged Poppy over to their booth, too. The designer uses Sticky Fabri-Solvy and just washes the water-soluble interfacing away once the embroidery is completed. She also sells 'Stick and Stitch' packs with designs already printed onto the 'Solvy', ready to literally stick and stitch. My mind is now racing with ideas for this embroidery technique. 

Ernest had a few photo ops:

with a very cute, needle-felted Peter Rabbit.

with an intriguing book of fellow critters,

between a couple of felted sheep on display,

amid an assembled lot of needle-felted critters,

and with an emotional support chicken and a frog.

After the fibre fest we made a beeline for Thimbles & Things quilt shop near Orillia to see if there were any to-die-for fabrics or kits. Among our purchases, Poppy found a very cool panel of a poppy print that was ready to make into a tote bag. It was very cool that the ends were printed in two directions so it could just be folded and seamed without having to cut a front and back separately.

Jen1 found a pretty, floral printed panel and companion fabric that she though would make a nice table cloth. Close up, the flowers looked like they'd been appliquéd in place.

I picked up a couple of William Morris fat eighths.

Our final stop was Myrtle Station Wool which conveniently, was on our route home. We had a nice visit with Stephanie and ogled her lovely yarn.

Back at home, I pretty much baffed out after all the activity of the previous 24 hours. 

It was so good for the three of us to get away. 

I don't see enough of the two of them as they are still working and busy with family commitments so I really look forward to spending time with them. We got to indulge ourselves doing many of our favourite things: shopping, discussing crafts, eating at restaurants, staying in comfy lodgings, getting away from 'adulting' for a little while, and spending time together.

We really need to do things like this more.

Garage Sale

Barb and I attended the Bolts & Bobbins garage sale today at their location near Woodville. The shop is on a farm where Clydesdale horses are bred. There was a 60 day-old foal sticking very close to its mama. We chatted with the breeder as he was assisting with directing parking for the cars arriving for the sale.

I purchased a few deeply discounted things in the 'garage' and a few other items inside the shop (regular price).

I thought this precut metre of fabric was very cute - with some practical 'goals'. I didn't have a specific plan for it but since coming home, I have thought of something I'll use it for.

I found a neutral, lightly patterned fabric

and a dark blue blender fabric in the remnant area.

This fat quarter will coordinate with just about any solid fabric.

I also needed a homespun fabric to back my wool felt appliqué 'bowl fillers'.

Any fabrics on the bolt had a 1m minimum cut. This white on ecru fabric was already a precut metre so I didn't have to stand in line to get it cut.

I did, however, stand in line to have this cut. It is a companion fabric to a charm pack I already have.

Inside the shop, I picked up one quilt pattern (I have lots of random fabrics that would be suitable),

a fabric glue stick, and chalk to refill my chalking/marking tool.

There was only one of these zipper pulls left so I think I'll order some more online.

When I got home, I installed it on my now-favourite project bag (the one with hexies on the back). It looks gold in the photo but it really is silver.

After lunch in Port Perry, Barb, Ernest, and I stopped in to see Alda who is spending the week at a retirement home in north Oshawa. She is looking great. She'll be going home on the weekend.

While there, Ernest, and Alda's Rusty got together for a bit of conversation.

Judy also joined us so we had a nice gabfest for a couple of hours.

Once home, I got some fun mail. 4 patterned Japanese cotton fat quarters. I'm hoping to use a couple of them to back some project bags I made with the Yukata charm pack.

Tomorrow Jen1, Poppy, and I head north so we can attend the Muskoka Fibre Festival on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to our overnight getaway.

Good For Social Stitching

When I'm stitching with the Monday morning gang, there's a lot of chit chat and not a lot of concentration on what we're stitching. This week I worked on my sashiko piece because all I had to do is stitch on the lines.

I was running low on the thread but knew fairly soon my order for the rest of the threads I'd need would show up. They came today. I bought the necessary thread from an Etsy vendor - mostly because shipping from Hong Kong was less than $10 and from a Canadian or US vendor shipping would have been almost $30. The price of the thread was the same.

On Monday, I completed all the stitches in one direction (verticals in this photo) and started in the other direction. (seen at the top). The timing of the arrival of the new thread was very fortuitous because a couple more rows and the first reel of thread would have been finished.

I was going to fully finish the Robin Pickens 'Seasonal Courier: Cardinal's Winter' by mounting the piece on foam core then mounting it on a background of complimentary fabric. Like in this photo:

I even had the perfect fabric for the job in my stash but couldn't locate it last week. Instead, I purchased a fat quarter that could have fit the bill. Then I found a frame in my stash that would work without the faux fabric 'mat'.

I started mounting the stitching on foamcore I had cut to fit in the frame and had it pinned all around when I realized I hadn't finished stitching the bit on the left edge. See that open space on the edge across from the bird's beak? Of course I can't find the pattern (having cleverly filed it away somewhere when I emptied the project bag) so I've asked Barb for the thread colours as I can stitch from the photograph.

In the meantime, I started kitting up the 'Blue Jay's Summer'

 in the same series and popped into Michaels today to pick up the three  DMC floss colours I didn't have in my stash. I scrounged an appropriate piece of fabric from my stash (38ct linen) and went to work stitching with one thread over two. 

It'll be a pretty quick stitch. I may use the same frame for all in the series and just skip the fabric 'mat' altogether.

Inspired by MaryK's Lori Holt 'stitch picker', I thought I'd fashion some of my own using bakeable modeling clay (aka Fimo) and some #24 tapestry needles. The first batch of Fimo was all crumbly - understandably so as it had been in my 'stash' for probably 3 decades. The second batch was made using Premo Sculpey and was still pretty maleable. The clay is baked at about 230ºF for 30 or 40 minutes for it to cure/harden. I made enough pickers for everyone in my Monday morning group. And yes, I had the business cards, labels, and little plastic bags in my stash. If I were to make another batch, I'd make the 'handle' a little longer.

Today I even had occasion to use one on my stitching error. That little 'handle' makes is a bit more easy to 'unstitch' stitching boo boos.

Today for lunch I met my friends, David, Shelley, and Suzanne for lunch at the Greek pavilion - Acropolis - as this week is Oshawa's multicultural festival 'Fiesta'. It begins with a big parade through downtown Oshawa every year on Father's Day and continues until the following Saturday.

Thomas and Ernest were in attendance, too.

We sat and gabbed until almost 3.

On Thursday, Barb and I are going up to Woodville for the Bolts & Bobbins garage sale. Then on Friday afternoon, Poppy, Jen1, and I will head up to Gravenhurst for the Muskoka Yarn & Fibre Festival on Saturday - not that I need any yarn (cough) but it will be fun for an overnight getaway with a couple of my girlies.

Carol Feller just did a Facebook post about knitting a top using random yarns - leftovers from other projects or skeins combined with others. She's going to cover sizing, gauge, etc. It might be a good exercise for me to actually use some of my stashed yarn. I've indicated my interest in accessing this free information on her Stolen Stitches Facebook page and website.

What To Do With English Paper Piecing?

Three years ago (!) Jen1 and I ventured to Bolts and Bobbins near Woodville for their garage sale. While there, I found this amazing fabric on sale. I thought all the coordinating colours would be great for English Paper Piecing - 'Shimmer Eclipse Iceberg' fabric by Deborah Edwards for Northcott Fabrics.

A month later, I had created this 14" x 10" piece.

It sat for three years while I figured out what I would do with it. Then I realized it would make a great back to a project bag. I added another 2 rows of hexies to the bottom to enlarge it to the dimensions I prefer to work with.

Next came deciding what I'd use for the lining and binding. At the same sale, I had purchased a (0.6m) remnant of a blue fabric - perfect for the job.

For the binding, I cut three strips of one of the darker bits of the striped fabric. Two of them were beside the selvage and a bit wider after trimming the selvage off. The third strip I cut from the inside. Because it was narrower, I encroached the adjacent fabric to match the width of the other two pieces. I knew the other colour would be hidden when I sewed the folded binding onto the front of the bag.

I then did all the usual steps, attaching strips above and below the zipper, as well as inserting the vinyl between the double-folded strip below the zipper.

After sewing the folded binding to the front and hand-sewing it to the back, I was pretty pleased with the result.

I have been considering selling some of the ones I've made but this one involved a LOT of hand-sewing and I couldn't imagine parting with it.

I still have some of the fabric left so could also make some coordinating pieces.

Will be on the lookout for more striped fabric like this. It really saves a lot of agonizing about coordinating colours.

This year's Bolts and Bobbins Garage Sale is this week. Barb and I are heading up there on Thursday.

And Yet Another Project Bag

I'm on a bit of a tear, making use of several quilted checkerboards I previously created - using quartered 5" charm squares and coordinating fabric.

Yesterday I completed another bag. This time the easy method was used by using a coordinating fabric for the back and extending the edges 1" to be double folded and used as binding.

When I bought the charm pack, I also purchased a fat quarter of a coordinating fabric - a nice, busy pattern - which will be nice for the back and 'binding'.

A fat quarter is just enough for this method as separately-attached binding strips are not used. I make my checkerboards 7 squares wide and 6 squares high  (~ 14 1/2" x 12 1/2" finished size). There will be enough of this fabric for the top lining strip and the strip below the zipper. As mentioned in a previous post, the extended edges of the back piece are folded over to the other side,

Then sewn in place with a coordinating thread. I'm not a perfectionist but I am picky about some details. I guess I could have used the beige thread for the topstitching above and below the zipper - oh well. The fabric strip below the zipper is a double-folded 2 1/5" strip with the fold against the zipper teeth and the opening downwards. I use double-sided stitching tape on the vinyl to keep it in position - the top edge of it right against the fold. The top stitching attaches the zipper to the strip and the vinyl. The lower topstitching is just through the open part of the strip and the vinyl.

I did use the dark thread in the bobbin when doing the first top stitching pass which attached the zipper to the strip, then changed to the beige thread on the second pass - a better colour on the back of the beige strip.

The coordinating fabric was also used to line the strip above the zipper on the front of the bag.

Another thing I do before attaching the back fabric is to trim the top and bottom edges, then stitch a narrow zigzag along the top (attaching the quilted checkerboard to the checkerboard strip above the zipper), then trim the bottom (attaching the bottom of the quilted checkerboard to the bottom edge of the vinyl. 

Then the zipper tab is slid towards the centre and out of the area beyond the edge. The two sides are then trimmed.

After all that, I lay the batting side of the quilted piece onto the wrong side of the backing fabric, being careful to centre it in both directions.

Note: When quilting the checkerboard piece, I made sure to quilt onto the non-fusible side, in preparation for this next step.

Now the fusible side is against the backing fabric. With a medium iron setting, and the vinyl side down, and fabric backing side up, I press the backing onto the fusible batting. Don't hold the iron in place very long as the vinyl can melt. Definitely never touch the hot iron directly onto the vinyl as it definitely will melt. (Trust me, I've had to redo the vinyl on a couple of bags because of this goof-up).

Back on the cutting mat and vinyl side up, trim all the backing fabric edges to 3/4", double fold over to the front and use clips on the newly-created binding to keep it in place for sewing. Avoid clipping directly onto the vinyl as it may leave marks. Definitely never use pins on the vinyl!

Starting on the right side and using coordinating thread for the top and bottom, sew around, attaching the folded binding to the front. The presser foot will want to stick to the vinyl so just use some tissue paper to cover the vinyl (just don't tuck it under the binding). 

At the corner, fold the edge you're stitching down and over, then the other edge. You should get a nice mitre which should be clipped to stay in place. Sew to the mitre then one stitch over it and stop with the needle in the down position. turn the bag 45º as if to sew towards the point. Take two or three stitches then reverse back to the pivot spot (circled in the photo). Turn the bag another 45º to stitch along the next side. Do this at all 4 corners. This will neatly secure the mitred corners.

I don't remember where I learned this cool tip but a bit of patterned, folded ribbon is a neat way to insert your 'logo' into the binding. 

Sunflowers have a special meaning for me so I was thrilled to find a spool of this ribbon.

The front view of the sunflower alternates with a side view. And it's not that difficult to cut and fold the ribbon to insert it in the proper position.

I still need to make zipper pulls for the new bags I've made. Perhaps another time when I want to avoid 'adulting' aka housework/errands.

I did go outside, too. Every day something else has bloomed in the garden. It's kinda wild-looking but it reminds me of all the work Skip did out there.

A California Poppy - self seeded from last year.

Foxglove from last year - the bees love flying in and out of the blooms.

Deadheading the Bachelor buttons/cornflowers promotes more blooms. (weeding is needed)

Along the back fence. The bell flowers (campanula carpatica) are starting their white and purple blooms.

I'm really looking forward to the shasta daisy blooms. A big clump of them were transplanted from our now deceased stitching friend, Sharon's garden a couple of years ago. I did buy another pot of them last year at an end-of-the-season sale at a nursery.

In May it's hard to tell what is a weed and what is a perennial. My plan is to label them the perennials in the fall so next spring I'll know what is what.