Cottage and Stitching Plans

I enjoyed the ride up to Marilyn's cottage while listening to a Harry Bosch audiobook. Now that I've watched all the Bosch episodes on Amazon Prime, I like 'reading' other Bosch detective books because I am familiar with many of the characters mentioned. I finished the book on my way home on Tuesday.

One thing that is somewhat of a tradition at the cottage is watching DVDs at night. There is no wifi, or TV reception and only a weak cellular signal so we are essentially 'off the grid' communication-wise. I had checked Season 2 of  'Unforgotten' out of the library so we watched episodes 1 - 3 the first night and the last three the second night.  

Texts do get through but usually only hours after they've been posted. Monday was the federal election in Canada. I sent Skip a text asking about results at 11:00pm. He received it at 2:30am. His reply came in the next morning "Lib minority government". Whew! That was a relief!

During the day we did a lot of stitching outdoors on the deck and looked out at the lake. Marilyn went out in the kayak a couple of times while I stayed back and continued to stitch. Natural light makes stitching with one thread over 2 on 40ct fabric (that's 20 stitches to the inch for you non-stitchers) so much easier on my eyes. 

We did have a scary moment when a blue jay crapped on the table we were sitting at. It landed one inch from the fabric Marilyn was stitching on. Phew! That was a close one. I'm really glad it didn't poo on the piece I was stitching for Teresa. BTW, that project is coming along very nicely.

Of all the 8 - 10 projects I took to the cottage, I only worked on the Teresa sampler and whip-stitching my hexagons together (which I finished after I got home). 

I need to finish the blanket edge and will used either i-cord or a 5 stitch garter stitch edge. This will keep it from curling. I will have to buy a skein or two of Silk Garden yarn to do edging and I have located some at a nearby yarn shop.

I'm very happy with how the hexagon blanket turned out. The Silk Garden yarn is so soft and lovely. It's a very lofty, warm blanket and will be so cozy when I seek a 'hygge' experience on those long winter nights. 

Except for food, I hauled enough stuff up there to last me at least a week. But it if there's room, it's always good to take more stuff than you need.

We ate well, relaxed fully, napped a bit, and slept well. It was a very fun, relaxing couple of days.

Before I left to go to the cottage I was watching Valerie from 'Stitching in the Barn' on FlossTube. At 40 minutes she showed a pattern she had completed and had sent away to be finished. Then showed the finished project. It's called Three Pumpkins by Prairie Grove Peddler.

The black kitty cat with the white whiskers sold me. I started looking for the pattern and found it on Kim's website so I put in an order for it and picked it up yesterday morning. I remembered buying pumpkin-coloured fabric at Judy's Stitchery Nook in Harlingen TX when we were there in February 2020 (before COVID had us race home) but do you think I could locate the fabric anywhere in my stash? Nope.

I checked the 123stitch website and they had it, so I ordered it and some silk floss for an upcoming project that I've ordered. That pattern won't be in until late October. I have all but 3 floss colours in my stash. I may do substitutions for the ones I don't have. This Cody Hoover floss colour tool is very handy for that. 

From 123stitch I also ordered Winter Rose Manor that I've admired for quite a while. 

I checked Kim's website for it first but the copy she had a while ago must have been sold. That white house will be a pain to stitch but big areas like that are great for when I'm stitching socially - like on a Zoom call.

Before I went to the cottage, Skip had 2 cords of wood (1 face cord = wood stacked 4 feet high and 8 feet long) dropped off in our driveway that we then had to transport  with wheel barrows and stack on the other side of the house. I lasted a few wheelbarrows-ful and had to quit but it was somewhat of a help for Skip to finish the job. We have a little bit of dry wood ready for the first few fires on those cold days and nights. The fireplace is all cleaned out and ready to go. Then we can start using some of the new wood which hopefully has been drying for a few months.

Today is a gloomy, overcast day. Perfect for stitching!