I Was Inspired

After stitching the blue, sashiko biscornu, I was motivated to find other patterns to stitch. I happened upon this kit on Etsy and thought it would be cool to stitch and attempted to chart it myself.

I tried chart it with straight lines  It worked for the horizontals but not the diagonals on this counted fabric.The pattern in the photo above was just printed onto the woven fabric and stitched. Flouting customary sashiko straight lines, I made the pattern more or less fit the counted scrap of 14ct navy blue Aida in my stash.

The actual stitching was much faster than the charting and counting. The strip of fabric I had only accommodated 48 stitches. While I was finishing stitching this, I thought I'd stitch the same pattern on white Aida on the other side.

Back into my stash I'll go.

Scooter came out for a visit from The Big City yesterday. He updated his departure to Japan from next month to next week. Eeek! I showed him the array of little bears I had on hand and asked if he wanted to take one. He picked Roscoe because he had a red sweater - like the Canadian flag. I told him he was welcome to change the name. I know he'll be glad to have a 'little buddy' while so far from home.

He plans to come for a final visit early next week. I was surprised at how emotional I became after dropping him off at the GO station. When he left for university, Skip and I knew he was just a couple of hours away. This feels so much different. It's almost like another piece of Skip is going away. I'll be OK - I'll just miss Scooter. It was so nice having him here for a couple of months this spring and again when he stayed for an extra week after housesitting for me when I was at music camp. 

On a happier note, my hibiscus plant is blooming again. I'll bring it back inside when the weather gets cooler.

Another Busy Day

Yesterday was my 4-month post-implant appointment in The Big City (gratefully north near Keele St. and Steeles Ave W).

An xray was taken of the tooth in question. 

Then the temporary was popped off, impressions were taken, then the temporary put back on. I have another appointment in a month's time.

Then the permanent cap will be installed at an even later date by my own dentist in Oshawa. 

Using the $$$407$$$ again made for a very stress-free trip across the top of The Big City and back. When I got home, I did some adulting, some goofing off, then made myself take a nap so I could make it through band that night.

I had printed all my music for band and copied and pasted the revisions we were sent by the conductor so I'd be all ready for the rehearsal. 

At the rehearsal, when I went to assemble the clarinet, the cork disintegrated on the mouthpiece of the clarinet Dunc had loaned me so Lora loaned me a spare mouthpiece for the rehearsal. I'm using a 2 1/2 reed which plays really well for me (and the borrowed mouthpiece) but I'm going to buy a couple of #2s and see if I can get through the rehearsal easier. 

Not being a clarinet player by training, and considering my 20-year hiatus from even touching one, the fingers aren't there yet. The rhythms are all there and Zoltan (my Clarinet III buddy) says I have been of help to him. I explain to all the folks around me that what I lack in technique, I make up in enthusiasm.

I informed our conductor that I could fill in for him in a pinch if necessary considering my 30-year career directing instrumental music ensembles and having been a former assistant conductor of the PCCB. I'm not sure he believed me.

I'm very excited that one of 'my new best friends' from camp, Katherine, will be coming to visit next month and will be able to sit in on a rehearsal. I mentioned it to Helen - a new PCCB flute-playing member who remembered her from camp. Katherine can sit with her. Dunc has already planned a get together at his place.

Also, Jen1 will be available to join us for some crafting chez moi that day as well. 

Scooter's departure for Japan is only a few weeks away. He's coming out for a visit tomorrow. I so appreciate the effort he makes to schlep all the way out to Whitby to visit me.

Tonight is our first Trillium Guild meeting. And next weekend (not to be confused with this weekend), is our stitching retreat at Elim Lodge. Jen1 and I will carpool. Several folks are bringing their sewing machines. Some plan to make up their Needleworker's Companion from the panel purchased last year at the Swindon event with Hands Across The Sea. I haven't decided if I'll take my machine and work up some more project bags.

I do have two retreat mats and a couple of completed project bags I'll be taking if anyone wants to purchase them from me. If I get the ambition, I can make a couple more up to take. I also want to take a pile of things to give away as we always have a 'give away' table.

Then we'll be into October already. with another guild stitch day, Thanksgiving, the wedding in Ottawa, Stitch North, the PCCB Hallowe'en concert, a Kimat stitch day, Hallowe'en, and the usual Monday stitching, monthly guild meeting, dental and medical appointments, Katherine's visit, and James' departure to Japan.

I should probably go take a nap now.

Crochet Update

 I've almost finished sewing all the lanterns onto the blanket. 

There's one column of 11 to finish and the last column of 10. Looking at the photo now, I realize I should have started a column of 10 on the left side rather than the column of 11 on the right side, as the pattern calls for columns of 10 on each side. 

Unblocked, right now it's measuring only 30" x 50" - not wide enough for a throw blanket in my opinion. There is LOTS of remaining yarn so I'll make at least another couple more columns of lanterns.

Following up on Barb's crocheted sheep,

I bought the pattern on Ravelry (Shoop the African Flower Sheep) and have sourced the yarn I'll be using.

Photo from the designer's Ravelry page.

While at Len's Mill Store in Cambridge on the weekend, I bought a ball of natural Kroy sock yarn and a multicoloured ball. I then rooted through my vast sock yarn remnants for other yarns that would work.

This sheep is not going to be very big with me using sock yarn (called for in the pattern) but it will be a good first try. There is a technique for joining the blocks while doing the outer round which I may try to master.

So far I have done one pentagon, four hexagons, and one heptagonal block.

I could have done the centres with the natural yarn, I guess. Oh well. I'm making sure the round before the outer round uses gold or yellow yarn, and, of course, the outer rounds will be with the natural yarn.

The next one I'll make will be using DK or worsted weight yarn. I also have TONS of handspun that would work very well for a project like this. 

The 2mm hook is a size larger than the pattern specifies for this weight yarn. The fabric is still pretty dense so the stuffing won't show through. I'm not liking working with such a small hook as the yarn splits easily.

They do work up pretty quickly. I haven't counted how many of them I'll have to make. If I don't use the 'attach-as-I-go' method, there will be a LOT of sewing the blocks together.

Bridal Shower

On Saturday I drove to Cambridge to attend my grand-niece's bridal shower. It was a good place for it - a somewhat central location for the attendees coming from the Sarnia area, Durham Region, and Ottawa.

I arrived at Cambridge an hour or so before the shower so popped into the Len's Mill Store just off the 401 and Hespeler Road to pick up some supplies for a new craft project. More about that in the next post.

Surprisingly I knew almost all the people at the shower: the bride-to-be, Andrea; her mother and aunt (my two nieces Rosa and Ana); my grand-niece, Melisa and her two young daughters, Riley and Remy; the groom's mother, Jane, cousin, Sam, and cousin-in-law, Amanda. The latter 3 with whom I spent Christmas of 2024 in the Dominican Republic. I also had previously met Lisa and Jo-Ann at the quilting retreat in July. I also got to meet Sarah's mother, Carolina, who had prepared a delicious Italian pasta dinner for Ana and Rosa after their mother's funeral visitation. Skip was very impressed with it. I hadn't met one of Andrea's friends who attended, nor Sarah, Andrea's childhood friend, but I had heard lots about Sarah since they were little girls and Andrea attended 'Secret Heart' elementary school.

Sarah hosted the shower at their very cute home in Cambridge. There was so much character in the place - arched doorways, natural wood trim, many-paned windows, glassed-in porch. I couldn't resist taking a photo.

The theme of the wedding is 'Til Death Do Us Part'.

What would a bridal shower be without any games? 

Dozens of 'diamond' rings were stashed around the house. The person to find the most would win a prize. The one hanging from the frame above was one of the last to be found. The young girls found most of them on their own and many of us gave them the ones that we had found. Then Remy and Riley pooled them to win the prize. Jane had donated one of her lovely pottery creations. The young girls asked who would want it. Of course, I said 'pick me, pick me'.

With the holes in the bottom and the little plate underneath, it could be used as a berry washer or even a little flower pot.

I loved how Andrea's dress coordinated with the theme, particularly since I don't ever recall Andrea dressing in any other colour than black.

After all the gifts were opened, the lovely bride-to-be modeled the hat made from bows and the pop-up card - a bouquet of flowers in a vase. 

As we were leaving, we received a favour, a memento of the event: a pair of candles wrapped with a sprig of lavender.

It was a very nice way to spend the afternoon. I'm always glad to get to visit family.

The drive home was happily uneventful, largely due to the delightful cross-country route plotted by my Apple Maps. Evidently there was a traffic snarl up on the 401 between Cambridge and Guelph that this alternate route avoided. I drove through farm country on secondary highways and county roads. Campbellville was the only major centre I traversed.  Back on the 401 at Guelph Line, traffic was not plentiful and moved smoothly to my hookup to the $$$407$$$. I got home shortly after 6pm.

The next day, I hurkle-durkled (slept in and languished in bed until mid-morning) and started another crafty project.

Sashiko BFF (Biscornu Fully Finished)

I finished stitching the biscornu and fully finished it. Because I had altered the pattern to accommodate the fabric I had on hand, I had a heck of a time determining where to put the backstiched border on the bottom fabric. I counted, pinned every 10 stitches, then in the other direction. I wanted the bottom to be centred. Finally I decided to start stitching the outer border. I had to pick out and redo entire sides to make sure I had it centred. 

Then came the task of sewing the top to the bottom. Because I had made sure there were an even number of stitches each side of the centre, this was a fairly easy task. However, the fabric was not totally square - the warp was wider than the weft so I had to make sure I had the correct sides together.

All the being said. I stuffed it on the last pass of sewing it up, found a pearl bead for the top and a small, pearl-coloured bead for the bottom.

It was a LOT of stitching but not difficult and pretty fun.

Tomorrow I will be attending the bridal shower of my grand-niece, Andrea, in Cambridge. Of the 13 attendees who RSVPd affirmatively, I know her mom and aunt (my two nieces),  as well as the mom, sister-in-law, and cousin of the groom whom I spent Christmas 2024 with in the Dominican Republic. 

I hope to leave here in time to have an hour or so to have lunch and possibly pay a visit to Len's Mill Store before moseying over to the shower.

Getting Inspired

When stitchers get together, they like to see what others are working on and share what they're working on. Judy and Bev have been working on a sashiko biscornu designed by Atelier Pin & Needle.

The pattern is available on Etsy.

From my stash, I found two darker blue squares of 22ct evenweave fabric that had already been surged on the sides. They weren't quite big enough for the whole pattern so I made the pattern smaller. I was too tired to count carefully from the centre so just started in the corner, knowing I'd have enough room for the smaller version (right piece). 

I got this far on the other piece before heading to bed. 

Because the design has an odd number of stitches per side, when I did the backstitching around it, I went out three threads from the design edge instead of two. Now the backstitching is an even number of stitches. This will make sewing the two pieces together easier as the corner of one side starts at the edge centre of the other piece. 

This pattern is really sashiko-esque because the Japanese technique is usually done as surface embroidery, that is, stitched from the design drawn onto the fabric. This counted method, although very neat and tidy, deviates from that a bit. However the result will be quite striking.

On the first square, I did the horizontal lines down to the open part, then the verticals. I just wanted to see how it would look in that corner. Then I filled in the rest. It involved a LOT of stitching using 2 strands of B5200DMC and a #26 needle. I should be able to finish the second square today between adulting housework. 

One chore I don't mind doing is laundry on a nice, sunny day like today. Everything is going out on the clothesline passive solar dryer. The bedding will smell great when I crawl into it tonight.

Back on the Band Wagon and Excitement in the Skies

I played in the Pickering Community Concert Band from 1990- 2002. I played the oboe and sometimes I was the assistant conductor. When I got promoted at my job and my workload increased, I decided to discontinue going. Also, as in many organizations, some of the politics was starting to become irritating and that also helped my decision to not return.

However, after being all geeked up at music camp, I decided I wanted to join the band again. Tonight was the first rehearsal of the season. As the band already has two oboes, I borrowed a clarinet and was given a reed, and got situated in the clarinet section. I was going to play Clarinet III with my new friend, Zoltan, but the way we were sharing the music stand, I couldn't see the conductor so I scooted over one seat and sat beside Dunc and played Clarinet II. 

I haven't even touched a clarinet in 20 years but it was kinda like riding a bicycle. I remembered most of the fingerings. I'm a bit iffy on some of the alternates but I'll get there. 

Some folks had their music on iPads and foot pedals that turns the pages. I may have to get one of those gadgets and see if I can resurrect Skip's old iPad. I'm not sure I even know the code to get into it. It would be too 'squinchy' to read on my iPad mini. A lot has changed in the past two decades in that regard. We are emailed .pdfs of our parts for us to either print hard copies or use on our devices.  I think I'll be old school for a while and use sheet music. Since I'll have my own music stand, I'll play Clarinet III beside Zoltan. The music might be a bit easier for me while I'm getting my clarinet chops back.

At music camp, we only had Concert Band an hour a day so playing in a 2-hour rehearsal really blew out my chops. Dunc and I both were struggling on some of those long passages by the last half hour or so. I'm still pretty good with the counting and got most notes but my endurance is gone. I may actually have to practice between rehearsals to get the muscles back in shape! (Insert shocked face here. I was a very lazy player - getting by on a minimum of practice) All in all, I think I did pretty well after not having played the clarinet since June of 2007.

Unfortunately, I can't make any of the scheduled concerts this fall. Being one who is 'doing all the things', I only have two weekends free between now and mid-November. The Hallowe'en concert isthe weekend I'll be at Stitch North. I did tell the conductor and he seemed disappointed but my weekends should be a little freer in the new year (so far). The weekend of our Christmas concert (first Sunday of December) I'll be cruising up the Rhine with Alexa on my epic Christmas Market tour so I'm missing it as well.

It was very nice seeing some of the 'originals' from when I belonged to the band before: Cathy, Heidi, Joanne, Louise, Teresa, Hugh, etc.

I have nothing on the schedule tomorrow and we're supposed to get heavy rain so I'll be hurkle-durkling in the morning and probably crafting the rest of the day. I should have done laundry today to hang it out in the fabulous weather but it can wait until Thursday when it's supposed to be nice again.

The other exciting thing that happened today was seeing the Snowbirds fly over the house. One of the elementary schools in Whitby is named after a former Snowbird, Captain Michael VandenBos, who grew up in Whitby. He tragically died as a result of a mid-air collision during a training exercise in 1998. The other pilot was ejected from his plane and survived. The school bearing Captain VandenBos' name opened in 2001 and the dedication ceremony took place on September 4, 2001. 

Captain Michael VandenBos

Every year thereafter the Canadian Forces Snowbirds precision flying team has done a fly-past the first day of the school year at 1pm. Since they always perform at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto on Labour Day, they're kinda in the 'neighbourhood' already. 

Today, I was in the kitchen when I heard the jets approaching so ran outside with my phone, hoping to get some photos. They flew just to the west of the house on their way to the school only 5.4 km away. I was so excited I almost missed getting this photo; so excited I didn't completely get my finger out of the way.

After the fly-past, they circled to the east over Oshawa and flew over Whitby again, higher this time. I just snapped photos until I could no longer see them.

The neighbour behind me came out on his deck to see them as well as his wife texted him that this was happening.

I was surprised at how emotional I felt knowing that they were doing this as a tribute to their fallen comrade. What a thrill for the staff and students at the school who assemble outside on opening day of school for the fly-past. And it truly was a thrill for the rest of the Whitby residents who got to see them as well. I have lived in this house for 30 years and today was the first time, I had the presence of mind to go outside to see them. 

The Snowbirds who are based in Moose Jaw SK, are retiring their 55 year-old CT-114 Tudor jets later this fall and will await delivery of their new aircraft in the early 2030s. Their final performance will be the fly-over at the Grey Cup game in Calgary on November 15.

My Brain Was in Overdrive Today

 Today Sharon sent me photos of her Veronica settling into her new home.

"This is Chase, the cat's (my new brother) scratching tree but I really like this king-sized watermelon bed! I think it's memory foam!".

"I get my own toothbrush?

"This is a very comfy bed, too. We kitty cats like to sleep a lot".

"Do I have to wash all these dishes?!?!"

"I love the great outdoors! What a nice patio chair!".

"Some say I'm very photogenic (whatever that means). I love how my sweater matches these dahlias".

"We ladies always have been partial to roses". 

At stitching this morning we all got a tour of Barb's craft room. She is very organized. One object that caught our eyes was a crocheted sheep. 

Jennifer4 (yes, my Jennifers are numbered) found the pattern on Ravelry "Shoop the African Flower Sheep" by Heidi Bears. Of course I became obsessed with making one and realized I had previously made a blanket for Daisy using the African Flower crochet stitch.

I was all set to run out and buy yarn when Barb reminded me that I had a bunch left over from my Persian Tiles and Mystical Lanterns blankets. Next will be to purchase and download the pattern and start crocheting this.

I gave Jeanette the second project bag. Like the first one, she'll stitch down the binding on the back by hand. She liked the quilting I had done on the back. This afternoon I put Barb's together and this time, machine quilted around the borders of the Queen of the May 2025 on the front.

I also quilted the back - 30º lines, 3 inches apart.

The script lining and border is such a nice touch. It's one of Jane Austen's works, I believe.

And I love, love, love the Wm Morris-ish fabric on the back. You can purchase the panel here. There are two versions to choose from.

I did the binding on this one differently from Jeanette's. I attached the binding to the front then wrapped it around the edges to the back and secured it with pins and some washable glue. Then using my blind hem foot to stitch in the ditch on the front, I attached the binding to the back.  It took a couple of tries. After I adjusted the needle to stitch just to the right of the 'ditch' and used the right colour thread, I got the job done.

A couple of the gals purchased the Needleworker's Companion and Pincushion panel and plan to assemble it at our stitching retreat at the end of the month. Nicola has a good tutorial on YouTube on how to construct it. I was intrigued by the cheater hexie fabric on the exterior. It gave me a good idea about what I could do with the hexies I can make from the striped fabric I already have.

Here it is opened up.

And the back...

I used a bunch of hexies for the back panel of this project bag. 

I still have lots of this fabric left for the Companion project. I'll have a good look at their panels and measure the pieces.

And finally, Judy and Bev have been working on this Sashiko Biscornu project. 

It's kinda faux sashiko as it uses a counted technique rather than drawing the pattern on the fabric and weaving the needle in and out that way. I'll have to check my stash to see if I have any dark blue linen or eveneweave. If not, I could use 22ct white Hardanger fabric with blue threads. 

With the way my head swirled with all these crafty ideas today, it was all I could do to not kit up the biscornu project, too.