A New Start

 I have been thoroughly enjoying browsing through the Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly CD I ordered from The Book Depository. It first popped up as an ad on Facebook (gotta love those algorithms) so I investigated the price (including tax and postage) from Annie's and a couple of other places. 

The CD has all 80 issues of the magazine as .pdfs. As I browse, I print the patterns I'd love to do at some point. The motifs on many of the samplers could be used on smalls - scissor fobs, pin cushions, etc. or redesigned for smaller pieces.

I loved this one from Vol. 25, Winter 2001.

Of course I had everything I needed in my stash, the fabric, the #8 perle cotton both DMC and a variegated Valdani and the same colour of DMC floss to substitute for the #12 perle cotton (two strands of DMC = 1 strand of #12 perle cotton).

I bought the 32ct Lugana fabric at Twist a couple of summers ago. There was a wonderful stitchery booth called "Mes Broderies Ma Passion" that I visited at least 4 times during our time there.

I cut a 6" x 18" piece from it so changed the size on the label for future reference.

I have been quite obsessed with this since I started it. It took me a while to develop the 'rhythm' of stitching this and I have ripped out and re-stitched several long courses of Kloster blocks to get the thread counts correctly. 

I'm trying to decide what kind of material I will use to 'stiffen the pocket a bit. I could use thin, acid-free cardboard or a piece of buckram left over from another project. Not sure I want it really stiff or just the back of the pocket and a looser flap.

My plan is to use it for my needle packets rather than a scissor case. However, I do intend to stitch the matching scissor fob. 

I haven't stitched much (if anything) on my Quaker alphabet sampler.

Mostly I've been plugging away on the model I'm stitching for Teresa Kogut. There's no hurry on it as I think it's for her spring release at Market.

Going for a Drive OR We Have Become My Grandparents

When I was a child, I spent some time with my grandparents. Grandpa loved to drive so we'd often go for 'drives' for something to do. Especially on Sundays when we weren't allowed to play cards in my grandparents' home.

Yesterday, just to get out of the house, Skip and I had a lovely drive out in the country in hopes we'd take in some fall colours.

I headed northwards knowing the colours would be more advanced than down by the lake (Lake Ontario). We weren't disappointed.

We turned onto roads we'd never driven on before. There was no traffic so we could pull over and take some photos whenever we wanted. 

Although the air was crisp, the sunshine warmed the car nicely. 

We headed to Hwy 115 which is the way up to the Kawarthas. The colours are not as advanced up there so we'll definitely need to do another fall colour tour once we've had some frost.

We then decided to head to Tyrone Mills for coffee and an apple cider donut. 

It has been and continues to be a working mill, powered by the adjacent stream. Folks can bring in their felled trees of a certain diameter and the mill can custom cut it into useable lumber. There is also a huge apple press where the juice is collected and made into cider.

There's a small blacksmith shop on the premises and a larger one on a nearby junction of two roads in the village of Tyrone.

They even have a pizza oven! I guess bread could also be baked in there.

The mill is a very busy place when there isn't a pandemic. A few other folks arrived while we were at the store including some who were also sporting cameras (as we were).

The apple cider donuts didn't disappoint. I brought some home with me, too.

Back on the road, we headed home on another previously undiscovered road.

It was hard to get a shot without power or phone lines but you get the general idea.

We even enjoyed some tacos and enchiladas at the food trucks on Taunton Rd. for lunch. This was the first (quasi) Mexican food we'd consumed since we left the Rio Grande Valley last March.

I'm not sure how this food truck was named but the literal translation is "The Bar's Mexican". I know. That's just being picky. It just reminds me of people who use random Chinese characters without knowing what they mean. Anyway. It was a really nice day and great excuse to get out of the house.

We hope to do this again next week.

Stitching in the Park

 Last Friday we spent a lovely afternoon stitching at Lakeview Park in south Oshawa. We brought our chairs and some brought tables, lunch, drinks, and snacks. We sat under the trees and stitched and gabbed for hours. It was so nice to spend time with other humans, albeit spaced 2m+ apart. We decided to do it again yesterday - excellent weather was forecast. 

We set up south of the Jubilee Pavilion on the lawn. 

Judy brought her adorable puppy, Maggie Mae, (didn't make the photo) who behaved beautifully. Also pictured are Jeanette, Marion, and Siobhain.

Jennifer looked relaxed in her nifty folding chair with built-in footstool. Marilyn worked on her stitching project.

Barb got a wonderful new sock pattern book and spent the afternoon knitting. 

Trish stitched in the lovely sunshine. 

This week the weather is a bit cooler. Even a sunny day makes it wonderful for sitting outside. We hope to get together again before we have to huddle inside for the winter.

I highly recommend outdoor visits with folks you like spending time with as long as the weather holds out. If it's cool but sunny, dress a little warmer and enjoy the sun's rays. Many of us have hit the 6-month 'wall' dealing with living in a pandemic. Here are a few ways to power through it. I am summarizing an article in the UK Metro newspaper.

1. Give yourself things to look forward to. A walk, a visit with friends, some online shopping?

2. Identify your overriding goals and values. Make a list of small things you can do every day and tackle them.

3. Set boundaries on news and social media. Take a step back for an hour or a day. Read a book. Send an email. Let someone know you're thinking of them. Go visit someone who lives alone on their patio or deck or invite them to yours.

4.    Clear out. Tackle a drawer or cupboard. Sort your photos. Delete unnecessary emails and photos from your phone or computer. Get rid of stuff in your closet you have 'outgrown'.

5. Keep making plans. This ties into #1 as well. Focus on what you CAN do and do it.

6. Practice gratitude. Think of lots of things you are grateful for. It can really help you stay more positive.

7. If you're really struggling, speak to someone. Reach out to friends and family. Reach out to your GP. You may be isolated but there are lots of folks who care about you.

Stay healthy.

Plugging Away

I continue working on the Quaker alphabet sampler.

Somehow I got out a stitch in a couple of places but the motifs are spaced so far apart it has been easy to 'fudge' it. As long as the alphabet goes around in a square and the motifs are more or less where they're supposed to be, it'll work out.

I have been fussy cutting the threads, taking the bright red out. I don't mind some gradations and am being careful to start the next thread with the same gradient as what I left off with so there aren't any sudden colour changes mid-motif. I'm not sure how I will FFO this piece; whether I frame it, make a pillow out of it, or sew it into a project bag or some other useful item.

Today is the first day of autumn - my favourite season. I like the sunny, bright days and cool, crisp nights. I have a few decorations up and a bunch to dig out and display around the house.

I have a couple of autumnal stitched pieces that I could finish stitching and FFO as well. I just don't seem to have a lot of motivation to do much of anything. It could be that the isolation has really turned me into a hermit and has sucked the energy out of me. Last Friday we did enjoy the stitching day at Jeanette's last Friday and hope we can do that again soon.

Day after tomorrow Skip and I will do a Costco run and perhaps later take a scenic drive north of the ridges to see some fall colours. I'm so itching to get away for a couple of days but Skip is really nervous about staying anywhere but at home,

In the meantime, I heard back from Teresa about some pattern changes and will pick up the stealth sampler again and get more done on it. 

I've been watching a lot of farm videos on YouTube lately. It's harvest time so everyone is really busy prepping and maintaining the equipment so there are no breakdowns during the harvest. I'm sure it's very satisfying to get the crops in whether they're to feed livestock for the next year or to sell at market. The videos I watch by a shepherd, Sandi Brock, in SW Ontario have been lots of fun as lambing was last week and another bunch of ewes will lamb starting in a few days. The little lambs are so cute! This time of year, Sandi is also helping her husband, Mark, with harvest so it's a really busy time at Shepherd Creek Farms. 

I have also been watching FlossTube videos by Brenda and the Serial Starter, Teresa Kogut, Stitching in the Barn, Saltbox Stitcher, and Jean Farish. Jean just started publishing videos last month and puts one out every Sunday. They're quite informative about specific stitching techniques.

This morning, I browsed through my digital issues of The Gift of Stitching, printing several of the projects I'd like to start some day. The Australian magazine was always digital and was published monthly from 2006 to 2012.  The editor shut it down due to Internet piracy. I was familiar with the magazine way back when and had purchased a couple of issues, then was really bummed out when it disappeared and until recently was unable to purchase back issues. Now they're available for download. That's where I found the pattern for the Quaker alphabet mentioned above.

 

Taking a Break

I have been exclusively stitching on the Teresa Kogut piece since I got it a couple of weeks ago. I'm at a spot where I'm waiting to hear back from her so I thought I'd take a little break from the piece and start another that I had on my 'wish list'.

A while back I bought the entire run of The Gift of Cross Stitching - a digital Australian cross stitch magazine that came out from February 2006 to June 2012. 

Sadly, the editor stopped publishing because of all the Internet piracy. I remember having a subsciption for a year and was really bummed out when it disappeared and even back issues became unavailable. Then, via a Facebook ad I learned that all the issues were available on .pdf.

I have enjoyed going through the issues and have bookmarked several of the projects that appealed to me. 

Last night I started Willie's Quaker Square #7 with DMC 115, a variegated red thread and am stitching on 40ct Platinum linen. This is from the June 2008 Issue #27

I'm stitching 1 over 2.

I wasn't really happy with the bright red that appeared so I am selecting darker areas. I may pick out the bright red part and stitch it with a less bright section of thread.

The linen is lovely to work with. When finished the piece will be about 7.5" square. Now all I need is an 8" square frame.

Yesterday, 10 of us met outdoors again in Jeanette's front yard for a stitching day. It was coolish so we all knew to bundle up. Pictured are Siobhain, Barbara, Marilyn and me. Carol, Sue, Barb, Jeanette, Jenn, Alda and Yvonne, although not pictured, were also in attendance. 

It was quite cool in the shade so we moved over to a sunny area and after a while we started peeling off layers of clothing. Jeanette even had microwave hand warmers for us if we felt we needed them. It's going to be such a bummer when the weather makes it too uncomfortable to visit outdoors. Until then, we are going to try to get together as often as we can. We also visit twice a week online on Facebook Messenger but visiting in person, albeit from 2+metres away, is much better. 

Sue recently bought a 12' longarm quilting machine and was interested on learning and practicing her skills on it. I remembered I've had a quilt top and back all ready to be quilted and sitting in a cupboard for almost 3 decades. I dropped it off at her place the last time we met at Jeanette's (they live in the same town), suggested a few patterns for the centre part, and invited her to try whatever she liked on the two borders. 

She had it ready to return to me yesterday. Her great machine quilting isn't really visible but it's done. All I need to do is trim off the batting, trim the backing to the right distance and fold it over and hand sew it as binding around the edge. This would probably fit a queen size bed.

I have no idea if I'll use it as it doesn't match anything in the house but I'm glad to have it so close to being finished.

In that same cupboard, I have another bunch of maple leaf quilt blocks that I pieced at least 10 years ago, before I purchased my Bernina machine. It was a kit I purchased from Connecting Threads. I recall that I just need to applique the stems of the leaves on the blocks, sew the blocks together, and find a backing fabric. 

This Came Today!

A couple of weeks ago Teresa Kogut asked if I minded doing another stitching model for her - this time on dark fabric. I told her I was fine with that. On her last FlossTube channel (or maybe the one before) she mentioned she had sent a couple of projects off to her stitchers. 

I hadn't received anything by yesterday so I emailed her asking for the tracking number so I could monitor the package's progress from MI to ON. The last one she sent me took 7 weeks to get here.

She emailed me at about noon saying it had been delivered! Whoop de doo! It only took a week to get here.

I can give you a sneak peak at the 40ct fabric and threads.

Of course I had to drop everything and start it. After a few rows out from the centre I decided to do a bit of gridding, just to make sure I stay on track. 1 over 2 on 40ct is a pain to pick out if mistakes are made.

There's a LOT of stitching in this one but I'll just keep plugging away at it. I think it might be one of the charts for release at next year's Market - if there even is one.

6+ Months Later

Skip and I ventured to south Texas at the end of January to enjoy the winter in a subtropical climate. Our plan was to start for home mid-April after the bird migration was underway but in time to enjoy spring at home.

While I was away, on February 13, Jen1 mailed me a package to my address down there. There is no mail delivery to non-business addresses there so all mail for Winter Texans goes to General Delivery at the post office. Going to the post office to check for mail is one of the fun things Skip and I do as part of our usual routine.

Into March, Jen1 asked if I had received anything from her. I had not and kept going to the post office to see if anything had been delivered. Then on March 13 we got word that because of COVID-19 we were to return home right away as our travel medical insurance would be cancelled on March 23. I was also expecting delivery of another parcel. We delayed our drive home to the Monday morning (March 16) when the post office opened to see if either of our expected missives had arrived - no luck. Then we began our 3200km odyssey home. 

Today I got a text from Jen1 that the parcel had arrived back at her place - 6 1/2 months after it had been mailed. The sticker on it said it was undeliverable. This is not the first time this has happened to mail sent to TX. I sent a sympathy card to a friend who lives outside of Houston last year and it never arrived. It returned to me a few months later.

Anyway, I went over to Jen1's this afternoon and picked up the parcel. Inside was a letter and a really nice Hands On Design pin cushion pattern, The Summer Night from her House on a Hill series.

I love these pin cushions. They're so fun to stitch and put together. Included in the package is the scrap of wool tweed fabric that will be the front lawn of The House on the Hill. There's also a chart for a little scissor fob.

Here's one I finished a couple of years ago. See how the wool piece is stitched onto the top? 

It's quite ironic because just before Jen1 texted me, I was watching a FlossTube video (Brenda and the Serial Starter), and mulling over what project I should start kitting up to stitch. The Summer Night calls for Weeks Dye Works threads. I might have one of them. I may just use DMC or Classic Colourwork equivalents as nothing is a particularly large area of colour so variegation wouldn't be that evident.

I have also completed most of the stitching on the HOD Buzz pin cushion and just need to finish the honeycomb on the top and attach the wool piece. I think I delayed because I wanted to personalize the bottom before assembling it. This is the piece that goes around the edge - with a bee hive on each side.

I really must dive into my stash and see what else I want to kit up to stitch in the near future.