September Smalls

Autumn..... my favourite time of the year! Pumpkin everything from pies, to lattes and teas, and muffins and breads! This time of year also means stitching up a few pumpkins. 
One of the lovely finishes I had over the past month was by The Scarlett House and is called Penny Pumpkin. I absolutely love this piece! It turned out much prettier than I expected and I'm so happy with it.

It looks even better in real life. I adore the colours and although this one was meant as a pinkeep by the designer, I'm seriously considering having this one framed. I might even keep it up all year long!

I also started two other new small starts for fall. The first is by friend Nan Lewis of Threadwork Primitives and is called Ever So Grateful.
Here's my progress so far. 

I just started this one this morning and I'd like to have it complete by Thanksgiving which for us Canadians takes place on Monday, Oct.10. Wish me luck!
The second new start is by Theresa Meloon of Dulaney Woods Treasures. Theresa is also a friend of mine and I'm so thrilled that she has started to publish her designs. This particular one is called Midnight Jack and can be found in the 2016 fall issue of Punch Needle & Primitive Stitchers magazine.

Sorry this one is in the Q snap a bit crookedly. Since this is a primitive piece I'm stitching it using only one strand of floss. Trust me it will look better once it's completely stitched and finished up as a pinkeep.

Now some of you may recall last year at this time I was stitching another Halloween piece by Stacy Nash called Thistle & Spells Pinkeep. I ran out of floss for that design just one leaf short. I was unable to find anyone locally who had a bit of the required floss that they could give me so I had to order another skein. I finally got around to that this summer and finished up the piece just last week. 

It's finished for Halloween. I just didn't say which year I'd finish, lol!

It's a beautiful, sunny day here today with the perfect fall temperature.....not too hot, just perfect. I went outdoors and snapped a pic of the mums I recently purchased which are opening now into full bloom.

Love the shades in this tricolour! I also planted some pink asters last year in our back garden. They have doubled in size and are also showing their full blooms now.

I can't seem to get a good shot of the colours of this since this garden is often in shade. In any case they are a bit darker pink than pictured and I love to see another splash of colour when other flowers are near spent.

I hope you all are enjoying a day which is as nice as ours is here. I'm off to hunt down a pattern for my next big start. See you soon.

September WIPocalypse

September's Harvest Moon was a beauty for sure and I wish I had had my camera with me as we saw it rise over the horizon on our trip home that night. It lit our path all the way home.

I've really only been stitching on 2 main patterns the past month. One of them is my commitment for my Smalls SAL and you will see a pic of it at the end of the month. The other is the Stacy Nash design which I started at the end of August. Here is my progress on the Blackwater Hollow Sampler.

It's slowly coming along. I'm really enjoying it so far. Hopefully it won't take me too much longer to complete it. I have so many other projects that I want to get started at. 

With September's arrival my two local stitching groups have started to gather once again. Neither of these groups stop during the summer but attendance is down considerably from during the year. I know that I myself dropped out from both groups this summer. The weather was great and there were just too many other things that I wanted to do. 

I'm afraid that I don't have any other stitching to share with you at this time. With any luck that will change by the time next month rolls around. I'll leave you with a picture of my youngest granddaughter, Summer. This was taken by her father, my son Jeff, on one of their many visits to the park to see the ducks. This is one of my favourite photos from this summer.

Summer's Over

Warning:  Very Picture Intensive!!
It happens as it does every year. Labour Day weekend arrives along with the unofficial start to fall. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE fall! I just hate saying goodbye to summer with all its warmth and family time which it affords. This one was warm for sure, downright hot but I kept thinking of winter which will knock on our doors all too soon. 
Our summer was a busy one. In addition to paying many visits, we also had lots of visitors to our home whether it was for an overnight or to share a meal. I love spending time with my family and friends and this is a picture show of how our summer was spent.

We started off July with a visit from special friends David & Lonnie who were in Ottawa for a music recital of which David was a part of. This picture was taken along Ottawa's Rideau Canal.

Then it was off to Windsor for a visit with family and friends. We stayed with my Mom and step-dad. We took the opportunity to celebrate my mom's 86th birthday a month early since we couldn't return in August. Isn't Coco the sweetest little dog?

 
 While we were home we had the chance to get together for a coffee with our grade 5 teacher, Ken Stanton. We were the first class Ken taught following his graduation and he has fond memories of us. Ken and Bob attended the same church and Bob sang at Ken's wedding many years ago!

 

We also visited with my sisters and Bob's brother but neglected to take any pics.

Following our Windsor trip I was off to Syracuse to get together with some very special stitching friends. Since we are scattered between the US and Canada, we chose Syracuse as a central place where we could all meet. 

 

I love these ladies and only see them a couple of times a year so our get togethers are very special indeed!

 Following this return I had a bit of a breather and then it was off to our favourite vacation spot, Muskoka! This is our cottage rental on Bala Park Island.

 

This year we invited a couple to join us whom we had not seen since our wedding 15 yrs ago. Vicki and Tim are close friends but live too far from us and off the beaten path on our treks home. Vicki lived down the street from me growing up and we became fast friends in high school. It was so good catching up with the two of them.

 

Below are some pics from our fabulous week together.

 The Peerless II, docked in Port Carling

 Look at how high that thing goes!

 The Bala Ski Show

 Cruising aboard the steamship Segwun on Lake Muskoka

We spotted a classic mahogany launch on the waters

I love the mermaid keeping watch over this boathouse!

Relaxing following a swim

Some cool carvings at a store in Port Carling

Sunset over Bala Bay

Once Vicki & Tim returned home we still had a week in which to visit with a few more friends in the Parry Sound area of Muskoka.

A theme of the visits seemed to be crafts and wine dockside while the fellas took a boat jaunt around the nearby lake.

 A view of Otter Lake

John taxis Bob around Blackstone Lake

Mom and her babe

Heather and I craft and gab

All good things must come to an end though and it was soon time to return home. A beautiful sunset followed by the full moon presented itself to us on our final night at the lake.

 

 

I thought that was my last visit of the summer but I was wrong. My son Jeff and granddaughters Oceanne & Summer invited me for a quick visit before school started back. Grandma jumped at the chance and took the girls shopping for school items.

 

First came the shopping......

 

 

 After which there was a visit to the park.....

 

 

 

An ice cream following supper......

What appears to be a party hat is actually the hat on a clown waste basket!

Followed by a visit to the life size chess board on the return home.

 

 

All in all it was a great visit and I can't wait to head back there again!

 

 

So there you have it..... my summer in a nutshell or a blog post as it were! I hope I haven't bored you to tears. There are several friends and family members who don't do Facebook or Twitter and this is their way to catch up with us. 

Now bring on Autumn!!! 

August WIPocalypse and Smalls

Once again this posting finds me behind for both the Smalls and WIPocalypse posts. Summer seems to have been far busier than usual but for the life of me I can't remember half of what we did, lol! In any case, here's what I've been up to stitchy wise. We'll start with the smalls.

Last month I finished a new design by my dear friend Nan Lewis of Threadwork Primitives called Land That I Love. As it sounds, it was designed as a patriotic piece. Nan was a real dear and designed an alternate version with a Canadian flag in it for me and we decided on The True North for this piece. Here's my finish.

I love the way this turned out and I just received an order of red wool to finish this off as a pin pillow. It's going to look great!

The other small finish I had this month is a Blackbird Design called Thistle House from their booklet, A Stitcher's Journey. This was meant to be finished off as the top of a sewing box. Instead I'm going to use an old spool which I picked up at an antique shop in Muskoka. It's not finished off yet but you get the idea.

Besides these smalls I've been working on two other projects. One is part of a SAL I joined on Prim Stitcher's Society on Facebook. It's by The Scarlett House and is called Penny Pumpkin.

It's being worked on 36ct with one strand over 2 except for those little star motifs which are worked over one. I did most of those at the cottage where I found the natural light was a much better help to complete them. I'm also excited to say that since I picked up my new glasses last week I can now stitch once more without the use of my magnifiers even over one! We'll just see how many years that lasts.

The other design is one I just started at the tail end of August. It's by Stacy Nash and is called Blackwater Hollow Sampler.

This piece was designed by Stacy after her visit to Notforgotten Farm, the home of designer Lori Brechlin. I was fortunate enough to visit her farm last September for her primitive show. I had every intention of returning again this year but found out in May that I will be involved in a wedding on the date of the show. Since I can't return this year and see all my friends, I thought I'd stitch this piece instead as a little reminder of the farm and all my friends.

During my trip to Muskoka this summer I visited all my favourite antique locations and picked up a few items which I can repurpose with some of my stitching or use to embellish it as in the case of the bone buttons. I have a piece in mind for that lovely frame. The washboard is a child's size and will hold a small piece of stitching nicely.

In addition to my purchases I was given a lovely collection of wood embroidery frames. Our family friend Nora has a cottage in the Parry Sound region of Muskoka and we always make it a point to visit her and her daughter. This year she presented me these lovely frames which belonged to her mother and grandmother and I suspect are hand made. Nora herself is 97 yrs young and so I'm honoured to accept these treasures. In the picture below she is seen doing some hand sewing while relaxing at the cottage. 

I'll be back soon with a non stitching post to show pics of my summer activities.