August Smalls

I finished one new small this month but I also managed to get my smalls from last month finished into ornaments for gifts. The first is a name tree which I gifted to my cousin Sheryl and it's designed by M Designs.

The second gift was for my friend Nan who will be moving to Hawaii once her home in the US is sold. This is Aloha Tree by Nouveau Encore Designs.

I'm so happy that they both loved their gifts! It makes me so happy to see their faces when they open them. I'll be making more of these in the future. I've yet to complete one for each of my sisters.

My small finish this month is courtesy of my friend Nan. Nan is the genius behind Threadwork Primitives Designs Recently I got together with several of my close stitching friends at the home of Cathy, in Sudbury. Nan brought each of us a small design she had created for fun. Along with the design she provided a piece of linen and floss so that we could each work on our project while we were all together. 

Here's my finish:

  Nan has already made her finish into a drum and it looks fantastic! I'd love to give this a try but I'll first have to obtain some sawdust for the stuffing. Fine sawdust is very easy to compact and make a firm drum. I have an example of a beautiful drum to share with you. This was given to me as a belated birthday gift during my visit with my stitching friends. This particular drum was created for me by Theresa Meloon who designs under the name Dulaney Woods Treasures.

Isn't it beautiful? Theresa, or Tee as we call her, makes the best drums! She has some very clear directions in her patterns and I hope to be trying a finish soon because she also gifted me with her latest design along with some Victorian Motto floss I had admired when she was stitching with it.

Cathy also gifted me with her latest design release for my birthday. Her chart also contained the fabric and floss neccesary for the final finish.

After all this, each participant received a gift from Tee and one from her sister Jo along with their mom Bev and friend Shelly.

 Tee designed the needleroll from an antique one that she picked up. Each needleroll was made from leftover fabrics and contains a thimble and pin cushion ends in addition to the felt for your needles. Brilliant!! 

Jo, Bev and Shelly combined forces to create the sweetest ort jars. Each jar was wrapped in a piece of needlework with the Canadian and US flags, our inital and a charm. The lid of each holds a magnetic needleminder!! How cool is that!

I am indeed blessed to have such wonderful, generous friends. 

Autumn is knocking on the doorstep and I'm in the mood for some fall stitching. Time to raid the stash again! See you next month.

Giveaway!

Check out the latest giveaway at Victorian Motto!

Nancy is giving away a lovely collection of her newly dyed Autumn floss! Love it!

August WIPocalypse

Warning: Picture intensive!

August has been a very productive month for stitching and finishing. On my post this coming Friday you will see the smalls which I finished and stitched for the month.  I spent the remainder of the time concentrating on Mary Ann Farmer in the hopes of nearing a completion. I'm happy to report that the end is in sight! Here's a pic of my progress after returning from my vacation 2 weeks ago.

As you can see, I had the remaining mirror image to complete. Since that time the weather has cooled down and the temps are much more conducive to some gazebo stitching. I've been out here just about every morning since we returned for a couple hours. The result is that I'm very close to completing the remainder of this beautiful piece!

Stitching was involved in a good portion of my vacation. We started off with a trip to Toronto, Ontario to visit the Tapestry of the Spirit exhibit. This is the Torah project which I became a part of 6 years ago. A group of ladies from the Jewish community, with an idea by Temma Gentles, decided to stitch the Torah which is the first 5 books of the Old Testament. The project was too large for them to tackle on their own so they put out a call for more stitcher's. There have been over 1500 stitchers of all faiths from over 28 countries who have participated. I was fortunate to have been one of the first 100 who answered the call. It has been a long process which you can read about if you follow the link here but the first 2 1/2 books are completed, assembled and displayed for this exhibit. The remainder are nearly complete and the entire project should be assembled by 2020. In addition, a portion of  the scriptures in Greek and the Qur'an in Arabic on the theme of creation were stitched and on display. My friend Kathryn who is an Anglican priest served as an advisor on the Greek text.

I am so thrilled to have been a part of such an amazing project! It is hoped that they will be able to take the entire project on tour in the future. Donations and sales of their book will be used for this purpose.

After Toronto we visited with family and close friends in Windsor and along the route there and back.

with my Mom

with my cousin Sheryl

 with my sister Laurie

 my BIL Marty and my sis Lana

 with our highschool friends!

 with my highschool boyfriend Peter & his family 

who brought some bricks from my family 

home which was torn done

at my nephew Patrick's new home

On the way back we took a side trip to Sudbury where my hubby left me for a few days to hang out with some very dear stitching friends at the home of Cathy. While we stitched and gabbed he drove on to Sault St Marie to visit with a number of friends he made during the 17 years he spent working there. 

I had an awesome visit with my friends! We visited a quilt shop, stitched, visited Pam's home on Manitoulin Island, toured about 1/2 of the island, stitched some more and enjoyed many meals together.  It's always wonderful to share your passion with like minded friends. There was a lot of laughter and a lot of fun. My hubby shared two nights with us and enjoyed the company of Cathy and Nan's husbands. Next year I'm hoping to open my home for our visit and share some fun times in Ottawa with them! Here are some pics from our visit.

Jo and Tee 

 Jo and Tee's mom, Bev

 Pam

 Our host Cathy

 Tee

 Nan

 Shelly

 Donna

 The view from Pam's home on Manitoulin

The gang, all in our Canada gear!

The whole group minus my hubby

It was just a little windy, lol!

I also received some amazing stash and finished items from my friends, some of which were delayed birthday gifts. Nan brought with her a little design for all of us to stitch. I'll have a picture of those on my smalls post this Friday.

All in all it was a pretty amazing month! I hope the fun times and this wonderful weather we're having continue. Next month I'm scheduled for another hip replacement on the 19th. Thank goodness I'll have my stitching to occupy my time as I recuperate.