147 Years Old

Happy Birthday Canada!

May all my family and friends enjoy a very Happy Canada Day! We are so blessed to live in this wonderful country so celebrate!

June Smalls SAL

As promised, here's a pic of my smalls finish for this month. It is a freebie from Lori Brechlin of NotForgotten Farm and is just perfect to ring in summer.

I'm not able to use my sewing machine yet since my surgery but I originally thought I would finish this as a pincushion. However I have since had a second thought that might work out and would not require any sewing. If I go ahead with this idea I'll post a picture of the finish.

Speaking of summer, my favourite winged visitors have returned to our neighbourhood. That's right, the Cedar Waxwings are back and are busy removing all of the berries from my neighbour's tree. We have a perfect vantage point for taking pictures from our yard and I love watching the little thieves (they do look like that, don't they?) as they clean off the branches.

What is your problem? Are you watching me?

It's promising to be a beautiful summer week's end here and I hope that you all get in a little time with the needle soon!

June's Stitching From Stash

June just seems to be flying by! I figured that the month would drag since I can't get out my during my hip recuperation. Today is definitely one of those days due to non-stop rain which has curtailed even my walks. However for the most part the days are passing by quickly. 
I've spent the majority of my stitching time between two projects. One is now complete and the second one is my new start which is replacing it. My finish for this month is Primitive Betty's Live, Laugh, Love. 

I decided to try dyeing my own fabric once I'd finished the stitching. I used Primitive Betty's recipe using walnut crystals, vanilla, cloves and cinnamon. I painted the stain on using a foam brush and then dried the fabric in the oven. I'm pretty pleased with the results. It turned out much darker than it appears in the picture and I would have liked it a tad lighter but overall I achieved the effect that I wanted. I feel much more comfortable in trying this again.

Having finished this I dug through my stash looking for something summery to stitch. Strawberry season often signals the start of summer in this region especially this year with all the delayed growth. I knew that I had several charts which involved strawberries and here is what I finally decided upon.

This is Heartstring Samplery Strawberry Bower Sampler from The Strawberry Collection leaflet. If you follow the link it is the sampler at the bottom of the collection. I'm stitching it on some Picture This Plus Mello which I had in my stash. I also had all the required floss with the exception of one and for that I have made a substitution. This is such a fun stitch and I wish it was hanging on my wall already!

I completed a third small project for my Smalls SAL which I will post tomorrow with a pic.

I finally broke down and used the  $25 123 Gift Certificate which my youngest son gave me for my birthday. I ended up paying out of pocket for some of the shipping which fortunately doesn't count towards this month's purchases. The charts arrived last week and it's a good thing I'd already started the Strawberry Bower piece or I might have gone straight to work on Stacy Nash Miss Baxter's House (top left). Thanks Chris for such a great gift!

Unfortunately my clicky finger didn't stop. In fact, ordering these charts only served to make me want more and I ended up ordering a few more additions.

These are Stacy Nash Three Sisters Pinkeep and Heartstring Samplery Land of Liberty. I am the eldest of three sisters so I just knew I had to stitch that particular one. The total of these two still keeps me under my June commitment. The two charts were $12 and $10 so $22 spent from my $25 allowance. However in a moment of weakness I also ordered Plum Street Samplers The Pink House Sampler and the necessary floss I required. That moment of weakness only came about after Mel announced that we had an extra $50 bonus to spend this month. The total for this item came to $31.54. Subtract the remaining $3 left in June's budget and you will see that I spent $28.54 out of the allotted $50 bonus. Hopefully I'll be able to control that clicky finger next month!

Since I am recuperating from my hip replacement, my mother wanted to send me a gift. She lives 900 km away and is unable to visit me. At first she thought of flowers but after hearing that I had already received 3 arrangements she decided to gift me with some money to use towards a purchase of my choice. We talked and it was decided that I would use her money to purchase some fabric for my stash. Over the years my tastes have changed and I am using a lot of neutral colours now for all the samplers and primitive pieces I'm stitching. My own stash is dwindling when it comes to neutral colours. Her gift has only just arrived and I will be saving it for my favourite fabric sale which is coming up later in July. Thanks Mom!

During the first couple of weeks of my recuperation I spent many hours in my recliner stitching. It's just about the only chair in the house that is the right height and is comfortable for me. Clarisse often would sit beside the chair and keep me company. Here is where I found her when I went to reach into my stitching bag for some items. I guess she was craving some attention!

This past Thursday I made a trip into Ottawa for a checkup with my surgeon. He's pleased with my progress but I will be using my walker slightly longer than planned on. It seems some of my muscles had started to atrophy before the surgery because I was no longer walking as much. Subsequently it will take a little longer for them to come back up to snuff.
After my appt. I stopped in to visit my youngest son Chris who I knew was heading to Montebello for a rock concert. I get to see Chris often enough but the person I don't get to see as much is my eldest, Jeff, who was accompanying him. Jeff is on the left and Chris on the right.

It was great to catch up with them even if only for a short while. Jeff will be returning our way in late July, bringing his girls with him for a few days. That about covers things for now. Don't forget, I'll be posting my Smalls finish for this month tomorrow. See you then!

June WIPocalypse.....Short, but Sweet

As many of you know, there hasn't been much attention paid to my stitching over the past month until just recently. May was a busy month what with birthday celebrations and Mother's Day followed by an appointment with my surgeon for a total hip replacement.
I'm happy to report that all went well and I am well into the recovery phase now. I am slowly progressing from walker to cane, the staples are out and physio should begin next week. Now that I'm feeling much better and off my pain meds stitching therapy can begin in earnest!

Since I returned home I've worked on two designs, a WIP and a new start. First up, the WIP, Primitive Betty's Live, Laugh, Love.
This one should be completed by the end of the weekend or early next week although I'm not quite up to any happy dancing yet!

As you can see, I'm left with just the border to complete on this one. I've enjoyed this immensely and I'm starting to hunt for a new start to replace it.

Second up is a quick stitch freebie from Notforgotten Farm called June.

I love the flowers in this one. They remind me of sweet little faces. Only the basket/planter remains to be stitched. Until I'm able to use my sewing machine once more most of my finishing will have to wait until a later date.

I do have a project I'm stitching for a friend which I should get started on soon. It's Carriage House Samplings Pumpkin Farm. I think I have it pretty well kitted up so it should be on the agenda very soon. Besides that, I have no immediate plans and enjoy the time sifting through my stash for that one project which calls to me.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer (even though it's not officially here!) and I look forward to seeing what stitches are occupying those lazy days!

May Smalls SAL

I managed to finish up a couple of small projects this month. One is completely finished and was given to a friend for a going away gift. It is by With Thy Needle and Thread and is called Forget Me Not pinkeep from the Mary Valentine leaflet. It can be seen on this post.

The stitching on the second one was just finished up this weekend.
It's designed by Teresa Murgida and is called Flowers Pinkeep.

Final finishing will have to wait on this one for a bit. I love the simplicity of this design with just the two colours. Now I'm off to pick out a stitch for next month!

May's Stitching From Stash

Sweet May is upon us and the good weather has finally arrived....minus the hailstorm which passed by yesterday afternoon and once more damaged the gazebo roof. Only the outer panes have been perforated and the panels are still holding for now. You may recall that this happened to us last year and I ordered replacement panels for the damaged pieces. Fortunately we haven't put those in yet but it does look like I will have to order one or two more panels.

So okay we won't count that storm and will revel in the mild sunny days which we've had lately. I've spent this month stitching on some lovely spring designs. Actually one was designed as a Valentine offering but the motifs in the piece do resemble spring.
First up is my completed Blackbird Designs Spring Tulips.

I love the soft, pastel colours in this piece. I'm hoping to finish this one as a pinkeep which I can display on a small easel.

This was followed by my second finish, With Thy Needle and Thread Forget Me Not Postcard Pinkeep. I stitched this for a fellow choir member of mine, Joanne, who is returning home to Hong Kong after spending 4 years in Ottawa for her university studies.  I changed the wording to Forget Us Not to represent all of the choir members and edged the piece in some green lace which matches the leaves.

I gave this to Joanne yesterday when we all took her out for lunch. She was thrilled and told me that it touched her heart. 
I finished this piece just as the designer Brenda suggested by ironing the pillow finish flat to resemble a postcard. I love the finish although it does show up just how crooked my sewing is!
The rest of the month I spent time working on Primitive Betty Live, Laugh, Love which has been hiding in my stash for at least a year or so.

This is slowly coming along and will probably be my go to piece in the next month. I'm also working on a small piece for my Smalls SAL which I will post a pic of on Wednesday for this month's commitment.

I did dip into my allowance this month and ordered a couple of patterns which popped up on eBay. I have been looking for these for some time now and didn't want to let them go. They are Blackbird Design patterns which are OOP. The total for this purchase came to $23.18. May is my birthday month so I was gifted with two patterns of my choice as a birthday gift from a friend. I ordered two of Jenny Hoffman's patterns from her Etsy shop which I have been eyeing for a while. Also my youngest son gave me a $25 GC for 123 Stitch which I can put to use when the urge strikes me! 
Here's a pic of me celebrating my birthday which happened to fall on Mother's Day this year. My family took me out for a fabulous lunch at a favourite restaurant in Ottawa's Byward Market. Only my eldest son and his family were not able to join us since they live at a distance.

That about covers it for this month. My stitching might be limited somewhat for a little while. I'm going into hospital tomorrow morning for a total hip replacement. Hopefully I will recover well and can spend many hours stitching when I return home later in the week. After all, I won't be going very far at first!  I hope all my US friends are enjoying a lovely long weekend. Take care and I'll see you all soon!

Spring WIPocalypse

Spring has sprung.....sort of! It finally arrived here later than usual and it seems to have promptly disappeared! The days are cool again and there seems to be nothing but overcast days or rain. Not so good for getting out in the garden but perfect stitching days. 

I've been concentrating on three projects over the past month and have finished a fourth one. My finish is Primitive Hare's Cross Stitcher At Work. Follow the link to see the picture which I posted on my blog recently. 

Blackbird Designs Spring Tulips is sooo close to a finish! I only have to finish stitching the Algerian eye stitches at the bottom of the piece. You can see some of them at the bottom right.

 I also want to frog out one of my initials and move them. I don't like the placement as charted. It was fine for the designer's initials but mine seem to sort of run together. So I shall either move the top L up or the bottom J down. Then I'll be happy dancing! This one is going to be finished as a pinkeep.

Two new starts are occupying my time right now. When I was browsing through my stash recently I found a chart which I had misplaced. I was so happy that I had found it that I decided to start it right there and then. This Primitive Betty's Live, Laugh, Love.

I started this two weeks ago and should have been much further along but another start interrupted me. One of the members of our church choir, Joanne, is from Hong Kong but has been living in Ottawa the past four years while she attended university. Her studies are now complete and in early June she will be returning home permanently. We are  really going to miss her and I wanted to stitch something for her to remember us by. She has always been so complimentary of my stitching. After browsing through my stash I settled on With Thy Needle and Thread Forget Me Not Postcard Pinkeep from the Mary Valentine's Handework leaflet. Sorry about the pic. The day is overcast and I can't seem to get a good photo.

I'm planning on changing Forget Me Not to Forget Us Not. The urn in this shows up much better in real life. I have to have this completely stitched and finished by May 25 when we are holding a going away party for Joanne. When I was looking for a link to this pattern I found Faye's (Carolina Stitcher) fabulous finish of this piece here. Like Faye I am planning to change the colour of the bird. The called for floss was just a little too close to the colour of the leaves for my taste and I just wanted a little more colour in the piece. I can only hope that my finish is have as nice as hers! I would love to try something like Faye's finish but Joanne has a lot to take back home with her so I will probably finish this as the called for pinkeep.

As I mentioned earlier the weather has been so poor here that I'm afraid to put out most of my flowers. We have still had some nights with frost. I needed to buy my flowers early because I won't be able to get out and about after my hip surgery. Consequently my favourite stitching spot in my gazebo/solarium is currently being used as a greenhouse.

Never fear, I've still managed to save a little corner of the space for myself and my stitching as well as a spot for Clarisse. She is so happy to be back in her summer spot!

See you soon. Yippee, the sun is coming out!