July Smalls

I forgot all about posting my smalls stitch for this month! I just happened to pass by my calendar a few minutes ago and wondered what I had marked on today's date. Had I missed an appointment? No, but I missed posting my smalls finish. Just enough time left in the day to get it up here!

I stitched two smalls during this past month. Liberty Dwells Here... by Sub Rosa Designs can be seen here for those who haven't already seen this finish. Of course this was in honour of Canada Day and will hopefully grace my decor next year.

The second small was just finished last week and is called Summer Pinkeep by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives.

This one will indeed become a pinkeep as it has been named just as soon as I catch up. I'm just starting to get back to my sewing following my hip surgery. It's not using the machine that bothered me but instead the standing while I cut and pieced material together.
I have a lot of catching up to do judging by the number of finished pieces residing in my drawer!
I did however manage to get two pieces done up which I stitched a number of years ago. These are going to be given as gifts. The first as a birthday gift and the second as a thank you gift.

Both of these pillows are stuffed with walnut shavings, crushed walnut shells and some dried lavender. They smell heavenly!

I really do enjoy stitching these small finishes and now I'm on the hunt for next month's projects.

July Stitching From Stash

Summer continues to fly by at a very rapid pace. Ever notice how long it takes for winter to be overwith compared to summer, lol?
Until last week we hadn't had too many very hot and humid days so I have been spending lots of my free time stitching in my gazebo.

Two finishes to show for this past month. The first is in honour of Canada Day and is one of my purchases for this month. Some of you may have seen this on my last post as it was my Smalls SAL commitment for June. It's a lovely e-pattern by Sub Rosa which I altered by adding a Canadian flag and the button. The e-pattern deducted $7 from this month's budget. My excuse? There are very few patterns out there for Canadian patriotic stitches!

My second finish is the one I have been working at through most of June. I loved every minute of this one and almost hated putting it down!
This is Heartstring Samplery The Strawberry Bower Sampler from The Strawberry Collection leaflet.

Besides these two I have been working on this month's Smalls SAL pattern. It's also an e-pattern which I had in my stash. I'm hoping this will be complete in time for next Wednesday's post!

Unfortunately I don't have a pic of my second start yet since there isn't enough to show you yet. I started on Carriage House Samplings Pumpkin Farm which I am stitching for a friend. This one has been in my stash for some time now so I'm glad to be finally bringing it to life.

As for my spending this month, the grand total was the $7 mentioned above! I did order my fabric from Picture This Plus today at their Christmas in July sale but if you remember I'm using the money my Mom gifted me with following my surgery. So I behaved rather well this month I think! Sort of..... I did purchase some antiques during a local antique fest to use for stitching finishes. I know these don't count but they are stitching related! You'll just have to wait and see how I end up using these beauties. 

As for next month it's hard to tell. I've already seen some lovely new releases out there. Help!!

July Supermoon WIPocalypse

I'm sure you've heard by now that tonight's full moon is known as a supermoon. It's the first of 3 that occur this summer. The moon hasn't taken on any extraordinary powers to merit this name. What does take place is that the moon is closer to Earth in its elliptical orbit and so it will appear larger than usual. That said, it has no bearing on our stitching so let's forge ahead and get down to business!

Since last month's post I have had one finish and two new starts. I'm sure you know which one is my finish since I was so close to the end of my stitching at June's WIPocalypse. Some of you will have already seen this in last month's Stitching From Stash post. Here is Primitive Betty Live, Laugh, Love.

Once I'd finished the stitching on this I tried my hand at dyeing the fabric with walnut crystals. I followed the recipe included with the pattern which call for walnut crystals, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla. I used a sponge brush to apply the mixture and dried it in the oven at a low temp. It turned out not too badly for my first attempt although it is much darker than appears in this photo. It doesn't smell too badly either! 

Following this finish I dug through my stash and looked at my list of projects that I had listed to complete for this year's WIPocalypse. Heartstring Samplery's The Strawberry Collection jumped out at me as we were just starting to see our sweet local strawberries appearing on roadside stands. I chose to stitch the Strawberry Bower Sampler from this collection. Here are some progress photos.

I'm using Picture This Plus Mello as my fabric for this and I love how the sampler looks on the fabric. Those plump little berries are such pretty colours too! I have to say that I have been enjoying this one so much that I haven't concentrated on much else until this week. 
With Canada Day having just been celebrated I pulled out this sweet little design which will be perfect to add to my patriotic decor next year.
This is by Sub Rosa Designs and is called Where Liberty Dwells...
It is also being stitched on a Picture This Plus fabric however in this case I'm using Sand.

I'm going to be altering the original design a bit for this one and replacing the charted initials. You'll have to wait until later to see what I've decided on.

That's about it for stitching this month. I've been quite busy now that I'm becoming more mobile. Lots of physio appts. for sure. I can't believe how tired I am afterwards! I'm also taking the time to reread Diana Gabaldon's Outlander which is premiering in August as a weekly series on Showcase here in Canada. It is highly anticipated by a large fan following and it has been way too many years since I first read this so I wanted to familiarize myself once more with the story and its characters. 

I also received an email this past week detailing some of the panels which have been received for the Torah Stitch By Stitch which I participated in. Here is the link to the photos. Mine is #31 in the list. Some panels have been stitched with borders and others have chosen not to embellish. It's obvious that there are a lot of fabulous stitchers out there who volunteered their time and talent.

That's it for this month. I hope you are all enjoying your summer or winter if you happen to be on the other side of the globe!   

Happy Independance Day!

Happy 4th of July to all my family and friends in the U.S.! Growing up in Windsor, ON on the border of Detroit, MI we shared our country's celebration together during Freedom Festival. The tradition continues to this day. However you celebrate, I hope it's a great one!

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!