July Blue Moon WIPocalypse!

It's that time again! Tonight the full moon will shine down upon us meaning it's time for a WIPocalypse post. Sorry but this is not the blue moon. Too cloudy around here to get any pics.

As you can see from my previous post, we've had a rather busy month around here. I did manage two small finishes which can be seen on that last post. In addition I pulled out an old WIP and added more stitches to it. This piece was started in Sept. 2013 and I keep stalling on this one. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I'm using a larger Q-snap (11x11) which makes things awkward and I'm stitching with one strand on 36 ct. 
Anyways, I was determined to get more done on this. It's called This Is The Day and is designed by Tracy Riffle of Hands To Work Designs.

The first pic is the point at where I had left off last year followed by where I am today.

 The first pic is also a truer indication of the colour of the fabric. I just couldn't get the right lighting on today's photo. It's coming along but there is still a huge amount of border to be done both around the alphabets and on the outside. I also have to fill in the background on the numbers and the alphabet. 

I started a new piece a couple of days ago and just discovered a major mistake so it looks like I'll be frogging out everything I've stitched up until this point. It's by Heartstring Samplery and is called Stitcher's Resolution.

What I've done is to start the piece with the majority going lengthwise rather than crosswise. I don't know what I was thinking! I knew that the design was wider rather than longer. I just measured and I can continue but with only a one inch margin for framing which just isn't enough. So tonight I will start the frogging process and restart tomorrow. I'm wondering though if I should restart on a fresh piece of fabric rather than this one? I'm hoping there won't be any marking that prevents me from re-using this piece.

 Clarisse joined me outside in the gazebo this morning as I stitched. We bought an outside pen for her too which we place in the shade. That way she can join us on the patio without running off. So far though she's not too thrilled with it. She still wants to be outside of the pen. Using a leash is not an option because she always manages to either wriggle out of her collar or tangle herself up.   

We've spotted this little fellow in the yard recently but Clarisse seems to miss him every time. She's either sleeping or she can't be bothered to come look outside the screen.

Next post I hope to have some pictures of my stitching taken by the lake in Muskoka. It's our favourite vacation spot and we haven't paid a visit there for two years now so I'm excited to be going back.
Until then, keep cool!!

July Smalls SAL and lots of family visits

This month has been a whirlwind of activity for us yet it started out fairly quietly. The first week was lovely weather for outdoor stitching with a coffee close by. I didn't even bother to change out of my PJs!

During this quiet time I managed to finish a sweet small designed by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives. It's called Bee Garden Pillow Tuck and yes, it will be eventually finished into a small pillow tuck.

 Then the month started to pick up. My youngest son Chris and his girlfriend Violet returned home from a five week visit to Europe. They visitied Romania, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Belgium and Ireland. Their pictures are amazing and for any of you who are my friends on F/B you will have been following along on the journey. I'm so glad they were able to share this experience!

 Cruising on the Danube in Budapest, Hungary

Next my grandchildren and my other two sons arrived for a weekend visit. Lots of silliness and lots of fun!

During this time I managed to finish off another small. This one was given to me during my knee recuperation. It's a Country Sampler Club piece designed by Stacy Nash called Queen of Spring Sewing Roll.

I haven't decided yet which of the above fabrics to finish the roll with. The one on the right came with the kit and I found the one on the left in my stash.

Now it was time to hit the road for a visit with our family in Windsor.

The first visit was to see my sister in Michigan and one of my nephews. Wish I could get over there more often!

  

The next get together was to celebrate my mom's birthday. With the exception of my eldest and his two girls, all of her grandchildren were present for the occasion. We actually celebrated a month early because we were all able to attend at this time.

  

The next day brought the main reason for our visit. It was to attend the wedding of some close friends' daughter. My son Chris and the bride have been friends since nursery school! My husband was the organist for the ceremony and I was the soloist.

Finally we finished off the week by going to hear my BIL's jazz trio perform at one of our favourite high school pizza joints. I don't think I've stepped in there since I graduated high school!

Besides all of this fun we also had a 50th wedding anniversary to attend back home.

Sorry if I've bored you with all of the family pics but there are several friends who don't do F/B and who like to check in here to see what we've been up to.

I did try to get a Christmas small finished for the challege this month but I failed miserably. I have had to frog the same section 3 separate times now and finally I found the mistake. However a lack of time prevented me from continuing with it. 

We're home now for a rest and I've started a lovely new piece which I hope to show you on my next post. Then it's off to our favourite vacation spot, Muskoka! I do hope to spend many hours there stitching on the dock. See you soon!

 

July WIPocalypse

Summer is just getting started and it's been a busy one here for us already. I love being outdoors again after being cooped up all winter recuperating. I've already spent many hours in our gazebo happily stitching away. 
I've managed to finish a larger piece and work away steadily at another WIP.
Here's my recent finish. This is In Season by With Thy Needle & Thread. I love how this one turned out!

Now that this one is complete I've had more time to work on my Blackbird Designs Button Box. 

I thought I would never get that house finished! It's one of the reasons that I loved this piece when I first saw it and it's also one of the reasons that I've put it aside repeatedly when I got tired of stitching those bricks.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I finished the house and could move on to other areas. I do love how it looks though! Besides these 2 designs I spent a good portion of the month on finishing smalls. Pics of these can be seen on my previous post.

One of the things that I love to check out each year is Art on the Waterfront in our little village of Chesterville. I missed it last year because of my hip replacement and was so glad that I could pay a visit this year. This little festival takes place downtown in our village where they close off the streets to traffic and have many booths with crafts, art and baked goods for sale. A few years ago the village did an improvement to our waterfront and lots of booths are also set up on that area. One of my favourite things to do is check out the quilts stitched by local women that are on display.  My friend Thea stitched several of these.

The quilt of the International Plowing Match

taking place this summer in the next village

Finch, ON

 Done by my friend Ruth

 This one was for sale & if I'd had $600 I might have bought it!

 Done by my friend Thea

This one was done in chenille

 

 

The above 2 were also done by my friend Thea

 Besides the quilts there were a lot of other interesting sights to see!

 The MacCulloch Dancers of Glengarry

 A Bevy of Ragdolls

My hubby also purchased a new- to -us boat which we've taken for a spin on the St. Lawrence.

I loved being able to get into the boat again. We missed our annual trek to Muskoka last year and now that I'm recovered we'll be heading in that direction again later this summer.

I didn't have time to post yesterday but I do hope that all of my Canadian friends, bloggers or not!, had a fabulous Canada Day. It rained here pretty well all day but our neighbourhood BBQ went ahead anyways and we had a marvelous time.

I also hope that my many American blogging friends have a very Happy 4th of July this weekend. Keep safe and enjoy!