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.