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.