March Smalls

 I've been trying to get this post up for a couple of days now. It seems I have issues uploading my photos from both my phone and my computer! It's been extremely frustrating trying to get anything done.

At this point I have one of my finishes that I can show you. This is one that I had already kitted up earlier in the year and put aside. Not knowing what I wanted to do this month I decided to go with the obvious. This design is from the 2017 series of Fragments in Time by Summer House Stitche Workes. It's number four in the series.

I've stitched a couple of others from this series previously and gifted them to friends but this little one will be made into a pin pillow for me. I don't have the entire series of eight designs. I think I just picked out the ones that appealed to me and ordered them but they do make great gifts!

Okay so I thinked I've worked out all the bugs with my photos and have managed to get them all where I want them. Amazing!

My second small finish for this month was done in anticipation of spring and the upcoming Easter weekend. Spring Rabbit and Cart is a design by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives. It's a sweet little finish and it also will be sewn into a pin pillow and added to my bowl of spring finishes on display.

I'll also share with you a few pics of my Easter/Spring displays.

Definitely more room to add a few more finishes. I really don't have a lot of Easter/Spring decor.

I'm not sure if I'll get a small finish stitched for next month. It's tax season and I start working on our taxes tomorrow morning. Plus I'm really into working on some lovely bigger designs right now. You'll see some pics on my WIPocalypse post in a day or two. See you then!

August Smalls

 I have lots of small goodness to share this month. Only one was actually stitched this month and that's my sweet little August pillow by Nikyscreations.

Isn't it sweet? I loved it the first time I set eyes on it and knew that i just had to stitch it.

The rest of my post is made up of smalls that are FFO (finally finished objects or ornaments). I pulled out 4 small stitched fall pieces that I figured it was about time I finished off so I could display them this season.

First up is Autumn Greetings, designed by Country Rustic Primitives.

Followed by Early Workings Vintage Jack,

Threadwork Primitives Ever So Grateful,

And finally Threadwork Primitives Give Thanks Pinkeep

I gathered them all together into a small display to see how they looked.

I've pulled out some Blackbird Design Halloween smalls that I hope to get started on for next month. With any luck I can complete more than just one!

Since autumn will have arrived at our next smalls posting, I'll leave you with a photo of my summer stitches which I currently have displayed on my dry sink. A couple of the finishes are from friends and it makes me smile every time I see them!

PS I'm not quite sure why my writings are appearing in different sizes and fonts when I selected just the one type. This new Blogger format is a learning curve!

April Smalls

I had hoped to be spending time outdoors by now stitching in our gazebo. Mother Nature it seems has different ideas though. Spring has arrived (at least our snow has gone!) but cold temperatures and lots of rain have resulted in more time indoors than I had planned. 
You would think that would lead to more stitching but that hasn't been the case this month. I managed to squeeze in this small Easter finish just in time for the actual day.

This little finish is from the chart by Kathy Barrick called Bowlful of Bunnies. I had thoughts that it would be finished into a little tabletop pillow in time for Easter celebrations but things didn't turn out that way. However I did manage to finish off one of the small stitches languishing in my finish pile into a pillow. 

I've shared this stitched finish here before but this is Country Rustic Primitives He Is Risen. I love the simplicity of the piece and I finished off the back of it with a simple grey wool. 

I'm not sure just how much stitching I'll be getting done over the next several weeks. We are in the process of emptying all our bedrooms of furniture and removing the existing carpets in preparation for the installation of hardwood floors. Some painting of the rooms will also be taking place. Consequently the remainder of the house is a mess since all the furniture from the bedrooms has to be stored somewhere and that somewhere is in the rec room,  upstairs living area and in the garage. To save money we are moving the furniture ourselves as well as removing the carpeting. A bad back prevents me from doing as much as I'd like so I have to rely on my husband and what free time he has left at the end of the day's work. Somewhere in all this prep work we also have to find time to clean out the gardens and open the gazebo for the summer. Help, lol!!
It will all be worth it in the long run but I can't promise an entry for next month's small. I look forward though to checking in on all of you to see what you've been up to!  

September Smalls

As of last week our temperatures have taken a plunge and the colours, scents and foliage all indicate that autumn has truly arrived. On my evening walks I smell the smoke from the wood stoves and a definite chill has lead to my bringing out the sweaters once more. I still have a hard time giving up my sandals though and most days I can still be found in them....at least until it's so cold that I break down and cover the toes.

Cooler days bring out an instinct to cocoon with stitching in hand. That's exactly what I've been doing although I've concentrated on some larger pieces this month. The only small that I managed to complete is by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives and is called Autumn Greetings.

I have several other fall and Halloween smalls that I want to get started on and I hope to have at least a couple completed by next month. Tomorrow I'll be found at my sewing machine doing the final finishing on a number of previously stitched smalls including the above finish. I'll have a post next week on my larger autumn pieces that I've been spending all my time with. See you then!

February Smalls

February is coming to a close and hopefully winter won't be far behind! I've had enough of the ups and downs in temps this year which have played havoc with my sinuses. Spring can't come soon enough!
 I had hoped to stitch some Valentine pieces this month but after looking at my collection I decided that I had plenty and what I could really use was some small winter finishes. I managed to accomplish just the one but it's a cute one!
This is Merry Winter by Country Rustic Primitives.

I chose the year 1981 since that was the year of my first born's birth and it occurred in January. That was a Merry Winter indeed!

The second small I completed was a carry over from 2017. I had originally started to stitch it as a small pillow for a friend but found another design I liked better. This little stitch then fell to the side, half finished. I decided to pick it up and finish it off since it was a quick little piece. I have found a small storage box which I think will be just perfect for displaying this on. Until I get it completed I've laid the finished piece on top of the box so you get the idea. It will be a perfect fit when it's finished. This is Blackbird Designs Summer Stars, taken from their book, A Stitcher's Journey.

While visiting a friend last Sunday she pointed out the piece I had stitched for her several years ago. I knew that she had gotten it framed but I had never seen it since. It made me so happy to see it gracing her wall.
This is My Big Toe Designs Cast All Your Cares.

Today I will be sorting through my stash in search of a few new smalls to get started on in March. I always find something I'd forgotten that I had when I do this. I think I have too much stash, lol!

A new year of small stitches

I've lost track now of how many years I have participated in the Smalls SAL but I believe this is my third year. It has done wonders in encouraging me to stitch all those small projects I kept meaning to get done but which always got put to the side. 

Following all of my Autumn and Christmas finishes I have been looking forward to starting off the new year with a change and hopefully a leaning towards spring.
My first small finish for this year is Country Rustic Primitives Grow Old With Me designed by Jenny Hoffman.

I love Jenny's sweet little stitches and they make such lovely pinkeeps. The finishing on this one is not complete but I am hoping to incorporate some sort of lace into the finish. I have a few more Valentine smalls that I want to finish up in the next week or so. Then I'll do the finishing on all of them at the same time. Jenny's sister, Shelly Auen, is also a designer and I've just started one of her Valentine smalls as a companion to this one. They will make a lovely addition to my bowl of smalls and I hope to have a pic of the latest one soon.

Here's some of my Valentine smalls that I have out on display.

The two at the back are designed by my friend Nan Lewis of Threadwork Primitives. 

 The above two are also designs of Jenny Hoffman which I stitched last year for the Smalls SAL.
The two below were designed, finished and gifted to me by my friend Theresa Meloon of Dulaney Woods Treasures who produces some awesome primitive finishes. 

 I hope all those of you who were impacted by the recent blizzard have managed to dig yourself out and weathered the storm without any damage of sorts. This one managed to bypass us and to date we have had only one significant snowfall which I think is a record on its own for our area. Happy stitching and I'll see you next month!

November Small SAL and WIPocalypse

The full moon (WIPocalypse) and Smalls SAL both fall on the same date this month for reporting so this will be a combined report. I'll start off with the smalls.

It's been a few years since I have stitched any ornaments for my granddaughters so I decided that I should get back to that this year.
They're getting older and are more interested in my stitching now. I decided to do 2 ornaments taken from the Prairie Schooler Evergreen leaflet.

The girls were here this past weekend for a visit so I gave them to them to take home so they could put them on their tree before Christmas rather than wait until they saw me during the Christmas holiday. They loved them and have already picked out which ornies they want me to stitch next year!

My next small finish was a new design by Lori Ripley of Homespun Prims. It's called A White Christmas and I plan on making it into a pin pillow.

In addition to stitching the above designs, I finished off two designs that I had stitched sometime during the past 2 years. I found these sweet little tins in my friend's gift shop. They actually had chalkboards in the center for writing a message but as soon as I saw them I knew they would work for a cross stitch finish.

This is Little Women Christmas by The Sampler Girl. I finished this for a birthday gift for a stitching friend. Unfortunately I don't think these designs are available any longer.

 
 This is So This Is Christmas, designed by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives.

When I saw how easily these finishes came together, I headed back to my friend's shop and bought the remainder of her tins. I plan on doing several more of these.

For WIPocalypse this month I have concentrated on two designs......Plum Street Samplers Autumn Fraktur and Kathy Barrick And Heaven and Nature Sing. Here are some updated progress pics.

 

And Heaven and Nature Sing is part of a SAL which I'm doing with some of the stitchers from the Facebook group Prim Stitchers Society. This piece is done in Needlepoint Silks. I chose to use up some Vikki Clayton silks that I had in my stash. It didn't take me long to figure out that I was going to run out of the dark brown silk. So what I have done is to stitch in one direction with a slightly lighter brown silk and then go back over it with the darker brown. It's working out pretty well so far and I should have just enough silk to finish this off but it will be close! I will be using red beads instead of stitches for some of the area within the wreath around the deer's neck.

That's pretty much it as far as stitching is concerned for this month. As the holiday season creeps nearer and nearer there will be less time for stitching. I will probably just work on some more small finishes until the new year.

We were treated to a rare sight this past week. Our area is on the flight path for the migration of the Snow Goose so we often see them flying over or at a distance in a farmer's field. This year though they decided to settle in a pond at a gravel pit just up the highway from us. They were there several days in a row so I managed to get some great pics.

It was a real treat to get so close to these beautiful birds as they make their way south for the winter. I look forward to seeing them on the return trip again in the spring.

Last weekend my son and granddaughters dropped by so that we could celebrate the youngest's birthday. Summer will be 9 on the 27th. I was supposed to drive to their home (a 3 hr drive) but as some of you may know I have been ill off and on since late September. A cold and sinus infection lowered my immunity and then things progressed into viral pneumonia and bronchitis. I'm slowly recovering but I'm trying to avoid crowds right now so I don't pick up anything else. So Jeff and the girls landed in Saturday night and we had a very short but sweet visit.

 

I will take this time to wish all of my friends and family in the U.S. a very Happy Thanksgiving!! We Canadians celebrated ours in October but I know I always looked forward to watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade on T.V. I know there were several times when we played sick as kids so that we could stay home from school and watch it!  Enjoy your day my friends!!

September Smalls and a new framed stitch

September's small stitch is in recognition of Canada's upcoming Thanksgiving which takes place in just 12 short days.
Gobble is a sweet little turkey designed by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives. 

I haven't had the time yet to finish this into a little pinkeep but I did one other finish done shortly after posting it for last month's smalls.

Wild Chamomile was designed by Teresa Murgida of Primitive Acorns and was stitched as a gift for my friend Nan Lewis of Threadwork Primitives.

  
The little dragonfly charm which I added to this I found in Muskoka this summer at a local pewter shop. I wish now that I'd picked up a few more of these!

The next pic is not a small but is a finish which I completed in 2014. Blackbird Designs Acorn Hill has sat waiting in my pile of finished stitches until I found just the right frame to complement it. After antique hunting on my vacation this summer I found a wood frame which I'm told is called a Victorian criss cross frame. After bringing it home I realized which piece might work in it. My framer told me that it took a bit of work getting it right because it turns out the frame is not straight. I would never know that though looking at his handiwork. Sorry about the lack of light. This overcast day has not helped with my picture taking!

I'll be back soon with a post of my visit to Notforgotten Farm. I'm fighting a cold right now and just don't have the energy to get it all organized. Hopefully I'll feel better by the weekend. I have another stitching event to attend in Kingston!

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!