Exchange pressies…..

July has been a busy month for exchanges…. but the prep for these things went on earlier in the year.  This is the ornament I sent for a Christmas in July exchange:

  Log Cabin at Running Deer Farm by Prairie Schooler, from the 2004 JCS Ornament issue, finished with a felt backing.

And this is Lorri Birmingham’s Simply Elegant Scissors case and fob that I stitched for a birthday present for my good online friend Cheryl:

      I like this set so much I think I might just have to stitch it again!

I have been busy knitting away on my Cleopatra socks from Blue Moon Fibers Socks that Rock club - one done, one to go!  Pics next time!

I had a request to make a q-snap wrap for another online friend - check out this one for an 8 inch set:

    Anyone use these?  I am thinking I must make myself a wrap to use with my waterlily pond project - I have been using banana type hairclips to deal with all the extra fabric, but I think this would work better!

Late Spring Flowers

after all the rain in May and early June, the flowers are finally beginning to bloom!  Have a peek!

    

and these are from the wildflower meadow in the front yard

         The grasses here are easily 3 feet tall.

And finally, as promised, here is the Fernlace scarf after blocking!  I just love the colours in this one

 

I am busy knitting on my Cleopatra socks from the Blue Moon Socks that Rock club - hope to have more than a toe to show you soon!

The Days Fly By!

It is that time of year when I spend as much time as I can out in the yard…. our winters are so long that I have to make the most of our summer!  And then the kids are busy with year end exams and field trips…. there is no end to the things that need doing. 

I have been busy with stitching for gifts and exchanges, so those finishes will have to wait a bit til I can show them off.  I do enjoy working on projects for other favourite people - it gives me time to think of that person and how important their friendships is.

I have been busy with some knitting …

 I had the urge to do some scarves……

 and these are toddler socks and a wee ornament sock knit from the remnants of my Lucky yarn from Socks that Rock….

 and this is a fern lace scarf knit from this pattern - http://kayray.org/2008/05/26/leftover-laceweight-fern-lace-scarf/  from a single ball of Whispers yarn that Jodi sent along to me.  I knit on my lovely new 4.5 mm Lantern Moon needles that my friend Cindy brought me!  The scarf is soaking as I type, and will be ready to block out this evening.

I have been stitching too:

  This is the last block in Part A of the Chatelaine Waterlily Pond Quilt - ignore the blue fabric as it really is white linen!  I am afraid that my block for May did not get stitched, but I will start on it this coming week. 

  and this is one of the ornaments I stitched for June.  I had a Prairie Schooler ornament month - this is the Cabin Pinkeep from the 2002 Just Cross Stitch Ornament magazine.  I stitched a second PS ornie, but it is leaving tomorrow for a Christmas in July exchange.

And…. I did some finishing work for Jodi:

    aren’t these pretty?

 Summer flower pics will be uploaded soon

 

Ackworth Quaker Friendship Book

I have had the pleasure of doing the finishing of an Ackworth Quaker Friendship book this past month.  Nine ladies from around the globe completed this project as an RR.  We stitched the front and back pages on our own books, and then stitched a page for each of the other ladies.  In the rotation, we stitched each page once, but stitched a different page each time.  The pages are put together to form a book, and two pages together make a pocket.  Each stitcher signed a note with her name, city, and the dates she worked on the page, and these notes can be inserted into the pockets.   I am still working on finishing my own book, but it gives me great joy to present Mo’s book to you:

    

Mo’s book was stitched on a 32 ct creamy linen, using Dragon Floss in a lovely colour called Impulse!  The chart was designed by Ellen Chester of With My Needle - you can check out her website here:  http://www.withmyneedle.com/

 Thank you Mo for having me finish this for you!

Leaflings!!

What better way to celebrate spring and growth than finishing up my gorgeous Leafling socks??  These are the March shipment from the Blue Moon Rocking Socks club for 2008 - and given that I just received the most amazing yarn in the May shipment, I thought I had better get those needles flying. 

     This is Lucky yarn in medium weight - and I am so impressed with how comfortable and wearable this yarn is.  I often have trouble wearing wool items, but I can tell that come winter, these will be a favourite pair.  The toes are quite different, as there is a definate left and right to the pair. 

I also finished up my Giggles in the Snow Girl this month, and she and her companion Boy are in their new homes.  My BFF came for a visit from Victoria right after the May long weekend, and she was so happy to receive them.  Despite the weather - meaning that it rained for the 6 days my friend was here, we managed a few adventures while hiking here:  http://raysweb.net/writingonstone/pages/thumbnails.html    at Writing on Stone provincial park.  The house has seemed empty now that she has returned home ….. and we have agreed that we need to make our exchange visits an annual event.   

Jodi says

   

it is time to replace that awful snowy picture with some flowers!  Well, okay, she did not use the word awful - that was my thought!  In any case, I am happy to oblige :)  Here we have mini irises, daffodils and narcissi, primroses and more primroses.  I wanted to post a pic of the liver leaf….. but all I got was a red X  - not good!

And here are some pretties of a different sort:

   The first of my ornaments for May - from the 1998 JCS ornie issue by Shepherd’s Bush - Joyful Night.  I left the antler off the sheep - somehow it just looked too odd for me.

And the Holiday Robin by Crossed Wing Collection - I believe it is from the 1997 JCS issue - all done over 1!

 

 This beauty I finished as a pinkeep ornie for Jodi - she received it as part of a smalls RR.

   And this gorgeous pinkeep and scissors fob I finished for Cheryl

More updates later - I know I have pics from April and May stitching….. but it is spring, and the outdoors is calling me!

 

 

A Snow Day

this is what it looks like here today!!  And the forecast is for the same for the next 3 or 4 days.  Welcome to spring in southern Alberta - lol.

 So it seems like a good day to get caught up on a few things, beginning with the ornaments I stitched in March!  The first is the last ornament in the ornament RR I was involved in - this is Marilynne’s choice - O Christmas Tree (c) Suzann’s Designs in the 1998 JCS ornament issue.  I substituted GAST for the DMC called for.  I love the back of this one, it was so much fun to sew together.

  And this one is the last of the Dragon Dreams ornaments I needed to catch up on - Checking It Twice from the 2007 JCS ornament issue!  My DS has already claimed all the Dragon Dreams ornies - the kids each pick a stitched ornament a year for their collections.

  and for the Chatelaine Waterlily Pond Quilt - here is block 3 in the Quilt A patterns!  I am so taken with this quilt and am looking forward to doing the 4th block this coming week!

I had the opportunity to finish some things for Jodi this past week too!  These lovely ornies were stitched by other ladies in our yahoo group for Jodi - aren’t they gorgeous?  There were two other lovely pieces that I know Jodi is using as gifts, so you will have to wait to see those.

And finally, here are my April ornaments!  I love hearts - this one is by The Sweetheart Tree - I subbed GAST for the DMC and did a satin stitch heart rather than buy the charm they called for - and it is Hollyberry Heart from the ‘98 JCS ornie issue:

 

and this is Merry Christmas Roll from the ‘97 JCS issue.  Could you guess that it is by Shepherd’s Bush Printworks??  I  used GAST again rather than DMC, and subbed a sledding charm, rather than buy the Santa bead that was called for.

I hope to spend the next few days getting caught up on finishing work, and then begin finishing my Ackworth Quaker Friendship book!!  I finally found a fabric that I like, and ribbon that will work

A Swift Kick??

Anyone have a swift kick to spare? I could certainly use one! March was a hurry up and wait month - waiting for an offer for the job DH applied for to arrive, waiting for an appraisal on our house, waiting to make the decision as to whether we would move or stay, waiting for the weather to improve so I could get out in the yard, waiting, waiting, waiting………
Well, the waiting is over! The offer came in and was a good one, but not good enough, so here we stay. The appraisal was unnecessary after all, but included some good information, and some areas where we need to do some work. All that decluttering for nothing!!! LOL The weather is much nicer, the tree and shrub pruning is done, and the spring cleanup type yardwork is finished. There are crocuses blooming, and the daffodils, tulips and irises are making their presence known.

The kids and I had a lovely trip to BC to stay with my Mom over Easter - look, pics to prove it!

I did manage to complete some knitting while we were away.  This is a prayer shawl knit with Lion Brand Homespun in Barrington colorway.  Since I am not at all religious, I think I will call it a comfort shawl - it is the perfect weight to wear on a chilly spring morning or evening, and is thick and comfy.

These socks are knit with JLSalvia yarn using Nancy Bush’s basic sock recipe from Folk Socks.  I do have some toddler socks and ornie socks made up too - but have a few more ornie socks to make to use up the rest of the ball, so that will wait.

A while back I posted pics of the lovely scissors fobs that Jodi sent me in our exchange, and since Rachel has now received her package from me, here are the pics!  I stitched Just Nan’s Beaded Rose over one on mint green Belfast for her, stitched it into a tiny biscornu, and found a cute pair of pink scissors to match.  I added in the beads so Rachel can make some beaded fobs - she does gorgeous beading.

Finally, here are progress pics on the Giggles in the Snow girl wip, and on the Honor Thy Needle pyramid etui SAL piece.

 

Oh, and before I forget - a pair of felted clog slippers for my DS - who was feeling a bit left out when his dad and sister had them and he did not!

And that swift kick?  I need one to get going on stitching and finishing work!  Since our return from BC, and all the yard work, and all the waiting, my stitching and finishing has been largely ignored.  Time to get moving on it again!

Another Found Treasure

This one came to me via Freecycle - which is a fabulous initiative if you are looking for great deals, or if you are clearing out things of your own that other people might want.  And I do mean great deals - nothing beats free goodies saved form the landfill!!  If you have not checked out Freecycle in your neighbourhood, it is certainly worth the time to Google it.

 My new bookcase/curio cabinet started out its life like this:  A friend with a truck helped me haul it home.  While the top was wood, the bottom was particle board and veneer, weighed a ton, and had the plasticy heavily sculpted doors that I am not fond of.  I did salvage some trim, a wooden plank, and a lovely drawer from the base. 

 We then turned the top half upside down, reinforced the new bottom so it was not sitting on just the decorative trim, and removed the light.  I stained and varathaned the new top, then added the trim I salvaged, and a bit of baseboard I had in the house to finish off the edges.  A few hours of glass cleaning later, and some collecting and arranging of goodies from around the house, we achieved this:

Yes, I know the pictures are now too low - we will move them up a bit after we paint the living room. What do you think??  My DD asked when she could go shopping

February Wrap Up - and a bit of March too!

  Many many thanks to Jodi for this lovely exchange package!  I love how cheerful the scissors and beaded fob are - makes me think of spring!!  Jodi made the beaded fob to match the scissors and stitched me the pieces for the fob in blue too!  She included extra fabric and thread and beads for me to make either a biscornu or needlebook in the same pattern.  I think I was royally spoiled

 Chatelaine’s Waterlily Pond Quilt Part A, block 2 is done!  Altho I dearly love how this looks, I am not happy about my working set up.  I have had this piece in my largest set of q-snaps, which has meant I have had to change the height of my Lowery stand so that the piece can turn and still clear my lap.  Unfortunately, this has meant my stitching hand is about 3 inches higher than my comfort level, so for the past two months the right side of my back has been screaming at me - OUCH!!  I finally put the two together at my last massage …… and so will have to find another way to do this.  I think a ’shallower’ setup with the q-snaps is definately in order.

  I finished this lovely wallhanging for Jodi - she stitched it for our good online friend Manu’s birthday gift.  Isn’t it gorgeous??  Jodi put the motifs in the sampler together herself and did a marvelous job.

 Many thanks to Pauline for giving me a You Make My Day award!  It is much appreciated :)