Jan 28/18

The weekend was kind of quiet here as the fella' has come down with what I have diagnosed as the flu. He does not have a fever, but he has the muscle aches, headache and sick feeling. He spent the weekend camped out in bed or in the over-sized living room chair so I spent the weekend stitching and looking after the four critters. Here are two bookmarks that I stitched in between nursing him,  letting the dogs in and out and in and out and feeding the cats. I stitched the one on the right on Saturday night and the one on the left on Sunday (today). They are both adaptations of patterns for beaded bracelets, done on a scrap piece of ivory 14 count Aida and stitched with threads from the scrap bag of threads.

I am not sure just yet how I will finish them. The current idea is to cut a piece of cardboard that is slightly smaller than the stitched area, iron the corners and baste the stitched piece so that it forms around the cardboard before attaching a piece of felt to the back either with glue or sewing. I should finish them sooner rather than later as I am using a scratch pad as a bookmark in the book "The Bronze Horseman" that I am reading for my Friday night book club.

The other bit of sewing I did this weekend was the repair on the comforter that the puppy has been pulling apart. She had pulled open a seam and was pulling out the stuffing every time that she could get into the spare room. I mended a hole along the seam that was almost 2 feet long!! Good thing that the puppy is cute!!

Happy stitching!

Jan 22/18

I just put the last stitches into this book mark! It was one of those things where I was determined to finish before I go to bed tonight which was a challenge because I did not pick it up until 10:30pm. My day was spent resting because last night I strained the muscles that I tore in my back on Boxing Day and then we had supper with friends. The pattern on pinterest was designed for some kind of bracelet, according to the link when I clicked through on the link. I loved the colours when I saw the pattern and decided that I had to do the pattern as a cross stitch. The piece is stitched on a cream 14ct Aida with threads from my scrap bag. My scrap thread bag is finally starting to look a little smaller with all of these projects that have been stitched using those threads. Is it weird that I was a little excited by how much thread this project used and that my scrap thread bag was just that much emptier? The piece is stitched 2 threads over 1 with a full cross and I guesstimate it to be 2 inches by 6 inches. 

As a volunteer, I do a shift or two per month at the opportunity shop run by the local health auxiliary. I usually go in at least half an hour early to tidy up and to put up any donations that have come in. I had a few minutes before I opened the doors the other day so I dug around in the craft supply bin and found these kilt pins. Who knows how I will end up using them, but they are kind of interesting and I am certain that I can find a way to use them.

Edited to add: TUSAL time! My apologies for being a few days late on this month's effort. My TUSAL includes thread, some perforated paper and a few other odds and ends chucked in as I worked away on my book marks and ornament this month. What's a TUSAL? Please click the link on my side board.

Time for bed. Happy stitching!

Jan 13/18

A quick little project on this wintry night.

I started this late this afternoon and just put the last stitch into the fabric a few moments ago. I used this font again and threads from my scrap bag on a scrap piece of opalescent Lugana. I quite like how the different colours have come together in the lettering on this fabric. Now to decide how to finish these two pieces that I have stitched.

The weather was kind of crazy today with a high of 18C (in January in Canada???) so I spent my afternoon shopping at this amazing yarn shop in the Gaspereau Valley and shampooing dog barf out of the back seat of my car. The yarn shop, Gaspereau Valley Fibres, is a must-see for any one who loves yarn and colour and cool experiences. The shop is in one of the old out buildings of the family farm and is so interesting to visit. There are yarns and finished products displayed all around the main room. Looms are set up to show you how weaving is done on the looms they sell. The woman I spoke with was so keen to share her love of weaving with me and passed on so many helpful ideas on how to get started with the table top loom that I am going to borrow from my mother. If you ever happen to find yourself in Nova Scotia, a trip to Gaspereau Valley Fibres should be on your list of things to do if you have any interest in knitting, weaving, yarn or interesting country road drives. 

The temperatures have been dropping rapidly this evening so we should see the return of winter tomorrow. I think that I would rather have had the precipitation come as snow because the flooding that is going on is scary. Tomorrow will be an icy mess in this part of the country. Fortunately, it is Sunday so we can be lazy and stay home!

Happy stitching!