June Smalls

Summer is here and already June is nearing its end. I can't believe how quickly time passes!
July 1 is Canada Day and I'm sadly lacking in small finishes to celebrate this occasion. So with that in mind I stitched a new small and completed the final finishing on two previously stitched pieces. My new piece is a freebie that was offered by Nan Lewis of Threadwork Primitives on the Prim Stitchers Society Facebook group. 

The remaining smalls were all stitched in the last year with the exception of one which was done back in 2012. I finally dug them out of my finished pile and set to work to complete the final finishing. Here are the results:

 Where Liberty Dwells by e-SubRosa

Threadwork Primitives My Work

 Lizzie Kate Land That I Love

Not Forgotten Farms June freebie

and 

Primitive Acorns Flower Pinkeep

These have kept me busy enough this month but I'm happy to see that my pile of finishes is dwindling. 

We've had some lovely repeat visitors to our yard this June. The Cedar Waxwings have returned and have kept us entertained daily as they clean the berries from the neighbour's tree.

 

Unfortunately, one of these beautiful birds tried to fly through our front picture window and didn't make it. I looked out the window when I heard the thud and sadly saw the mate sitting beside the body, keening. It was so sad to see. It was quite some time before he/she left.

It's a lovely summer day here and I'm off for a boat ride shortly. I hope that you enjoy your day wherever you may be!

March Smalls SAL

March has been a fabulous month for me for stitching smalls. After finishing off the stitching on a rather large design in February I was in the mood for some quicker, smaller finishes. I managed to stitch four small designs and complete the final finishing on two of these in addition to finishing up some stitches from last year.

It seem only fitting to stitch some St. Patrick's Day pillows.

Lizzie Kate St. Patrick Flip-it

The Primitive Hare Shamrock freebie

These two smalls contributed to my bowl of St. Patrick's Day cheer.

After St. Patrick's Day it was time to bring in some spring themed designs. My two finishes were Threadwork Primitives Bloom and Primitive Stitchin' A Tisket A Tasket. These can be seen here on my previous post. I have plans for the finishing on Bloom but the verdict is still out on how I'll finish the other.

The two finishes from last year which I added the final finishing touches to are Printemps and Beehive, both of which were freebie patterns offered by their designers Martine and Esther.

There is another small start which I didn't quite get finished in time.

This is one of three eggs by Country Garden Stitcher which actually are meant to be stitched all together. I have chosen instead to stitch them individually. They are very similar to the Christmas packages which she has designed. Lots of beads, glitter and colour. Mine is stitched on a lovely lavender opalescent fabric using a Dinky Dyes overdyed silk floss.

With luck I'll have the finished product to show on next month's post! 

As the days get sunnier and warmer I have lots more ideas for small finishes to brighten up the house. I started off the year with a list of large designs which I wanted to finish by year's end but this may just be the year of the small!

Adding To My Ornaments

For the past week I've been concentrating solely on stitching Christmas ornaments. Although the final finishing still remains, I did manage to finish off  three. 
First up is Christmas Morning by The Stitcherhood. I love how this one turned out!

Next up is Lizzie Kate Feelin' Festive. This little ornament is so cute and I've admired it on several other blogs. It's been sitting in my stash since last year so it definitely was time to bring this one out.

Last up is I Believe in Santa by The Primitive Hare. This one has turned out to be too big for an ornament so I'm thinking of doing a flatfold finish for it. Seeing this photo I know I'm really in need of a new iron!

I'll be digging through my stash this week in the hunt for some finishing fabrics and trims.

I want to try and stitch as many ornaments as possible before the supplies arrive for my next big stitch. I'll be starting Blackbird Designs 'Tis The Season. I have most of the called for floss as well as the fabric and I'm only waiting for a couple of skeins of floss I was missing. Once that arrives I'll get started.

It's been a busy week here with family. I've had my son Dan visiting for the weekend and I'll be taking him home later today. On Saturday we all headed down to one of the clubs in Ottawa to take in the final show of my youngest son's group, Hands Of The Few. Chris and the boys have been playing as a group for ten years and this was their final performance as they are all heading in separate directions now. I can remember many times when our basement was used for practice. Theirs is a punk group and not really my kind of thing but we all wanted to support them and be there for the last show. Even my hubby went! Of course we supplied him with ear plugs first, lol! Here's an early pic of the boys, when they were first starting to play the clubs.

The following pics were taken by Tooma Productions who also took the photos at the zombie walk.  Fabulous job Brian! It's amazing that you even got these pics since there were so many people in the mosh pit at the front of the stage. 

  Good luck fellas in all your future endeavours!

Dreary November

November has blown in just as I expected...... overcast, rainy, dreary and depressing. November is not a good month for our family and I'm always looking forward to the end of the month when the season of Advent and Christmas start approaching. Unfortunately I know there will be many families stateside who will always remember the latter part of October and early November, having had their lives turned upside down by Hurricane Sandy. My heart goes out to all those who have lost so much. Please keep them in your prayers.

In an effort to bring a little colour to this month, I've started stitching some of my Christmas ornaments. I finished off Christmas Morning this week and got started on Lizzie Kate Feelin' Festive. The latter is an ornament I've admired on many blogs. When I spotted it on one of my trips to visit family last year, I snapped it up. It's a fun stitch and will be done quickly.

The Stitcherhood Christmas Morning
stitched on 28 ct white evenweave
using DMC floss

I also finished off this little Christmas design into a pillow ornament for a stitching friend for her very special birthday. 

This past Tuesday I also had the pleasure of seeing a dear friend, Kathy of Kathy's Sit and Stitch. Kathy was in town visiting Dani and dropped by our Tuesday evening SAL. It was wonderful to spend some time with her. I've not been able to attend any of the stitching get togethers over the summer and spend time with these ladies so this was a real treat. Kathy recently sent me a little surprise. A few years ago I had loaned her several of my Mirabilia mermaid charts for her upcoming RRs. Having finished with them, she mailed them back to me along with a little thank you treat..... an adorable pair of bunny scissors with a gorgeous fob attached which Kathy made herself.

Isn't that fob gorgeous!! She also sent me the most fitting card for a stitcher.

I love it! Thank you so much Kathy. It brought a smile to my day and I was so pleased to see you on Tuesday. Safe travels south, we'll miss you!

Halloween is over and done with but I'll leave you with a few pics of my pumpkin carvings from this year and some of my son Chris and his girlfriend during Ottawa's zombie walk.  The price of admission is a donation to the Ottawa Food Bank and provides much needed supplies. 
The photography was done by Tooma Productions and they did an awesome job.Enjoy!

Canada Day finishes

Just in time to celebrate the holiday are two finishes especially for Canada Day. Okay, so the stitching is finished. I didn't say anything about the final finishing! That will take place at a later date.

First up is Patriotic Heart by San-Man Originals.

I found a scrap of 18ct linen in my stash and because I wanted this a little larger I stitched it over two. I know it probably would have looked better stitched over one but it was far too small then. Even over two on 28ct or 32ct made it smaller than I wanted. Coverage wasn't the greatest even though I used three strands.
I'm hoping to turn this one into an ornament. 

This morning I finished up my second patriotic finish. This one is Lizzie Kate Land That I Love.

The original calls for the maple leaves to be stitched in white on a blue background but I felt that this should resemble the Canadian flag more so I substituted the white with red maples. I have a maple leaf charm that I was going to stitch on the house but it turned out to be bigger than I realized and kind of took over the whole piece. What do you think about this little heart instead? I haven't stitched it on yet. I could find a smaller maple leaf but I think there are enough leaves in the design. I'm hoping to turn this one into a pinkeep or perhaps a pillow.

Although I'm almost finished the stitching on Magic Garden Sampler, I'm getting my fabric and floss all picked for another stitch. I'm now a member of The Sisterhood! Ariadne from Greece picked my name to be the next recipient of the Travelling Pattern. It should be here any day now. I didn't get to the post office on Friday so now I'll have to wait until after the holiday to check.  I'm also getting some projects kitted up to take with me on my holidays.

I thought you might be interested in seeing some of the lovely work that is done during my Wednesday afternoon craft group. The ladies do everything from knitting, quilting, stitching to spinning. As you can see from these pics, they are a very talented bunch!

Beate is currently working on this needlepoint. In the pics that follow, her sister, Thea, is showing off some of her applique work.

Thea hasn't been quilting all that long and I'm always amazed by her work! I'd love to give it a try but I could end up spending big bucks on quilting supplies and I think I already spend enough on my stitching! 

 Our little group is growing by leaps and bounds. I think we're up to 11 or 12 now. 

Our Canada Day will be spent quietly with friends this year. We've been invited to a BBQ at our neighbour's home. If time permits, we'll head up to Morrisburg afterwards to take in the fireworks on the water. I'll leave you with a pic of my son and granddaughters (both in pink) and his girlfriend with her two children celebrating St. Jean Baptiste Day in Quebec last weekend. The giant bonfire was lit at a park where the firework display took place.