Ella

I showed you Ella's bib but I forgot to show you Ella. This is our new grand daughter who arrived on Nov 28.  She is about 12 hours old in these two photos. 

Ella's bib

If this "bib" looks amazingly like a towel, then perhaps,that is beacause it is a towel, not a bib. I obviously was not paying attention when I plucked it off the wall in  Walmart the other day. I also was not paying attention while I stitched the name,although  I did wonder why the stitched band was wider than most bibs! So now Ella will have a towel as well as the bib below. I had to go to Joann's for the bib, but isn't it cute?

This morning  I stopped into a quilt store near here, not because I quilt  but I do like to look at fabric and be surrounded by lovely coloured pieces of cloth. I bought this sweet American themed Christmas decoration there.

I immediately took it home and it is hanging on my Christmas tree.

Mystic stitch

I am coming along on my Mystic Stich piece. All my other stitching is packed away in the car in anticipation of leaving at a moments notice so really unless I started something new, this is it. The baby is expected by Dec 3 or sooner so as soon as s/he puts in an  appearance and we have a chance to ooh and aah we will be on our merry way to warmer climes.

Mystic stitch and HRH

Here is progress  on "Magpie" by Monet.

I am working on page 5  of 15

This is block 7 of "Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow"

And here is the bell pull as it now stands.

Progress is being made

Šo here is the famous baby blanket I have made for our new grandchild who is expected early in December. The original plan included a baby sweater to accompany it but ... That is not going to happen. Fortunately I have seen the baby's closet and the absence of a clumsily knit sweater  will go unnoticed. Hereafter I will stick to socks.

At some point when I finished the ornaments in my previous post I may have mentioned that I was finished with ornaments for awhile. Well not so. I saw these from Sissortail Designs and had to stitch them up. It is amazing what you can do with B5200, some unknown leftover fabric and beads from a previous project!

Father Winter is progressing slowly. I finished the alphabet at Joyce's this morning and will do the back stitching on the letters tonight while watching TV.

And of course a picture of Macy....oh yeah... Dan too.

Ornaments

These are for my 4 little great nieces.

I made these for fun because I liked them.

These were free in a British magazine last year.

I love these red ornies made on the white/raw linen polka dot fabric. The patterns were in another British magazine a few years ago...about 2 years before the fabric was available in North America!

And last but not least, my flying pig from SamSarah designs.

Rotation time again??

Now that the stocking and this Ink Circles piece are finished, I am endeavouring, yet again to get back at my rotation.

So here is Celebrate Diversity (in beer)  for David for Christmas.

My rotation currently consists of 

Father Winter, designed by Teresa Wentzler....

And Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House...

And that is where I currently stand with each of them.

I also have in my bag Inspiration by Rosewood Manor which alas has not seen the light of day, or my Ott  light or my magnifier in at least a year.

Magpie my Mystic Stitch piece rounds out the large  items in the bag.

I have about 3 smaller ones, 2 from an ornament group I belong to...see I just got one from Wendy yesterday and now I am 2 behind in the project. I also have a lovely little one the says "I cannot count my day complete till needle, thread and fabric meet" I have it from a different designer but LizzieKate has recently released  one with that saying as well. 

Next blog I'll show off my Christmas ornaments. I went on a finishing frenzy a week or so ago and that will be it for ornaments this year.

Needle Arts Fair

I took no photos in Kingston at the Cataraqui Guild's Needle arts Fair so I Have included these two pictures of Macy just after she got groomed recently in order to have my requisite  measure of cute in the blog.

Back to the fair, in spite of the miserable weather, at least the drive there this morning was miserable , the ladies had a good turn out and I enjoyed a profitable day. 

It is so pleasant to have  a steady stream of  needle workers to talk with all day and to see so many familiar faces year after year.

Also...if anyone is still looking for the 2014  JCS Christmas ornament issue, I have loads of them  for sale. I am happy to ail one out to you if you want one.

The display of the Guild members' work was amazing and the display of antique needlework tools  and items was also intriguing.

Message for Janice in Ottawa

Hi Janice, Please email me...I have a question for you, OR if you are coming  to the Guild's Needle Arts Fair in Kingston on Oct 4...be sure to come to my booth and see me.

Balych@kos.net

Diversity in beer

I got this far in my Christmas present for David and I have to admit to being tickled by the word within a word. What celebrating divers has to do with beer, I don't know but it gave me a laugh.

This of course it what it is supposed to say. There are numerous beer filled containers to be added and the WDW thread really does make it look like beer in the glasses.

This will make a companion piece to the other Ink Circles pattern featuring 99 bottles of beer, that I made for him a couple  of years ago.

New finish, new start

So here is my latest finish. I am afraid that my rotation went out the window last week while I concentrated on finishing Paul's stocking.

Then of course today I started something new...just 1 new start Beth... And it too is a Christmas present. I will post a picture once I have more than a few stitches in it. So far it doesn't look like much.

Today is such a cold miserable rainy day though, I likely will move along on it.

Whether I will get back into rotation mode remains to be seen.

Kim and her husband came by on Thursday to pick up our quilt squares. I was kind of sad to see the go but it will be wonderful to see them again made up into quilts for this worthy cause.

How did I miss posting these???

These  two blocks were stitched by Beth and her daughter Heather for the Mountie quilt project...I somehow missed  posting them but here they are now...aren't they stunning?

I hope I did not neglect to show anyone else's work.

Mountie quilt project

What am I ever going to blog about when we stop collecting these squares???

Well that is a problem for another day...Here is the latest batch stitched with love by generous needle workers....

From Teresa K from Brampton

From Teresa's friend Britta, who felt she had to do something for the project

From Darlene in Markham

A second square from Anita in Brighton

Fran, one of our Friday stitchers

Mary is also a Friday Stitcher

The two squares above came from members of the Quinte Needle Arts Guild

Tricia from the Cataraqui Needle Arts Guild Sent the sweet old fashioned lady and 8 quilted squares like the one above.

Everyone has been so generous with her time and talent for this very worthy cause. I understand from Sharon that Kim will be calling in to pick up the squares for her husband to take out west within the next few days. As she receives progress reports she promises to send them along so I can post them and we can all pick out our squares in the finished quilts.

Thank You all so very much

More quilt squares

Kim will be coming to pick up the completed blocks sometime in the next few days so I want to post pictures of the rest of the ones I have received from so many generous stitchers.

Anne C from Kingston

Jose from Kingston

Two copies of these adorable ducks from Mary Ann D also from Kingston

Another square from Jose

Clare's square. Clare is from Tottenham

Judie's block. Consecon.

Brenda from Belleville stitched this rose.

This amazing ink circles square came from Janice R from Ottawa. The colours used are all colours from Mountie uniforms and have special meanings.Itwas great meeting Janice last week at  Stitching Day.

The ladies who have been mentioned in these blog entries who are from Kingston are all members of the Cataraqui Guild of Needle Arts. THey have been extremely generous with their time and talent. Their annual Needle Arts Fair is at the Senior's Centre in Kingston on October 4 from 10 AM till 3 PM.

I have a few more to show in my next blog. Till then...thank you all.

Stitching Day August 23

Thank you to all 30 of you who came to my annual Knowledge and  Needles Stitching Day.

we had fabulous stitching to enjoy, many projects to admire, plenty of food and from the sounds I heard coming from the stitching room, the dining room, the garage and the shop, lots of fun and merriment.

here are a few pictures of some of the stitching which was on display. After taking those shots I got distracted and did not take any more!

Both of these are the work of Julie L.

Sharon finished these Quaker kits from Rosewood Manor

Teresa K's work

Helen's stitching

Christin's work

Dani's work

Marg's amazing Dear Jane quilt

The beginning of Beth's HAED

Bernie wearing her Jeannette. Douglas. Stitched covered button.

There was more to the day as well. Our friend and newspaper writer Ray came to the house to photograph the quilt blocks and interview Sharon about them. We are  now up to 36 blocks. I will post the additional ones in my next blog 

I will also post a link to Ray's story when it appears and a thank you letter from Sharon's friend Kim who got us started on all this. Kim will keep us informed about the quilts as they progress from blocks to finished products.

Also....Janice...email me! In all the excitement I never got  your email address...and thanks for making the trip and bringing that great quilt square.