Thanksgiving stitching

Enough is as a Feast - from Kreinik

This little piece from Kreinik is now one of my favorites - it wasn't intended as a Thanksgiving motto, but  it applies to so many parts of our lives, not just the dinner table :)     It's stitched with Milkpaint Silk Mori threads that were included in the tiny kit, and I used a Silk and Linen fabric in Touchstone colour from  Wichelt.  After stitching the words originally, I decided that the colours for it just weren't right and didn't show up well enough, so I changed them to ones that I think work better.  Finding a frame that would work with the muted silks and the dark fabric was a challenge, but with the artistic eye of my framer Edie on the job, I think this one succeeds.  

Winter sets in

We've had snow in the forecast on and off for the past couple of weeks, and though we didn't get the promised amount this week, there's at least some on the ground now, and the temperatures are sliding down steadily - this afternoon with the wind we'll be reaching into the range of -20 to -25 C (down to about 13 below zeroF) - but who's being exact, it's coooooooolllldddd, and I'm happy to stay inside and stitch by the fire.

It's only appropriate, then, that my finish this week is Isabelle Vautier's Vive le Vent - for those of you whose French classes didn't include singing Christmas carols every December, the song she quotes is the French version of "Jingle Bells" (same tune,  though completely different words and meaning from the American song.)      I've used  two strands of DMC 815 on a light grey cotton evenweave - the backstitching is done in one thread of the same dark red.  My plans are to finish it as a pillow using a plaid cotton as a backing.  

Now off to finish an ornament for an exchange and then decide what to work on next - likely more on a WIP, but which one to choose, there are several  ...........

Four Seasons Quaker

A week or so ago I said I'd post photos of an ongoing project - voila, here it is :)     Monasterium's Four Seasons Quaker is on my "upstairs" frame - so far I've completed the Spring section and a small part of the Summer section.  I'm using 3 Belle Soie silks and one skein of a Gloriana, on a Puritan Grey Legacy Linen in 34 count.  The colours are very different than those shown in the pattern's illustration - I've chosen to emphasize some of the unique colours that I associate with our Prairie seasons.  The Spring shade is Belle Soie's Shepherd's Pasture, a very very soft green that reminds me of those first whispered hints of the new season in the willows growing in the coulees and along the streams.  The Summer colour I've chosen is Gloriana's Baby Corn - not the bright yellow of the powerful summer suns and the canola and mustard crops,  but rather the ripening shades of the wheat and barley fields that stretch out to the horizon on the Alberta and Saskatchewan plains, and a reminder of the late summer tones of the native prairie grasses that sustained the buffalo and the antelope for so many centuries and that shelters the sage grouse,  prairie chicken, and teeming wildlife even today where the native grasslands are still preserved and thrive.

You can just see the tiny Autumn sample on the bottom rod, where I tried out the colour to see if it was going to work - I've done the  same with the Winter colour too, but it doesn't show in this photograph.  So stay tuned for progress reports, I'm enjoying stitching this immensely, but have one or two other pieces on the go at the same time - I like having a little variety!

Post and run .....

Here's what I'm stitching right now - Vive Le Vent by Isabelle Vautier, using DMC cotton thread on an evenweave cotton fabric.  Hopefully this will become a pillow in time for me to use this Christmas in our living room. 

And now off to join dh in watching a British mystery - I'll stitch at the same time :) 

Back again :)

Barrier Lake in the Kananaskis

South from the Highwood Pass

Well, so much for those good intentions to post often ....... Suffice to say that we've been having some glorious fall weather here in the West, with not too much wind - here's a photo of where we went on a short drive one day  .......  We took along a picnic and enjoyed the fall colours and warm weather - very little traffic either, as we were able to travel on a Monday.  The only wildlife we saw up close was a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep who would have put his head into the car if we'd left the windows open - he was obviously quite accustomed to tourists.



Driving this highway over the Highwood Pass reminded us of a trip that we took there almost 40 years ago - this was just a gravel road then, and there were frequent signs warning of logging trucks.  But the beauty and magnificence of the mountains are still the same, and being away from the busier highway north of Banff is definitely a plus, at least in our books.

We decided at the Highwood Pass that we wouldn't go for the short hike into the surrounding Alpine meadows - this sign really decided for us. 

Entrance to the Ptarmigan Cirque/Highwood Meadows trail.

On this trip, though, we didn't see any bears - a few years ago, we were fortunate enough to see two grizzlies on one day, and even more fortunate to be seeing them at a distance and from inside the car!


I'm making fair progress on my stitching as well.  My major project of the past month or so has been Heart Note Alley, a design from Kathy Bungard of Gracewood Stitches.  I plan to finish this as a wall hanging, but haven't found quite the perfect backing fabric yet.  I loved the colours and the motifs on this one, especially  knowing something of the background for the design, the love of perfumes and scents.  Kathy outlines this on her blog - you can read of its inspiration here.

 
  I stitched this one on an antique white linen - I believe it was a 28 count.  And my threads were cottons from DMC, as I may want to wash this at some time. 

I've also stitched Sanctuary and Acorn Patch from Gracewood Stitches, and I'm currently choosing threads for Coromandel, a design based on the Oriental screens that Coco Chanel had in her own apartment in Paris - I plan to stitch it on black linen with a gold silk.  Also in my "must stitch" stack is Hortulus, a woodcut-inspired design - I have the thread for this one, but no fabric yet. 

On my frame at the moment is Monasterium's Four Seasons Quaker - I'll show photos of that next time, as well as a small framed piece from Kreinik.

August already?

Not only August, but almost half gone already!  I've been absent from posting for a while, with company here and other family things to take care of, but now I'm back and planning to post every couple of days.  Two pieces to show you today - the first is a finished and framed piece that's been ongoing for several years.  My mother brought this kitted pattern back from one of her trips to England, and it reminds me of the landscape in the north of England where we'd travelled at one time -  an area near to where some of our ancestors lived and where my father was stationed during WW2.   It's titled Cragside Farm, a Rose Swalwell design from Derwentwater Designs.   I stitched it on the 16-count Aida included in the kit, using the given cotton threads.  The framing was done by a great local framer here, Edie of Edie's Framing and Design - she always seems to know how to choose just the right frame and features. 

The second photo shows it mounted on the living room wall.  Sorry, the colours aren't quite true, the wall looks greyer than it actually is.   Mom also brought back a second kit in this same series, one titled "High Hill Farm" - hopefully, I'll finish it in a much shorter time than I did this first one!   Maybe I'll go out on a limb and say that I'm aiming to have it stitched and framed by this time next year, although there are several other pieces queued up first :) 


 The second project is an ongoing one with Sticklounge - an original design with the evocative title of "Heart Note Alley", by Kathy of Gracewood Stitches.  It takes its inspiration from fine fragrances - here's where Kathy explores some of the background of her design.  The Sticklounge Yahoo group is stitching it slowly, from the bottom up, so I'm able to fit in other stitching while I wait for the next part.  Here's what I've done so far in the first 5 parts that have been issued:

Our Sampler Guild has been talking about having a "UFO Challenge" this year, as members will attempt to finish up as many unfinished projects as possible.  Whether or not this is officially launched as part of our winter program, I've resolved to start on my own UFOs - some set aside for good reasons (such as not understanding the pattern or having to learn new stitches), but now it's time to complete them - watch this space ...........  :) 

A special piece

My latest finish was a special one indeed - Kathy, of Gracewood Stitches, gave me the privilege of stitching the model for her design "Acorn Patch", using some lovely lambswool linen, and silks from Vikki Clayton (Hand-Dyed Fibers), Carries' Creations, and Au Ver a Soie.  The design incorporates some of my favorite themes - patchwork, autumn, and acorns, and was a delight to stitch, with its rhythmic motifs and its symmetry.    The gold silk in particular just glowed, bringing memories of spectacular fall days.  Thanks, Kathy!