Lots of Little Projects this week

I tried to get into my sewing room every day this week and managed to get lots done.  First up, I finished the rest of my green blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I have to look and see if there are enough darker green scraps to make a 5x5 HST block.  I don't have a lot of dark green fabric in my stash.  

Next up-- I shortened a pair of jeans for my husband.  He received them as a Christmas gift and, now, he can wear them.  I also added a hanging sleeve to my little sashiko wall hanging and it is now on display.  I have two open wide zipper pouches to make as gifts and got one done.  I picked the fabrics for the other one but did not have the right colour of zipper for it.  I will pick up a zipper this week and get that one done.  The sharp eyed among you might notice I have the fabrics in the wrong spots on this bag...the patterned material should have been on the top...oh well...  I still like it!

The Funky Rooster stitching is down to three colours.  I try to do a bit of work on this every day. 

The colour of the month for our guild's colour challenge is pink.  Here is my block. The bicycle fabric is fun. 

A friend has a new baby girl so I made a cloth book from a panel for her. 

Happy Valentine's Day!  My husband and I went to see "Song Sung Blue" this afternoon for our Valentine date.  Excellent movie...We went to a Neil Diamond concert several years ago.  It was "so good, so good, so good..."  The cookie came from the farmer's market this morning. 

The backyard squirrel was up to his/her usual antics this week...

We had ice fog one morning this week which gave me opportunities for interesting pictures when I was out walking one morning. 

Finn has decided to take up skiing... I'm not sure he will win any olympic medals though!

If snuggling was an olympic sport, he would win all the medals!

I will link up with Kathy, Frederique and the RSC group.  Have a good week!

A Birthday Gift, The Rooster and Green Scraps

My friend, Ann, is celebrating a special birthday this week so I made her an open wide zippered pouch using this pattern from Noodlehead.  Since February is green month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, this project fit right in!  The lining is white with green polka dots. Ann is an avid gardener so she loved the fabric I chose.  

I rummaged through my green scrap bin and cut up lots of 2.5" squares and HST's for my 3 rainbow scrap challenge projects for 2026.  I made 6 checkerboard nine patches. I have not cut out the white background for the HST block and the shoo fly blocks.  That will be on deck for this coming week.  We are supposed to be using darker shades of green but I have very little dark green in my stash.  I will see what I have when I am done sewing up the blocks using these greens. 

The Funky Rooster got lots of attention this week.  I am well on my way to finishing this side of the rooster.  It will be fun to put it together into a 3D object when I am done with the stitching. 

My husband and I belong to the local hiking club and try to go on their weekly hikes.  It was cold but sunny with blue skies.  The snow was powdery under our feet.  It was a very enjoyable hike!

The trail goes along a creek and we could see lots of animal tracks on the snow covered ice.  They were mostly deer prints. 

Meanwhile, we had a backyard visit from this very fluffy squirrel this week.  He was sitting on our fence. 

Finn likes to lie in this chair and watch the squirrels in the backyard at my daughter's place.  He never barks at them, unlike many dogs. 

I started this blog in 2008 as a way to keep track of and document my projects.  I have come to know many lovely people through my blog, but I have never met most of them in person.  I just wanted all of you to know that I appreciate your support and comments on my blog. Maybe someday, I will get to see you in person and we can enjoy a cup of tea and some in person stitching together...  In the meantime, another friend who I have never met in person sent me this one day this past week and I wanted to share it with you.  

I will link up with Kathy and my Slow Stitching friends,  Frederique and her gang, as well as Angela and Rainbow Scrap Challenge folks who try in vain to use up their scraps, just like me!

World's Slowest Knitter Award!

 I bought the wool for this scarf while on vacation in Newfoundland in June of 2023. I started knitting it in November of 2023 and finished it today.  I may win the World's Slowest Knitter Award!  I worked at it in fits and starts...I don't think knitting is my first love as far as hobbies are concerned.  I am very pleased with how it turned out.  I like how soft and warm it feels and the texture of the knitting.  The colours will go well with by black winter coat.  I've already made the matching hat  and still have a kit to make Thrumb mittens to match.  I might wait until after Christmas to tackle those. I have lots to do in the next couple of months without adding another project. 

On the Fall Forest cross stitch front, I have finished the tree I started last week and have now finished this side of the project.  I have moved my hoop back to the centre and I'm working on the next tree which looks like a topiary. I'm still loving the way the trees look where they overlap. 

I hosted a slow stitching day at my house today for four friends.  I made a pot of butternut squash soup and everyone brought something to add to the feast.  We drank tea and ate blueberry coffee cake while working on our projects.  Frances did some rug hooking on a class project. 

Elaine added many stitches to her stamped cross stitch quilt. 

Pat worked on two pairs of socks but I only took a picture of the blue ones. 

Christine made great headway on a large cross stitch sampler.

I worked on my cross stitch and cast off my scarf.  It was a wonderful day!

My butterfly weed pods are fluffing these days, spreading their seeds around the neighbourhood.  I love the bright orange flowers which attract the butterflies in the summer.  I gave a couple of pods to each of my friends to plant the seeds in their gardens. After a light rain earlier this week, I took this picture from directly above the plant.  

Finn has a new cozy place to have a nap.  He likes to be comfortable. 

We went on a couple of hikes in the woods last weekend.  It was glorious!

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique.  Happy Stitching!

Fall Cross Stitch

Hello!  We have been away and now we are back home.  We travelled from where we live in Southern Ontario around Lakes Huron and Superior to Manitoba and back with lots of interesting stops along the way.  I will share a few pictures from our trip later in this post.  I started a new Fall counted cross stitch project on our trip and spent many hours working on it in the car and while relaxing in the evenings at various places where we stayed. There was not much colour on the trees on the way to Manitoba but Fall was in its full glory in spots on the way home.  I love the golds, oranges and reds of this season!

This is a Satsuma Street pattern called "Forest".  The picture below shows how it looked when we left on our trip.  The pattern photo shows it finished as a pillow.  I will probably have it framed to hang on the wall when it is done. 

My other slow stitching project will be the binding on these two placemats for Meals on Wheels.  I still have four more placemats ready to quilt in my sewing room--I am making 12 placemats for this organization to give out to the meal recipients at Christmas. 

Here is a picture of the books that my daughter read during August and the corresponding squares for her crocheted book blanket.  Wow...17 books in August! I like to read too but never get as many finished as she does. 

Finn enjoyed some time at the dog park last week. He mostly spends his time greeting all the people, and ignoring the dogs. 

On our trip, we spent some time in Sudbury where we went to see the Big Nickel!

 We walked along the trail by Ramsey Lake and met this little squirrel who made it known loudly that we should move on!

At Science North, we met a much quieter squirrel in the Lego special exhibit. 

On St. Joseph Island, we saw the sunrise:

And the moonrise...

At Lake Superior Provincial Park, we hiked here to see the petroglyphs down by the water. 

There was a drizzle and fog hike at Pukaskwa National Park.  We had our rain gear on and did not get wet. 

I will post a some more pictures next week. 

I will link up with Frederique and Kathy. 

Take care