WIP Wednesday 25 January 2017

Sorry about missing last week, but I hadn't done any needlework at all, not one X, one purl or one knit plus I was feeling miserable.. However, it's a better day today.

Last post, I had just finished knitting the doll's booties

And here she is in her finery.

She still needs her hat which I hope to do this week.

Retirement is beaded! Gone from here

to here.

Neither picture shows the colour properly - its DMC equivalent is 501. I'm hoping to talk my craft partner Cynthia into helping me make a wall hanging out of it and get it to the recipient ASAP.

I belong to a Christmas Ornament SAL hosted by the lovely Kaye at Kitten Stitching (who, by the way, is having a giveaway at the moment) and I finished my January design.

This is from Dragon Dreams' "12 Dragonlets of 2012", 2 over 2 on 28 count fabric from Silkweavers. The colour is good in this picture, but the gold sparkle in the fabric is not showing up well. If you're interested in checking out the whole set, they are on Facebook page Dragon Dreams Inc.

WIP Wednesday 11 January 2017

I'm running late - it's a little after 11 p.m. so I better get on with it.

Not a lot done on the crafting front, but Retirement Means has gone from here

to here.

It's done, except I've decided to do beads instead of French knots so have to wait for them to arrive. I had thought I was done a bit earlier, but as I was looking it over I realised I had missed the second E in Retirement, so had to frog and redo. I was not happy with me at that point.

The doll outfit went from here

to here, front

and back

plus booties that need to be sewn up.

Then a hat with a bow and outfit #1 will be done.

Thank you everyone for your kind words about my friend's husband. He had open heart surgery on Monday where a planned double bypass became a quadruple on the operating table. Surgery went fine, but he reacted badly as he started to wake up and they had to heavily sedate him to control heart and blood pressure. Today he is improving steadily and hopes to be out of cardiac ICU either tomorrow or Friday.

WIP Wednesday 4 January 2017

I am still not used to writing 2017 so I must pay close attention. And welcome to the first WIP Wednesday post of the New Year. So lets get going.

Retirement Means got a little attention going from here

to here.

Looking forward to her head and face being more defined.

The Great Blue Heron got just enough attention that I could say I started, going from a blank piece of fabric to this.

It's the very top of his head.

And Stormy got the same minimal start.

It's the uppermost leaf on the left.

Nothing like starting with Krenik!

And I did get in some knitting time, from here

to here.

I need to sew up the skirt, add 2 tiny buttons and sew in the ends. It does fit the doll (first thing I checked after I cast off) so hopefully next week you will see her wearing it with either the matching hat or panties or, deep breath, maybe both.

My oldest UFO didn't get touched.

I had hoped to do more, but my craft partner/best friend's husband had a heart attack around supper time New Year's Eve and another one around 3 a.m. New Year's Day. He and Cynthia (thank goodness there was room for her) were med-evacced to Vancouver, St. Paul's Hospital, where he is being fast tracked for open heart surgery as he has several blocked arteries. Needless to say I am worried about them both and feeling so frustrated and helpless as they are 500 miles away by air, double that by road. Any crafting for the next little while will be something that doesn't take concentration.

WIP Wednesday 30 November 2016 - And Some Bits

It is the last day of November, already! Do you all get the impression that time just goes too fast for me? This post is fairly picture heavy.

I did get in some craft time and Retirement went from here

to here.

I'm very pleased her tools are not hovering in midair any more. Hopefully this week the basket will get a bottom.

The rug went from here

to here sorta. When I put the rug on the freezer (the only thing big enough to spread it out on) for the picture, Snowy immediately hopped off the cat tower and laid down on all the softness.

After several attempts to move him (he can jump back up faster than I can take a picture), I simply waited him out.

The last snowman is done! I have 3 and about 2/3 rows of the blue background and 5 rows of the red and white border to be finished.

I also received an envelope from Rosey who blogs as Ishkabibble with the patterns I had won in a giveaway. This is what I was lucky enough to receive.

My very first Prairie Schooler patterns! Anyone giving odds on the chances they will be stitched by next Christmas??

And you must be careful what you say to friends. My craft partner Cynthia posted on her FB page a notice for a one evening pottery painting workshop. I casually mentioned it looked like an interesting way to spend an evening and the next thing I knew, I was signed up. We had a choice of painting a yarn bowl or a mug and I chose a yarn bowl. Now, please understand, I can't draw on a flat piece of paper, never mind something 3 dimensional, so I just played with colour. It really was a fun evening and this is what I ended up with after the instructor took all the pieces to be glazed and fired.

Definitely not great art but it will be really useful.

WIP Wednesday 31 August 2016

Last WIP Wednesday in August - how did that happen? It's going to be a short one this week. Poor teddy got no attention at all, but Santa/elf went from here

to here.

Remember I showed you Snowy last week being helpful?

Well, Saturday night I went to Cynthia's for a craft night and look what happened there.

I don't know if Pepper thought it was his responsibility to uphold the traditions of catdom or he was mad because his human was crocheting dishcloths from a pattern in her head, so there was nothing for him to lie on. I can't win!

Garden Update

Back in May I posted about my yearly birthday gift from my craft partner Cynthia - a balcony garden. It's been doing really well (if I do say so myself), so have a look.

There is a dahlia in the middle of the round pot.

And there are blossoms!

And this one is getting close to blossoms Cynthia says.

Lovely dahlia and pansy.

And another planter getting close.

Don't have a clue what this is but I love the colour of it.

And more glads that are growing nicely.

These are new since the last pictures - I have hanging baskets and my very first hummingbird feeder. It's been a good growing year, lovely warm sunny days with showers at night. Except it's raining today and will mess up our 1st of July fireworks if it doesn't stop!

I Know It's Really Spring!

Every year for my birthday in the middle of May, my friend Cynthia gives me a container garden for my front steps (at my old address), this year for my balcony. And it's here now and this is what I have.

The long planter has my glads that over wintered well and the square one is ??? Cynthia told me but I had never heard of it before, so the name is gone.

This one will be begonias, colour unknown at this point.

A mix of ?? The gardeners among you will probably know and maybe you can tell me.

More begonias of unknown colour.

Another mix.

More glads and in the centre of the big round pot will be a dahlia.

There are a couple of hanging baskets yet to come. They will be a first for me as I had no place to put them at my old home.

The reason for all this is I don't have a green cell in my body, never mind a whole thumb and Cynthia is green from her finger tips to her toe tips. And since she is also my craft partner, when she visits each week she keeps an eye on everything and makes sure I don't under or over water, checks for bugs, etc. So I get all the beauty with minimal effort. Can you say spoiled?

Oh, and I've hung my first hummingbird feeder. Hopefully I will get some visitors and will be able to share some pictures with you.

Catching Up!

Eek, I haven't posted for over a week. Not a good thing at all. I've just become very involved with my local Seniors' Centre and I'm having some trouble re-organizing my time so I can fit everything in. Oh well, it'll come. But in the meantime, I've just spent a large part of the day catching up on my blog reading - I forgot what a chatty bunch we are - and now for what I've been up to.

I've been stitching on a snowman since I finished my elf/Santa and she was here at the beginning of the weekend

and looks like this now.

There is one more snowman to finish off the set, so I will probably do him before I get back to the elves - there are two more of them and I'm looking forward to seeing if stitching them on a smaller count fabric improves the detail of the face.

And I got a real urge to pick up my knitting needles again, so I hauled out all the necessary bits and pieces and got this far after a couple of hours.

I will be doing the Canadian flag version of course. I will probably give it to my craft partner Cynthia for her grandson when it's done.

And I couldn't leave without showing off Snowy in one of his more regal poses,

and Yoda snuggling by my side.