Cross Stitch, Crochet and Orange

 I must admit that adding stitches to the sky in my current cross stitch project is not that exciting...I try to break it up by adding stitches to the bottom part of the picture too.  You can see from the picture that progress was made on both fronts this week. Someone asked about stitching on perforated paper--the paper is quite thick and I have not had any issues with it tearing.  I have had to unstitch in a couple of spots and did not have any issues.  

My daughter has been working on her crochet in the evenings this week and has added a few more borders to her project.  The coral and green chains between the flowers will eventually be covered up by the next border.  She's learning lots of new patterns/stitches with this crochet along. 

I finished off my orange rainbow scrap challenge blocks for May this week. I had to dig into my orange fat quarter bin to add some variety. 

The Oxford Guild has been doing a colour challenge this year--pick your own block and make one with the colour of the month.  I picked a really simple block and decided to make an I spy baby quilt with my 12 blocks.  The fabric in the middle of the picture below will be used for sashing and borders.  I used fabrics from my solids collection to frame each of the I spy fabrics. I am only using stash fabrics for this quilt. 

I bought some rhubarb at the farmers market last week and made rhubarb blueberry crisp (the blueberries were in the freezer).  There was enough for dessert for three nights.  Delicious!

It seems the rabbits in our neighbourhood are not easily spooked.  This one boldly sat on the sidewalk while I took its picture. 

Finn got to go to one of his favourite places this week--the pet store.  He knows the way and walks very enthusiastically on the way there, but is not so keen on leaving to go home.  Must be the treats that the owner of the pet store gives him while he is there....  A nap is required when he gets home. 

There's lots of action in the gardens these days.  The deutzia bush is starting to bloom. 

The seed heads on the Pasque flower are intersesting. 

This peony is getting ready to put on a show.  This plant came from my husband's grandmother's garden.  She died in 1964 so this is a really old plant.  

My species tulips are tiny but a real bright spot in the garden. 

My columbines self seed all over the place and this one has picked a spot near our patio to put on a show.  

I planted chives, parsley and bay leaves this year.  

The patio and porch pots are all planted as well. I picked a hot colour scheme this year.  They will fill in over the next few weeks.  

I will link up with the Slow Sunday Stitching crew, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge folks and Frederique.  

Gift Quilt Reveal, Cross Stitch and Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!  Our daughter and Finn are here for the weekend and we had a turkey dinner with my husband's family today. I put out my pumpkin decorations this week.  I even raked some leaves--it really feels like fall now with cooler temperatures and the trees changing colour. 

I'm adding another tree to the Forest cross stitch picture.  It looks a bit odd now but will look better when it is all filled in. 

Finn came with us to the farmer's market this morning and I managed to get him to pose in front of the pumpkins, but only very briefly!

We can see his eyes now that he has had a haircut. 

I have completed the 12 placemats that I am donating to Meals on Wheels.  Here are the fronts--you can see I made some matching sets which might go to a couple. The second picture shows the backing fabrics. 

Here are the two that I finished this past week. 

These two pictures were taken when my husband and I went for a walk in the park one morning this past week. 

The program committee at the Oxford Quilter's Guild has started a colour challenge.  Everyone has been encouraged to pick a block and then make it in a different prescribed colour each month.  The green block was for September and the orange one for October.  I am keeping this project very simple as I have a lot of other projects that I want to move along to the finish line this fall as well as a new quilt I want to start. 

My daughter has joined another crochet along and made one of the corners this week to check her gauge.  

Back at the beginning of the Summer, I mentioned I was working on a secret project.  I made this potato chip quilt using shirt fabric for my cousin.  He received the quilt in September and sent me a picture of him with the quilt this week.  He really likes it and was very surprised to receive it. He has already used his quilt several times--this makes me happy. 

 

One of the things I really wanted to do on our recent vacation was a trip on the Agawa Canyon train out of Sault Ste Marie.  We bought our tickets months ahead of time and although it was a cloudy day, thoroughly enjoyed our day--lots of fall colour and three waterfalls at the Canyon to see when the train stopped. If you have never taken this trip, I highly recommend it!  We were there the last week of September and the colours were at their peak. 

I will be adding more stitches to my cross stitch project for Slow Sunday Stitching with Kathy.  I will also link up with Frederique.