Stitched a bit today

Stitched a couple of bits cut from a piece of fabric onto some silk.  One is simple applique and the other is  lightly stuffed.

Simple chain stitching around each and joined with three thread wrapped stitches.

Above on the seam are some raised bullion stitches and some French knots..

I love the light in the first two... makes the silk look so rich and  golden doesn't it?  It's just barely off white really.....

The rest of the story...

 You know how sometimes you see a news story and then...nothing much afterwards?  Well, Kevin and Momo are in the news again today....

What a lovely photo of them together...

Waters are subsiding somewhat.... one community is already being allowed back to survey damage.... many more to go though, and the downtown core?...at a total standstill.  No power in most office buildings and no way to get in and out of the area... all bridges are flooded... probably about Wednesday before hundreds of thousands can get to work again...

Our city is flooded

We are in a state of emergency and total devastation in and around Calgary...

luckily we, ourselves, are in a pretty good area and at the moment... safe enough...but, many are not so lucky.

Here is a guy and his kitty that got really lucky.... just got out of that truck in the nick of time... it disappeared in seconds after this...


The highway is washed out between Alberta and British Columbia at a town just outside Calgary called Canmore ... you can check out the situation by googling Youtube and Canmore flooding...it is a disaster.... truckers are stranded ... people are stranded ... some houses are perched precariously now on the banks of what is usually a dry creek bed, and that usually is about 90 to 100 metres away from them, but, which became a raging torrent of water and huge trees and debris early in the morning yesterday... it dumped mountains of debris on the highway and totally washed out other areas.. unbelievable to see.

We are glued to the tv.... nothing much getting done... I went shopping for a few things and there was not one parking space at the mall and Safeway... it was worse than the worst day of Christmas shopping I've ever seen.  Plus...everybody seems crazy.  In a frenzy... the drivers are doing stupid moves...I was happy to just come back home immediately.   I will put some water in containers just in case.... the reservoir is already overflowing its banks and they are talking about opening the floodgates soon in order to prevent damage ...although, doing that is not going to be fun for those downstream and who are already in dire straits..... oh, man...it's bad...and all of a sudden it's happening right here instead of miles away .. ..

Mr. BV left for work at 5:00 a.m as usual.... and returned about 45 minutes later...after trying several different routes in to the city..only to discover they were blocked off by police and emergency workers...and ...in some areas... too much water to drive through.  Good thing he didn't get through... now they are in the process of evacuating the downtown core of the city.  There is 2 to 3 feet of water flowing through the streets...and now...they are also going to close the main road going from north to south in the city...the Deerfoot... people are stopping, like idiots...on the speediest road ... to take pictures.  There are signs all over that road... nobody stops on that road...ever. Today.. they are stopping and going in high speed traffic ...causing dangerous situations.  So.. police will close the route.

The La Farge plant is under water and there about 20 cement trucks parked on the Blackfoot just a block from here ... staying well above the mess...

The Douglasdale driving range I usually go to is well and truly under water...I can make out the tip of the roof of the ball shack and the outline of the tennis courts in the aerial shots on tv... folks on the outlying edges of that subdivision have been evacuated too...(as many as 100,000 people have already been evacuated here) I talked to two ladies just outside Safeway who were buying groceries to supply the families who took them in today.... whew.... what a situation ...
They said some Safeways are already running out of some supplies.... craziness..... and...

... the rain is still pounding down...

update::

here are more photos and videos....

Some web stitch

..... although, to me they look more like starfish....well, that's what I like to think of them as ....and with the French knots..?  tiny bubbles .....

If I had a seashell I'd be listening for the sound of the sea washing ashore.....

Here's how this particular block is shaping up.  The bit of green thread on the edge of my lovely vintage hanky is the third row on some buttonhole lace stitching...

.. and just to the left of that is a row of tiny scallops..hey...more oceanside stuff ..hahahha.... I'm on a roll here...    not...  .... they are the frilly picot stitch Karen showed us.  Love that one... you can do it in various sizes and degrees of tightness and get a whole different look to it.  Well, I guess that is possible with almost every stitch.... amazing, this embroidery.......

I really don't know how folks zip through all the edges and seams....there are soooo many areas to embellish and embroider.  I can see this project taking me many months to complete...not that it is a race..but, it is interesting that each time you do one area, you see more to do and then, when we piece the blocks...more seams of course....it's great!  Opportunities for embellishment as 'somebody' I know says.....

Today I was supposed to be golfing...but, it is windy, rainy and mosquito-y ....so...I'm staying home; playing Suzi Homemaker.  Baking bread, making soup and stitching..... how I love a day like this!

And, when we were in Portugal.....a day like this!  Beside the ocean.....ahhhhhh..... perfect......

Jumped up ...

... to the seam where the piece of fabric joins Harley's piece.... and tried a line of bullion stitches.















I looked at a lot of Karen's bullion edges... still can't quite figure out how she does something that looks sort of random and yet gets it to look great.  Maybe it is not as random as I think it is .  I unpicked quite a few bullion stitches before I hit on this configuration ...and, I like it.   Looks like regular criss cross, but that's okay.... it gives a nice look to the seam I think.

The embroidery thread is my new Coton a Broder which I finally found.  Once I got busy stitching with it I discovered it is quite creamy coloured even though it is called Blanc.... (white) .... I wasn't really checking different whites at the shop... must call the gal and see if there is a whiter white .... hahhaha....   I need stark white for some areas..

continuing on...

...with Harley......the heart.... hahahha.....

I made it my love piece.  Smoooooches..... kissies.....


Added some little "x"s, French knots, and satin stitched hearts....

 ....moving on......to the piece of fabric directly above this one.  I'm trying some bullion knots along the seam.  First bullions on my cloth at all.  Just a minute, I lied.  I did a few around one of the cut work areas...but, they were in a tidy row.  Not doing tidy seems to be the problem.  I've been having difficulty making them look good to my own eye in any arrangement I've tried that isn't more or less perfectly ordered.  This one is ending up being almost criss cross ..instead of just higgeldy piggeldy .... (is that how you spell that?...looks funny...) .... anyway.... watch this space .... more to come.  You knew that.

not really cross stitch .....

I tried a bit of cross stitching on my new waste canvas that I got when Maggi and went shopping... Oh, but first, let me tell you.... at the same little shop I finally found some Coton a Broder, which 'til now I have been unable to find in Canada.  Woohooo ..   I was so excited, and wouldn't you know, I've lost Karen's list of colours and numbers and such...so bought a few of each.

Couldn't wait to give it a try.  It is totally different from the Perle cotton which I have been using ...or the DMC regular embroidery threads...which are 6 to a strand and a bit trickier to work with ...

But..... then, almost immediately, this happened@!!  Accckkk!

What a nightmare!  It took about an hour to unravel and fiddle and finally get it sorted.  I finally cut it in several spots of course...but, that's okay I wound it onto little plastic cards.












By that time I was ready for one of these...  and convinced myself that I could be careful.... and not have another disaster .... probably pushing my luck a bit ....but, it held.   Ahhh.... a lovely Blueberry Tea... of the cocktail variety.    Good thing Karen was away on holiday...

Back to my story about x-stitching.  I should have watched Karen's video again... but, didn't.  My mistake.  I did watch it initially, but it was weeks ago now, and ...I forget a lot more than I learn.  So, didn't really know what I was doing, but found a few heart shaped cross stitching photos on the 'net and decided to make a heart of my own.  However, I seemed unsure of where to put my needle and was it same hole as the bottom of the x on the top line or one more hole down below it or what?...

Needless to say ..it didn't quite turn out like it was supposed to  ... and then I saw some (online again) where people had put some stitches around the edge to sort of gather up their stitching and make it into more of a heart shape... which I did too.

In the end it looked kinda cute...or so I think.

I folded and ironed the little test piece of fabric I was stitching on... attached it with tiny stab stitching to a piece of fabric on the block I was working on....   then did some of Karen's frilly picot stitching around the edge, and all of a sudden it looked like a tiny framed picture.  I like it.

I'm slow with this...

and, I have excuses....which I'm sure nobody wants to hear ...

But... Friday was a busy, fun day... mostly out of town, but when I did get home, I had fun mail to open.

Dolores (a quilter in eastern Canada) sent me a big parcel of whites and off whites... thanks so much Dolores.... they are already being tested and tried in various areas of my wrapping cloth.  Wheeee, what fun.... I'm like a kid in a candy store with things like this!  some folks probably think I'm nuts...but, little things do make me happiest. As a matter of fact, my life is really just made up of little things...

I wish there could be a worldwide swap meet to trade our good stuff..... (besides that it would be fun to finally meet our blog and crafting buddies, wouldn't it?)   The perfect way to re-purpose our stash of stuff we no longer need and get the colours and other bits and pieces that we need now... this week..or for our latest adventures and endeavours....   you bloggers and crafters know what I'm talking about...I know you do!

My other fun piece of mail was this from Twiglet.  An ATC to mark the 4th anniversary of WOYWW...  What?  You don't know what it means?  What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday that's what!  For 4 years now the girls have been snooping into each other's lives and working spaces (not always a hobby room either).... at the urging of Julia Dunnit of Stamping Ground...  hahha...and, if you think yours is a disaster zone...you should see some of these fun places!  Check up on them sometime to see what others are creating.....maybe add your 'stuff'..... the group is growing every day.

 Gwendolyn said she wanted to help display my ATC.  As usual, don't be fooled by that face...she really does love it...honest Jo ...... (I myself have to laugh...or at the very least, grin, when I look at her.... that look...hahahhah.. oh, boy, I need to make another just like her for sure... )

See how gently she's holding it? ..... the model of perfection she is...   (She thinks she's still pretty hot, so I have to praise her all the time.)

  Twiglet works with tiny bits and pieces of lovely scraps just like I'm trying to do.  Look, embroidery too ...... she makes beautiful things.

And....I'm still stitching away on my own lovely bits and pieces given me by friends and acquaintances from around the world...thanks everybody again... I hope every so often when I show something you recognize a fragment here or there that you sent me.  This is going to be a special cloth.  Totally made from fabric given me to start a stash of whites and off whites so I can make several of these...and, hopefully one day as well...some dainty, tiny pin pillows as Karen calls them. Pin cushions to the rest of us....

And, one more little thing.... my flowers are blooming, the landscapers have gone away...the grass was ready for its first cutting and wow... a lot of little things really came together this past week.....yaaaayyyyyyyy.  Luckily most of the plants are perennials... it's been so wet I've only been able to get out twice to weed and tidy.  The landscapers sprinkled bark mulch on some growing things and I still have to dig them out from under...but, ..for now...it looks good in pictures... and the new bark smells great.  You can see the garden has been dug out a bit.... less grass and now, there is still more space to plant things...... ooooh....goody..... more little things... some plants and flowers next.
                                                                                 

This one's for you Gwen...

Here is my little honey dripping Hoya....

so soft and furry the petals... just like plastic the centres... now... dripping and losing little flowers...    still putting out a lovely evening scent... hoping to attract one of those special pollinating moths... don't think we have any living in this area though...

flying over the ocean...

Oh, no, sorry...didn't mean me..... no... I mean this little guy ...  he flew in yesterday from the UK .....  well, actually not he himself...but, this great photo of him..... thanks Helena...he's great.  Could be some inspiration to make a little needle felted one again....

 That's two days in a row for something sent by Royal Mail... oooh... it sounds so posh doesn't it?  So much more interesting than Canada Post ...  hahahhah

Bob T Bear (Esq.)'s "sekritry" sent it to me....  she said it reminded her of my little bears.... how sweet is that?  She has one of the bears because she participated in a Pay it Forward I had a few years ago.....
The one in the middle went to live with her...

They are all pretty tiny ... measuring only about 2 to 2 1/5  inches, max.  ... although this gal looks pretty large compared to her little bobbin in comparison ... maybe these are smaller bobbins... or maybe that little guy is reeeellly teeny...who knows for sure.... how do people knit things that tiny anyway?

I don't knit or crochet... don't even know which it is ...but, maybe I could make up a little needle felted doggie shape from my puffs of wool that could be similar.  That would be after my quest to make a small wrapping cloth...and then a pin pillow(cushion) and also a little, ah.... uhm.... 'a thing' ...  for 'somebody' .... and well, by then I will be taking another stitchery class I think.....hmmmmm... anybody have a few weeks for sale??   anybody?


Just remembered....I did one time make a little doggie ....  his name is Henry....the hound dog..... he is hoping someone will play fetch... look, he even has his own stick....

 "Please"? ... "anyone wanna play fetch with me"?

Check out Annie's blog for some other Friday Smiles...

a few more bits and pieces..

......to add to my stash....  how I love getting things in the post....

A few of us in Karen's class decided to swap some fabrics and trims....

There were pieces of cutwork table linens, lace and hanky corners.... love them all girls.... and lexx even sent us some large sequin type thingies to use for mirrors.... I don't exactly know yet how to put those on...but, I'll get to that eventually in one class or other....

Thanks to everybody who participated ..... love all my goodies... there are even some small enough to use on a pincushion I think... I haven't even tried to piece some little bits together yet for one.... but, that will be my next project.   "mrs. naldie" already has one stretching...arrghhh...I better quit getting dirty in the garden and get moving on some white stuff... definitely can't do both on the same day...well, unless I start with whites and then go out and get dirty...yeh...I could do that!

Yesterday, ..... the fence was finished up... the hoses buried and final rock and mulch placed.... and then...it rained!  How perfect! (except I did get pretty wet golfing..yes I went!)

It is still raining and is going to rain for the forseeable future.... love it!! I don't have to run in and out turning on various zones of sprinklers by hand and timing things so it gets enough and not too much water.... ...we still have to organize the computer part of the sprinkler system.... it got all wonky when they re-worked things....

Today ...the third microwave was delivered.... yep...went through 3 of those as well...not one worked properly.  Cheap, planned obsolescence....   not that they are cheap for us to buy.

Anyway...I'm not going to go on about all of that sh%* yet again....it is a great dull cool wet day ... a good one for baking.   I'm going to make muffins and then I'm going to do long simmering country style chops for supper....

Maybe later, I will get some stitchery done...

big and little..

I was so happy to be able to get one of Karen Ruane's little pin pillows because it lets me see the stitching of a master.  Right up close and personal.

Her pin pillow on the right....my own block of fabric on the left....

Her photos of her works are amazing and she definitely gives all the information we need to complete beautiful projects...her videos are fun and full of detailed explanations...  and she does the best job of instructing, but, it still just isn't quite the same as being there.  How I wish I lived close enough to be there watching her in person and seeing the sizes, the fabrics, the textures .....  even watching her hands flutter daintily around her fabrics isn't enough to give perspective on size.... and, believe me, I've re-watched things umpteen times in my own attempt to copy her stitches.

Yesterday I did some buttonhole lace stitching ... "Karen size".... on one area that was perfect for testing it.  What a difference it makes in the overall appearance ... not that my original stitching is bad or poor or does't look perfectly acceptable on the size of the block....but, just to see some stitching done in the same size she does on my own piece produces a whole different look.

That unfinished edge of the broderie Anglaise, next to the ruffled ribbon, ..  just above the fan shaped bit of lace is where I am talking about.

I'll be using different sizes of the exact same stitch in different areas now....and of course, on the day I make my very own tiny pin pillow.... tiny stitching will be perfect...

Here is a sample of my original buttonhole stitching.... and below it...the new area of tinier buttonhole stitching  ....

See?  It looks like a whole different stitch doesn't it? ... and gives a totally different look to the edge.  I love it.

I've gone green...

....... yaaaaaaay!!!

These guys are good.  Three weeks and we have a fence pretty much built,  (some areas left open on purpose to bring in rock etc..) a hand built lattice privacy screen ..sprinklers repaired and set..yard cleared of old reno debris, stumps ground out and removed, piles of old grass and dirt and blocks...(several loads to the dump) ..  the whole yard was newly levelled; trees and shrubs planted and beds mulched... some lilies, dwarf mugo pines and grasses on the south side.. almost a xeriscaped area...very little watering and it gets the hot sun all day, so grass suffers on that side and I decided to remove it and go with a desert look...

It looks great....  and I added some mulch to my old rock garden (which I call my friendship garden because most of the plants were traded or given to me by friends, my sister and brother...)  I didn't think much would survive in there as the construction guys stomped all over it last summer and fall and tried hard to kill all of it.  They failed!  Almost everything has survived in spite of them.  Buggers.

Brand new sod... freshly watered... ohhh, it is so nice to be able to open windows now without dust flying right in.... this week, I'll need to hoses the house down and wash the windows.  Then, I'll get some little plants for all the big pots and... wow.... then, I can just enjoy the yard for the summer.... well, of course, with occasional weed picking etc... as I love to do.
woooohooooooooo........ almost finished.... still one or two little things to complete inside and the MAJOR RENO is complete!  None too soon and I know for a fact, this is never happening again.  I'll put a stick of dynamite under it before I go through what we've put up with the past 8 months.

delicate stitchery ...

I'm taking a class with Karen Ruane.... learning about embroidery and embellishments..... making a little wrapping cloth.

She was making some pin pillows at the same time ... tiny pin cushions... and when they were done she listed them for sale.... lucky me... one of the first to check out the site and managed to get one.... it arrived today and I get to see first hand her fine needlework.

The biggest surprise to me...??  how tiny it all is.  The stitches ...so miniature ... Lilliputian really by comparison to mine, and also to what I thought they were in all the photos.... just amazing to see in person.  Perhaps on some of her larger blocks they are a bit bigger ...but, all of sudden I am having second thoughts about size of stitching...and size of pieces of fabric in blocks etc....

Look at the delicate lace and teensy stitches....

Hey Karen, if you stop by my blog...thanks so much for my lovely little pin pillow.... now I'm more keen than ever to make one of my own.... let's see.... where can I find the tiniest bits of dainty lace and trims..... much tinier than I have around here ..... the search is on!

adding to my stash....

When my doll making buddy came to play .. she brought me two pieces she had found in her travels...

A few people are now on the lookout for bits of fabric that can be used in my new endeavours.... the piecing of wrapping cloths.   What fun I'm having with my latest crafting adventure... and thanks everybody for saving special bits of fabric for me when you find it.

In other news... the landscaper/fence building guys are still at it... the final step in our ongoing renovation that began in July.... well, with the exception of a few other things that are still not completed...

The easy way to dig a big hole for a tree....

Ooooops......

Oh, alright, in this case it didn't matter...and yes, they did actually know the pipes were there .... although, they did twist one of the solenoids in the box whizzing through and twisting the pipes in circles for a bit.  We moved the sidewalk and had new cement poured last year ..... all the pipes and heads had to be moved anyway.... however, we do want to re-use the solenoids and the fittings etc.... so hopefully it can be repaired or replaced pretty easily.

The sprinkler guy is coming today to re-route all the other heads and piping..... then, later today and tomorrow.. planting shrubs and some trees... bringing crushed rock for the non green areas ...and hopefully by Friday...sod!!  Woohoooo ...then it is supposed to rain for 3 days ....perfect !!

My little inside plant... this ancient, old Hoya.... bloomed this year.  It doesn't always.  And, it only has one peduncle, or little stalk, which is where the only cluster of blooms happens, time after time...I don't know why it does or what type of schedule it keeps...but, some springs/early summers.....all of a sudden, a cluster of blooms happens.  This morning I could smell it before I knew the blossoms had opened.  It has a very heavy honey scent... only in the early mornings and some evenings .....

Wherein Goosie gets some legs...

My crafting buddy Maggi made me do it.  Yup...she got here yesterday, took one look at my poor legless girl and said...haven't you got those legs on yet?  That better be the first thing you do today.

And, ....I did.  I felt bad the other day when Lin busted me ...and then yesterday ...well, I just got busy, poked some holes in there for insertion and laid on a bit of glue... stuck them in and voila.... done! They have been painted and sitting around for weeks now.  Ridiculous.

Man, it makes me crazy that I procrastinate like that. And, then ... it takes 10 minutes to do the job. Sheeesh .... just like when I was in school.  Remember waiting 'til the night before a big project was due? ... did you end up bleary eyed at about 1:00 a.m... still gluing and writing and doing? ...I did.

Ms. Goosie loved them.   It was 'happy feet, happy feet', all over the place after that...showing off her feet and legs... the DTBs (dining table birds)  approved.....

Then, just to be cheeky...she danced all over my wrapping cloth....I hope she wiped those big ol' brown feet.... it's all whites for heaven sakes...!

Wheeeeee !!!

What I'm doing..

Still working with various techniques we are learning in Karen Ruane's Embroidery, Embellish and Create class....

Funky puffs... sorry, not for eating, Twig... but they do look good enough to do just that don't they?....
They are little circles, drawn up and stuffed.  One just has some French knots on the surface and the other has been cut away, some lace inserted, buttonhole stitch done around the cut area... so many possibilities with these little guys.  They are tiny, ...same size as my Chinese knots...and can be used on the surface of our wrapping cloth, or as trim around an outside edge...well, if a person made many more that is.....two won't exactly cut it as a trim...

I made Rosebud several years ago in a class that was about learning to do bullion stitch.  We each made our bears more or less outside class time..after learning the stitch... but, that's another story...

Let's just say, this class of Karen's that I am now taking is so much more than it was advertised... not at all like other classes I have done in the past.. if you ever decide to take one of her classes, you will be glad you did.  Worth every penny and then some ...and such fun too... especially ours.  It's been great.

The bullion flowers on little Rosebud were my inspiration... but, quite honestly?   I did have to refer to my A ~ Z of Embroidery Stitches to do the first two 'cuz I totally forgot how I did them back then.  I  did the third pretty much without referring to every picture of how to make it happen.. but, they are a bit tricky til you do a few...

My cloth is going to be all whites and off whites...and mostly whites for embroidery threads as well...but, have now decided to add some yellows and a lovely soft green...

Embroidered bullion rose...on the corner of a dainty, almost fragile, fine cotton hanky given to me by my Mom many years ago...I was only about 15... so....it's definitely vintage...hahahhahah....

Today, I'm playing with clay ... and Lin....I will try for legs for Ms. Goosie sometime this week....honest.........

She so busted me on the last post....

Gwendolyn...

always somebody playing with  my stuff....

I think I can see using some of these beautiful fabric bits for dresses for this type of dolly....

I'm attempting to make a second Gwendolyn... not able to get much time spent on her yet though....

today I'm making funky puffs....