Hiya

Just wanted to show you a nice photo of some scenery along the Trans Canada highway.  Taken a few years ago actually.... click to bigify..you'll enjoy it more.... it's pretty out there ....



 .... because.....    all I have to show other than that ...is .... embroidery!!!!!!!!!!  hahahha...yeh....I know ... sorry, it is all I am doing lately other than playing golf...and I say 'playing' because that is all I am really doing....not golfing...just playing at it.  I'm a lousy golfer... but, I love going out there ...

anyway....today I am working on some thread wrapping and some French knots along one of the seams of my cloth...

There ya have it.... that's all for today.... not much I know....

Too cute to pass up

Just for a change of pace .... and besides, I have nothing stitched to show you ... it's only a lousy 10C this morning....but, I have a tee time at 10:15....   and...I'll be there.

Last week it was +25C and we were sweating big time.  That's right.  Sweating.  It's not just glowing, believe me, when you are stomping over hill and dale whacking balls and dragging clubs.  I was so hot and tired by the end of it I came home, had a cool bath and a nap.  How do the old farts do it?  Well, old-er farts.... cuz a lot of them are older than I am.  Some of them are out there several times a week.  Man, they are tougher than old nuts.

Today I will be glad I'm walking not riding in a cart...it would be darn cold racing into a wind.... brrrr...  I'll walk it.  I prefer to walk anyway.  It's not the same riding around in a cart;  can't keep my train of thought or my focus when I cart it.  So, I don't.  But, today, I don't know how long we'll be out there either.... as there are ugly black clouds all around...and the weatherman says to expect showers by noon..... sheeeesh..... oh, well, .... we'll see.

If it rains or is too blustery...I'll come home and help the cat bake.

Finally....a proper appliqué

Look!  You can see some puffiness ...  or at least some slack in the fabric.  But, with no stuffing under it.

It is not taut against the underlying fabric, which was my problem with the first two I attempted.   I had to lightly stuff them to make myself happy with how they looked...or...I could have taken them off... but, I stuffed instead and of course, they became 'bumpy bits'... but, that wasn't the challenge this time around.  We did bumpy bits many weeks ago.  This time, it was to make nice appliquéd pieces ....  so, I had to persevere til I finally got one.

I had a thought.  Oooooh, clever me (finally!)... and, ...    I wondered if perhaps a thicker piece of paper might make a difference.  That is, some card stock as Karen mentioned, or in my case a piece of an advertising postcard ..   would give more slack once stitched down to the fabric.  It did!   (NOTE to self: Next time don't use shiny paper as it slides all over the place making it more than a bit*^ to tack down!)















First you tack or baste the chosen fabric to the piece of paper or card stock.  Then, carefully stitch the whole thing onto the fabric trying not to pierce the paper too often.  Once stitched into position, cut the back open..through all layers of fabric and take out the paper..oh, yes, and do remember to remove the tacking thread first...I always forget and complain about how hard it is to dig out the paper... but, when the tacking is out ..it just pops out like a tiddly wink.

I added chain stitch around the outside edge and then also some bullion stitch around the lower left corner to finish it off.

And, lo and behold....an appliqué that looks lovely and soft, instead of tight and like not much at all really.... woohooooo !  I've been patting myself on the back.  My arm is sore...

It is damp stretching... and, it may not be finished yet....

Soon I must give some thought to how I will piece together my blocks I have been working on.....



Today it has finally cooled off and is cloudy with a lovely cool breeze.... you know what that means..... baking!!  Yes!  Breads and muffins today.... no time to stitch I guess....but, we'll see.... maybe later if I get as much done as I want to....

You couldn't buy this...

That's right.  And, I've coined the term "Karen-ism".    Because, Karen always says it.  Indicating that we made something ourselves and therefore it just could not be bought in any shop, anywhere in the world.

I made this little square.  Not the fabric itself, mind you....because my buddy Maggi actually bought it for me in the U.S. ...
(and, thanks for that Maggi, I love it ! ) but, the actual square.

Not that it is totally square either, but as Karen also says ..that's the beauty of it.  It is a bit different and we shouldn't worry if the square police show up... they can't do a thing about it.  And if you notice...the little hem is turned up over onto the correct side of fabric...not turned under as we would normally expect.  But, see....that's the beauty and originality of it all. 

It's a cute little patch ... referencing utility in the world of hand stitching  ... and also it is pretty ..referencing the other thing we need in our lives... some 'pretty'.. which is what this 'class that isn't a class' is all about.  

See this area on my wrapping cloth?  Doesn't it just cry out for something?  A bit more titivating?  A bit more care and attention?  A bit more of me and my personal additions to this cloth?  Of course it does.  As a matter of fact, it looks practically naked to me....now that I am getting used to adding more and 

more of my new found knowledge of fun stuff.

.

That's where I decided to put my cute little square ... seam now held in place with stab stitching and running stitch... 

Then, because I could ...I even added a few French knots, some raised bullions and a couple of web stitches...it is not done yet....nope....more will be added ... but, not too much more..just a few more knots and webs...

I love my little square patch .... 

                                                             

What's that noise?

Funny little rattlings and scratching noises.  I had to walk around the kitchen to try to find the cause.... looked up when I got to the new skylight...and saw this guy.  What the heck?

A starling.  He had a shiny new screw.

He kept dropping it onto the glass and then scuttling around and picking it up and dropping it again.   Seemed to like the sound or something.  Every time it rolled off the rounded surface, he brought it back again.  He was there long enough for me to get my camera and get about 6 shots.... then, finally ....flew off.....

We were laughing our heads off.

It's probably one of those things where you actually had to be here to get the full effect...but, at least it will bring a smile.... for a Friday....

Poof, it's an appliqué...

I need one of those little accent thingies...to apply to my "e' in the word applique ... I wonder if there is a way to do it? ..or are they only on keyboards purchased in French speaking areas?. ... For now, I'll just use the apostrophe...to let folks know that I actually do know it needs something, but, I don't actually have that little 'something'....  either that or they'll just think I'm silly.... in which case... who cares.... maybe there is a way to move it backward so it's above the "e"? ...if you know, please let me know too okay?

Heyyy!!!  never mind, I figured it out.  Well, not me actually...but, I went to Wiki to find out if there is a way to make an acute accent...and...there is.  So, I just held down the option key + e and then pressed the e...and voila...it appeared where it is supposed to be!  Slick.  Yay me...

Now, where was I?  ..oh, yes... remember the little bit of material with the filled in cross stitched hearts?  The one I cut out almost too small to make it useful for anything?

 Turns out it was a perfect size for an appliqué... barely... hahah...there it is again...love it.  Now I know how to do it...oh, off topic again... smug with my new found trick for the accent.  Sorry.

Here it is ... surrounded by French knots ... beside another bumpy bit I put on way back when..

It is still not just appliqué either.  I didn't like the look of it totally flat..so added a teensy amount of some stuffing ...just to plump it a tiny bit.. make it stand out better.  Maybe I'll leave some just flat somewhere else on the cloth.  But so far .. no, don't really like the look of them.

Here you can see the original bumpy one and some prairie points and some other stitches.  French knots, buttonhole lace stitch, some chain stitch and oh, some thread wrapping on the strings holding the "balloon.  That's what they remind me of... balloons floating away over the mountains...

Cross stitching

Have been doing some, with waste canvas, as it is called.  Who knew? .. not me, that's for sure.

Karen showed us a little heart design... and I gave it a go, but obviously didn't get it quite right... well, like she says, there is not a right or a wrong really... as there are many different ways to make hearts of course.  But, I was trying for some cute little guys like hers... which appear to be chubbier than my first... which is at the bottom ... with the grid already removed.

Too skinny.. so I tried again... too big ... hmmm... this became almost like a Goldilocks senario.... too skinny, too BIG, too .. whatever.... til I finally got one I liked.  The top guy.
                                                           














Anyway, then I tried some on a piece of vintage linen napkin in one of the blocks I am working on ...
that's them in yellow on the left...

Then, on another section I tried some white ones...but, got confused yet again ...and got the second up from the bottom a different shape than the lower one...so instead of picking out my stitches...I decided to alternate my new found shape with the practise one... for a total of five ....

Several people in our group were asking about the row of roses in between...no I didn't do those.... it is a strip of pretty trim I stitched onto the fabric.  It is actually a bit iffy and almost falling apart in some spots... so took a very long time to stitch into position in order to make sure it doesn't unravel.

Then I tried some of the filled in hearts...so cute... but, I did them on practice cotton and cut it out too small ...silly me ...I will still try to use it in some way..just not the way in which I first thought I would.... think twice (or maybe even 4 times before you cut!)

Yeh, I knew that.

My Hoya bloomed a second time in the year!  Can't believe it.  So pretty and velvety...I tried to get it close enough that if you click and bigify it you should be able to tell.  So soft ... and the centres almost look like plastic.  Little birdie is very curious....

It has the most amazing scent for hours in the evening...and sometimes in the morning for a while too...

Web stitches on silk

I love stitching on silk.... I wish all my pieces were silk.... maybe some day I will do a block or even a small cloth all in silks.

A couple small bits snipped from a pretty piece of trim sent to me ... placed on two strips of skinny trim ... stab stitched into position with stitches on the diagonal... and then... "encrusted" with web and French Knots... don'tcha love that word?  .... encrusted...   sounds like jewels on a crown...

 The clean up continues for the poor flood victims.  It is hot now and must be dreadful doing all that heavy dirty work in such heat...

Watering restrictions were lifted at midnight for the rest of us and I am busy watering plants and the lawn... 'midst trying to organize where to stitch next and making something for supper.  Oh, yeh...and doing some laundry as we have also been trying not to overdo with anything pertaining to city water until the water subsided somewhat.  The reservoir and sewage treatment plants were working overtime.

Disaster averted..

overnight.... they managed to run other tanker cars alongside the dangling cars...pump out the liquids...  sidelift either the rails or the cars..I didn't quite get that bit...and then, somehow attach them to engines at either side... pull them ..uncoupling the group in the centre and getting them off the damaged tracks... they are still moving them further away ...but, all is safe.

The bridge is 100 years old,...damaged by the flooding and now will be replaced.

Whew.

I did some bits of stitchery while watching.. ... not a lot...

We are working on a little sampler in our new class of Simply Stitch.

Some thread wrapping on those long stitches to the left... some web stitching... French knots of course, and oh, yes...the frilly picot stitch.

look what new disaster is happening today

A rail bridge collapsed about 4:00 a.m. this morning.... tracks are buckled and 5 cars are left hanging with the bridge... perilously close to the raging Bow River.  Traffic is at a standstill and people are doing incredibly stupid things like racing up slippery grassy embankments and darting into wrong way traffic.  Sometimes it's embarrassing to be part of the human race.

The bridge supposedly hasn't moved any more in the last while.... but, who knows when the whole structure along with the tanker cars could simply slide into the river.  Then what?

Apparently 4 are loaded with  petroleum based liquid...they are saying possibly a diesel type of substance....and one is supposed to be empty.   Still checking manifest lists...

They can't place any booms because of the force of the already swollen and fast moving river which is bringing huge amounts of debris with it ...but, are trying to place some along banks further downstream to help if the cars leak.... or fall in I guess.  I doubt the actual cars would make it past the other bridge immediately downstream, especially if they remain linked, but who knows... I guess they might slip under .. or... worse yet...wipe out the other bridge too...

And, now...the rain has stopped and we are having record high temperatures for the next several days....piles of garbage are beginning to stink ...we have hordes of new mosquitoes..  they are trying to limit garbage pickup to only our black bins and no recyclables right now, which is totally understandable .... the landfills are having trouble keeping up.  There are even lines of fridges waiting near the entrance to the landfill sites....to be emptied of refrigerant before they can be dumped..... there must be thousands of those....  and more on the way.....

People are removing debris and pumping sewage filled water out of homes

....with no gloves and masks if you please.  What?  How ignorant and stupid can people be?  The flood waters only killed 4 .....but, stupidity could well do in several thousand if they don't smarten up.

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.