A Little Story Quilt

When I was in Teachers' College, I took a fabulous art class. The teacher, whose name I can no longer remember (I love getting older!), inspired me to try new things. More importantly, he tapped into my love of fibre-y things and thus encouraged me to expand my horizons with that medium.

This was one of my final projects for the course.

It's the Celtic Tree of Life, with the green fields of Ireland on one side (my heritage) and the golden fields of the Saskatchewan prairies on the other (my birthplace). The sky is filled with moons and stars, all fractured and flying, and I filled the branches with symbolic images.

I handstitched every blanket stitch on every edge of the piece, and I loved every minute of it.

The work of creation seemed effortless and the concepts came easily. I wish I could spend days on end in that kind of creative flow.

Now you know why I'm so drawn to the free piecing I see on blogs like Joyce's and Tonya's. I really need to make the time to do this kind of creating in my life.

As soon as I finish renovating my house!! Yeah, like finishing is ever going to happen!

Hope you all had a good crafting weekend, fellow travellers. M

Crafting A House

Ah, the joys of living in a very old house that needs tons and tons (and did I mention tons?) of work.

This past weekend was filled with flooring advenutres. My hands are only just recovered enough to attempt typing today. My knees may never be the same.

None the less, it got done.

Friday night, we started pulling up all the carpet in the dining room.

Emmett contributed his much-lauded supervisory skills. Such a helpful boy!

One hundred years worth of messy layers showed up to take a bow for all the support they've given the residents of Sugar Bowl House in the last century.

Yuck.

Saturday, when finished with the dining room, we moved everything from the living room and started the whole process over again.


Things did get going a little faster in the living room because ancient lino tiles under the carpet underlay just popped off without any complaint.

And then the ghosts of residents past reared their ugly decision-making skills. There were places in the living room where the tiles had been stuck down with pitch.

I still have little bits of tar stuck to the bottom of my feet. Blech.

But at long last we made it to the final board. Whew!


Now there are new baseboards to install, paint touchups to do, furniture to be rearranged. I'm hoping to be finished the whole thing this weekend.

When I finally get it all completed, I'll post pix and retell all the gruesome details of what the room used to look like. Not for the faint of heart!

Happy Wednesday, Travellers, M

Crafty Goodness

Well, it may not qualify as craftiness exactly but it is definitely crafty-related goodness.

I bought this gorgeous old Singer sewing machine at the thrift store a few weeks ago.


Even the spools of thread included with it are old and wooden and gorgeous.


It's been set into a newish table and has a knee lever to convert the foot pad, if one chooses to use it that way.

But wanna know the best part about it? $50 buckaroo-bonzai bucks, baby! Woo-hoo!

I am so looking forward to cleaning it up, starting it up and revving it up. (As soon as I get the new floors put in this weekend? She says in a cautiously optimistic tone.)

In the "other lovely things to be shared" department, I was given a dozen beautiful and fragrant pink roses this week as a thank you for a good deed I had done weeks ago. How wonderful!


And finally, for your feline furriness of the day . . . Sailor sound asleep like a baby.

That girl-cat can sleep anywhere, anytime, at the drop of a hat.

One second she's screeching around corners, teasing the dogs. The next second, she's sound asleep in some crazy place or other. I love having kitten energy in the house.

Happy weekend crafting, travellers, M

Crafting of a Different Sort

It's been keeping me busy. It just hasn't been sewing or knitting or the like. Instead, I've been building a compost bin.


The putting together was very easy. The finding the right spot, preparing the ground and painting the fence behind it took some time.

I have also been getting the rest of the fence ready to paint. You can see from this pic that it really needs a coat or two!


There's been the refinishing a thrift-store desk, too. It's solid wood from the 30's or 40's (I think!).

It started out this Prussian blue but I'm lightening it up. I'll have more pix once I get it done.

And to end our post, here's a little furry furtiveness.

Sailor trying to get on Molly's foot stool, very stealthy like!

Happy Tuesday, campers! M

Finished Denim

Finished, packed up, and mailed, this little denim lap quilt is on it's way at last!

Here's a close up shot of my funky hand stitching.

Nothing fancy, just a giant running stitch in gold embroidery floss. Something to keep it together but also giving it a home-made, folk-arty feel, I think.

Another shot to show you the finished piece all in one go.

Apparently it grew legs and developed a taste for green flip flops somewhere between the last stitch and the photograph!

And for a little canine cutitude, here's our Emmett with his teddy bear.

Smiling away for the camera, he's such a ham!

Hope you had a good weekend, M

Mixed Bag of Goodies

First, we have a finished quilt top. I've been setting aside these fabrics for ages now because I thought they would be nice in a muted colour design somehow. Then a few months ago, I found an inspiration for this in one of my quilting books, Bundles of Fun by Karen Snyder.


I love the way the colour moves in waves like this. Very pretty.

Secondly, I have been doing my little bit of gardening in the backyard. Nothing too destructible, what with all my pets around.

Herbs and tomatoes in the back three, flowers in the front. We've had such odd weather here this year, it's suprising they've survived at all.

Third in our little bag of tricks, a finished pair of socks from way back when! I think I started these in October when I first moved into this house.

It's an Opal sock yarn in Hundertwassers 697, "Rainy Day on Dear Waves." Waiting to be whisked away to their new home.

And finally, we have Miss Stella, the corn-on-the-cob-eating cat. Too weird!

Hope you all have a great Thursday, M