Stitching shanties

Here in Northern New Brunswick it's been another stay at home day while the wind and snow blew and swirled about outside. I haven't checked the weather stats for total snowfall yet, but it's the second 'doozie' of a storm in 3 days. Our deck drift is huge, the back door was drifted in and the car was nearly covered.

The deck through the kitchen window.

I went out and got my exercise by clearing off our front walk which cannot be reached with the snow blower. At least it was a bit more powdery today and I was able to push a lot of it into the driveway where my husband could blow it. The banks are getting pretty high--too high to blow the snow atop it in some places. Ah well, it won't be long and it'll be melting, won't it?
Earlier today, I used the Sochi App for my I Pad and watched the figure skating (dance short program) while I did a bit of stitching on the Shanties 2. I will show you my progress as I go along and you will see how I build up the layers here and there.

I'm starting to build up the colors on the shanties. I am planning to go back into the window areas with some painted shading as well.

I will do most of the stitching on the shanties, the ice and sky before I add borders and a batting. When I add the batting, I will stitch a few lines only here and there.

I always resize my photos to make them easier to load but I think you'll still be able to see the areas that are stitched so far.
Well, I'm pretty well beat now, so I'm taking my tea out to my big comfy chair for a short rest before dinner.

The big storm, some doodling

We had so much snow today, that my husband couldn't get to work. With an all wheel drive that's pretty rare.
Later this afternoon I went out to help with some of the clean up. I made my way through the drift on the
front walk while Gord tackled the driveway. I was out for an hour; he was out for two.
This morning, I played around with my I Pad experimenting with mosaics.

I didn't go into my sewing room because I wanted to watch the Olympic men's figure skating finals. It wasn't super exciting but Canada's Patrick Chan did win the silver. He was a bit disappointed in his skate but I was happy with the silver.
The rest of the day I played around with a mirror image drawing feature on the Sketch Club App that I recently got on the I Pad.
And then I just kept doodling, saving dozens of them.

They would be great for quilting, stamping, stenciling or screen printing.

I hope you're staying warm, cozy and safe if you're in a storm area.
Happy Valentine's Day!

Fish Shanties #2

When I did a show and tell of my first fish shacks piece at the retreat last weekend someone said, "Oh, the shanties". I had forgotten about that name and I like it much better than shacks. It sounds cozier and cuter somehow.
Today, before and after lunch, I started laying in some preliminary stitching on Fish Shanties 2. I was getting into it but I had to stop to get out for my walk. You will, as usual, be seeing some of my process pictures as I add a little here and there daily.

I'm just getting started. I did add a second layer of the heavy interfacing this time and it is much smoother. When I get the shanties mostly stitched, i will then add borders and batting of some sort and finish up more of the stitching.

I also couldn't resist taking more photos of my backyard birds. I took a bunch of the goldfinches in the branches of my apple tree for future reference. There just aren't enough hours to do all the pieces I'd like to do!
This one of the finch on the feeder came out with nice detail. I like it's slightly coy demeanor.

It's looking like we're going to get a rather serious nor'easter tomorrow. Some things have been already cancelled including a Valentine luncheon rescheduled for Saturday. It looks like instead of having an errand day, I'll be home doing some more stitching.

Nursing a cold with comfort food and knitting

Yesterday, after retreat, I spent most of my day unpacking, cleaning, washing clothes and making soup and bread. I got my sewing space set to rights and ready for some thread painting today on my second fish shack piece. I've sold the first one by the way and the second one is spoken for. I could even sell a third one if I'm inspired!
However, by last night I was exhausted and also sniffling and sneezing which went on through the night. It's nothing serious but because of my Addison's, I'm resting up. I've had a few cups of tea and just had to have a fresh heel of bread with molasses, an old favourite from my childhood.

I've been watching a bit if the Olympics opening ceremonies which my husband recorded for me and knitting.

I'm linking to The Needle and Thread Network.

Retreat

Well I'm home from my 3 night, 4 day retreat, stretched out on the sofa under an afghan catching some of the Olympics. I'm looking forward to catching up on the opening ceremonies.
Except for a small issue with a rolling bed the first night- a friend gave me rubber cisterns- I slept beautifully. I got out for a good walk one day, went snow shoeing yesterday and kept up with a few exercises on my yoga mat. I wasn't so virtuous with the food though. The meals were great but I definitely partook of a few too many goodies!
I put the binding on my fish shack piece from last weeks blog. It is sold and I could sell two more!
Today, I walked around taking a few pictures of some other projects on the go. This is just a smattering if everything that got sewn.
This one is a Christmas quilt by Carmel and boy the blocks were small! I'd never have gotten it finished!

This picture cane from the Campbellton group, Linda and Christine. The landscape was a pattern and the castle came from a mystery quilt going on through our guild.

A couple more projects on the go today by leonine and Paulette.

The photo of the next picture doesn't do it justice. The fabrics were quite striking. It seemed quite an intricate design to me. I'd never make it through the whole quilt.

Finally, I got 21 of 30 blocks done for my quilt that will be a wedding gift. There will be white sashing added between all the blocks.
Again the colors haven't shown perfectly with my I Pad. I'll eventually get a better one. I tuck this project away for my UFO days. This week, I'll get back to my art quilting.
I hope you've all had a lovely weekend.

Fish shacks

I'm posting a quick blog note to say that I'm heading to quilt retreat on Thursday morning for 3 nights and 4 days. I've been busy packing a few projects.
Yesterday, I finished the quilting on the fish shacks. I cut the binding and backing to take with me.

On the whole I'm pretty pleased with it although there are a few small changes I would make.
I've been tossing around how best to stitch a piece like this where the foreground ice should really be quite flat but is not due to the batting. Perhaps I should just accept it as part of the medium.
On my next piece though I'm going to use more interfacing and maybe a lutradur instead of batting. We'll see how that goes.
I'm connecting to The Needle and a thread Network.

Fresh snow and some sewing

We woke up to about 6 inches of a light powdery snow this morning, totally a surprise as we hadn't watched or heard the weather yesterday. It was so mild and beautiful around lunch time when we went for a snowshoe. To date, it has been so cold when we went that I didn't bother with the camera so I took it along today.
This is a trail we have walked many times. I always look for the different little things that catch my eye.
I couldn't resist one trail shot; we were the first over this part of the trail.

I dubbed these leaves the 'hangers on'. The color against the grey and white is pretty.

This stump with the snow capped fungi was interesting.

 After a hot chocolate and a snack, I went into my sewing studio to organize some things for my retreat coming up this week and to do a bit of sewing. I thought I'd show the finished pouch that I made.
Do you often make silly little mistakes? I thought it might be easier to make the facings stay flat if I carefully ran the iron along the edge. It did but I slipped and hit the vinyl which made a little melted spot. I decided to treat it as a happy accident, zigzagging a bit of ribbon trim along the edge. Perfect.

It makes the pouch a little smaller but still easily fits a rotary cutter
I'm looking forward to Downton Abbey to-night!.