reversible ...

In my stash of WIPs I had two cute pieces the right size for candle mats so I put them together to make a reversible one.  The embroidered side reminded me of my friend K so I emailed her with a photo of it and asked if she would like it - she said yes (well, she could hardly say no could she?).  ^^   So once the mail is moving again I'll send it to her. 

This side has been grunged/antiqued and I'm not sure of the origin of the design - it could be a combination of designs.

Sunshine has been conspicuously lacking this autumn so when the weather man promised us 3 days of sunshine for over the weekend I was looking forward to it.  Hmmph, we had 3 days of fog instead - it was mild and the hoar frost was very pretty but really .....

your speed doesn't matter,

forward is forward 

Christmas stitching .....

Since I can't do any sewing  
I've been doing some Christmas stitching ....

 Christmas thyme was found on Pinterest - I liked it - thought about stitching it all in red - decided not to - am pleased with my decision (this doesn't always happen) - I don't know what I'll make with it yet - perhaps a cushion cover - perhaps not - I stitched tried to stitch the words so that they looked primitively done - I thought about colouring in the shapes - decided not to. 

Believe is a Plumcute design - replaced the felt applique with stitching - pieces were a bit small for my clutzy fingers - the original is really cute - would make a nice jar/cushion wrap or tray mat.

The reindeer and tree is Gail Pan's contribution to Winter Wandering - stitched it in the colours she suggested.

These are not as white as they're showing up in the photo - my plan is to antique all of them.

Winter has arrived - we have snow - it was very late arriving this year.

Home for the holidays is a cushion cover I made a few years ago and all is calm and all is bright is a cushion wrap that I made last year.

I'm linking up with Finish it up Friday and  Kathy . 

sometimes the wrong choices 

bring us to the right places

a finish for Christmas ....

Here's a Christmas finish.  The pattern is from  Quilts by Cheri  I modified the size and used my favourite  fabrics - dropcloth, ticking, burlap plus a few other scraps. ^^  It was a fun make at the cabin this summer.

The other day when I was out for a walk I met up with a  chubby Jack Russell out on his own - his feet were cold - it was a busy street - he wouldn't come to me.  On my return he was nowhere in sight and I hoped for the best - I stopped in at the hardware store and there was the little fella - he'd gone that far and slipped in when the door opened and was recognized .... they were keeping him safe until his 'dad' showed up.  Aren't people wonderful?!  In the store the little fella came over to me and we introduced ourselves.  ^^

life is a one time offer .... use it well

a Christmas unfinish ....

I haven't decided how I'm going to finish this one but most likely it will become a mini quilt or a cushion cover - it's a design by Theodora Cleave .    It was coffee stained to age it and I'd like to keep the wrinkles - it was something I worked on at the cabin.   I am very fond of Theodora Cleave designs. ^^

Just the other day when we were out and about we drove through a small town and I spotted a quilt shop - these are few and far between in our neck of the woods - and my fella promptly pulled into the first vacant parking spot.  ^^  Of course, I picked up a wee bit of fabric and this piece is what I think I'll use with the stitchery - it's not as pink as in the photo and the shades of red look good with the variegated red used for stitching.  I liked the prim look of it ....

I recently read the long range forecast for this winter - it's not good so here's hoping they're wrong.  They were wrong with most of the summer forecast so there is hope.   By the way we have no snow here yet. ^^

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for some SSS. 

do the right thing even when no one is looking - it's called integrity

the finished pocket ....

Here's a photo of the finished pocket that I had mentioned here......

With reluctance we closed the cabin for the winter.  We draw our water from the river so the water line needs to be pulled out before freeze up.  This year the river is VERY high so we made good use of the chest waders.  Since we now live so close to the cabin we can visit quite regularly  and it's because we live nearby that we were able to stay there this late in the season - it was quite a treat.  Before we left I filled a suet cage with peanut butter balls made with all sorts of goodies and the chickadees were enjoying the treat along with several blue jays - sadly, I didn't get a good photo of them.    

life is short ... smile while you still have teeth

meet Tucker ....

Meet Tucker - tuck er anywhere.  ^^  You can read all about Tucker here . 

 These are 1½" squares and I quite surprised myself that I was able to work with that size and actually line up most a lot of them.  Since I like stitching and like this quote I replaced the strip of flying geese with the stitchery.  If you look closely it  looks like it was made by someone with poor eyesight by candlelight.  ^^ I should confess that I've had problems with flying geese but not any more!!!  Over the holidays I mastered them thanks to the method of making four at a time.

Thanksgiving

We're having a splendid Thanksgiving weekend.  We had a nice visit with my Aunt Lou (she's a hoot), a lovely drive there and back, have eaten well, and fabulous weather!!  In recent years we've had some Thanksgiving weekends with freezing rain or worse that made family visits,  near or far,  quite difficult/impossible.

The Christmas countdown is already on in blogland with weekly projects appearing here and there providing all sorts of inspiration ... I love Christmas projects!  ^^    I only have one Christmas item to show you just now - it's hanging on the first wooden tree that my husband made for me.   The pillow is antiqued but that's not showing up in the photo.

When I found this weathered board at the cabin I knew what I wanted to do with and here is my finished project ....  I didn't have any old, grungy hardware to add to it so I used some rope and tied it with my favourite knot.    The letters are painted white but have been grunged up a bit with some bronze paint.

I wanted to try out this coaster from here .  I know, it's so bright, but they (there will be 2)  are for someone who likes these colours and it will brighten up a dull winter day. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

thinking Summer ....

This is my newest table mat, candle mat, wall hanging mini quilt ......  ^^

This one is now living at at the cabin.  Since I'm not sure if I want to hang it or use it as table mat I added triangles at the back for hanging. I think it would look nice on the verandah. The stitching design was one I found on Pinterest and I don't  know who is the designer.