Wednesday Wool Group.

Wednesday Uschi brought along her newly machine quilted Flower Bed designed by Sue Spargo and quilted by Nicholas to share with us.

 She also brought along an I-Pad cover she designed herself.

 Love the ovals she used to decorate the outside and the purple oval buttons.

 A peek inside.

 Love the bee and lazy daisy stitches on the yellow ovals.

 Some purple lady bugs on the Kaffe Fasset ovals.

 Anita, who is new to the group brought along her Bonnie Sullivan Santa table runner.

 Judy is working on some final embellishments for her Earth 'n' Twig designed by Sue.

 Lots of drizzle stitches and Bullion knots and loops.

 Some woven picots around this guy.

 Love the addition of the star button.

 French knots, cast on stitches and more bullion knots.

 A few close up pictures of Flower Bed that Uschi stitched.  Nicholas did a lovely job on the machine quilting.

 Gorgeous embellishments Uschi.

 Love the pops of red against the turquoises and greens.

 A bit more red and some Kaffe Fasset fabrics.

 Lovely feather stitch on those leaves.

 Some more feather stitch details.

 I like the pops of orange/yellow in this block.

 Beautiful running stitch detail and pistil knots.

 Chain stitch and bullion knots.

Everything I stitched I ripped out and redid, much happier with the choice.  Pictures to follow on another day.

Winter afternoon walk along the Quay.

After a day of repeated rain showers the sun came out in full force around three this afternoon, so I grabbed my camera and went out to explore.

 Check out these crocuses making an early appearance.

 Crows looking for a mid afternoon snack.

 Love this orange Witch Hazel plant.

 This reminds me or spiders or maybe an alien creature.

 The Fraser River is running high.

 Love the blue sky and white railing reflection on the water that looks almost like a blue Zebra!

 Check out that huge log boom the tug is pulling, halfway down you can see another tug helping it to negotiate the bend in the river.

 Snowdrops spotted in Rita`s garden.

So delicate and pretty.

Love the look of the clouds in the sky.

A yellow Witch Hazel that is a bit behind the orange one.  This one is amongst some larger trees.

Tug heading into the sun and towards the mill.

Sun lower on the orange Witch Hazel.

These rhododendrons usually start blooming in February so they are a bit early this year.

A pair of crows chatting in the tree above as they hunt for a snack.

Roses still trying to bloom in January.

Lichens and moss on the tree trunk.

I Got Mail!

After going out for lunch today I checked my mailbox to find two surprise packages.  The first one was a kit for three snowmen sent by my dear friend Anna aka Woolie Mammonth. She didn't want to miss out throwing a snowball to me! The second package was from Quiltmania a gift for starting a subscription with them, Tulip #10 Wool Applique Needles.  All I have to do is choose a background and threads and I have an early birthday present ready, I've often had snow on my February birthday.  Thanks Anna and Quiltmania!

 Speaking of backgrounds I've been stitching away prepping my next set of Bird Dance backgrounds.  Love the cotton with the heavy running stitched threads on the applique piece, crested chain stitch done on either side.

 French Knots in some of the white Polka dots, more to be added once the bird is added.

 Back stitched circles with a whipped woven circle in one.

 First bird is all stitched down and ready for embellishing stitches.

 Second bird also ready to be embellished.

 Number three has the added French knots and needs a large stitched area on the left of the bird before stitching the bird.

I've also prepped the next three backgrounds and progressed onto stitching down the birds.  But forgot to take pictures before stitching them down.  Hope you are having a good hump day!

Working on Bird Dance

I took a bit of a break from working on my Bird Dance blocks, I had two of three of the Orchid Birds stitched before stopping.  I got caught up doing some snowman themed projects. I've chosen not to trim any of the blocks until I'm ready to stitch them all together.

 This guy has the longest drizzle stitches I've made to date.  There is at least one more bird with even longer ones.

 I stalled on this guy and on Monday finally picked him up to stitch and finish on Tuesday evening.

 The next set to stitch are the Eggplant Trio, I cut all the wool and cotton templates yesterday.

 Along with the Powder Blue birds.  Today I cut the background wool and cotton, now to start stitching them up.

 Here is a mosaic of the first nine birds in the order I've stitched them.  I'm not got the right wool to do the third Turquoise Blue on but hope to find a match.  None of the button eyes have been added but I love how they look in sequence.

Enjoy your Thursday evening I'm off the prep the backgrounds!