There was tremendous hype about today's solar eclipse. We were in the area of 99% but it was pretty cloudy.  I didn't have anything fancy rigged for taking photos but at one point the sun tried to peek through the clouds so I was able to get this shot on my iPhone.  Very different conditions from the last partial eclipse we experienced in 2017. We watched the CBC coverage from Niagara Falls, Sherbrooke PQ, Woodstock PE (it was great seeing Jay Scotland again). Heather Hiscox did a really good job excitedly covering the event for about 4 hours - interviewing folks and introduci ..read more

I have started crocheting a Hobbes - a stuffie for Skip. It's a free pattern on Ravelry. There were several patterns to choose from, including a couple of knitted ones, but the instructions for this one seemed the most decipherable. I had to do some research on joining ends of rounds so as not to have a jog when changing colours. I also am quite challenged when deciding what chain to go into at the beginning of a round. However, I persevered and so far have the head and body knit. I started the tail last night. It requires 13 stripes of each colour.  The ears will be crocheted as well a ..read more

While watching TV last night I finally finished twisting the fringe on my scrappy worsted Excavation blanket. I trimmed each fringe to 3". It is a lovely, squishy blanket measuring 39" x 47" excluding the fringe. I'll add it to the pile of Excavation blankets I've knit. This is my 4th, I believe. This was an excellent way to use up a bunch of ends of worsted weight yarn. Knitting it is a breeze while watching TV as it's all garter stitch. It's primary benefit was reducing the pile of random balls of worsted weight yarn in my stash. I deviate a bit from the pattern (free on Ravelry). Here's ..read more

Yesterday was a PJ Day. I'd had an upset stomach in the middle of the night and slept late. I didn't have any errands to run so completely took it easy. Of course, I completed another puzzle. It was very enjoyable because each cupcake was a little puzzle on its own. I sorted by colour as it came out of the box. One pile for edge pieces and other piles for each colour. There were only about 40 brown pieces (table top) to figure out at the end. Then I cooked a delicious HelloFresh meal which we ate before I took any photos. I forget the actual title but it was roasted porkchops with a glaze of ..read more

Marilyn loaned me her Frank Lloyd Wright jigsaw puzzle. I liked that the one side was a mirror image of the other. I was easily able to match motifs to their mirror images. When I sorted, I, of course, pulled out the edge pieces, then isolated any with the small parallelograms, and colours with colours.  Now being totally obsessed, I found a sale at Giant Tiger from a Facebook ad (those algorithms are eerie) and beetled over there and found a puzzle that looked fun for $5. It was only 500 pieces. It was like solving 15 small puzzles with the doors being quite distinctive. When I sorte ..read more

I was going to crochet the checkerboard blanket in strips then sew the strips together but Jennifer at my Tuesday evening craft group mentioned she hated to sew in ends. I'm not a big fan of that either. I then recalled watching a video on attaching along the side as you crochet and decided I would pursue that option. My technique varies from the video because I don't mind a gap between squares.  Basically I attach the bottom of each row to the bottom of the corresponding row with a single crochet. Then I chain two and attach to the top of the adjacent row with a single crochet and then ..read more

This has been the best winter to get stuck in the north. We've had record-breaking temperatures - into the teens!  Yesterday Skip and I ventured down Hall's Road to see what we could see. Chickadees were out and I saw a flicker. The red squirrel was not afraid of us at all. It knows we humans leave food for them. A little while later we saw it at another feeder. They are so cute! A bunch of tick bearing white-tailed deer crossed our path. There were about 10 in the group. Back at home, I finished my worsted weight Excavation blanket. Now I need to twist the fringes. It's about 3 ..read more

Some of us are getting together on Sunday to stitch. I've been beavering away on my Live on Little, especially on the filling in of large areas. In preparation for Sunday, I'm doing some of the counted bits so I won't need to count when I'm visiting with my stitcherly friends. I'm almost done the waves below the house - only a couple more 'til I reach the left border. Then I can fill in all the 'Whiskey' beach above the waves.  I was very eager to start the lobster and the fish. I still need to stitch the lobster's antennae. Then I got most of one of the whales done. I can fill in the ..read more

This year my guild has implemented a fun stitching day every first Saturday of the month. 19 of us showed up last Saturday! One group spent the entire day on Barbara Kershaw's Schwalm piece. I'm sure they were exhausted after all the intensive work. I took several projects but really was motivated to get lot done on my Live on Little piece. The light is so good in that room I didn't even need my lamp. I had done a lot of the border the previous couple of days but finished the flowers for what border had been completed, then did a lot on the grass at the bottom, and the first word in the saying ..read more

A couple of weeks ago on a Thursday, I got a text from Lori at Pansy Patch Quilts & Stitchery asking if I could stitch a model for her with a quick turnaround. It wasn't a very big piece and I had a stitching day and was free a couple of other days around it so I agreed to do it. We met at a location equidistant between our homes the next day. I stitched that evening after supper, most of the next day, Sunday at my stitching day, and finished it up on Monday evening. Lori and I met again the following Saturday for the handoff. She fashioned it into a pillow as were the others in the series ..read more