Good Old Summer

 It's about time I wrote a little something here. I want to mention about the fabulous summer we enjoyed at camp. What I really liked about it was that it was like a good old summer. Before we learned about droughts and heat domes. This was like thirty or forty years ago. It never got stinking hot for too long. And we had periodic and healthy rains. (Even so, the lake was dismally low due to the machinations of the Water Authority who like to keep it super low now). 

With my boat motor acting up and the dock scarcely useable due to above-mentioned low water, I did not go fishing much. Also the dog does not like being in the boat, and so I stayed more land-based. I did get out canoeing and kayaking periodically. 

Fall colours were something special as well. What a good year to be outdoors! With the wonderful rains came a terrific season for mushrooms. We foraged for and ate a lot of wild golden chanterelles and King Boletus mushrooms. Here is an embroidered version of what we ate a lot of this year. 

We also enjoyed a few bonfires. Some were cookouts with friends too. 

In terms of crafting it was the on-and -off typical summer. Sometimes I was too busy with the vegetable garden (which did great this year). And all the time I was very busy walking Bo. And there were the usual home maintenance and repair chores. 

I enjoyed a fair bit of embroidery this year. I completed the cross stitch of the Quaker motifs on a grey Aida cloth. White thread. That is now nicely mounted and hanging above my desk. Photo is of it in progress and wrinkled. 

I knit a colourful in the round sweater for myself. Thank you B.D. for the wools! What a warm cardigan.

I did a vest in knitted chevron pattern. The leftover wool went into a filet crochet shawl. I had to add knitted segments to that (heathered pink). It's not quite finished but waiting at camp for my return. The multi-coloured yarn is the same in both photos actually. 

And I went back to more embroidery. Three baby quilts were made. Two for kiddoes in the family. One was a commission for neighbour friends. All had embroidered squares with cute animals and images. Then a patchwork of printed cotton squares besides. 

A fair amount of spinning was done this summer. This is just the result from the Tour de Fleece 2022. The purple is hemp fibre! 

Weaving saw me playing with split-shed weaving on the table loom. I was just doing little bits of sampling of various basic techniques, so there is not much to show for it yet. 

Embroidery kept me happy and busy. I recreated some vintage curtains for the bathroom in Texas. This is the motif that I copied for my modern pair. of curtains. 

I also knit two pair of woolen gloves. 

Then it was back to embroidery. This time I wanted to try out some new stitches, and so I worked on a sampler of random things. 

And the list goes on. I am sure you've had enough for one post. Ending with a pretty wildflower that came up in my Wildflower Extravaganza this year.