Feature Friday: Jocelyn Thurston

My name is Jocelyn Thurston and my blog is Canadian Needle Nana.



A retired teacher,  I now live in the Ontario countryside with my husband, two dogs, a cat and the occasional mouse in my kitchen cupboard...it is the country, after all.




I started my blog to share stories about what I think of as my loves...family, nature, food, books, gardening and especially all the needle arts.  What I have found is a vibrant on-line community, sharing, encouraging, and especially inspiring me with the abundance of creative, beautiful projects shared with just the click of a button.

My roots in the needlework world run deep. Originally from Newfoundland, I have strong memories of both grandmothers engaged in knitting and quilting and also their 'close' work as they termed their embroidery. In fact I even remember my great grandmother using wooden clothes pins to hold the sashing in place while she was hand stitching a quilt.  My mother at 82, just finished crocheting her third Granny Stripe Blanket inspired by Lucy at Attic 24.  You could say the tradition of busy hands runs in the family.

I'm one of those that has not lingered long enough at one craft to totally master it. Nothing I do is ever perfect! I relish the challenge of trying my hand at different things because truthfully, fabrics, wools, and floss all beckon me. I also like to suit my activity to the time of day and even season.  In winter, I must capture the best light in the morning to work on cross stitch or embroidery.  In the evening when I'm watching t.v., I love having something on needles or hook that I can work without having to count or be too careful with.

 
I've completed 50 blocks in the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt SAL  and I'm cross stitching along with the Snowflower Diaries monthly SAL.  My present surface embroidery project is Nicola Jarvis' Acorn which is in crewel.  For a wooly project, I'm learning to crochet the hexagon in granny square tradition and I've splurged on posh Australian wool from Biggans Studio to make a blanket. Remember I did say I was retired so my time, other than help babysit littler grandson, is just about all my own.  Yes, and I am grateful!

I love to talk about all this on my blog where I post four times a week. I share my recipes and whatever I find interesting or free from around the net as well as my photos of my Canadian country life.

Canadian Needle Nana