Saturday 1 November 2008

Finally... a finish!

Well it's certainly taken me long enough but finally I have finished my M Designs Peace Tree. I managed to squeeze in some time for stitching last weekend and on Tuesday I put in the final beads. This one is to be a Christmas gift for my youngest sister. It's stitched on a 28ct Silkweaver Opalescent Solo using DMC variations.


Also managed a finish on a mitten ornament but my finishing didn't turn out quite the way I'd planned it . It's far easier to finish off a square or round ornament than it is to manage a mitten shape. My skills need some fine tuning to say the least!

Now I'm trying to decide what will be my new start. In the meantime I'm trying to finish up my JBW Pumpkin (hopefully this weekend) and I'm considering giving some long overdue time to my Cirques des Cercles. It would be nice to see this one again, wouldn't it?


Last night was the perfect evening for Halloween... no rain or wind and mild temperatures. We had 110 at our door this year with the best costume being a butterfly. There was one unusual sight this year. An adult dressed in a ghost costume and carrying orange glow sticks wandered through the neighbourhoods. He would stop at the foot of your drive, spread out his arms and bow to you! Honestly, he was quite large and rather creepy. At first I thought it was the parent of one of the kids, taking them around but no, this guy was on his own. My son thought it was a pretty cool idea and a neat way to take in all the sights around the village on Halloween.






I did my usual carving bit as you can see in the pics above. Chris and I found a new site this year online for obtaining carving patterns called Zombie Pumpkins. You pay a $20 dollar fee for access to over 150 different patterns with a portion of the sales being donated to charity. I guided Chris through his first carving, a Michael Myers pattern. Now he's hooked and anxious to try more!
The fact that we had such a great evening weatherwise was no small feat. Just days before we had a freak snowstorm which came out of the northeast, dumping us with 15cm of snow in our area which is about 6-7" for those of you who are not into metric measure. I couldn't believe it when I first heard the forecast. I thought I was dreaming and it was still January or February but unfortunately I was wide awake and it was definitely coming! I desperately tried to get my snow tires put on but all the garages were booked solid. It started snowing Tuesday night around supper and didn't quit until late Wednesday morning. I left for work at 5:30 instead of my usual 6:00am and this is the sight that greeted me. How depressing is that?!

Notice my poor scarecrow on the left. I actually have two , one on either end of my front garden and one of them keeled right over with the weight of the snow. Quite a few tree branches came down because the snow was heavy along with the fact that many had not lost all their leaves yet, adding extra weight. Our area lost power several times during the night, the first time just as I'd sat down in a hot bath. It's kind of weird bathing in the pitch dark!



I managed to make it to work with no problems although I did spot several cars in the ditches. On may way home I took a few more pictures now that I had light. If this is any indication of the winter that's coming then I'm moving!! I had more than my fill last year.













It's an absolutely beautiful sunny morning here now and I'm off to check out my stash and decide on my new starts. I don't promise I'll have much accomplished by my next post since I'm off to Toronto this coming week for a Chemistry symposium with a coworker. It's not all business though since we are planning to squeeze in a shopping trip to the Eaton Centre in downtown TO. Hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend and keep those fingers stitching!

8 comments:

  1. Beautiful stitching! I can't wait to see CdC again, I know how lovely it is in person.
    Your pumpkins are AMAZING! Chris looks like he is having fun, and did a fantastic job as well for his first time.
    Have fun in TO, if you are driving and need somewhere to stop, you know where I live!
    Take care and hope to see you soon...

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  2. Lynn, seriously good pumpkin carving!
    Your peace tree is gorgeous and the mitten ornament is too sweet!!
    Happy Dances and congrats on those!
    I want to make the JBW pumpkin...LOVE IT!
    Your snow is beautiful....but you can keep it:) ..lol..sorry, I don't like the cold, but it's very pretty to look at! Stay safe in that stuff!
    Cindy F./TX

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  3. WOW...snow already? You're little scarecrow must not be scary enough to scare it away! :)
    I love your tree and your pumpkin and the mitten...keep stitchin'!

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  4. Wow Lynne...
    I had no idea you guys got so much snow last week...we had none here in Brighton...I guess Lake Ontario is good for more than just looking at...it moderates our climate. We often get rain when just north of the 401 they are shovelling snow. Let's hope that this winter is not as bad as last year!

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  5. Great stitching and amazing pumpkin carving!!
    Cant believe all that snow brrr
    Have fun in Toronto

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  6. Beautiful finishes, the tree is lovely and the mitten very cute. Good luck with finishing the pumpkin, I love that design. We had a lovely Halloween here too. A very nice change as our Halloween's generally tend to have nasty weather. Snow we also got, but not until this weekend. I can't believe I was out raking leaves to get them cleaned up when it was snowing. So far just a light dusting has stuck though. Yuck! I hate winter, it may be pretty, but I'd be just as happy just seeing it in pictures.
    Sue

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  7. Lynn

    Thanks for the nice comment on my blog about the recent shoplifting incident in the shop. It is discouraging but ...a lesson has been learned...less trust...more vigilance!

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  8. Hi Lynn,

    Thanks for coming by my blog and
    leaving a comment. It's always
    nice hearing from you. And thank
    you for the good wishes for my
    Mom. We've all got our fingers
    (and toes) crossed that she'll
    make good progress at the rehab
    place.

    Good grief!! Look at the snow
    that you guys got down at your
    end of the province!! We've had
    a few flakes here and there,
    but so far nothing of consequence.
    Thanks goodness.

    Your mitten finish is so cute.
    I have these designs too and
    have stitched them many times.
    I really love them so much.
    I stitch mine on perforated
    paper, and cut them out and then
    mount them on felt or paper or
    something. I stitched two for
    Dani last year (I think it was).

    Congrats on finishing your
    Peace tree. It looks just so
    lovely and graceful. And the
    blue star and blue beads are
    a nice bit of bling for the
    piece. Your sister is going to
    love this.

    All your Halloween Pumpkins
    look great, although my own
    favourite is the one with the
    big grin (top, right corner).
    I like his eyes and nose too.
    Glad to hear that Winter
    didn't hang around and spoil
    the festivities.

    You've certainly been run
    ragged at work lately. And
    during your off hours too.
    My DH is in a couple of local
    church choirs and this time of
    year is really hectic for them.
    Next weekend they're on the
    church float for our local
    Santa Claus parade, and then
    they are doing a Cantata in
    December to celebrate Xmas
    and the Churches 50th
    anniversary. So its practice,
    practice, practice....

    I'm going to be stitching a
    Waxing Moon Designs Halloween
    design well into the Xmas
    season. But I don't want to
    leave it and let it turn into
    a UFO. Oh well.

    Your stash from SanMan Originals
    looks yummy!! Love all the
    buttons and the cute frames.
    And the packaging is a nice
    touch. Lovely stuff to get in
    the mail. You're going to have
    lots of fun with all of it.

    Cheers!!!

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