Kearnel's Korner

Framed!

2012-01-25T11:07:00.000-05:00

Some of my latest stitches that is! I picked up these three at the framers yesterday and I'm so very happy with my framing choices. First up is BBD Their Song.

I had a difficult time photographing this one. The light keeps reflecting off of the frame and with the black you can't see the detail all that much. The frame has a washed look to it and is pitted to add a dimension of age to it.

Next is BBD Sunflower House. This took me the longest time to make a decision on. I ended up taking it home with me and returning to the store the following day to make a fresh start in my decision. I think I made the right choice!

I saved the best for last. It's Rosewood Manor Spring Quakers. I took a closeup of the frame so you could see the colour and detail on it. It has a lovely shade of copper in it which picks up on some of the flowers. I'll let the picture speak for itself.

All of these frames were courtesy of my MIL who gave me a very generous gift for Christmas. Thank you so much Ruth for giving me the opportunity to frame these beauties!

First TUSAL of 2012 and some new starts

2012-01-23T08:40:00.000-05:00

Although it's only been a month since my last TUSAL post it feels like it's been much longer. We've had a busy start to our new year here but despite that, a few bad weather days have allowed me to make some considerable progress on my new year starts. I thought I that I would have had much more in the way of orts in my jar, but being the floss miser that I am there's not much to show for what I've accomplished so far. The fact that I'm working with silks on one of my big projects makes me even more of a miser. I don't want to waste any of that lovely silk floss. So here's my little jar of orts to start things off with lots of browns in there from my turkey friend Gobble.

Now that Gobble is finished, I've pulled out two new starts. I really wanted to get started on Plum Street Samplers Olga but I was still waiting on some of the floss to arrive so instead I pulled out the bonus chart that came with Blackbird Designs Winter. It's titled Eveline Cunningham and was personalized for the designer's grandmother. The muted colours and the deer in this one were what drew me to it. I'm stitching it on a lovely, soft piece of Silkweaver jazlyn I pulled from my stash. I haven't settled on how I'll personalize mine yet. Naturally, right after I started it, the floss for Olga arrived. Daniel has expressed an interest in Olga and loves the look of the cat so it's quite possible that he will be gifted with this one at a later date.

I put my Paradis Perdu aside due to the colour issue I ran into earlier. I thought I could work around it for now but found I kept running into that pink colour. So what's a girl to do in the meantime? Start something else, of course!
I decided on Prairie Moon The Good Shepherd. This one calls for NPI silks but my silk budget is already maxed out on PP so I went with the DMC alternates.
I found the perfect piece of fabric for it in my stash. It's a linen by the Blended Needle who are no longer in business and the colour is Parchment. I've used some of this on a previous stitch and was so disappointed when I couldn't find any more of it. Then one day I was browsing on Ebay when I spotted an auction for the very same fabric and was lucky enough to get it. I only wish that it was 32ct rather than 28ct. If anyone out there has any of this they want to part with, I'd be more than happy to take it off of your hands!

Sorry, I was too lazy to take this one off of the Q snaps and press it.

I just started this last night and I'm enjoying to so much that I can't wait to put my needle to fabric again this morning. What is it about some stitches that soothe us more than others? In any case, this one is a winner in my books. It's a very cloudy day here today and even though I used a flash, these pictures still seem a little dull.

We weren't around much on Friday and didn't have a chance to check our P.O. box. Last night on his return from work, my DH emptied it and there was my floss substitution for Paradis. It looks like this shade will work much better than the called for floss which I'm almost certain is a misprint. I sort of ran into the same issue on The Good Shepherd. One of the called for DMC in the design is 719. There is no 719 out there, at least not that I could find. I know our Michaels doesn't carry the complete line of floss but I couldn't even find this one on DMC's listed colour chart. So instead I browsed online for an alternate conversion for the Needlepoint Silk listed and came up with 938 which is the correct colour but nowhere near the number 719. At least I have something that works!

I want to welcome all my new followers. I hadn't been paying much attention to my numbers lately and suddenly realized that I had passed 150 followers. I've been enjoying all the many comments filling my email and have added several blogs to my reader. I hope you stop by frequently. I love hearing from you!

Turkey talk

2012-01-18T10:58:00.000-05:00

My favourite turkey for the past few months has been Plum Street Samplers Gobble. As of Sunday afternoon, he is finished and ready to strut his stuff.

Plum Street Samplers Gobble
stitched on 32 ct PTP Legacy
using DMC floss

I am certainly going to miss this fine fellow for he has accompanied me to various stitching locations in the last few months. I think he will look wonderful next Thanksgiving when he is framed and proudly displayed in my home. I do have another turkey stitch in the wings (pardon the pun!) by Bent Creek which I can always pull to fill the void.

Once more we were hit with a winter storm in our area on Tuesday only this time we received more freezing rain rather than snow. The surface of the snow now has a definite sheen to it and the snow crunches rather loudly underfoot. Last night it was so windy that I couldn't get to sleep for all the noise it was making! I could hear the cracking of the tree branches which are coated in ice. It reminded me of the ice storm we had here in the late '90s.
My Tuesday stitching group cancelled their get together because of the weather so I spent the day stuck indoors, stitching alone. It was just too miserable to go out.

I spent the time catching up on a few of my WIPocalypse goals. I managed to complete The Trilogy Secret Snowdrift which has been hanging around since 2009! This should have been a quick stitch but for some reason or another it has been sitting unfinished in my drawer. I only had a few things left to stitch on it - the last little penguin, the border, some long stitching on the snowmen's arms and attaching a couple of buttons. This will make an adorable pillow or wall hanging.

Now I figure I'm on a roll so next I dug out LHN Acorn Hill. If you remember, when I last stitched on this one in the fall I only had the inner border remaining but had run out of floss. Okay so I ordered the floss and I distinctly remember it arriving sometime before Halloween. I also remember cleaning up my stash room, having the floss in my hand and putting it away. It's the part about putting it away that I can't remember. For the life of me I don't know what the heck I did with that skein! I'll be darned if I was going to order another one so I took the opportunity to try out some of the floss I won during Victorian Motto's Christmas giveaway. One skein of that floss looked almost identical to the CC Brown Sugar that I had been using. I pulled it, started stitching and personally I don't think you can see much of a difference. If you look at the border stitched along the top of the house, that's the Crescent Colour floss and my inner border around the piece is the VM floss.

Little House Needleworks Acorn Hill
stitched on 28 ct Lakeside Linen Buttercream
using Crescent Colours floss and Victorian Motto

Paradis Perdu also received a little bit of attention yesterday. I finished stitching one of the alphabets and started on another.

At the top of this design,beneath another alphabet, it is charted for you to put in your year of birth which coincidentally just happens to be my birth year. Then, under the small alphabet I've just finished, there is a spot for another year. This time though, the pattern calls for only two numerals. They have used 04 which I suspect is the year the design was stitched in. I haven't decided whether to put in all four numbers here or leave it just as 12. There is plenty of room for all four. I'm also thinking of somehow highlighting my initials in the main alphabet with a different coloured floss.

I haven't decided which will be my next new start yet. Anything that I've picked out I'm missing something, either fabric or floss. I'm expecting some orders to arrive within the next few days so I think I'll just stick to my BAP and some ornaments until then. I'm in the process of finishing off the Prairie
Schooler Winter ornament right now.

Time to get a move on! Today our Wednesday group meets and following that I'm heading out on a drive to pick up my son Daniel. He is going to spend a couple of days with us and then return home on the weekend. It's a beautiful, sunny day and the temperature has risen some so I'm actually looking forward to the drive.

After The Storm

2012-01-14T11:39:00.003-05:00

Our two days of freezing rain and snow has finally ended and the sun is out once more. Temperatures have dropped and it's a crispy one out there but I love a day like this where the sun glints off of the snow and ice-covered trees. Winter has definitely arrived now! Below are a couple of shots I took from inside the house during the storm.

A true sign that the storm is past comes with the arrival of the birds again. I heard the Blue Jay first thing this morning. His friend, Mr. Starling, looks a little chilled with his feathers all puffed out! The bird feeder pic also gives you an idea as to how much snow was deposited.

Thanks to the big orange machine the driveway is clear and I can get out without revving the car before I tackle the mound of snow left by the plow.

I spent my time well during the storm, with stitching in hand and a cuppa my new favourite tea, Mint Chocolate Rooibos, which I highly recommend. The latter was courtesy of my youngest son at Christmas. To complete the picture, I put on the Lady Gaga double CD that Chris also gave me and stitched the day away.
Here's my progress on my BAP, Paradis Perdu.

I am really enjoying this one, especially those silks! Don't you just love the sensation as they glide through the fabric?

Gobble would have been finished last night but as you can see from the picture below I ended up frogging a section of the last border. I'd stitched it up too high, by just one hole, but enough that you could see the difference. I thought frogs didn't like cold weather but it's obvious that they don't give a hoot. Of course, I was sitting in front of a warm fireplace so that must be the drawing card! I also changed the date on this to the current year. I got ahead of myself when I stitched in 2011, thinking I could finish it by year's end.

My stitching will now be put aside until tonight. I plan on cooking a couple of casseroles for our casserole ministry at church. Their freezer supplies are dwindling. Then I'm thinking a chili would be nice for supper to warm up our tums. I also plan on having a look see to decide which project will be next up after Gobble's finish. Any suggestions as to which you'd like to see first from my WIPocalypse list?

A very happy birthday to my eldest son Jeff! Jeff is 31 yrs old today and because he lives 3hrs away I won't be able to spend time with him on his special day. Earlier in the week we sent him a Toronto Maple Leafs hoodie which he was thrilled to wear on his visit to meet Felix Potvin, a former goalie for the Leafs. Apparently Felix is coaching some hockey up his way and a friend introduced them. Jeff was in his glory, especially in Habs territory!
I hope you have a wonderful day hon. Love you!
Enjoy your weekend and keep warm!

A Mail Treat

2012-01-12T14:05:00.000-05:00

Over the holidays I learned that I was the lucky winner of Nancy's Christmas floss giveaway at The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. This was a fabulous giveaway of 25 skeins, 20 yrds each, of Nancy's hand-dyed floss. I couldn't believe my luck when I found out I'd won! When I checked yesterday's mail, I found a package waiting for me. Could it be? Yes, it was the floss! Feast your eyes on this beauties!

Nancy is having another giveaway right now for some more of this floss so head on over and join in on the fun. While you're there, check out some of her great designs too! She is an extremely generous lady and loves to share her passion with her readers.

I wanted to show you what my middle son Daniel got me for Christmas. I have a wishlist over at 123 Stitch and Dan took it upon himself to check out my list.
He bought me this gorgeous chart and a needleminder to go with it. Dan knows I love deer which is why he picked this one and I was so thrilled with his thoughtfulness. Thanks honey!

I ran into a small roadblock on my BAP, Pardis Perdu. One of the floss used in the flowers didn't seem to match with the picture of the design. Now I know that these often aren't exactly like the picture but this one didn't even come close. The picture showed some flowers which appear to be a pale pink but the floss I had was a yellow-green colour and didn't go with the floss I'd already used in the design. Since I'd done a silk conversion of this I went back and pulled the DMC floss originally called for. Nope, no mistake on my part. It was the same colour as the silk I had been using. All I can figure is that it is a misprint in the chart. I paid another visit to Hand Dyed Fibers and chose another floss in a pale pink which will work much better. It's on its way to me now and in the meantime I'll work around that area.

I'll have another progress pic of Gobble for you on my next post. My camera battery ran out on me before I could get a photo. I'm nearing the end of this one now and hope to have it finished up by the end of the weekend.

With a finish in the wings I decided to start another small ornament for the Winter Challenge. This one is a Prairie Schooler called Winter. It's from the 2006 issue of the JCS Christmas ornaments.

This one is stitching up pretty quickly which means I can then pull out another start from my list! The weather is on my side as far as stitching goes too since we are receiving a nasty mix of sleet and freezing rain. It started early this morning and has been coming down nonstop.
Okay, so I just looked out the window and now it's turned to snow! DH has cancelled choir practice for tonight and we're going to stay put, snug as two bugs.
Welcome to all of my new followers and thank you for taking the time to drop by and check out my WIPocalypse post. I'm really enjoying this challenge too. I get to see lots of awesome stitching and meet lots of new stitching bloggers. What could be better than that?

January WIPocalypse post

2012-01-08T23:12:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to say that I have a finish, a new start and some progress to report for this first month of the WIPocalypse. I stated that I wanted to complete more Christmas ornaments for this year and my first one is done. My reindeer ornament is complete except for the final finishing.

Santa's Buddies
Designer: Angel Stitchin'
Fabric: 32 ct Silkweaver Sand
Floss: GAST and DMC

I know the tree is leaning in this design but it looks like I might have been leaning as well when I snapped the pic. One ornament done, several more to finish, I hope!

Next up is my progress on Plum Street Samplers Gobble. I've included a before pic so you can see exactly how much I've done. All of this has been done during the holidays, a lot of it while we were driving home to visit family. The border is repetitive so it's a good one to work on in the car.

BEFORE

TO DATE

I didn't think I'd made this much progress until I took the piece off of the Qsnap.
Mind you, I do think I will have to change the date on it. It seems I was a little too optimistic with this one!

As for my new start, this one will also be featured on Becky's BAP Challenge. I've been itching to start this for some time now. There's not much to show but here it is in all it's glory: A Mon Ami Pierre Paradis Perdu.

I'm using the called for count of fabric which is 28ct and I found the perfect piece of Queen Anne's Lace. Unfortunately you can't see the colour all that well in this pic. Hopefully I'll get a better one next time.
I'm stitching this one with Vicky Clayton silks and one NPI silk substitution. It's been ages since I've used silks and I forgot how much I enjoy stitching with them. Too bad I can't afford them all the time!

I've also started another winter ornament but don't have enough progress for a pic yet. I've managed to get in some quality stitching time the past couple of days but I have a busy week ahead so I'm sure there won't be as much to post next time.
I hope you have all had a great weekend and you are fully rested after the busyness of the holiday season.

First finish of 2012

2012-01-06T10:16:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year! We are home once more following our trip to visit our families.
We've come home to a little more snow than before our departure but not all that much more. Weather is so unpredictable at this time of year and we had to delay our departure both coming and going on this trip due to winter storms along the route. I always breathe a sigh of relief when we arrive at our destination.

I managed to get in a little stitching time during my visit but a good portion of my stitching was done on the road. I've made some significant progress on Gobble and I'll be posting a pic on this month's WIPocalypse. In the meantime I have a small finish and a progress pic for you.

This ornament is one I started just before Christmas but didn't have time to finish. It's called Santa's Buddies by Angel Stitchin and is from the JCS Christmas 2009 magazine. As you can see from the picture, I'm very close to a finish. Only a small amount of stitching left and then the beads. Can you tell where all the beads are going?

My first finish for 2012 is one of my smallest finishes ever. It's by Trail Creek Farms and is called Winter. I haven't decided whether to finish it off as a fob or a small ornament. Once the finishing is complete I'll post a pic to the Winter Challenge which Becky is hosting. This challenge is a continuation of the Christmas ornament challenge but with a winter theme.

Winter by Trail Creek Farm
stitched on 32 ct Ayrloom opalescent lugana
using Six Strand Sweets floss

Very shortly I'll be starting my BAP for the year, Paradis Perdu by A Mon Ami Pierre. I just want to get a little further on Gobble first. I'm really enjoying seeing all the new starts out there in Blogland. There are some wonderful choices which find me straying from my list and checking out other charts. The temptation to purchase a few of these is so strong, but so far I've managed to resist and stay on track.

Our Christmas celebration was a short one but sooo much fun! All three of my sons arrived together and brought their girlfriends and their families with them too. We were 11 in number which I know is relatively small by some family standards but for us it's a big group. We got to meet Pasquale's children who are really delightful. The language barrier didn't seem to be an issue at all and the kids were so proud to try out their limited English with us. They were surprised that I understood so much French and in Bob's case, language wasn't needed at all. I woke up the morning following our Christmas to find all four kids giggling at the dining room table. Bob was entertaining them by teaching them how to cross their eyes! Here are a few pics from our fun.

Show Me The Money! which my sons were more than happy
to do after receiving such a generous gift.

In the next pic we are all sporting paper crowns. Does anyone else use the Christmas crackers which contain these? Each cracker pulls open with a crack when you tug on both ends and out falls a paper hat and a small prize. Growing up, we always had these at my Grandmother Kearn's house at Christmas. The crackers were hard to find for many years but are resurfacing and it's one of the traditions that I have carried on down through the years.

I want to thank all of you for the concern and best wishes you extended for my Mom and MIL. My MIL is 93 now and has slowed down quite a bit in the last year. Her mind is as sharp as a tack though and we love to visit with her and here her recount stories from her youth. On this visit we were able to gather as a family for dinner including some of Bob's cousins from Michigan. Only Bob's oldest brother and family were unable to join us since they don't live in the area.

My Mom was feeling well enough that we were also able to gather for a family dinner. Her days of cooking are over so we also met at a local eatery. Honestly, this trip has been about nothing but eating! We have done nothing but eat out for the past two weeks!! My recent weight loss has been seriously challenged and the scales showed an increase of 3 lbs damage. I'm glad to be home and back on track again.
Following our dinner, we returned to Mom's where I got to catch up with my sisters. Laurie has lost 60 lbs on WW and looks fabulous! Way to go Laurie! I hope I'm able to come close to your success.

The 3 Ls - Laurie, Lynn, Lana and Mom

My Mom is finally starting to get some answers to her health problems. I went with her to one of her doctor appointments and it looks like some back surgery is necessary in the next few months. In the meantime they are hoping to give her injections to freeze the problem area in the spine which should help control her pain and give her more mobility. She is still undergoing tests for some other health issues. She is so frustrated because she went from being quite active to a dead standstill. Since she is unable to get out much my sisters visit frequently. I'm the one who lives the furthest away and I only get home to visit a couple of times a year so Mom was very glad to have my company.

Now I've returned to the post Christmas mess at my place. We left the day after my sons so I still have to take down all my decorations. I'll get started at some of it today and finish taking down the tree tomorrow. I miss all the glitter of the season but it's nice to return to normal.

Looking forward to seeing more posts from all the fun challenges out there!
Happy stitching!

Blogging break

2011-12-28T13:24:00.000-05:00

After finally catching up on my Google reader, I'll now be taking a bit of a break as I head to Windsor to visit my Mom and MIL. My Mom hasn't been all that well the past few months and we are told that my MIL is starting to fail physically. So we both feel that that is where we should be right now.
I'm not sure if I'll have internet access or not when I arrive. I know that there is no wireless access at Mom's. In the past I've used a mobile internet stick. When the plan expired, I told them to cancel for now and I would buy pre paid data as needed. However when I called yesterday to add that data, nobody at Rogers seemed to know what they were doing and if it was at all possible. Yet initially I was told there would be no problem! Figures!!
So you may or may not hear from me during the next week or so. When I return, I hope to have some stitchy pics for you on my latest progress.

I'll take the time now to wish the very best for all my blogging friends in 2012. I hope you all have a very healthy, blessed and Happy New Year!!

Final TUSAL post for 2011

2011-12-24T11:53:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that an entire year of posting TUSALs has come and gone! It's been great fun seeing everyone's progress and I'm definitely in for 2012.
Not too much stitching this month.

I only managed to fill the one little jar which contains lots of reds,greens and whites! Lots of those colours were from my Jenny Bean Christmas. I've now dumped the contents into my large jar and will continue to add to it what meager orts I have from now until Jan. 1st. I still have one last ornament for 2011 that I'm working on my I don't hold out much hope I'll finish it by the end of the month. After Christmas is over we are travelling to visit our mother's and will be gone for several days. Since pretty much only beading remains on the ornie it will be difficult to get done while I'm away. I can stitch in the car but I'm not even attempting beading. Looking forward to seeing all your posts in the New Year!

A finish in the Nick of time!

2011-12-23T22:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was slated to be my finishing marathon for my granddaughters' Christmas ornaments. I saved myself some time by eliminating the beading. I tried a few different beads on one of the ornaments and wasn't really happy with the look. The ornaments were stitched on opalescent fabric and once I added the beads it just seemed to be too much. So I snipped off the few beads I'd added, stitched on my crystal stars and got started with the finishing. By noon I had both of them finished. I used the same backing fabric on each one but I ran out of trim to do both the same so each ornament has a slightly different look. Here's the results....

M Designs Name Tree - Oceanne
32 ct Silkweaver Solo opalescent
using DMC variations

M Designs Name Tree - Summer
32 ct Silkweaver Solo opalescent
using DMC variations

I'm pretty pleased with the results. It only took me two years to complete them, lol!
I took the pictures of them as they hung on my new little twig tree. It will be able to accomodate a lot more ornaments than my present tree. I had a few holes on the tree so I hung some little birds on the branches and hung a few of my smaller glass ornies as well.

I've been getting my list together for Measi's WIPocalypse. I have very few unfinished works so most of my list will be made up of new starts.

Two unfinished works that I do want to complete are The Trilogy's Secret Snowdrift as well as Plum Street Samplers Gobble.
Other works I'd like to stitch in the new year include the following:

1. Feather Your Nest by With Thy Needle and Thread

2. Paradis Perdu by A Mon Ami Pierre

3. Snow Day by With Thy Needle and Thread

4. Turkey Love by Plum Street Samplers

5. Tis The Season by Blackbird Designs

6. Olga by Plum Street Samplers

7. Prairie Moon's The Good Shepherd

8. Prairie Schooler's Garden Sampler - the Birdhouse Sampler

In addition to these I want to continue stitching more ornaments both for Christmas and Halloween.
Let's see how far I can get with these aspirations!

I wish all of my readers a very blessed Christmas and all good wishes for a Happy 2012! I thank you all for the friendship you have extended to me in the past year. I've been so very blessed to have so many stitching friends. Thank you.

Our tree, a finish and a RAK

2011-12-19T17:05:00.000-05:00

As you can see, Santa is getting his list of the nice and naughty all ready for the big night! Which one will you be on this year?

Our tree is finally up. This year we decided to put it in our rec room however its usual corner has now been occupied by a computer desk. So after much discussion and some moving of furniture it now occupies the corner next to our gas fireplace. Fortunately it's not a real tree so it won't dry out. I love a real tree but it's not practical with us being away for a few days. I don't want my friends to have to look after the tree in addition to the cat.
I'm also posting a few of my favourite ornaments on the tree. Since most of these ornaments are breakable, I've only begun collecting them and displaying them since the boys grew up and left home. The poinsetttias are made of velvet and wired for bending the leaves. They fit over the miniature tree lights and look so pretty when lit! The tree skirt is one that I hooked when my oldest was just a baby. We dug it out of hiding this year. Unfortunately my tree top won't fit the tree since the ceilings are lower in the basement.

As you can see this was a gift from my younger sister Laurie

Laurie also gave me this moose.
Don't you just love his snowshoes?

This is the very first Christmas gift my hubby ever gave me.
I used to figure skate when I was younger.
He found this ornament when we were on our honeymoon.

These two are the newest additions to our tree.

I found a lovely surprise waiting for me in this week's mail. My cousin Sheryl sent me the sweetest RAK. It's a needleminder from Puffin & Company. Being the cat lover that I am I think you can figure out which one it is.

Isn't he/she cute? I'll say it's a female since that's what our kitty is. Thank you so much Sheryl!! You are such a sweetheart!

My Tuesday night group had their Christmas party and gift exchange last week. I tried out a new recipe to take with me..... gingerbread pumpkin trifle. It was awesome and I'll definitely be making this one again!

One of the members or our group likes to make beaded fobs which she then sells. I asked her to make me one of her fobs to go with my Dinky Dyes Oh Canada scissors. She did a fabulous job! I've posted a pic of the little charm as well which is a beaver. The beaver is our national animal although there are some recently who have talked about changing it to a polar bear.

This afternoon I finished another ornie for my collection. This one is Blue Ribbons Designs Red Birds for Peace. I finally finished up the over one stitching on the birds. They're weren't nearly as bad as I expected. The final finishing won't be done until the new year.

That about wraps things up for now (no pun intended!). I hope to have one final post before Christmas with a picture of my granddaughters' ornaments. I'm currently working on their finishing. I hope in all the craziness of the season that you each can take a little time for yourself to relax and reflect. Just in case I don't have time for that next post, I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for a Happy New Year!

Jenny Bean's Christmas and an Exchange Gift

2011-12-17T10:34:00.000-05:00

Just in time for the holiday, may I present Miss Jenny Bean's Christmas.......

Jenny Bean's Christmas by Shakespeare's Peddler
stitched on 32 ct Lakeside Linen Magnolia
using Gentle Arts Floss

This was the first design by Theresa Venette of Shakespeare's Peddler that I've ever stitched and it won't be the the last, that's for sure. I loved working on this one! I've had several comments by non stitchers who've seen me working on this that they really like the design and colours. Theresa has created a new design for the retreat in Williamsburg, VA and has a few extra kits left to offer. It's called A Wassailing and you can see a picture of it here. If you want one of the kits, you can put in a request on her blog. It's first come, first serve and I put in my request as soon as I saw the kit.

I also found the time to finish up one of the ornaments that I stitched last year. It's LHN Pear Tree and up until now it's been hiding in the bottom drawer with all my stitching finishes. There are several more ornaments hiding in that drawer which also should be hanging on my tree but there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get them all finished. Finishing takes me forever! Before I even start, I could spend hours just trying to decide which fabric, trim, etc. I should use. I envy those of you who can finish up an ornament within a short period of time.

Speaking of ornaments, lookee what the postman brought me on Friday!

Not one, but two of the sweetest little snowmen! These cuties were an exchange gift I received from Patty. I have admired this pattern on several blogs where they have stitched this design and I was so pleased to see that I won't have to stitch one for myself now. They're both finished so beautifully and each one sports a little Hand Made with Love charm on the reverse.

Aren't they gorgeous? Thank you very much Patty! They will always have a treasured spot on my Christmas tree each year.

I have recently purchased a new tree for my ornaments. My existing little tree is too small to hold anymore. I've been keeping a look out for a small twig tree but I found they wanted a terrible price for the ones I'd seen. Finally, in my own backyard, I found a sweet little tree that is just perfect for my ornaments. I'll have a picture of it to show you on my next post along with pics of my main Christmas tree. My son Daniel helped me finish off the decorating on Thursday. It was his birthday and it's a tradition that he helps me decorate the tree on his special day.

Happy Birthday Daniel and thanks for all your help!

Another giveaway alert!

2011-12-10T21:04:00.000-05:00

I just finished posting and went to comment on Nancy's blog at The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe when I noticed that she is having an additional Christmas giveaway. This one is for floss, trims and charts! If you have never checked out Nancy's pretties now is the time. She has some amazing trims.

Christmas decorating and an awesome giveaway

2011-12-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

Slowly but surely I'm getting around to decorating our home for Christmas. Now that the boys are no longer here to help out, I tend to do things in stages over the course of a few days. Our tree is not up yet and won't be until later next week but I have found some favourites to come out of their year long storage boxes.

This collection of snowmen sits on one end of my mantel in our rec room. Two of the three were gifts from a friend.

I found this primitive angel several years ago. I can't remember where I found her but she has been a favourite ever since.

This festively adorned couple are new additions this year. They are gracing the other end of our mantel. I originally picked up just the one bear on the left. Then I spotted its mate and she just looked so lonesome sitting by herself and I couldn't leave without the two of them. I know my granddaughters will adore them!

I'm changing things up this year with a lot of our decor. Much of it has been around since the kids were young and is getting a little outdated. I'm giving a lot of it to my sons now especially to Jeff since he doesn't have a lot of decorations for the girls. The picture below was taken on my visit to their place last weekend.

Here is the birthday girl showing off her Christmas tree. All of the ornaments on that tree have been around since their father was a baby. I bought them for our first tree after I was married. Jeff was thrilled when I offered them to him and the girls are now picking out their favourites. The girls decorated the tree themselves which is obvious if you had seen the whole thing. Most of the ornaments are located on the bottom third of the tree!

I tried to get some decent pictures but it was one of those times when the girls were being silly and just not cooperating. I only managed to get a couple of halfway decent shots. Here's one of Oceanne. I just can't believe how much taller she seems to have got since the summer! She seems to be all legs.

You can see the results of their silliness in the next photo. They like to dress up as princesses but thought that it would be fun to dress up Dad this time. Jeff's friend Pasquale seems to get a kick out of his new look!

I'm frantically trying to get those ornaments done for the girls. All of the stitching is now complete and I'm at the beading stage. I hope to get started on that this evening. Christmas concerts have kept my DH and me rather busy so there hasn't been a heck of a lot of stitching time. Plus I seem to have a lingering headache ever since my dental work on Wednesday. They were drilling into my jaw for the implant and the freezing didn't take 100% which has result in this persistent headache. It's slowly receding and I hope to be back to my old self by weekend's end.

I spent all day today completing my Christmas wrapping. I prefer to get it all done in one day otherwise there is wrapping paper lying all over the place. That leaves my Christmas cards and baking remaining. Oh yeah and the tree. That should be up by week's end as we then celebrate my middle son's birthday as well as my hubby's. Bob's is on Monday and Dan's is on Thursday so we usually have a joint celebration involving chocolate cake of some sort. The two of them are chocoholics!

Now I'm off to try and get in a few stitches. Before I go, I wanted to let you know about the awesome giveaway that Nancy is having over at The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. She's having a fabulous giveaway of her own hand dyed floss. Definitely worth your while. I promise some stitchy pics next week

Exchange received

2011-12-07T00:44:00.000-05:00

A couple of months ago, Patty inquired as to whether anyone was interested in doing an exchange with her. I replied that I'd love to and so for the past several weeks I've been working on this little guy.

Winter Joy by SamSarah Design Studio,
32ct Sassy's Sugared Cocoa
Just Cross Stitch Ornament Preview Issue 2007

I had so much fun working on this one! Patty is a fan of snowmen so I also tucked in a few other little goodies with the ornament. You can sneak a peek at them on Patty's blog. I'm so glad that she was pleased with everything.

In addition to the exchange, I've been trying to get the M Designs name trees finished for my granddaughters. Anyone who is a regular reader of this blog will know that I have been stitching these over the course of the past two years. I kept telling myself that the girls were still young and there was plenty of time to get them done. Well, the girls are now 6 and 5 and their Dad recently asked me if I had ever finished them. Time to get moving! The stitching on Oceanne's tree is done and Summer's is almost there! These are my first attempts at over one stitching.

M Designs Name Tree - Oceanne

Oceanne

M Designs Name Tree - Summer

Once the stitching is complete, I still have to add the beads and treasures to both trees and then do the final finishing. Knowing me, that will take another week's work (or more!) before they are completely done. I'm determined that they'll receive these this year!

After my recent ornament finishing spree, I started another. This one is a Blue Ribbon Design called Red Birds for Peace. It was stitching up pretty quickly until I realized that the cardinals in this design are stitched over one. So it will wait until the name trees are completed before I tackle it.

I'm heading into the city shortly for my weekly Tuesday group. I skipped out last week because I just didn't feel like doing the drive into town. Tonight I'll concentrate on my JB Christmas which has been neglected lately. After all, I can't work on the over one stitching there without the use of my trusty magnifying lamp (which at the moment is still minus the lamp portion).

My visit with my granddaughters on Saturday was so much fun! I haven't had time to upload the pictures yet so I'll have one or two on my next post. I haven't been home a whole lot lately but when I have, I've been trying to do a little decorating for Christmas. Our tree won't be up for a little while yet but I have lots of other decor to spread around. Hopefully I'll have a few pics of those next post as well. Tomorrow I'll be spending a good part of the day in the dentist chair getting an implant. Wish me luck!

Ornamentizing

2011-12-02T10:56:00.000-05:00

I spent a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon with my crafting group finishing up some of my ornaments. Now only one of these is a new stitch. The other two have been waiting since last year to be beautified.
I don't own a sewing machine and to be honest, I'm not sure I'd even remember how to thread the thing. I haven't sewn since my home economics classes in highschool. So I rely on the generosity of several friends for the use of their machines to finish my pillow ornaments. I provide the materials, they sew the pillows, and then I do the stuffing and trim. I've talked about getting my own machine but all three tell me not to bother if that's all I'm using it for.
Here's the results of mine and their efforts this past Wednesday.

I have three or four more ornaments with backing fabric and trims all picked just waiting for me to finish them off. I'm not using a pillow finish on these and so I hope to get to them next week.
I have very few ornaments that are actually finished. My aim over the next year is to get enough ornaments done to decorate a second tree which is nothing but stitched finishes. In the meantime I have my small ornament tree which is holding the current finishes.

Once I finish off these remaining ornaments I won't have much more room on this little tree. So how many ornaments do I need for a bigger tree? Anyone out there who has such a tree in their home who could give me an idea? I'm guessing it might be two years before I have enough completed!

This weekend is a busy one. I'm heading to Drummondville for a belated fifth birthday celebration with my granddaughter. It's a 3 hr trip one way so I've been praying for good weather. They're further north than we are and often have much more snow and earlier than we do. Fortunately, tomorrow is forecast to be a lovely sunny day and my son tells me that what snow they had has melted with some recent mild temperatures.

I'm singing at a carol service for Advent tonight and then again on Sunday with our community choir. The season is upon us!!

Happy New Year

2011-11-30T11:24:00.000-05:00

The season of Advent is upon us once more and in the Western Christian church it is the beginning of a new liturgical year. Advent is a preparatory season and is marked by a spirit of expectation, anticipation, and preparation. So many times I get too caught up in my preparations and forget to pause and remember what it is that we are preparing for. In our home we have an Advent wreath which was given by a friend to Bob and me prior to celebrating our first Christmas together. Every year since then our Advent wreath has graced our table. The lighting of the candles on the four Sundays prior to Christmas helps me pause and reflect on the true meaning of the upcoming season. On the first Sunday in Advent my DH always wishes our choir a Happy New Year. It is a gentle reminder to us all.

We had a house guest this past weekend so our weekend was a busy one but the rest of the week was fairly quiet which allowed me to finish stitching these two ornaments. The first is the companion ornament from Tra La La Duo de Noel. This one stitched up just as quickly as the first and I will be doing the final finishing today at our Wednesday afternoon group.

Tra La La Duo de Noel (ornament #2)
stitched on 32 ct natural linen
using DMC

The second ornament is a freebie called Winter Sampler by Carolyn Hofstede of Cosmic Handmade. If there is no time for the finishing today I hope to get it done up by the weekend.
This was another quick stitch and I thought it appropriate for the beginning of Advent.

Winter Sampler by Cosmic Handmade
stitched on 32 ct natural linen
using DMC

As I sit here writing this there has been a dog, a golden Lab I think, making repeated trips from my driveway and then down the street. Each time he has been carrying something in his mouth. Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure it's not from my yard but I haven't figured out yet what he's doing. He's already made three trips back and forth. I snapped this pic quickly through the window as he trotted by. You can see that he is carrying something in his mouth.

The weather has been mild this way and our snow has disappeared but rain has taken its place. I had hoped to walk to join the group today but I don't feel like braving the damp. I'm off a little early now to join them for lunch. Catch up with you later!

TUSAL Update

2011-11-25T15:31:00.000-05:00

Once again TUSAL time is here. My little ort jars are filling up with wonderful reds, greens and whites from all my Christmas stitching. I think we could probably determine what season it is by the colours in our ort jars.

I've been working on some ornaments this week for the challenge and have only one picture to share. You saw this little fellow on my last post but now he's all finished up into an ornament for my tree. For now I've hung him from the door to my grandfather clock.

I've almost finished the stitching on the companion piece to this one and hope to get it finished up at my stitching group next week. Tonight I'll be starting on another ornie. Then I'll take a break and get back to Jenny Bean's Christmas next week.

Happy Stitching!

First Snow

2011-11-23T12:10:00.001-05:00

It's arrived! The first of the white stuff. Here's the view out my window when I opened my blinds this morning.

This is just a quick post to show off my latest finish. My little Tra La La Duo de Noel ornament was a very quick stitch and I plan on doing the second of the charts next. This afternoon I will be finishing this off into a small pillow ornament at my Wednesday afternoon stitching group.

Tra La La Duo de Noel finished as an ornament
on 32ct Sassy's Sugared Cocoa
using DMC floss

Now I'm off for a quick lunch before I head out stitching. I'm walking so I have to dig out the winter boots once more. Hope I can find them!

Catching Up

2011-11-22T09:20:00.000-05:00

I'm slowly starting to catch up with my stitching now that our renovations are completed. Unfortunately I can't show my one finish since it is for an exchange. The stitching on this one is completed and I just have to do the actual finishing.

What I can show you is the square which I stitched on The Twelve Days of Christmas. Our Tuesday night stitching group meets in a local church hall. One of the members of this church approached our group with a cross stitch kit of The Twelve Days of Christmas. It's a Design Works publication and the designer is Joan Elliott. I didn't get all the details and I'm not sure if this kit had already been started and this lady was unable to finish or what but in any case we were asked if we would take on the job of finishing this piece. Several of our members volunteered and we treated the project as a round robin with each one of us finishing a different portion of the design. You either stitched a square, worked on the border, did the lettering or beading. I chose to stitch Six Geese A Laying.

I wasn't entirely happy stitching this one since I no longer enjoy stitching on aida which was the fabric plus it's just not something I would stitch myself. I did my part as a thank you to the church since they don't charge us any rental fee for the use of the hall. There's not much left to be done on this now so we should have it completed in time for the holiday.

Now that my obligation stitching is completed I can get back to stitching on Jenny Bean and some more Christmas ornaments for the challenge. I started another one last night. As I was stitching on my Tra La La Noel Sampler, I thought that a portion of the design would make a cute ornament. So this is what I'm working on at this point.

There's a definite nip in the air here now and I had to dig out my winter jacket for the first time this season. Gosh I hate bundling up!

I want to wish all of my American blogging friends a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a most enjoyable holiday with friends and family. And for those of you who are travelling during the holiday, stay safe!

It's nuts around here!

2011-11-15T09:34:00.000-05:00

Two things have prevented me from getting a lot of stitching done this past week. The first is the ongoing renovations to repair our flood damage. Workers have been coming and going, drywall dust is everywhere and displaced items are in my way everywhere in the house. It makes things very hard to settle and concentrate. However the new carpet will be laid on Wednesday and all our ~~junk~~ belongings put back in their rightful place Thursday. DH and I spent yesterday washing drywall dust off of most surfaces.

The second thing which hasn't helped my stitching any is that my Daylite lamp with magnifying lens appears to be on its way out. The light keeps flickering and now has finally died, all of which is due to a broken socket. Bob tried to repair it yesterday with no luck. He has a local fellow that he's going to take it to for repair. I have some table top Ott lites but it's not the same especially without the magnification. I'm hoping the repair doesn't take too long. Last time he repaired my lamp I didn't have it for a month.
I see that JoAnn's has had a sale on the Ottlites. Perhaps I should make a visit stateside to pick one up.

Don't you just love the pics of my furry visitor? I've never seen a squirrel with white tufts of fur on the ears like this one. Her partner in crime could be distinguished by the beige vest that he was sporting.

I've put my ornaments aside this week in favour of Jenny Bean's Christmas. I really enjoy stitching this one and find it so unique for a Christmas design.

It appears my iron isn't working all that well these days! It's just not putting out the heat even when I try the steam setting. Sorry about the mussy pic.

The second piece I've been working on is for an exchange so I can't show any peeks of that one yet. I've also made a start on Tra La La Duo Noel. I wasn't far into it before I discovered a mistake in the charting of the alphabet. The W didn't look anything like what it should and came out looking like a more glorified letter V. The charts for both of these two stitches have the same alphabet so I flipped the chart over to the second stitch and found the correct lettering. Now I'm back on track. I'm thinking that my next ornament stitch will be using the top portion of one of these designs minus the alphabet.

I'm hoping to get back to my ornament stitching next week. During the past two weeks I've managed to get almost all of my Christmas shopping done. Just a few items left such as stocking stuffers for my granddaughters. The weather here has been unseasonably mild which has also aided me in getting my Christmas lights out on my shrubs.

I've recently picked up a few Christmas baking magazines to help me pick out some new cookies for this year's baking. I always try to find one or two new ones to try each year. I love the BH&G Cookie issues that come out every fall. A second favourite are the Canadian Living issues. Oh yes and the Taste of Home seasonal magazines. This one is an older issue I dug out. I always manage to find some new favourites within the covers of these three. I'm so excited that I actually have the time to bake this year!

With extra time on my hands I also joined the new casserole ministry at our church. We will be cooking up casseroles and freezing them. These will be used to send out to any members of the congregation who fall ill and are unable to cook for themselves or to anyone who has a death within their family. Before this ministry was announced, DH and I made three casseroles last week for friends who took sick. I think it's a wonderful idea and there is definitely a need. After all, many members of the congregation are elderly and live on their own so there is no one else to cook for them should they fall ill.

Lots of Christmas craft and bake sales are popping up in our area and I noticed that the stores are now displaying their seasonal finery. It certainly brightens up the dull November landscape. Lots to see and do! I hope that some of the excitement of the upcoming season is spreading your way. I can hardly wait until I have my family all together once more!

Do You See What I See?

2011-11-07T17:44:00.000-05:00

Do You See What I See?
by Deanna Carter of Carousel Charts
stitched on 32 ct Lambswool
using DMC

Can you believe it? Two weekend ornament finishes! I'm actually making some progress with this challenge. The first design is from the Dec. 2007 issue of Gift of Stitching magazine. I backed it with the fabric shown and trimmed it with some of the chenille I won from Victorian Motto Sampler. In this picture it doesn't look like there is very good coverage on the shepherd's robe but IRL it looks just fine.

My second ornie is called Christmas Love. It's designed by X-Appeal Designs and is from the Just Cross Stitch 2003 ornament issue. I used the same fabric for it as I did for my Noel ornament since it went so well with this piece. I used a mix of DMC and CC floss. I wanted some more variegation in the tree itself.

I'm pretty new to pillow finishes and I still have a few problems with them. I tend to understuff them and my corners leave a lot to be desired! I do have a question regarding these finishes. Do you attach your hangar before or after finishing your pillow? It doesn't seem to be as neat when you attach it after the fact.
In any case, they're coming together, slow but sure!

Christmas Love
by Deanna Carter of Carousel Charts
stitched on 32 ct white linen

I'm going to give the ornaments a break for a day or so and concentrate on JB Christmas. Besides, I have trouble making up my mind as to what ornament to stitch next. I have another stitch for Christmas on the go too but it's a gift so I can't show anything yet.
Hope your week is off to a good start!

First finish for the challenge

2011-11-03T10:02:00.000-04:00

Noel by Log Cabin Needleworks ( a freebie)
stitched on 25 ct Floba using DMC

I've completed my first finish for the Christmas Ornament Challenge. It was a really quick stitch and I did the finishing on it this morning. Not sure if I like the trim but I wanted to use up what I have in my stash. I found this cute fabric for finishing at the bottom of my fabric box and the colours were perfect!

I'm off to get started on ornie number 2!

Halloween's over, Bring on Christmas stitching!

2011-11-01T09:40:00.003-04:00

I know that many of you start to bring out your Christmas garland once Halloween has past. Although we don't decorate here quite that early it doesn't mean that I can't start thinking about Christmas! Becky's Christmas Ornament Challenge starts today and I'm kitted up and ready to go. I'll put my first stitches in after I finish this post. I have so many ornaments designs that I've dug out to stitch. I'll be happy if I can finish even a couple of these. I know I won the Pumpkin Challenge last year but too many other activities start to take place in the next few weeks and I won't have a hope of completing as many projects as I did then.

However I have been stitching away on my Jenny Bean Christmas Sampler and really enjoying it! I'll put this aside now for a few days while I get started on my ornaments.

No, I haven't forgotten about Gobble. I've put a few more stitches into it as well and will have another progress pic soon. Yesterday's mail brought the charts from the rest of the series.

Gather, Give and Ghoul all look like such fun stitches. They won't get done in the near future but I certainly hope to start on at least one of them in the coming year. Eventually it would be nice to have them all hung in a group.

Another PSS design which was a recent ebay win also showed up yesterday. It's called A Handwork's Pace. I love the verse on this one. Click on the pic to read it.

My youngest arrived home on the weekend for a very short visit. He wanted to see his girlfriend and attend some of the Halloween festivities in the area. We caught up with them on Sunday for lunch. He showed me some great pics taken of the two of them in costume. He was supposed to email them to me but they haven't shown up yet. In the meantime I snapped a pic of them during our visit.

Chris always loved watching me carve our Halloween pumpkins. He asked if I was still doing them. I sure am! Below is a pic of this year's carvings. Sorry it's a bit grainy. I didn't bother setting up the tripod to take it and should have with the low light setting.

Time to get to those ornaments! Hope you have a good start to your week and I'll catch up with you soon!

Edited: Okay so right after I posted this, the pics from Chris showed up. You saw the pic above, now see them dressed for two different events.

The first pic they donned makeup for a walking tour at Screamers in Toronto and the second photo is of Chris dressed as Chucky. and Steph dressed as Tiff, Chucky's bride. Love the makeup! Can you tell that my son is a horror film buff, lol? Seems his girlfriend has similar interests!

I've also included a pic that he sent me from this year's Festival of Fear in Toronto. Believe it or not, this is Doug Bradley who played Hellraiser from the movie of the same name. Chris also got to meet Robert Englund who played Freddy Kruger.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T16:34:00.000-04:00

Hope your treats are plenteous and your tricks are few! A stitchy update to follow tomorrow.

A Christmas start, TUSAL and Crumpets

2011-10-26T11:07:00.000-04:00

Christmas is fast approaching, at least in terms of stitching it is! Having completed my Halloween Quaker I gave myself permission for a new start. Jenny Bean's Christmas Sampler is one that I've had my eye on for some time now. I have several of the Shakespeare's Peddler designs in my stash but this is the first that I've pulled to try. I'm stitching it on LL Magnolia and I'm really loving this fabric! Lots of lovely coloured floss too! I'll be packing this one up for my stitching this afternoon.

The new moon is upon us once more and with that comes TUSAL.
My little ort jars were pretty full this month. Lots of blacks, browns, rusts and golds from Halloween Quaker and Acorn Hill. My large jar appears to be just the perfect size to hold my annual orts. When I stopped by my girlfriend's place the other night she had the same jar but it was filled with potpourri. If you remember, this jar has holes on top of the cap so it's the perfect jar for scenting a room in this way plus it showed off the dried berries perfectly.

Last night's weekly stitch was filled with fun. Many of the ladies had just returned from the Fall Retreat in Gananoque. Unfortunately I was not one of them since it's just not in the budget. The retreats are now being run by Laura of Enchanting Lair designs. Laura hand dyes fabric and she brought a selection of her fabs to retreat. Following retreat the fabrics were sent along with a member of our stitching group for those of us who couldn't make the retreat.

Okay so you all know what happens when there is a table full of fabric and a room full of stitchers! Lots of ooohs, aaahs and major fondling going on! I had hoped to pick up some more 32 ct for my stash but it all sold at the retreat so I came home with these two pieces of 28ct.

The one on the left is a lugana and the one on the right is a linen. I had a terrible time taking photos of these though. The linen is one of her new colours called Spydermyst. You can't see it from this pic but it has a very subtle mottling throughout it. I already have a project in mind for this one.

The lugana fabric is oh so yummy! Isn't this a wonderful piece of fabric! That mottling is like a soft copper colour and I snapped this piece up as soon as I saw it. It's called Smouldering Skies. It would work great for an autumn or Halloween stitch I think.

On the lighter side, I've discovered crumpets! I haven't mentioned it here yet but I've been trying to shed some pounds. I have an athritic hip and haven't been able to exercise much. Combine that with my high blood pressure and it's time to drop some weight. My biggest downfall are breads. Actually carbs in general but breads just seem to call my name! We've replaced our bread with the Weight Watchers version but it just doesn't seem the same for my morning toast.

Yesterday I paid a trip to our local grocer and discovered these little goodies on the shelves.

Okay so I'd heard of crumpets but I never really knew what they were. Turns out, this particular brand has 0 gms of fat and a very low carb count. Hmmm, how would they taste toasted? I dropped the package into the cart and headed home with them. This morning was the true test. I love them! The bottom looks almost like a pancake and the spongy surface soaks up my reduced calorie jelly, filling the whole crumpet with flavour. Along with my shredded wheat it is keeping the hunger pangs away quite nicely. Who knew!!

I hope you all have the time to fit in at least a few stitches this week and welcome to my new followers!

A finish of sorts and a flood

2011-10-24T23:49:00.000-04:00

LHN Acorn Hill
stitched on 28ct Lakeside Linen Buttercream
using Crescent Colour floss

While Acorn Hill may look finished, it's actually missing an inner border. The second border looks just like the one at the top of the house and runs around the inside of the outer brown one. I ran out of floss to stitch this with and it should be arriving any day now. I realized about two weeks ago that I would probably run short so I paid a little visit to my ONS to order another skein. Of course I couldn't stop at just that! I threw in a chart as well, one of the new fall releases by With Thy Needle & Thread. Hopefully they'll make an appearance in my mailbox shortly.
After all the colour trouble I had with this one it turned out not too badly at all.

I'm having colour issues again but this time it's with BBD Trix or Treat. One of the required flosses is a blue-black shade however my skein is pretty much all black so there will be no variation between the crow and his hat. I've put this one aside for now. I was never really happy with the fabric and since I haven't got very far with it, I'm thinking I just might restart the whole thing. I'm wanting to get going on some Christmas stitching so this will get put on the back burner for now until I decide where I'm going with it.

Other than this, I haven't got any other stitching done.Here's where the flood comes in! Late last week Bob and I arrived home to find that our hot water tank had given up the ghost and in the process leaked all its contents on the basement floor. Our basement is a finished one and fortunately the damage could have been much worse. The water ran behind the tank into the next room which is a storage room with a cement floor. However from there it ran out into the hall and soaked the carpeting along the entire length of the hallway and into the spare bedroom. The carpeting was ruined and the drywall soaked up a good portion of the water. It's hard to see in this picture but the darker area is the wet portion of the carpeting. When you stepped on it the water came up and covered your shoes!

We have replacement coverage for the tank since it's a rental and the gas company was quick to show up with the new tank the next morning. A call to the insurance company has resulted in our wet carpeting being cut up and removed along with the wet drywall and then heavy duty blowers being brought in to dry out the remaining wall and floors. They have assured me that they will replace the entire carpet in the rec room not just the hallway and a fellow from the carpet store is coming out this week to bring samples for me to choose from. Of course new drywall has to installed too. It's the thought of moving everything when they replace the carpet that finally got us geared up to do a major cleaning downstairs the past few days. Our rec room is around 1100 sq feet and besides the furnishings, a good portion of the floor space is covered by boxes and file cabinets. What do they contain? Music, music and more music!! Every available surface down there has sheet music on it. I kid you not! It happens when you marry an organist/choir director!

Since all those furnishings have to be moved, the mess on them has to be cleaned off and all the extra boxes removed. While the new carpeting is being laid, all the furniture will be sitting out in the garage (including my stitching chair and lamp). I haven't got a clue how'll they fit it all in there! We've managed to clean up most of the main room but still have to get everything filed away in the spare bedroom which also serves as Bob's office. This room will also get new carpeting.

So it looks like we'll be living in a bit of a mess for the next couple of weeks. The thought of the drywall dust alone scares the heck out of me. That stuff gets everywhere! Wish me luck!!

My first exchange has arrived!

2011-10-19T11:52:00.000-04:00

Prairie Schooler 1994 Prairie Fairie

This year I decided that I would take the leap and participate in my first exchange since I have a lot more time to stitch now that I'm retired. Angela of Hooked on Stitches offered to organize a Designer Exchange where a different designer would be picked for each exchange. Unfortunately the exchange has fallen apart due to another incident which I know many of you are aware of and this will be the only exchange taking place rather than the four planned ones.

My exchange arrived in yesterday's mail. Our designer that was chosen for this exchange was Prairie Schooler. Gracie has sent me the most adorable flatfold! This is one of the Prairie Schooler Prairie Fairies which were released as promotional cards. It's the perfect stitch for autumn and Gracie has finished it with a lovely sunflower (or are those daisies?) fabric for the backing. I'm so thrilled and can't thank her enough! It is proudly displayed in my livingroom with all my autumn decor. My exchange hasn't reached my partner yet so that pic will have to wait. I really enjoyed participating in this and I'm so sorry that a very unfortunate set of circumstances have forced things to come to a premature end. I'm not sure if I will participate in another because of what's happened. I'll have to think on it.

LHN Acorn Hill

I was determined to get moving on my Acorn Hill and fix all the things that were bothering me about it. So yesterday afternoon I frogged out the pumpkins for the second time along with all the leaves on the vines and started fresh. This time I used WDW Carrot and it has really worked out well. The pumpkins have more varied colour and the colour fits the design a lot better. I then went ahead and restitched the leaves to match the grass. I'm really happy with how things look now and I'm forging ahead with the rest of the design today.

The postman also brought me another surprise besides my exchange. Nancy of the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe had a giveaway in September to share some of her new dyed trims with her blogging friends. I was lucky enough to have my name picked and my assortment arrived yesterday. Look at these wonderful trims! I just love her chenille and I'm planning on using some to finish off some pillows this weekend. Besides the chenille, the giveaway included hand dyed ric rac, cotton twill tape and even hand dyed buttons! Thanks so much Nancy, I will definitely putting these to good use. If you haven't checked out her shop, follow the link and have a peek. In her sidebar is a link to her ebay shop. She also has some wonderful hand dyed lace trims.

The other pleasant surprise I received yesterday came from Becky. Last year Becky had a pumpkin challenge on her blog of which I was the lucky winner. My winnings were put on hold because of some personal tragedies which hit Becky and her family and forced her to quit blogging for some months. Becky is now back and contacted me this week to say that there was a GC to 123 Stitch waiting for me at their site. Thank you Becky!! This was worth the wait particularily because now that I'm retired I have less spending money available than I did when I worked. I already have an extensive wish list at 123 and now I just have to decide what to choose for my winnings.

After such a wonderful day my mood has improved significantly and my stitching mojo is in full force. Off to grab lunch before my Wednesday afternoon stitching date! Keep on stitching!

Out of sorts

2011-10-17T11:56:00.000-04:00

Out of sorts is exactly how I was feeling most of the past weekend. I can't say that I felt ill. It's more like I don't have a lot of energy and can't seem to settle on any one thing. Unfortunately this is what I was experiencing on my weekend visit to Rebecca's. I was so glad to be able to join with some of my stitching friends but once there I'm afraid I didn't seem to get anywhere with my stitching. Perhaps it was the weather.... overcast, cold, rainy and really windy. Yeah, that sounds good, let's blame it on the weather even if I know better! In any case, I started out working on Gobble only to find out that my border wasn't lining up. Okay let's switch to BBD Tricks or Treats. We haven't seen that one for awhile and it looks like you won't see it anytime soon either! Despite the fact that I had a stitching lamp beside me, I just couldn't seem to see the linen well and progress was painstakingly slow. I have decided that I definitely don't enjoy stitching on R & R linen and will stick to something else from now on.
That only left LHN Acorn Hill. I wasn't too enthused with this one either but it was that or nothing and a wasted day. So I stuck it out. My pitiful progress was actually only the grass in front of the house. It's stitched on the diagonal. The rest of the stitching I completed at home last night. This is the second time I've stitched the pumpkins and I'm still not happy with them.

I didn't use the called for Belle Soie silks but instead went with the conversions for the CC cottons. The pumpkins are to be done with CC Copper Penny. If you look at my previous pic below you'll see that they're more peach than pumpkin.

I didn't want to have to order the silk so I dug through my stash and found this orange silk by Silk n Colours. Okay so now they're the right colour however the picture doesn't show that it's more of a neon orange. Not the look that I wanted! I still have WDW Carrot and Pumpkin in my stash as well as some GAST Bittersweet. I'm going to give the carrot a try before I break down and order the original silk called for.

Then there's the issue of the leaves and the grass. The conversion to the cottons called for either CC Eve's Leaves or Weeping Willow. The leaves have been stitched with Eve's Leaves since I had already had some of that. However, that's when I found that the floss didn't have enough variation to stitch the grass. So I ordered the Weeping Willow and waited until it arrived before tackling the grass. It's a darker shade of green so now I'm thinking I should frog the leaves and restitch them using it as well. Any thoughts or suggestions? Oh yeah, gotta restitch those tiny little flowers also to match the pumpkins. Might as well have started from scratch!
I am not having a good time with this one! Might be Christmas before I get it finished.

Despite my stitching woes I did enjoy my time with the ladies. I only stayed the day because of commitments on Sunday but it's always good to see them and get peeks at what they're working on. Take a look!

Christin, hiding behind her PS Alphabet block

Rebecca, with her Sepia Baby

Tracey, giving evenweave a try

Tracey is a new member of our group. She is a coworker of Dani's and is just starting to get back into stitching. Before her go at evenweave, she was stitching on a lovely design of Labrador Retrievers.

Rebecca's Mom, Sylvia

I wish I'd thought to take a picture of Sylvia's stitching. She was working on the cutest baby sampler, a kit which she'd picked up for only 8 or 10 dollars, I can't remember which.

Bonnie, all comfy in her spot

Bonnie was working on the cutest scarecrow for her Mom. Follow the link to her blog and you'll see her finish.

Dani, stitching her PS Alphabet block

Both Dani and Christin were working on PS Alphabet blocks to be used in their friend Nan's quilt. They too had finishes on their blocks as did Rebecca with her baby stitch.

Earlier in the day Beth had joined us and Trista was there on the Friday evening and was expected to return on the Sunday. Both Kathy and Beatrice had previous commitments so we were unable to catch up with them.

Thank you so much Rebecca for opening your home to us! The company as well as the food (who can forget the food!) were wonderful.

I'm hoping my mood improves as the week unfolds and I can get back on track with some of my projects. In the meantime I have a few pillows to stuff and stitch closed from previous finishes.

Keep those xs crossed!

Halloween Quaker

2011-10-14T21:20:00.000-04:00

Quaker d'Halloween by Jardin Prive
stitched on 28ct linen Kauri by Kiwi Illusions
using DMC floss

I finished up my Halloween Quaker on Wednesday afternoon during my get together with my local group of crafters. There were only four of us out and we did a little happy dance to celebrate. I love how this piece looks on this fabric! This photo is the closest that I've come to capturing the actual looks of the fabric. I will be having this one framed for sure, maybe with a distressed black frame. I'll have to see how it looks but I think that might work.

Now I've given myself permission to start something new. I thought I might get going on Paradis Perdu but with Christmas not all that far off I'm in the mood for a holiday stitch. I'm just doing a toss floss for Jenny Bean's Christmas Sampler by Shakespeare's Peddler. I've narrowed it down to two fabrics from my stash. I'm trying very hard to use up what's in my stash, at least until after Christmas.

I've been baking and cooking up a storm the past few days. I'm headed to Rebecca's tomorrow to spend the day stitching with our group of travelling stitchers. I originally planned on driving there tonight but I haven't been sleeping all that well lately and I thought it better to sleep in my own bed tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and in preparation I baked some Skor blondies and made a roasted vegetable dip. Then I found out that my DH and I are on for the coffee hour after church on Sunday so that meant baking some more goodies. So it's been rather warm in our kitchen! Between Bob and myself we've baked two fruit loaves, three pans of squares and roasted the veggies for the dip. Bob is known for his banana bread and I thought I'd try and outdo him with this cranberry pumpkin loaf. I'll let you know who wins the bakeoff!
Thanks for all your comments on our Thanksgiving turkey dish. I've had a few requests for the recipe and if anyone else wants it, just email me and I'll send you a copy.

Time to pack my stitching bag for tomorrow. I hope to have a few pics from our SAL to show you on my next post. The weather is supposed to be cold and rainy for our day. Perfect for spending the day inside with our needles!

Family, Fall and a Halloween Quaker

2011-10-11T13:08:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and for my Canadian bloggers, how was that turkey? Yes, it was Gobble Day here yesterday in Canada and boy were we blessed with an awesome weekend, at least in this part of the country. Let me show you a taste of the bright skies and gorgeous fall colours which we are so fortunate to have in this area.

I didn't realize I had the guy wires captured on film as well in that first photo. Kind of spoils things a bit.

Since our weather has been so gorgeous the past few days, I spent many hours in the gazebo stitching. I decided to concentrate on my Halloween Quaker and I'm happy to say that I'm nearing a finish on this one. I haven't got a clue yet what I'll do with it when it's complete. Most likely it will be framed and I'll hang it in our rec room. I really like the colour of this fabric unfortunately the mottling doesn't show up very well in the pics. At some point in time I'd like to stitch Prairie Moon's Thine is the Trick and the Treat which is waiting in my stash and this fabric would work really well for it as well.

The floss I was waiting on for Paradis Perdu has now arrived and I'm anxious to get going on it so hopefully I can have the HQ finished within the next couple of days.

Our Thanksgiving meal turned out really well. I tried 3 new side dishes and the cauliflower casserole was the unanimous favourite. It seems our family just isn't that fond of sweet potatoes with the exception of my oldest, Jeff. So he went home with the bulk of the remaining dish along with a good portion of the remaining pumpkin pie. I didn't want that sitting around where I could dig into it all the time. Daniel took the other half home with him. The crockpot turkey was amazing. No slicing involved, the turkey just fell off the bones when we went to remove it from the pot. The meat was so moist done this way that I will definitely be using this method again. It's a perfect way to have turkey throughout the year without all the fuss of stuffing the bird. As you can see from the pic below, we all looked pretty pleased as we sipped on coffee following the fixings. My youngest phoned from Toronto and I was happy to hear that his group of friends had all pitched in to have a traditional turkey dinner. Chris and a couple of the others are vegetarian so there were 4 different veggie dishes for them. I was really surprised at how much food they all prepared especially since most of the group are males.

The weatherman has told us that today will be the last nice day for awhile. Cooler temps and rain are on our doorstep. With that in mind, I'm heading outside now to get my gardens cleaned up and remove some of the dying flowers.

Have a great week!

Thanksgiving

2011-10-10T09:19:00.000-04:00

Glorious sun and warmth, fall colours, the love of family, friends - both old and new, music, apple crisp and pumpkin pie, a bountiful turkey dinner, pumpkin chai tea, good health, retirement, my stitching........ these are some of the many things I have been blessed with on this beautiful Thanksgiving morn. I hope that all of my Canadian friends and family enjoy their Thanksgiving Day and take time to reflect upon how lucky we are to reside in a country as bountiful as Canada.
Thanks be to God!

A new group

2011-10-05T17:42:00.000-04:00

I was fortunate enough this week to be invited to join a new group which has formed in our village. I had run into one of the ladies earlier in the month at a church supper. When she found out that I was now retired she inquired as to whether I would be interested in joining a group of local quilters on Wednesday evenings. You don't have to quilt, she told me. Just bring your stitching and join the group. Well before I could make it to the first night, the group evolved into something a little different. We have decided to meet on Wed. afternoons now and you are welcome to bring any craft of any kind with you to work on. We are meeting at our new church in town, called The Gathering House . This church has formed a community cafe where groups can meet and it's absolutely fantastic! The setting is a cafe atmosphere, complete with tables, comfy sofas and a gas fireplace! They were very accomodating and set up several tables for us. It's a wonderful place to gather and our hope is that the group will learn from each other. Anyone learning to knit can receive advice or if someone wants to learn cross stitching, I can give them some tutoring. I was pleased to see the mom of one of my youngest son's childhood friends is part of the group. I hadn't seen her in years! Several of the ladies said they would be glad to help me with my ladder stitch and blanket stitching. I think that this gathering will be a fabulous learning experience for all or us as well as a chance to form new friendships.

As you can see, I took along my Jardin Prive Halloween Quaker and put some quality time in on it. I also stitched on this last night at the Tuesday group. I had grown a little tired of stitching on Gobble and wanted a bit of a change. I think I'll stick with the HQ for the next couple of nights and then pick up Gobble again on the weekend.
I also picked up LHN Acorn Hill but ended up sharing some time with the frogs. The progress I had made on it yesterday ended up coming out along with some previous stitches so no pics. I finally put it away in disgust. For some reason this piece has given me nothing but trouble and I can't figure out why. It's not like it's difficult!

Boo Tree freebie by Rose Krizan

Yesterday morning I was in the mood to do some finishing so I pulled out one of my previous stitches, Boo Tree. He was supposed to be a pinkeep but I forgot to put in my pins before the glue set on the trim so it will remain as is. I'm not happy with the fact that I didn't get it straight from top to bottom but seeing as it's only for me I can live with it. I do love the backing fabric on this one. I think I found it on ebay and it's such a cool Halloween print. I also took a picture of the trim I used since you can't see it all that well in these pictures. It's a fuzzy orange trim which I stumbled across at the dollar store.

Don't you just love the little witch standing beside my Boo Tree?

I like to call her Wanda and she is a new addition to my Halloween decor.

I've also included a closer picture of her below. I just love the face on her!

I want to take this time to also welcome any new followers of my blog. I love getting to know other stitchers out there and I always appreciate it when you take the time to drop by and comment.

Welcome!!

Turkey Talk

2011-10-04T10:50:00.000-04:00

Plum Street Samplers Gobble

As Canadian Thanksgiving approaches this coming weekend my thoughts seem to be centered on turkeys. This little fellow, or Tom as I like to call him, has occupied some of my time this week. I wish that I had time to complete this before our holiday but that's unlikely. I'm just not that quick of a stitcher. So should I tack him up somewhere as is for now and complete him after the holiday or should I just forge ahead and forget about displaying him this year? He's a pretty fine looking fellow if I do say so!

My other thoughts have been centered on whether or not to cook turkey this Thanksgiving. I always have in the past and then repeat the same meal again at Christmas. After all, turkey is a pretty easy meal to cook. It's the side dishes that take so much time. This is the first major holiday where I'm no longer working and have more time to prepare the meal. Should I alter the mix, or leave things as status quo?

My oldest son is bringing home a young woman with him with whom he has been spending a lot of time lately. For those of you who may not know, he has been separated from his partner for almost a year now. We were not unhappy with the split since the relationship was never a great one from the start and we are thrilled that he has found someone to share things with. As parents we never stop worrying about our children no matter their age!

Jeff told me that she is a good cook so is that why I suddenly want to changes things up? In any case I'm ready for a change. I have found a recipe for cooking turkey breast in the crockpot with wine, apple, carrot, celery and a whole host of herbs. It sounds absolutely divine and works really well for me since we are at church for most of the morning which limits my preparation time. I can prepare most of this the night before and just plug in the pot before I leave the next morning. It's still turkey but not quite the same as our usual roast with stuffing. It also suits my needs since I recently started Weight Watchers and it's a much more healthy alternative to all that gravy and stuffing. As for the pumpkin pie, I'm replacing it with apple crisp and some pumpkin pie squares which are made with oats.

Lately I've spotted an increase in the amount of these wild turkeys showing up in our area fields.

I used to spot the odd one or two and maybe a small group of four but their numbers seem to be increasing . Yesterday I spotted a field with close to twenty of them. I'd watch out fellas if I were you! Has anyone ever tried cooking wild turkey? I'm sure the taste is far different from our store bought versions.

I also want to share with you the lovely exchange gift which I received from Lynn last week. I have long admired Lynn's work. Her finishes are superb and when she announced another giveaway I jumped at the chance to win some of her lovely work. I was thrilled to bits when she posted that I had won her Paris giveaway. Look at the lovelies that I received!!

Paris pillow(with crystal accents), cupcake needlebook, cupcake pin, strawberry fobs

Front view of the needlebook

Closure with a Swarovski crystal

Handmade pins

Isn't everything fantastic!! Seen in person, Lynn's finishing skills are even more impressive. Both the pin and the fobs are accented with beading and the pillow and needlebook with crystals. I can only imagine the amount of time she put into this finishing. Thank you so very much Lynn for sharing some of your talent with me. I love it!!

It seems my dear stitching friend Kathy is also an admirer of Lynn's talents and has been entering her giveaways for some time with no success. She has been teasing me and threatening to spirit away my winnings the next time she visits. I may just have to hide these pretties, lol!

I'll leave you with a recent pic of my granddaughters enjoying one of my favourite fruits of the season,hand-picked! I hope all the recent cool temperatures spur you on to even more stitching.

TUSAL and The Tangled Skeins SAL

2011-09-27T09:40:00.000-04:00

Is it really TUSAL time again? Seems like it was just yesterday that I posted the last pic. Is it just me or did September just fly by? So my two little ort jars filled rather quickly this month as I had 4 finishes, 2 which I haven't been able to share with you yet. My exchange gift is in the mail and I haven't completed the finishing on my other gift. The jars hold lots of lovely golden colours from Sunflower House, some black & white from Quaker Halloween and of course red & white from my LHN Canada finish. Then there are a few glimpses of browns from my new start Gobble.

Now these orts will be ceremoniously dumped into the giant ort jar! What colours will they hold next month?

I enjoyed the most fantastic day this past Saturday as 10 ladies from the Tuesday night group made the trek out to my little village for a day of food, fun and flying fingers! The rain held off and several of the group were able to sit outdoors in the gazebo. As the hostess I'm afraid I didn't put in too many x's. I was too busy jumping up to check on food and to make sure everyone was comfortable and had everything they needed. I also grabbed some pictures of the ladies as they stitched away. First off is the gazebo gang who were thoroughly enjoying their surroundings.

Roseanne

Barb

Sally

Jeannine

Nancy

Do they look like maybe they're just having too much fun?! This was the first visit for both Jeannine and Barb and we're glad they could join us.

Now for the indoor crew.

Leslie with her Silvercreek Sampler stitch

Karen, who is stitching a chart she ordered of her home!

Lianne with her La D Da

Diane with her LHN Cherries

Dani with her Enchantment of Winter

It didn't seem to matter whether they were outdoors or inside ,either way there was a heck of a lot of stitching progress going on.
Here's a pic of my stitch, Gobble, most of which had been completed prior to the ladies' arrival.

Isn't he a fine looking fella? This is a really fun stitch and I plan on continuing with this one over the next couple of days. Apparently there are 3 others in the series, Give, Gather and Ghoul. I'd love to do them al eventually.

Jeannine and Leslie were so sweet and brought me a lovely gift both for hosting our day and as a retirement gift. Look at this fabulous Dolly Mamas stitch called Big Deal.

They said that as soon as they saw it, they thought of me and my blog! It's just too cute!! Thanks ladies!

In addition, Sally has started a newsletter for our group who call themselves The Tangled Skeins. Her first issue features my blog and my LHN Canada finish.

The Tangled Skeins newsletter, volume 1

Besides being a weekly reminder for stitching, the newsletter has upcoming events and links to ONS and will also feature stitching blogs. I think it's a fabulous idea Sally. I love it!

I want to thank each and every one of you that took the time to stop in and comment on my recent LHN Canada finish. Your comments just about had me bursting at the seams with pride! It was the first time I ever had a go at redesigning something like this and your favourable comments encouraged me to give this a try again sometime. Thank you all!!

That pretty well wraps up everything for now. I did receive a wonderful giveaway win in the mail today but I haven't had time to take pictures of it yet so I'll save it for my next post.

Keep those fingers flying!

O Canada!

2011-09-21T16:43:00.000-04:00

LHN America (Canadian version)
32ct Belfast natural linen
DMC floss and Crescent colours

True, patriot love.... That's what I see when I look upon my latest finish of LHN America (Canadian version). I'm really thrilled with how this one has turned out.

When I first decided that I wanted to do this I thought that I had better contact Diane Williams of LHN. After all, I was making more than just a slight change. Diane gave me her endorsement and told me to go for it which is exactly what I did. I was still tweaking the design right up until the finish. I wasn't sure whether to go with 2 red maple leaves at the top or one white and one red. I tried stitching it that way and didn't like the looks so I frogged everything out and went with the red. Then it seemed like too much red with all the colour in the flag so I then added the small white maple leaf as well. I changed the colour of what were originally white stars at the bottom to red leaves. I decided to go with the blue roof on the house because I wanted there to be a little more colour in the finished stitch. Stitching the vine meant moving it over otherwise it would have trailed right through the center of the maple leaf in the flag. After I'd finished things up, there seemed to be an empty space in the lettering. I went in search of a button or charm and found just what I wanted in my stash, a sweet maple leaf charm.

Now I can proudly display my patriotism each July 1st. This one will be framed at a later date. After all , there's no rush. Now I've given myself permission to start stitching on PSS Gobble. Yippee!!

The starting bug

2011-09-20T14:33:00.000-04:00

With the finish of Sunflower House I got the starting bug once more. Actually I don't think I've ever got rid of it but I've managed to keep it at bay! However it took over in full force. What to do, what to do? As you can see from the picture above, Halloween was calling to me. This is Jardin Prive's Quaker d'Halloween . You can't see the fabric very well in this pic but it's a very soft 28ct linen by Kiwi Illusions called Kauri. I'm trying to use up some of the fabric in my stash and loved this one when I dug it out. It doesn't show up all that well but it has a very nice mottling to it. The only problem I found with it was that the black wasn't covering very well at all so I switched to using 3 strands rather than 2. I don't like stitching with three but it covered much better and I'm happier with the looks of the piece now. This one seems to be stitching up fairly quickly. I've only worked on it for an hour or so on Saturday and then for a few hours on Sunday.

Earlier this week I managed to finish off the stitching on my gift to a fellow blogger and all that remains is the finishing. Today I also completed the finishing on my exchange piece. For the life of me though I can't find the trim that I want to use on it. I've searched everywhere for it. I had it out to show to a friend and it seems to have gone missing since then. I want to get this piece mailed off so if I can't find it in the near future, I'll be substituting with something else.

The only other stitching I have to show you is my Canadian version of LHN America. I dug this out again yesterday. I was determined to finish off the stitching on that house. As you can see, I got it done plus a little bit more. Once the fence was stitched I discovered that it was up one line too high. There was no way I was going to frog things out and start over! So the fence now has one extra plank added to the bottom of it.

I'm hoping to stitch a bit more on this one this evening at my Tuesday SAL. I'll also be taking a former coworker with me tonight. Karen has been trying to get out and join us for some time now but she is one busy lady with a young family that keeps her otherwise engaged! Finally she has a free evening so she'll be picking me up and joining us tonight. This coming Saturday I'll be hosting an all day SAL at my home for all of the Tuesday group. So far I think there are about 12 who are able to make it out here to our home in the village. It should be a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to it.

One other new start has been calling out to me this week and that's Paradis Perdu by A mon amis Pierre. I ordered silk conversions for this one and settled in to get started on it last week. I've already run into a roadblock. The silk conversion for DMC 934 is just too dark. I'm using Vicky Clayton Hand Dyed Fibers and the conversion they list looks more like black than the darker green. This one is used for a good portion of the foliage in the design so I frogged out what I'd put in and checked my stash for a substitute. No luck! I'd love to stick with a silk for this colour rather than going back to the DMC. Is there anyone out there who can tell me what is a good conversion for this colour?

Startitis seems to be taking hold firmly because I also have Plum Street Samplers Gobble all ready to go. I'm trying to hold off until I have my LHN Canada done but with Canadian Thanksgiving coming up in less than three weeks, I'd really love to start this one. Not that I'd ever have it finished by the holiday but it would definitely put me in the mood!

It' been a very busy week past for us. My DH and I spent a good portion of our time in the city last week. Bob gave an organ recital this past Sunday so rehearsal time occupied a lot of our time in the city. While he practised, I ran errands and went shopping. I managed to grab this picture while I was running around. Our church is in Chinatown in Ottawa which this past year put up a beautiful arch to announce your entry into the area. The arch is 12 meters tall and 12 meters wide. A team of 26 Chinese technicians and artisans came from Beijing to assist in the construction, decoration and painting of the arch. The blue panel in the arch has Chinese characters which say "Ottawa Chinatown". Five special metal coins were embedded in the arch as a tradition to bring blessing. The oldest coin was discovered in the Tang Dynasty with over 1000 yr history! The lions on either side of the arch guard the gateway into Chinatown.

In the picture you can see the church where Bob plays, which is in the background and is almost dead centre in the arch.

That about covers everything here for now. It's turned out to be a lovely afternoon so I'm going to head into the gazebo for a little bit of stitching before Karen picks me up for the evening. Have a good week!

Sunflower finish!

2011-09-13T11:02:00.000-04:00

BBD Sunflower House
32 Ct Ocean's Siren Lugana

This morning I put the final stitches in on what has been a delightful stitch. Blackbird Designs Sunflower House is now complete and ready to be stretched and framed. I've enjoyed this one so much that I haven't touched anything else in the past week. I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out. If I had to do it over again I would swap out the colour of the stems and leaves on the sunflowers. I used the recommended GAST Grecian Gold but I'm not sure it worked all that well. I realized from the start that it might not work for me but I didn't have anything else in my stash that would. Ordering anything else would have prolonged my start by a couple of weeks and I'm trying to be a bit more frugal these days. I find it so hard to pick a floss anyways when I don't have a LNS and can't see the colour in person. So Grecian Gold it is!
Although it's not meant to be an autumn design, this one felt so much like fall to me with the colour scheme it uses as well as those gorgeous sunflowers.
Here are a few more upclose pics of the design. .

Don't you just love this house?

I noticed that when you click on this one and look at the left edge of the vase, you'll see Clarisse's contribution to the design.

Now I have to decide on a new start although I really think I should be finishing off some of the other WIP, but really, how much fun is that?

I've also got a few pictures of my newest stitching spot, our gazebo. I know that I posted a pic of the outside but I've neglected to show you how comfy it is inside. I spend most mornings out there with my coffee, stitching in hand, and again for a short bit after supper. Clarisse has been joining me out there too but as you can see from the pic below, she was far too busy this morning!

My youngest sister Lana gave me this sign to post in the gazebo. It's the perfect sentiment! It was a retirement gift along with a really pretty bird feeder which hangs just outside the gazebo. Bob and I love to sit and watch the birds as we sip on our coffee.

The days are growing shorter and the evenings getting cooler in our little corner. On our way into the city yesterday we noticed how much colour is starting to appear on the trees. It won't be long before I'm digging out the sweaters once more.

Now I'm off to get ready for my stitching time with the Tuesday group. I'm heading in a little earlier to run some errands. A stop by the market for apples just might be in the works!

Hope you are having a good start to your week and that it includes lots of stitching time.

Stitching progress

2011-09-05T18:43:00.000-04:00

Two posts in one day. Wow, I must have time on my hands! Turns out that the weather hasn't exactly been what we'd hoped for today. It's been overcast and cool all day. DH and I have both been rather lazy and spent the afternoon watching the ball game rather than cleaning out the back room. It's a good excuse!

First off I'm going to show you the lovely gift that Bonnie made for me. I hadn't taken any pictures yet so I couldn't post it earlier. The last time I saw Bonnie at a SAL at Dani's house I asked if she could make a beaded fob for me. She does such a lovely job on her fobs and several of the ladies showed theirs off. We don't exactly live close to each other so I had to wait until this past weekend when our paths crossed again. I wanted a black and white fob to go with my new scissors and Bonnie has done a wonderful job. Thank you so much Bonnie!

Isn't it pretty? I love how she's added a charm with my inital. It looks fantastic with my scissors, don't you agree? Thank you so much Bonnie. I love it!

I also promised some more stitchy pictures. Below you will find pictures of the two RR that Kathy has been stitching on. The first is a TW Band Sampler and the second is a Mirabilia of Pixies and Fairies . Kathy stitched the top band in the TW sampler and the pixie on the upper left in the Mirabilia piece. I believe that it's Ivy. Lovely work Kathy! The others pictured in the Mira are Poppy, Sweet Pea, Lilac, Amaryllis and Jasmine. It's a beautiful RR and I love the fabric chosen for it.

Finally I have some before and after pictures to show you of my weekend projects.

The first is my LHN Canadian version of America. It was a good piece to work on. Filling in all the white on the house didn't take much concentration and then I could listen to all that was going on around me.

Before

After

When it was a little quieter, usually in the evenings, I would bring out my BBD Sunflower House.
This continues to be a favourite for me and I had many favourable comments on it this weekend.

Before

After

I'm really pleased with the progress I made on both pieces. In addition, I worked on a third project but since this is a gift for someone who reads my blog, I won't be showing any peeks at the moment. Considering how much chatter and laughter was going on it's a wonder I got any stitching completed at all! Oh yeah and how can I forget about all the eating!! Thank you so much Kathy for opening your home to us. It was a delightful weekend that I soon won't forget!

The best kind of weekend...

2011-09-05T08:03:00.000-04:00

A stitching weekend with friends, that's what the best weekend is! That's exactly what I was so lucky to have participated in this past weekend. On Friday afternoon I packed the car and headed for a road trip to join several friends in the Brighton/Trenton area. On the way I stopped and picked up Beth who is not fond of driving. She was great company for part of the 3 hr drive. Shortly after supper we arrived at Kathy's new home for the start of a fun-filled weekend. Many of you will be familiar with Kathy and her blog. We were expecting Dani and Christin to join us but Dani's Mum was ill and had been hospitalized just before the start of the weekend. Dani thought it was best to stay close to home and Christin wanted to lend some moral support. We were disappointed to hear they would not be joining us. Ladies, you were missed!

This year there were a number of people who were unable to spend the whole weekend with us but dropped in on either the Saturday or Sunday to spend a few hours stitching and laughing. Always lots of laughing! My sides hurt at times. Besides stitching we also had some instruction on yoga from Bonnie and Beth was brave enough to give it a go while the rest of us giggled and groaned at their antics. There was no flippin' way I could even think about getting down on the floor! Does this mean I'm not flexible?

This post is pretty picture intensive but the pictures speak for themselves and show the wonderful group of women who shared in the fun this weekend.

Our hostess!

Nan with the first finish of the weekend

Nan is going to be putting a quilt together with the PS Alphabet blocks. Several of the ladies have been working on the squares for her.

Beatrice and Barb, who is stitching RM Spring Quakers

Barb's HAED, Bubble Telescope

Isn't Barb's HAED incredible? After seeing Barb's progress, several of the ladies asked Kathy how she was doing with hers. Kathy's HAED was residing in her trunk of kitted works and WIP. She promptly started emptying the contents of said trunk in her quest. Several minutes later, she had accumulated quite the pile which threatened to rise above her ankles as she dropped each work at her feet! We all agreed that Kathy won for the most WIP!

Kathy spent the weekend stitching on her round robin commitment, a TW Band sampler. I'll save the pictures of that for my next post. By then I'll also have some updated pictures of all that I worked on over the course of the weekend.

Bonnie, our yoga instructor (and secretary)!

Judy, Angie and Ann sharing some fun

Beatrice, who brought the most fantastic Reuben casserole!

Beatrice's Mom, Adriana, with her beautiful stitching

Ann of Knowledge and Needles fame

Ann was wonderful and would call and offer to bring any needed supplies from her shop prior to joining us each day.

Fran showing off her Jardin Prive Quaker

Fran also was stitching this wonderful Romantic Quaker below. Don't you just love the colours? I'm afraid I can't remember who the designer was on this one.

My travelling companion and yoga master, Beth

Judy and Claire sharing a laugh

Claire brought her copy of the newly released JC Halloween Collection Book for all of us to drool over. Tracy Horner's Halloween Mandela is enough for me to want to place my order right away! Bonnie also spotted a picture online of someone stitching Glendon Place's The Witches Wheel. That was enough for us to put a call in to Ann to see if she had any copies in the shop to bring with her. She only had one and inquired as to what the bidding would begin at! Since I had travelled the furthest, I was the lucky recipient. Ann will be ordering 5 more copies to complete the remaining requests.

Because this is a long weekend in Canada, the SAL continues until this afternoon. I returned home at supper yesterday since I wanted to spend today with my DH. After this weekend he returns to all his regular rehearsals now the summer is over and I don't expect to see all that much of him for the next while. I'm sure I'll be putting in a few more stitches over the course of the day and so I'll have some progress pics for you on my next post. I divided my stitching between 3 projects, my BBD Sunflower House, LHN America - Canadian version and a surprise gift for a friend. Tomorrow night I'll be stitching again as I join my Tuesday night gang. The fun continues!

Road Trip

2011-09-01T23:32:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be packing up my stitching and hitting the road for a trip to visit my stitching friend Kathy. Every Labour Day weekend Kathy hosts a SAL at her home. I haven't been able to attend for the last couple of years due to prior commitments and vacation plans so I'm really looking forward to this once more. We are each expected to bring a potluck item for the Saturday lunch. I was sitting at the computer reading through my blogposts and mulling over some ideas when I saw Edgar's post which had a link to a yummy looking pumpkin spice bar recipe. I baked it this afternoon and I'll frost it in the morning before I leave.

Just in time for my stitchy weekend, my floss order showed up in my mailbox. Now I have what I need to continue with both my LHN Acorn Hill and BBD Trix or Treat. I'll also be taking along Sunflower House. I haven't had time to put any stitches in on this one today and I'm really missing it.

On my way into my Tuesday night stitch, I stopped off at the framers to pick up two of my smaller works I had dropped off earlier in the month. I'm please with both of them but I really love the frame on the PS Weather Wise. If you click on the picture you can see it a bit better.

Prairie Schooler Weather Wise

Tra La La Maison No 4

That's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have lots of progress to show after this weekend.

August TUSAL and a new start

2011-08-29T14:04:00.001-04:00

Here's a pic of my August TUSAL. Lots of colour in those orts this month. The red, white and blue are from my LHN America and the LHN Acorn Hill and my new Halloween start are responsible for all those lovely fall browns, greens and golds. My new larger ort jar is starting to fill up. I'll have to squash down some of those orts to make room for more.

Now that I look more closely, I'm sure that I see a white cat hair from Clarisse in among all those orts! It's unavoidable, I find her fur everywhere.

I'm setting aside my Halloween stitch for now until the rest of the floss arrives. Here's as far as I've gotten on BBD Trix or Treat. In the meantime, I put in just a few stitches on LHN America during my Tuesday night SAL. I had too much fun catching up with everyone so my stitching progress was really limited as you can see from the pic below. Just a few more windows and a small start on the white of the house.

Now I've grown a bit tired of this one and wanted some change. I'm still waiting for some more floss to arrive for my LHN Acorn Hill so that one was out of the question. I finished stitching my exchange piece which still requires finishing but I really didn't feel like getting into that right now. What to do, what to do? Then the mailman arrived (at the post office, not my house since I don't have home delivery). When I checked the mail on Friday I found a package of floss from an ebay win which I'd forgotten all about. I now had all the floss necessary to start Blackbird Designs Sunflower House. This one is #9 in the Loose Feathers series, is out of print and extremely difficult to find. Occasionally it pops up on ebay but usually bidding gets pretty high and I've seen it go for as much as $40! I've had mine for quite some time now. I've always loved it and don't know why I haven't got started up until now. Distracted by too many other choices I guess. Here's a progress pic.

I only started this on Saturday evening and I'm enjoying it so much that I find it hard to put down. I'm liking this fabric too. It's by Enchanted Lair on 32ct Lugana called Ocean's Siren. Such a pretty blue! The picture doesn't do it justice. Although I'm Canadian, I decided to leave the US flag untouched in this design. It just suits the piece. Besides there is some US blood in the family. My DH's grandfather was born in Utica, NY and my sister has taken her US citizenship and resides in Michigan.

I received an email from the new bride that she has received my Wedding Sampler, safe and sound. She is thrilled with it and because her Mom is also a stitcher she appreciates the time and effort that went into it. I'm so happy that they like it!

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures taken in my girlfriend's yard. I just couldn't resist snapping a pic of this frog which greets you at her front door. Then I found the small group of frogs on a fence around her vegetable garden. They're adorable but she did promise that they don't go travelling! Happy stitching!

Anticipating fall

2011-08-23T15:47:00.000-04:00

Can you feel it yet? The change in the air? I'm certainly feeling it here now. Our days are cooler and less humid and the night temperatures are going down to 13-17C (58-62F). We went from a cold, rainy spring straight into hot, humid summer and now the temperatures have changed drastically again. It's already dark at 7:30 pm so it's a good thing that our new gazebo now has electricity so I can stitch outside well after dark.

For the past week my sister Laurie, who lives in Michigan, has been visiting us. It's been around 12 yrs since she's been up our way so there have been a lot of changes at the house. We spent her first day here just catching up and had coffee with my son Daniel so that he could visit with his Aunt. On the Tuesday we headed off to the village of Merrickville which is about a 40-45 min drive. This is a lovely Victorian style village situated on the Rideau Canal. Many of its buildings showcase 19th century architecture and it's home to numerous shops and dining spots.
We had a great time checking out the shops, many of which contain crafts and antiques. This photo of Laurie was taken outside one of those lovely shops we spent time at. There were so many pretty flower baskets outside each of the shops too. We had lunch at a lovely pub, The Goose & Gridiron, to break up the afternoon. Below are a few photos I took of the area.

One of the may shops we stepped into

Lots of summer decor on sale

The Goose & Gridiron Pub

My find of the day was a lamp. I'd been looking for a small lamp for our new gazebo, nothing too large and something unique. I found exactly what I'd been searching for..... a small lamp which looks like a teapot. I love it and it looks perfect in my outdoor retreat. I just may return for another for the other table!

Wednesday we spent another shopping day, this time at the Rideau Centre in downtown Ottawa which is right in the heart of the market area. After a quick run through the mall ( most of the shops are pretty expensive), we spent the rest of the afternoon browsing through the stalls in the market area. We stopped for a glass of iced tea midafternoon in a quaint courtyard. I actually took this picture of the area last year when I visited the market. I didn't have my camera with me this time around since my DH had taken it to work with him. There were far less crowds on this visit. The iced tea we were served was red in colour and was fantastic! When we inquired as to what type of tea was used, the shop owner told us it was a Rooibos tea with apple and sweetened with honey. Really quite nice!

Later in the afternoon, Bob met us for supper in the market. My sister treated us as a thank you for hosting her visit.

After two days of walking and shopping, we decided to sit out the day on Thursday. It turned out to be a wise choice since there was a pretty wicked storm that passed through our area. Funnel clouds were seen in the nearby village of Mountain and we received some pretty heavy rains and high wind. My entranceway flooded from the rain whipping at the back door. We also had some small hail. The gazebo held up well with only some wet floors due to water running under the sliding doors. All the furnishings remained dry.

Friday was Laurie's last day of her visit. While we had been in Ottawa in the market, she had spotted a boat cruise that took you down the Rideau Canal through the city. There hadn't been enough time that day so when I got up on Friday and saw what a beautiful day it was, I decided we'd take in the boat cruise before her plane left at suppertime. I have done this cruise with Bob before and knew that it was a really relaxing way to spend an afternoon and this time was no exception. Below are some pictures of the sights we saw.

Our Parliament buildings in Ottawa viewed from the boat

The Chateau Laurier Hotel seen in the distance

The original train station in Ottawa, now used as a government conference center.

The view looking down the canal

The Canal Ritz restaurant

Laurie spotted this restaurant on the canal when we passed it on the boat. I asked if she thought she'd like to have a light supper there before our trip to the airport so after the cruise was finished, we picked up Bob so he could join us. It's actually a favourite spot for Bob and me. We love to go there for brunch after church on Sunday and sit out on the patio along the canal. In the winter months, we sit indoors and watch all the skaters on the canal.

It was the perfect ending to a fabulous week! I hated to see her go home, but she promised that the next visit will be much sooner than the last and she'll bring her hubby with her next time.

On the stitching front, I've made a bit more progress on LHN America. I decided to go with the blue roof on the house to add some more colour. Here's where I'm at now.

I'm starting to like the vine on this better now that I've got more of it stitched in.

I've also got a new Halloween start but I don't have enough done yet to show you. It's BBD Trix or Treat taken from their booklet of the same name. I'll only be able to get so far on it and then I'll have to wait until the arrival of the rest of the floss in the mail. I put an order in to my ONS when I found out I was missing half of the floss. That's what I miss about not having a local store any longer. I have to order all of my supplies online and it's anywhere from one to two weeks before they arrive.

I also got my Wedding Sampler packaged up and mailed out to my cousin's daughter for her wedding which took place this past Saturday. She lives in northern Ontario and only family were travelling for the wedding. When I picked this piece up at the framers I couldn't believe how good it looked. The frame was really gorgeous and I have to thank Kelly at my framer for her help in choosing it.

Now I have to get moving. I'm heading into Ottawa for my Tuesday night SAL. I had hoped that I would be able to attend the open house at Knowledge and Needles in Brighton this past Saturday but I'd been on my feet too much in the past week and my hip (athritis) was screaming at me. I knew I just couldn't do the 3 hour drive. Ottawa is an hour's drive from me so let's just see if it's any better now. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

I hope you are all enjoying some much cooler weather and that the humidity and high heat of the past several weeks has past. Happy stitching!

Gazebo stitching

2011-08-16T09:04:00.000-04:00

Our new gazebo is now furnished and I've been spending my mornings out there, coffee by my side, stitching. I've spent most of this past week on my exchange piece which I'm not able to show but I've also spent some quality time with LHN America (Canadian version). I'm really pleased with how the flag turned out but not as pleased with the vine placement. I'm hoping it will look alright when finished. I had to move the vine over some because otherwise it was going to end up trailing right down the centre and cover the maple leaf.
I'm also still playing around with different colours for the roof of the house. Not having the blue in our flag I thought that I might use it for the roof. I just haven't settled on the right shade yet. Without the blue, the design didn't seem to have enough colour with only the brown, white and red.
That's about all I have time to show you for now. My sister is here visiting this week from Michigan. Since my DH is tied up in a conference most of the week we have a lot of time to ourselves to shop and do some daytrips. Today we are off to the village of Merrickville to check out all its quaint shops. I hope you are having a wonderful start to your week. Happy Stitching!

A blast from the past!

2011-08-10T16:21:00.000-04:00

That's what we experienced over the Canadian Civic Holiday long weekend. Two of my sons travelled to Windsor, ON as well to visit with family but the main purpose of the trip was a reunion of DH's and my high school band, The Forster Band . The reunion included those who had played in the band anytime during the years 1960 - 1980. We've kept in touch with a number of the band members over the years and several travelled to Ottawa for our wedding 10 yrs ago but there are some that I haven't seen since graduating from high school 37 yrs ago. Please bear with me, but I wanted to post this with some pictures for the benefit of those family members and friends who read my blog as well. For those who are utterly bored, scroll on down. There should be one stitching pic near the end of this post!

The weekend started off with a meet and greet on the Friday evening at our local watering hole, The Dominion House tavern. This was a favourite spot for gathering while we were in college, and university and is the oldest continually run tavern in the Windsor - Detroit border region. Now for those of you who are not familiar with Windsor and its weather, I think it's one of the hot spots in Canada. We're talking moist heat, not dry, and the humidity levels are unreal. I'd forgotten just how bad that humidity can be until we stepped outside on Friday afternoon. The temperature was 36 C ( 97 F) with a humidex that made it feel like 46 C (115 F) !
It's difficult to breathe under those conditions. Figure in that the tavern we all met at had only one lone window air conditioner that was trying its best to handle the heat with more than 100 of us inside. You get the picture, we were one hot, sticky bunch of people! Did we care?..... No!!
We had the most fantastic time reacquainting ourselves with one another. The beer flowed freely (yes, we had designated drivers!) and maybe that's another reason why there was only one air conditioner. Thank goodness, there was also an outdoor patio although it wasn't all that much cooler outside.

We all wore name tags and there were lots of us whose eyes dropped to the chest first to check out the name before we said hello. After all we didn't want to open mouth & insert foot! Thank goodness I wasn't the only one who was ~~much~~ a little larger! A lot more gray hair around too! Some even dared to wear their red blazers, part of our former band uniform. We were known about town as the Travelling Redcoats. During the years 1967 - 1972, the concert band travelled to Expo '67 in Montreal, Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan and in 1972 to Windsor, England to perform at the Windsor Music Festival.

Lots of this going on!

Ray, showing off the signature blazer

Bob and me chatting up fellow band members

After a very late night and now knowing which face went with which name, we all headed home to grab some shuteye before the band practice on Saturday afternoon.

Here it is, Forster Secondary School or Forster Collegiate Institute as it was known when I attended.How many times did I walk up and down those steps? God only knows!

Before the band practice took place in the old Music Room we were free to wander the halls of the school, reminiscing. For most of us though, every spare minute of the day was spent in the music room and that's where we all seemed to be drawn to. The practice was to begin at 1:30 and we were all in there, instruments in hand and ready to go shortly after 1:00pm . Now I was a little nervous about all this. After all it had been 37 yrs or more since many of us had taken up our instruments. I have my own flute and have been playing some over the years but not much recently. For those who didn't own their own, instruments were provided with a small rental charge. Our conducter, Ernie Gerenda, travelled all the way from Mexico where he has now retired to be with us for this special occasion.

What a hoot!! As you'll see from the following pictures, laughter was the order of the day. I gotta tell you though, we sounded pretty damn good!! Even Ernie was surprised and said that he figured it would only take a couple more rehearsals and we'd be good to go again.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Ernie directing the group

Yours truly on the left, playing my pop bottle!

That's my DH on the left!
My hubbie has gone on to make a career in music as an organist & choir director.

My BIL on the right. He continues to play percussion in a number of jazz groups.

Bob getting ratted out for playing the wrong note. Some things never change!

How you doing with those bifocals fellas?

Thanks, we had a blast!

The practice overwith, we all returned home for a quick catnap before the evening festivities. The organizing committee had arranged a lovely dinner for us. They combined it with an evening of reminiscing through slideshows of pictures from our Japan and England trips along with a video of the afternoon's practice which had been put together so we could hear ourselves. The rest of the evening was spent saying goodbyes and exchanging contact info.

Several of the group from our grad year

My forner highschool sweetheart Peter, myself and Bob sporting the famous redcoat

All of us who attended the same grade school, Prince of Wales

Myself, Ernie, his wife Freda and Bob
Freda was like a den mother to us on the band trips

The weekend was over far too soon. It's not likely to happen again. Sure there will be those of us who still see each other in the coming years but it is unlikely that so many will ever gather again. There were 200 of us at the dinner, coming from as far away as Mexico and Hawaii.

Many have gone on to careers in music either playing or teaching . There are those of us who are doctors, health care workers,teachers, sound recording engineers, land developers, social workers and auto workers . None of us however will ever forget the lessons we learned under Ernie's direction..... those of teamwork and that hard work and diligence pay off! Thank you to all involved for the remembrance of a lifetime.

Now if you've lasted this long, it's on to some stitching. It's unfortunate but my stitching has taken a backseat lately. Our summer has been a busy one with very little time to myself. Now that our travelling is over with I should be able to get going on some things again. However my sister from Michigan is arriving this Sunday for a visit so I'd better be quick!

Some of what I'm working on is for an exchange so I'm unable to show it at this time. I signed up for the Rotating Designer exchange . This is my first and I'm looking forward to meeting some new bloggers and stitchers thanks to it.

I've finally found the red floss I've been looking for to use on the Canadian flag on my version of LHN America. I paid a visit to Thread & Eye needlework store on my way home from Windsor. It's a convenient stop right off of the 401 highway in London. There I picked up CC Ribbon Red which is just what I'd been looking for. Now I'm finally getting back to stitching on this piece. I'm still not sure yet what colour the roof of the house will be. I'm trying out blue at the moment.

I've also got an updated picture of LHN Acorn Hill. Not a heck of a lot done since the last photo but like I said, it's been a busy summer.

I want to thank each and every one of your who left concerned comments regarding the train derailment my son was involved in. All is well, he returned home by train once more following the long weekend. Unfortunately the young man who was hit by the train died of his injuries this past Thursday. He was only a year younger than Chris. My heartfelt prayers and condolences go out to his family in their time of grief.
I also want to apologize for not responding to some of your comments. It seems that while I'm away and using my mobile browser I can receive emails but I'm not always able to send outgoing mail. I'm not quite sure what's with that!
If you've survived this lengthy post, well done! Hope you are enjoying a good week and I'll touch base with you again soon.

TUSAL and a new ort jar

2011-07-30T11:41:00.000-04:00

A few of you figured out from my last post that one of my other finds on my antique shop trip was a new ort jar. It's a double purpose jar because it has a screw top with holes in the lid which looks very much like a flower frog and is now being used as a scissor frog beside my stitching chair. It holds all my orts and then some! I have no idea what it's purpose was originally. Look at the unusual holder it sits in. Any ideas?

As you can see in my small ort jar there are lots of gold orts this month from my wedding sampler finish. The remainder are the colours from Their Song.

We are having a great time at our high school band reunion. Last night was the meet and greet. We haven't seen most of these folks for 37 years. There were many that we knew right off the bat but quite often we'd have to drop our eyes to their name tags before we could figure out who we were talking too. What a hoot! So much reminiscing and stories being told that I had not heard about during our time together. We are heading out shortly for a tour of our former school and then gathering for a band practice in the music room. We have a choice of playing or listening and laughing. Should be interesting! Many of us haven't picked up our instruments since leaving high school. I've brought my newly refurbished flute with me and we'll see just how much I've remembered!

We've had one incident since arriving here that had everyone pretty shook up. Two of my sons have joined us this weekend to see the family. Daniel travelled by car with us on Thursday but Chris was taking the train on Friday since he had to work on the Thursday. Just about an hour before his expected arrival in Windsor he called to tell us that he would be delayed because the train had derailed! He was okay but really shook up. It seems that a 24 yr old driving a pickup truck was crossing the tracks as the train approached but he didn't quite make it. The train got the rear end of his truck, throwing it up into the air. It then landed in a ditch and caught fire. The impact derailed all four cars on the train. Pieces of the wood ties were flying everywhere and the train landed on an angle. One of the rails was completely flattened! Other than the truck driver most of the injuries were not serious and only a few were taken to hospital to be checked out. The truck driver has survived and was airlifted to London, Ontario with a broken back, and both arms and legs broken. Life can change in a split second and I'm sure his error in judgement will alter his life for some time. I am just so very fortunate the God was watching over them all and my son is alright. He arrived here safe and sound by bus and was delayed only 2 1/2 hrs . Things could have been so much worse. Below is a link to the local news report on the incident.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110729/via-rail-train-accident-injuries-110729/

For my Canadian blogging friends, I hope you enjoy this Civic holiday long weekend and that you remain safe whatever you do.

A bit of this and that

2011-07-27T23:31:00.000-04:00

The summer is just flying by isn't it? We've been home for 5 days now from our cottage vacation at Lake Muskoka and I have hardly had time to put my needle to fabric. This is one of the reasons why:

My son and granddaughters arrived at our place just 2 days after we got home so I was kept rather busy. We took in the Winnie the Pooh movie while they were here. Very cute!

This is one of the other reasons I've not had much stitching time.

This solarium/gazebo was a retirement gift to myself. Now I can stitch outside in the evenings until daylight fades and even then some since we made sure an electrical power line was installed underground, coming up inside it. As you can see, those cedar hedges to the right are one of the main reasons we can't sit out at night. We get eaten alive by all the mosquitoes they harbour. The hedge isn't ours to remove and anyways it does provide some privacy. Now all we have to do is fix up the lawn around things. They had put down some sod which they didn't tell us they were going to do and while we were gone it pretty well burnt up with all the heat. The neighbours found it and tried watering but I think by then it was too late.

On my way home from Muskoka we took a side trip to see my friend Ann at Knowledge and Needles in Brighton. It was there that I found my WDW Havana and was then able to complete BBD Their Song. Here is the final picture.

And here is my meagre progress on LHN Acorn Hill.

One of the things I did do this year on our trip was to visit a few of the antique shops in Muskoka. I'd always wanted to do this but we never seemed to have enough time. Here are the treasures I picked up.

This piece is a very close match to my childhood tea set which is also pink depression glass.

This was my favourite find of the day. A beautiful glass rose bowl with flower/scissor frog.

I had one other find which I'll save until my ort post. Can you guess what it is?

That's about it for now. I've just finished my packing for our next trip to Windsor to visit our family and attend our high school band reunion. It promises to be a lot of fun!

More cottage life and stitching too!

2011-07-20T10:45:00.000-04:00

Welcome back to week number 2 at the cottage. The picture above is of our rental here in Lake Muskoka. We have a lovely boathouse cottage and I spend most mornings on the deck stitching. The owners also have some lovely gardens on the property which I snapped a few pictures of yesterday afternoon.

Don't you just love the flower sculptures in the background? I've posted a close up of them as well. This is truly a lovely cottage which unfortunately is up for sale as well as the main house behind it. They have already had a couple of offers and are negotiating a sale so it looks like we'll be vacationing elsewhere on the lake. We do have a lead on two other locations, one of which is just across the bay from our current location.

As I mentioned earlier, I love to stitch on the deck of the boathouse with the view of the lake in front of me. However I've been unable to do much stitching the past couple of days since the sun was just too strong and I found I had a headache for most of the day. This could also be due to dehydration. I've never been one to drink lots of water and the water here tastes awful as far as I'm concerned. So I've been filling up on ice tea and lemonade. All that extra caffeine from the tea is not helping the headache any.

However I do have stitchy photos for you! Here is the picture of my completed BBD Their Song minus the three words which I ran out of floss for. It's a bit wrinkled looking. There is an iron here in the cottage and I did try pressing it last night but I don't think this iron is as hot as my one at home plus it doesn't have steam. I'm going to give a call to one of my LNS which is on my way home and see if she has any of the WDW Havana which I'm needing to complete this with. Next I thought I'd try getting back to my Canadian version of LHN America. But once again I'm not happy with my choice of floss colour for the flag in this one. I'm trying to find just the right shade of red in the Canadian flag and am not having any luck at the moment. They either look too cherry red or too orangy red and I've ended up frogging out the flag once I get it started. I'm still undecided on the colour of the house roof too. I guess I'm not very good at making decisions. Maybe it's heat stroke! So the only thing left to stitch on was my new start, LHN Acorn Hill. Below is a pic of my progress to date. It does't look like much but it will eventually be a cute little house. See that pretty red door? I'm stitching this one on LSL Buttercream and loving it!

At the tail end of last week I returned to the village of Rosseau to have a look in the antique shop there. We had visited this village on our first weekend here and found it very quaint. Imagine my surprise when I found this beautiful old sampler in the shop. I tried to get a good picture of it but where it was hanging the sun shone on it at the wrong angle and always gave me a reflection.

It's been stitched by Eliza Prout, aged 11 in the year 1833. It took me a little bit to decipher this but I believe that's what has been stitched. Take a look below at the other pics and see if you agree with me. The sampler is not in the very best of shape. The linen is torn in several spots, perhaps just eaten away and the colours are faded somewhat but hey, wouldn't you look a little worse for wear if you were 178 yrs old?!

Is that supposed to be a dog in the above photo? I'm not really sure but I love it as well as the deer and the butterfly in the previous pics. I would love to own a sampler like this but it's a bit out of my price range. I'm aways amazed at the stitching abilities of these young girls.

I visited other antique shops during the week but didn't find any other samplers such as this one.

Here are some other pictures we took during our visit to Rosseau. My DH loved the General Store and its collection of old bottles on the upper shelves.

The gardens are found next door to the local ice cream stop and the church is where my DH played the organ on the Sunday morning.

On our way home from Rosseau we stopped briefly in the village of Minett. That's where we found this fantastic carving in an old tree. What a wonderful way to preserve the remains of some of these older trees. We found out from some of the villagers that many of the trees in the area were lost during a horrific storm on the lake three weeks ago. We ourselves saw evidence of this on our many boat trips on the lake. In some cases we saw where the trees had fallen on the cottage.

One of the many other things which we like to do each year on our visits to Muskoka is to take in the waterski show in Bala. This show makes the rounds of the lakes each week and has a different theme each year. Two years ago when I saw it with my son the theme was Raiders of the Lost Ark. This year the theme was James Bond. Goldfinger was also present and was responsible for taking off with all of Bonds' Girls. The shows are great fun and showcase the talents of waterskiers from the area as well as abroad.

This will be my last post from the cottage. We are heading out on Friday morning for the long trek home. I absolutely hate leaving the lake. I always feel so much at peace here but we've had a wonderful time and all good things must come to an end. I'll post some more pics of our vacation when I've returned home. Until then, happy stitching!

Launches, Lizards & Loons at the Lake

2011-07-16T21:39:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that a week has already passed since our arrival at the cottage. And what a week iIt's hard to believe that a week has already passed since our arrival at the cottage. And what a week it's been! As the title may indicate, we've seen a lot.

As for the launches in the area, they're varied.....from rowboats, canoes and kayaks to sailboats, motorboats and seadoos.This year however was the first time we'd ever seen a motorized raft. I couldn't believe what I was seeing the first time it passed by. I'm not sure if those chairs are anchored down or not but it would be a bit of a rough ride if they're not!

Then there was the boat that passed whose horn emitted a mooing sound. Turns out it was the local butcher who makes his rounds on the lake. The boat is equipped with a freezer and they carry just about any cut of meat that you can think of. If you click to enlarge the pic you can see the butcher's name on the rear banner.

Our jaunts on the lake have found some lovely wooden boats as well as a sailing regatta which we came upon this afternoon.

However my DH feels there is nothing better than a spin in his own boat, nicknamed HAPIS (Happy as a pig in sh....)

Of course with any lakeside vacation there are always loons to be found. We both love the sound of the loons calling to one another and are fortunate in that there are a couple who reside in our area of the bay. I managed to capture this photo as we pulled in at the dock today.

Oh yes and the lizard! Well we just happened to come upon Spike, as he's known, as we were leaving Don's bakery in the nearby town of Bala. He was out for an afternoon stroll with his family if you can imagine that.

And yes, my vacation is including stitching! I've already spent many lovely hours on the deck of our boathouse cottage, taking in the sights as I stitch away. I'll have a picture of my progress on Their Song next post. I suddenly realized this morning that I was stitching away on some of the cherries in the design as I munched away on fresh cherries we'd picked up the day before. I think you can spy them on the table if you look hard enough.

Update: As of this evening I've completed everything I can on Their Song. I managed to run out of the WDW Havana which is used for the lettering just three words short of a finish. Tomorrow I'll press it and take a picture to show you. I'm a little disappointed and wish that they would state in the pattern whether more than one skein is needed. I nearly ran out of the Moss green as well.

I guess this means it's time for another start. Yippee! I'll dig it out tomorrow. I've brought LHN Acorn Hill figuring it was just about time for a fall start.

I'll also have a picture on my next post of a lovely, old sampler that I discovered in one of the local antique shops. I need your help in deciphering some of the lettering on it.

It's hot and sticky here tonight. So sticky that you just hate to even move. This might call for a midnight swim! Enjoy your weekend!

A finish and cottage bound

2011-07-08T20:00:00.000-04:00

I held a stitching marathon this week to try and finish up the Wedding Sampler before leaving on holidays. It resulted in a serious case of numb bum!! I was headed to the home stretch on Tuesday when I realized that I was out by a row on the right side and the two sides would not meet properly in the center. Drat! ( That's not exactly the word I used). So I entertained the frogs for the remainder of the afternoon, removing about one third of the stitching on the right border. Wednesday I set about restitching the works, praying that I didn't run out of floss in the process. Besides what I was stitching with, I had one remaining skein of the gold however it appeared to be from a different lot and was much lighter than what I'd been using. I was very careful and managed to get everything completed. Then it was on to the beading. I spent Wednesday night and Thursday morning stitching the beads on, picking myself with the needle on several occasions. That's what happens when you rush!

After the final touches I hopped in the car and rode into Ottawa to leave the sampler at the framers. That way it will be complete when we return from holidays and I can get it mailed to the bride-to-be. I posted another pic here as well with a closeup of the beads. Originally I wasn't sure if I'd add them but they did make a difference.

I feel much better now knowing that this is completed. I'm quite pleased with it and hope the newlyweds will be pleased as well.

That completed, I spent a small amount of time stitching on Their Song. This one will accompany me to the cottage where I'll have much more time to spend with it. I've kitted up Maple Leaf by Alessandra Adelaide which arrived this week. However since it's being stitched on white I'm hesitant to start it until we return from the cottage. I'm afraid it will end up soiled. So very shortly I'm browsing through my stash looking for some smaller stitches to take along with me.

We are cottage bound tomorrow morning and can hardly wait until we are seated on the dock overlooking Lake Muskoka. This is the weekend of our 10th wedding anniversary and we spent our honeymoon in Muskoka so we intend to celebrate once we're there with a sunset dinner cruise of the lake on the Segwun steamship. It's a fantastic tour of the lake and a view of some of the lovely cottages not seen otherwise.
Here are some photos from our wedding 10 yrs ago. These were not taken digitally and we didn't have professional photographer so the quality is not as good as the ones taken today.

Jeff (center) and Dan (right) haven't changed all that much but boy oh boy has Chris ever changed! I've posted another pic of them today with me taken during our recent spring get together.

As you can see, he likes to play with his hair colour. Mmmm, maybe he got that idea from someone else!

Since we're heading out tomorrow for 2 weeks I may not be online as much as usual. I am taking my lap top with me and do plan on posting at least once but I know I won't be commenting on your blogs as usual. I'll peek in once in awhile when time permits.

See you soon!

New designer

2011-07-03T09:34:00.000-04:00

Please join me in congratulating Berit on the release of her very first design effort and the formation of Jaunty Fox Designs to showcase her works! In celebration she is having a giveaway on her blog. Just follow the link on her name and you'll be able to download a copy of her first design.
I don't often post giveaways here on my blog however I feel that it's important to promote and encourage our hobby and art form. Particularily in Canada there have been so many closures of needlework shops and I sometimes feel like ours is a dying art. I am thrilled to see that there are still those our there who believe in the joy of cross stitch and continue to provide us with wonderful designs.
Congratulations Berit!

Canada Day Orts

2011-07-01T13:02:00.000-04:00

HAPPY CANADA DAY to all my Canadian blogging friends! I don't know about elsewhere in the country but the weather here is just perfect for Canada Day celebrations. The skies should be just as great as those in the picture above taken at the Parliament buildings in Ottawa.
We've decided to forego all the celebrations in the city and spend a day catching up with some friends. We're hosting a dinner at our home and I made a special dessert for the occasion. In keeping with our patriotic colours, I've made my first white chocolate berry pie but I have a feeling it won't be my last!

We spent yesterday getting the house spruced up for our guests and there wasn't a lot of stitching going on so no new stitchy photos. However I do have a lot more orts to show for this TUSAL post. That's right, it's the new moon once more! Look at all those bright colours! Lots of gold from the wedding sampler and that lovely red from my Canada Day stitch. The final stitches on Spring Quaker make up the remainder of all that colour.

Not much else to report for now although I'm sure to have more stitching progress after the holiday weekend. Thanks so much for taking the time to drop by and comment and especially for all the lovely comments on my Spring Quaker and O Canada finishes . I hope you all have a wonderful weekend .