A Christmas start

I got the urge to work on something with a Christmas theme this week. Must be all the ads on TV and radio for the holiday or maybe it was all that Christmas music playing in the stores already (can you believe it!). In any case I've concentrated all my efforts on Blackbird Designs Blessings and a new ornament start from M Designs. Unfortunately my efforts over the past two weeks have been rather pitiful. Due to our home renovations, the house is full of dust. It's difficult to find a clean place to stitch. Some nights we're limited to just the use of our bedroom and spare room, neither of which has good lighting. So my stitching has had to be set aside some evenings and I've become a couch potato or rather a bed potato in my case, lol! My Tuesday night stitching has really become a thing of need even if only to get me out of the mess that's my house.

My new start is a name tree that I ordered more than a year ago from M Designs. Actually I ordered several of them with the names of various family members. Right now I'm working on one for my granddaughter Oceanne. If you turn you head sideways you can see part of her name. The fabric I've chosen is a Silkweaver Opalescent Solo and there is enough of it to do a second ornie for Oceanne's sister, Summer. I'm using a DMC variegated floss and for the very first time I'm stitching over 1! It's not as bad as I feared but then again this is a 28ct not 40ct. The use of my magnifying lens is a must though. I've tried without it and those darn sparkles get in the way and make it difficult to see where the holes are.

I think it's turning out very pretty so far. I've only been able to stitch on it for two evenings mainly because I didn't have access to my stitching spot after I got started. I'm going to try and do some on it today in the daylight.

Blessings is coming along slowly but surely. I've still got to frog out the star and replace it with a brighter white but I am enjoying this one now. I wasn't sure when I first started it but it's growing on me.

My little Ink Circles Spotted Owls has been on hold waiting for floss replacement thanks to Clarisse taking off with the floss I had been working with. The new floss arrived this week and I managed to do a small amount on this one. It's close to a finish but might take me longer since my stitching days are often being cut out. I haven't touched Nantucket in weeks now but it will resurface later. I just want to concentrate on small projects right now. I don't want to risk getting it dirty with all of our mess.

Speaking of which, things are progressing. The cupboards are now in and only require some minor finishing touches such as the crown mouldings. Countertops should go in next weekend.The hardwood floor is all down with the exception of one corner where we ran out of wood and therefore had to place another order. The supplier had ordered originally based on an estimate and forgot that he had to wait for confirmation once it was measured correctly.

Flooring is down in both the kitchen and entrance now. Basically the stairs still need to be done along with refinishing the existing railings. We have to repair the ceiling in our hallway thanks to an electrician who slipped while in the attic and but his boot through! Since the ceiling is one which had been sprayed for effect, we're not quite sure how to handle that one yet. It'll be their cost though, not ours . Then comes the big cleanup (which I'm dreading) following which the painters will move in to finish things off. I figure it will be the second week of December before everything is back in order. Just in time to get ready for the holidays. So my stitching time will continue to be limited until things are finished. Here's some pictures of the kitchen before we started and where we are at this point.

My Tuesday night group of stitchers has decided to have a Secret Santa night. We've all drawn names and are limited to $20 dollars for our gift. We'll get together the second week in December for a wine and cheese, at which time we'll exchange gifts. Should be a lot of fun! Gifts are not limited to stitching but stitchy items are not excluded either. Any ideas?

I received an email from my cousin this week and I'm now calling her an enabler! She sent me an email from her LNS detailing the Little House of Needleworks new Christmas ornament releases soon to start. It's an automatic shipment program. In addition they will send you a list of supplies needed for each stitch a week or so prior to the chart shipment so you can place an order for any supplies you might need in advance. The supplies will then be shipped along with the corresponding chart. Could I resist? Are you kidding me...NO! I signed up immediately. I think I might join the group over at Vonna's who are planning to stitch these.

As I write this, my little Clarisse sits on the ironing board behind me, keeping me company. She is no longer little and no longer a kitten, having turned one year old yesterday. She is turning into a beautiful cat but she hasn't quite lost all of the kitten in her. After spending all day locked in a bedroom while renovations are taking place, she then tears pellmell through the house upon her release and gets into absolutely everything she can just to show her displeasure! I can't blame her though. I certainly know how she feels being confined to just one area.

Now I'm off to run some errands. I'm trying to get my Christmas lights put outside on my bushes while the weather holds out. There's nothing I hate more than trying to put them out in early December while it's snowing and my hands are freezing. I figured I'd get smart this year and get them put on early. I won't turn them on though until much later in December.

Hope you all have a super weekend. Keep on stitching!

Friends and Fun

That's what the past weekend was all about when I made a trip Kingston way for a SAL at Rebecca's home. I landed in on Friday evening after being stuck in a traffic nightmare on the 401 highway. Waiting for me was Rebecca, Dani and Christin. Not long after I arrived we were joined by Bonnie from Cobourg. Following a yummy supper provided by Rebecca we all settled in, stitching in hand and caught up with each other.


Saturday morning the group got a little bigger with the arrival of Trista, Kathy, Beatrice, Barb and Judy. Ann and Beth had both called with regrets due to illness so our group was complete.
I know that in the pictures which Dani took, it appeared that we were all business but there was still a lot of chatting going on while we stitched. Dani made terrific progress on Tour de Marque. Rebecca is now backstitching her wolves which we all agreed doesn't necessarily need to be done on everthing called for in the piece. Some of the stitching around the mouth just didn't look right and we all felt it looked better off without it.

Barb and I seemed to be visiting with the frogs (as well as snails which slowed us down) and I think I might have heard them in Kathy's corner as well or was that just Kathy, lol! Everyone else seemed to be making great progress. Trista's Taj Mahal Mandela was beautiful! I wish I'd taken a pic to show all of you. Later in the day the frogs departed and I did make some progress on Nantucket as well as a little on BD Blessings.

Here's Rebecca who hosted

Beatrice and Barb followed by Christin and Kathy

Beatrice with her Mirabilia along with Judy and Dani
enjoying the potluck



Trista with her Chatelaine

and Bonnie with her Blackstone Fantasy Garden

Nantucket Summer Sampler

Pot luck was on the menu for supper, one of my favourites. After a few more hours of stitching following supper, the Brighton contingent headed back home.

I've been having some issues lately with foot problems which in turn has resulted in pain in the back, knees and hips since I'm shifting my weight . I spent the weekend hobbling around and on Sunday morning made the decision to head home early. I really wasn't comfortable and it was putting a damper on things. A very special thanks to Rebecca for being such a super hostess and to her hubby for supplying one of my favourite drinks.

Since I last posted I also made a start on a little freebie that arrived with one of my online orders. It's an Ink Circles freebie called Ink Spots #6 - Spotted Owls. Can you spot the owls?

I love working on this little piece. I'm using a Dinky Dyes silk and figured I'd have plenty to finish things off. That was before Clarisse took off with some of my floss! I had cut all of the floss into lengths and laid it on the arm of my chair. Then I stepped away for a few minutes. When I returned, all but two of the lengths had disappeared. I looked everywhere for them with no luck. There are so many hiding places in my house right now courtesy of my renovations and the boxes of kitchen goods. She might have eaten some of it but I don't think she had enough time to ingest all of them. In any case, the floss is no more and I had to place an order for another skein to replace it. That'll teach me to leave my floss lying around, lol!

Speaking of Clarisse, she's really out of sorts now that the kitchen renovations have begun. We have to keep her cooped up in one of the bedrooms all day while they and we are working. There's really no other place for her. We don't have a door to our rec room to keep her downstairs. Usually we confine her to a bedroom during the night but now we're giving her free reign of the house while we sleep so she can get a bit more exercise. Of course there's plenty of dust which she's running around in so I'm sure she'll need a bath when it's all said and done.

All of our carpet is being replaced with hardwood so the carpet is now gone. I always camped with my boys so I'm used to eating and cooking out of boxes but I could do without all the dust. Meals are limited right now to using our microwave, toaster oven or the BBQ. Eating out is looking better all the time!
Since cleaning is out of the question at this time, I'm off now to sit and stitch a bit before bed. Hope you're all having a great week.

Indecisive

I'm not indecisive, I just can't make up my mind! I'm ready for a new start and I just can't seem to settle on which piece I want to do next. I've even gone so far as to actually start one and then wish I'd started something else. Am I the only one like this?
At this Tuesday's SAL there was a new start in the form of Blackbird's Designs Blessings Be Thine. I've admired this one for some time now. The plan was to start LHN Home of a Needleworker but the fabric which I thought I still had in my stash wasn't anywhere to be found and until I find something suitable it's been put on hold. Hence, the backup plan, Blessings. The fabric is a WDW 30 ct linen and I'm finding it's a looser weave than I care to stitch on. Sometimes that's all it takes to turn me off of a project and then I'm searching for the next start. Add to that the fact that I'm already going to have to frog out the star and replace it with another choice of floss colour. The white just isn't standing out enough.

My order of the new releases from St. Charles' Market arrived this week and that's calling to me. I fell in love with BD Midnight Watch! I know, I know, I said no more Halloween stitching but you should see it! Then of course there were all the new little Halloween quickies from Val's Stitchin' Stuff. Too cute. On top of that, with a recent online order I received an Ink Circles freebie called Spotted Owls. The owls are hidden within the design. Now I'm thinking, "What floss should I use for this and I wonder if I can find fabric for this one in my stash?" And how could I possibly forget the fact that I finally found a copy of JCS Christmas ornament issue at my local pharmacy. I can't count the number that I want to stitch from this year's issue. Help! So what have I done so far? Nothing. It's like my mind has shut down and now I don't feel like picking up anything. It's merely on overload and once I've calmed down my hand will reach for that needle again and I'll be alright. Everything will fall into place and I'll know exactly what I'm doing. I think!

Before the mind got too carried away, I did manage a little progress on Nantucket.

The camera came with me to SAL this past week and I snapped a few pics of my fellow stitchers . There didn't seem to be as much stitching this week. Instead there was a lot of talk of the upcoming retreat and much poring over the latest Herrschner's catalogs. Although I'm not able to make the retreat this year, I will be joining some of our fellow bloggers at Rebecca's for a weekend of fun, laughter, eating and oh yeah, stitching. Can't wait!

From left: Sylvia, Barb and Maria

Sylvia, Maria and Sally

Looks like a floss toss to me!

Roseanne et moi having some fun while Sue checks out the latest Herrschner's catalog.

Sally admiring Louise's latest stash purchase

Chantal and Leslie checking out the catalog.

For all you book lovers out there, Diana Gabaldon was in town this week for a reading from her latest release, An Echo In The Bone. I've been to one of Diana's book readings in the past and really enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of her Outlander series and can't wait to read this, the 7th in the series. I would have loved to gone to this reading but driving into Ottawa for three nights in a row after working in Cornwall all day is just too much commuting for me. Especially when I have to work the upcoming weekend. As it is I bailed out of my choir practice tonight after a particularily rotten day at work. The old gray mare she ain't what she used to be!

Kitchen renovations are slated to begin next Wednesday so keep your fingers crossed. While I was cleaning out the existing cupboards I found that I had a lot more selections of tea than I realized. A couple of my girl friends prefer tea to coffee especially the herbal decaf varieties. This led me back to drinking tea which in the past I'd limited to when I was ill. I have a love for all types of chai - regular, white chai, holiday chai, green tea chai, chocolate chai but this week I found a new tea which I'm equally hooked on. It's one of Tetley's teas and is called Warmth - Cinnamon Spice with Orange Blossom (decaffinated). I've managed to get my son Dan hooked too. So excuse me now while I go pour myself a cup and think of new starts. See you next week!

Snowmen and Palm Trees

That pretty well sums up what I've been stitching for the past week. I dug out a UFO, The Trilogy's Secret Snowdrift, that's been sitting untouched since last winter. I'm so close to finishing this one and I'm waiting for supplies for my next start so I decided to get this one moving first. I've only got one more snowman and a penguin to complete and then the border. I was so keen on this little piece when I started. I've never understood exactly what causes me to lose interest or why it only happens with certain pieces but it does happen. Maybe it's boredom, who knows.

The palm trees are found in Nantucket's Summer Sampler and I finished stitching the first palm tree while at my Tuesday night SAL. So far, so good, I haven't lost interest in this one yet!

Besides this I've had one small happy dance. I finished off my Cricket freebie for Halloween. One of the ladies in my group suggested finishing it as a bellpull or banner. Since I'm not much for sewing, I'm going to enlist the help of one of my coworkers for the finishing.

No more Halloween stitching for now. I want to pick out something to stitch for Christmas even if it's just an ornie. I'm anxiously awaiting the new JCS ornament issue. I'm told that it's now available in Ottawa so I'll try and get a copy this weekend. In the meantime I chose another start, LHN Home of a Needleworker. This one will be framed and hung in my entry so that everyone who enters our home will know exactly what I've been up to.

I've been having a great time checking out the new releases from St. Charles Market. Two of the ladies in our stitching group (formerly of the Cross Stitch Cupboard) attended the market and brought their new stash this past Tuesday for us to check out. There was plenty of drooling, oohs and aaahs. It was almost as good as Christmas morning! Speaking of Christmas, it seems that there are a few in the group who will be doing a Christmas of Hawkrun Hollow SAL. That's just too big a project for me at the moment with everything else that's going on around here. I have however ordered the new Shepherd Bush, Holy Night. Of course I couldn't stop there! I just had to have Blackbird Designs Midnight Watch. I also sprung for a couple of Val's Stitchin' Stuff smalls. Both with cats on them of course! This was my treat for all the overtime at work that I've put in lately.

Besides cross stitch, the ladies also brought back some beautiful beads for another fellow stitcher. She has been one busy lady, using these beads and others to create some fabulous fobs. She's taking the scissor fobs with her to the upcoming stitching retreat to sell. Because of our home renovations, I'm not able to attend retreat this year. Cry, cry, sniffle, sniffle, since this is the last stitching retreat that will be occuring. Unless of course someone else wants to take over the job. Up until now these retreats have been hosted by The Cross stitch Cupboard or Knit One, Stitch Too as it was recently known. Now that the store has closed, the owners feel that they would like to devote their energies to other pursuits. Anyways, because I'm not attending retreat, I got to pick out and purchase the fob of my choice at our gathering.

Isn't it pretty? Each fob has a protector attached which nicely fits over the point of the scissors. I'm so pleased with it and can't wait to see the new fobs that Elaine creates with all her lovely new beads.

On the renovation front, my kitchen cupboards have arrived! They are sitting inside my garage and have been sitting there for a week now while we wait for the contractor to start. He was supposed to be available the first week in October but is still finishing off another job. Meanwhile we have started to live out of boxes as will be the case well into December I'm sure. We can prepare meals on the BBQ once things are under way. We are fortunate that our BBQ has a side burner for heating pots. There's also the microwave which is sitting on a cart in the spare room where our kitchen table resides. Something tells me though that we will grow sick of this soon enough especially when we won't have our sink available. I expect I'll grow sick of eating out. For the first time in a long time I may actually look forward to cooking when everything is completed!

This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday. Since I can't prepare the bird this year we have made reservations at a favourite haunt in Ottawa. I just purchased a bus ticket online for my youngest to come home from Toronto. His ride backed out at the last minute and Mom came to the rescue. His brother in Cornwall will be joining us as well. My oldest doesn't get enough time off work to come home plus his car is only good enough for short trips and not the highway driving needed to get to our place. So I'll be paying a visit to their home next month when we celebrate my youngest granddaughter's birthday. I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend and to my fellow Canadian bloggers, Happy Thanksgiving! In these times of job insecurity and uncertainty, I consider myself truly blessed. Thanks be to God.

Welcome fall!

It's been an absolutely gorgeous fall day here and fortunately for me I'm not working today. Even better, I've done nothing other than stitch and shop! I spent my morning stitching on my Nantucket Summer Sampler. Sorry it looks a little lopsided in this pic. I'm really enjoying my time spent stitching on this one. The colours are so pretty and I love watching the scene unfold. While I was stitching it I realized that I'm always stitching a season behind. Here I am doing a summer scene when it's now fall. When summer was here I was stitching my Spring Lace. It seems that it takes me the entire season to decide on a piece, kit it up and get started. I'm sure I'll decide on a Christmas piece once the holidays are over and I'll be into a Halloween piece over Christmas! It's like I'm trying to hang on the season in my own way. Oh well, at least they get done.

My Cricket Halloween freebie is coming along nicely. I'm sure to have this one completed in time for the season. I'm getting the itch to start something else but I'm not sure what yet. Big or small, ornament or not?.....who knows. I was going through my stash when my latest purchase arrived. It's Blue Ribbon Designs Black Cats and Flying Bats. I loved the idea that you could do a number of ornaments from this or one BAP. Yup, I can see me starting this one in November! The upcoming Winter White Woodland is also along the same lines. Follow the previous link to also see a sneak peek of their Autumn/Thanksgiving sampler. I love it!! In fact I love all of their latest releases. Think there's enough time in my schedule to fit them all in? Not, lol!

Life has been a little less stressful lately so I've had a bit more energy. This in turn has led to my making it to the past 3 Tuesday night SALs. I'm really enjoying my time spent stitching with these ladies. I relax as soon as I walk in and the evening passes so quickly with lots of fun, laughter and stitching. Mind you, some of us have found that the frogs follow us home afterwards since we're spending far too much time socializing and not enough time counting! Such was the case for me this week but it was a small area concerned and I sent those pesky green fellows packing shortly afterwards.

The weather has been cooperating during my travels to stitch and I'll go as long as I can 'cause I know that once the winter slush and snow arrives I won't be making too many appearances. One of these times I'll remember to bring my camera and snap a few pictures of the gang.

Fast forward a day and remember those famous last words I dared mention about life being less stressful? Yeah, right! I'd planned a lovely outing with some friends to the village of Merrickville for a girls' day of pampering but such was not the case. A family emergency took me back into Cornwall for the day along with a pitstop at work where a small problem had cropped up. Fortunately, things were not as bad as they seemed originally and I did end up spending a lovely afternoon with my son and made it home in time to stitch outside in the sun for an hour or so.

Upon arriving in our village, I stopped by the local used bookstore to drop off some books I'd finished reading. The store operates on credit. You drop off books for which you are credited a sum and then you can take more out. Quite often I don't manage to find anything that day and so I run up a tally until my next visit. Today however was a different story. I hit the jackpot! Within minutes I managed to find all these lovelies: The Book of Negroes, 3 Philippa Gregory novels - The other Boleyn girl, The Virgin's Lover, and The Queen's Fool and a Lisa Jackson book, Malice. And all for the whopping price of $15 which is what I'd just received for the books I'd left behind! The books are in excellent condition... like new. Mind you I don't promise to finish them as fast as I found them. My leisure time is limited and if I'm stitching I'm not reading and vice versa. But they'll be waiting for me on some rainy afternoon.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrivals online of the newest purchases at the St. Charles Market. There are so many talented designers out there and I love checking out all the new additions. Carriage House Samplings' Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow is one of my favourites.

Renovation update: The kitchen cupboards were to have arrived this past Monday but the truck which was carrying them broke down in Quebec and is awaiting a part replacement. Jeez, you'd think they had more than one truck! Kitchen flooring is now in as well as the hardwood flooring and we've got our quote from the painters. Think I might be changing my mind on colour though. Those paint chips never match what ends up on the wall. We bought a trial size and today Bob put some up on the wall which is coming down. Ugh! What looked like a nice dusty rose on the chip has translated into a much darker rose with a heck of a lot of lavender tint to it. Maybe it's just me. I shy away from darker shades and usually pick a pastel. This time I thought I'd be brave. Who knows, maybe it will grow on me!

Now it's back to the grind for another 7 day stretch. I'll check in with another stitching update after that. Happy Fall!

A Restful Week (even if it doesn't seem that way!)

I don't know what it was about the past week's holiday but I'm actually feeling more relaxed than after my week in Muskoka. Maybe it was the glorious weather which was lacking for most of the summer. Or maybe it was the good company and time spent stitching which contributed to my relaxation. In any case it was a great week!

It started off on Tuesday with some R&R at home and then some great fun stitching with the weekly SAL in Ottawa. That's where I started my next BAP.... By The Bay's Nantucket Summer Sampler. I'm trying to hold onto summer in any way, shape or form! I love stitching on Donna's works. They really appeal to me.

Wednesday I started tackling the job of packing up the contents of my kitchen cupboards in anticipation of our forthcoming renovations ( that's after sleeping in an extra 3 hrs than when I'm working!). Isn't it amazing how much energy one has when sleep is part of the equation? I made great headway and rewarded myself by spending the afternoon stitching on the back deck. I put aside NSS in favour of my Cricket Collection Halloween freebie which is coming along nicely.

Thursday the weather was still holding which called for a boat ride. My DH auctions off a boat ride during a silent auction fundraiser at our church each year. Last year's winners were unable to join us each time the weather cooperated so finally we were able to fulfill our commitment this week. Our friends joined us on the Ottawa River for a rear view of the Parliament buildings and the PM's residence. It was an absolutely beautiful day. We took our time, snapping tons of photos along the way. I've posted a few here including:

1.The Parliament buildings (that's the library building in the foreground and the Peace tower in the background)

2. The Prime Minister's residence

3. The National Art Gallery alongside the double spires of Notre Dame Cathedral

4. The Supreme Court

Friday morning I headed off to Cornwall to pick up my son Dan and then we were off to visit my son Jeff and my granddaughters in Quebec. I hadn't seen them since Christmas! Usually Jeff tries to get to our place during the summer but his vacation didn't coincide with ours this year. Whenever I tried to choose a weekend visit, either he or I was working. Finally things worked out for us. He works an extended work week Mon.-Thurs. so that every Friday they finish at noon. The girls were anxiously awaiting our arrival, their noses pushed on the screen windows watching for "Amma Inn". That's how I'm known to the youngest. Grandma Lynn was anxious to see them too. We spent the afternoon reading books, watching a Disney movie and making towers of blocks. Dan spent the afternoon catching up with his brother although he's also Oceanne's choice of playmate as you can see from these pics.

The girls speak only French but understand most English. I can understand French so we get along pretty well however I was having a really hard time deciphering what the youngest, Summer, was saying. Turns out I'm not the only one. Jeff says she speaks a mix of French and jibberish with a sprinkling of English words thrown in. She's pretty soft spoken so you have to listen closely to get anything. After listening to her repeat the same sentence several times and not getting anything I turned to Jeff for translation. Basically she wanted me to pick her up and hug her although she wasn't quite using the proper words. I felt so bad because I'd just been answering yes to her when she was quite adamant! From that point on she spent a good portion of the afternoon on my lap. The day was over far too quickly but we made a webcam date for next week.

Saturday I did something that I haven't done in ages. I baked! Must be that fall feeling in the air. The end result was a batch of date squares and an applesauce loaf cake. I kept a very small amount for us and the rest I took into church with us today for the coffee hour following the service.

After church we paid a visit to the Parkdale Market in Ottawa which is one of our favourite haunts on a Sunday afternoon. I love seeing all the fresh produce on display along with all the flowers. The fall season being on our doorstep, todays' choice were mums of every colour. I wanted to take them all home with me but settled on just one in a hanging basket. Besides, as Bob reminded me, I already have a couple others at home gracing our front porch. Our remaining purchases were some tasty tomatoes ( there are samples available), little red potatoes, crisp MacIntosh apples and sweet coloured peppers as seen in the photo below. Even if I don't buy anything, I love the sights and sounds at the market.

Our day ended with Bob barbequing steaks for dinner with a friend. Now our company has headed home and I'm preparing to stitch for an hour or so before bed. (Maybe not, I've just finished this post and it's now almost 11:00pm!) Then's it's back to reality at 5:00 tomorrow morning. Ugh! Well it was heaven while it lasted! Hope we all have a great week and that stitching is very much a part of it.

(Our view heading home from Quebec)