A stitching treat!

It really was a treat to stitch in the company of such super ladies. I'm referring to Dani, Christin, Kathy and Beatrice. Dani had a SAL this past weekend at her place where we all got together. I landed in Saturday afternoon and stayed until later that evening since I don't live as far away as Kathy and Beatrice and wasn't spending the night. We had soooo much fun... lots of stitching, laughing, stitching, talking, stitching, eating... well, you get the picture! While we were there we each took out our Paradigm Lost projects and my Cirques des Cercles to show off our progress. It's amazing when you see them all in person. Each is the same but yet so different and you can't appreciate the work until you see them altogether like that. Check out Dani's blog for the picture. This was one of those times when I really wanted to have my camera handy but my DH left the house with it before I could get my hands on it. He was headed off to do some boating with friends and wanted photos as well. I guess the early bird gets the worm!

During most of our time stitching I worked on my butterflies.

This is as far as I got before I ran out of floss. I knew that somewhere I had more hidden at home but had yet to find it. Today I found it at the same time as another skein arrived in an ebay order. Now I have more than enough!

I also managed to finish off a little ornament. It's from Val's Stitchin' Stuff and is called Ho Ho Ho. It's stitched on 20 ct opalescent lugana. This was a really quick and fun stitch! I've already started work on my next one.. a snowflake ornie.

My secret stitching is now complete and I only have a small amount of finishing left to do. Pam, I would have had it done by the weekend but the SAL was just too tempting. I'll email you as soon as it's in the snail mail.

Warning: Picture intensive!

This past Tuesday was Canada Day and Bob & I spent an absolutely fantastic day in Ottawa. We headed in first thing in the morning and took in lots of the days activities including the RCMP Musical Ride on Parliament Hill and numerous free concerts at the National Arts Centre. The weather was perfect... sunny and not too hot. We spent a lot of time walking around the hill and market area and got lots of great pics. As you can see from this photo, there were a lot of others doing the same! They estimate that by evening 75,000 people were out downtown celebrating.

The photo on the left was taken at one of the many concerts we took in. This one was of Unisong, a 400 voice choir with members from across Canada, accompanied by the NAC orchestra. Excellent! On the right is the clock tower at Centre block of the Parliament buildings. In front of it you can see a portion of the huge stage set up for the numerous outdoor concerts.

Above is the view down the Rideau Canal , through the locks and out into the Ottawa River. In the distance you can see Gatineau, Quebec. The structure on the right is the Chateau Laurier Hotel.

I had reservations about going downtown with all the crowds but it really was a lot of fun. The day ended with an incredible fireworks display set off from barges at five different locations on the river. A good time was had by all!

Today marks my seventh wedding anniversary to the most incredible man! Bob, I am so glad that you walked back into my life (34 yrs after we first met in grade 4!). Life has never been quite the same since, full of lots of love and laughter. Happy Anniversary honey!