Heading to Victoria

I'm afraid you won't see too much from me in the way of stitching over the next week or so. We are currently packing and getting things ready for our trip to Victoria, BC. We leave tomorrow morning and I'm so excited! I've never been to western Canada. As a child my parents travelled throughout the western US with us but didn't venture north into Canada. It was cheaper to travel in the US at that time.

My DH is an organist and is attending the Royal Canadian College of Organists annual convention which takes place in Victoria this year. While he is attending workshops in the mornings and some afternoons, I will be sightseeing. I've already booked for a tour of Butchart Gardens and we have reservations for high tea at the Empress Hotel on Sunday. I'm also hoping to book one of the ferry harbour tours. I'm sure I won't have any problem filling my time!

In the late afternoons and evenings we will be attending concerts of choral and organ music. Definitely not for everyone but I have a growing appreciation of organ music and I was already a fan of choral music.

On the last day of the trip we travel over to Vancouver and spend the day there. I'm taking the laptop with us but I'm not sure how much time I'll have for blogging, commenting or stitching for that matter! I'm sure I'll stitch on the plane flight though.

We're no sooner home than my sister and Mom arrive for a visit followed closely by the arrival of all three of my sons and my granddaughters. It will be a full house!! Can't wait!

So if you don't hear from me for the next little while you'll know why.

On the stitching front, I've started two new works. The first is By The Bay Needlearts Halloween Cove and the second is The Trilogy's Summer Lineup. Halloween Cove is being stitched on Wichelt 28ct Storm Gray Lugana and for Summer Lineup I'm using up some of the fabric in my stash and stitching on Silkweaver's 16ct Days Gone By Aida. It's been a very long time since I've stitched on Aida of any kind and I'm not sure yet if I'm liking it. This particular aida is not as stiff as some, which is better but it's yet to grow on me. I just hate the idea of ordering more fabric when I have so much at home I could be using. Too early for a picture yet.

I got started on HC on Tuesday evening with my stitching group. I'd just started stitching one of the pumpkins when Chantal mentioned to me that the colour didn't look anything like those in the picture. The jack-o-lanterns in the picture are orange and the one I was stitching was a medium copper-rust. I hadn't even noticed at this point, I was just enjoying the whole stitching thing!

Had I purchased the wrong floss in error? Nope, DMC 920 was called for and 920 was what I was stitching with. The girls thought it wasn't really a bad colour but I agreed with them that jack-0-lanterns should be orange. Several of the ladies had a multitude of floss with them and we poured over the various oranges to see which would look better. I decided on DMC 720 which then made me wonder if it had been a misprint to begin with. In any case, 720 it is and I'm much happier with my pumpkins.

I think I will probably stitch either my LHN ornie or Summer Lineup on the plane trip since both of these pieces are smaller and easier to work with. Summer Lineup is really a filler while I wait for other orders to arrive. I'm really waiting for the arrival of Shakespeare's Peddler Garden Magic Sampler. If this shows up in today's mail it's going with me. If not SL it is!

Speaking of my LHN ornament, here is my progress up until this point. I'm afraid I'm not making very fast progress at this. My heart just isn't into the Christmas ornaments at this point.

Rain today has brought a cooler temaperature which is a relief and I've been told the the temps in Victoria right now are a much more comfortable 20-22 degrees C as opposed to the 28-30 temperatures here. I can do with a bit of a break from all the humidity. I hope everyone is getting in lots of stitches whether it's your summer or winter break. Take care and I hope to check in from beautiful British Columbia next!