Feeling the itch......

To start something new, that is. My stitching is moving along quite smoothly over the past few days and as Turkey Love is nearing a completion, I feel that all familiar urge. Should it be a Halloween ornie, some smalls for fall or another big project? Time will tell as I sift through my stash. In the meantime, here's the updated pic of Turkey Love.

I am still really loving these colours. So rich and so appropriate as autumn approaches. I can't wait until this one is finished, framed and hung!

As for Birds of a Feather, I'm ready to move on to the border now. First I have to stitch the box framing around all of the centre stitching and then I can move on to the border. 

It doesn't seem to "pop" all that much when it's photographed so the picture never does it justice. It looks too washed out.
The floss that was called for on the stems of the flowers ended up being far too close to the colour of the hill and consequently the stems blended right in. So I frogged them, replacing the colour with a DMC from my stash.

So many of you have commented on the so called "cottages" that frequent Muskoka. Many of the locals and our friends have commented on all the construction and they're not too happy about it. Here's one example which just floored me.
Last year we spotted an older cottage and single slip boathouse for sale. 

It still looks like more than just a cottage to me but it wasn't one of the newer monsters. The boathouse had just been added or recently renovated, I can't remember which. 
This year when we were boating in the area, Bob commented to me that he didn't see that cottage anymore. "It just can't up and walk away. It's got to be there.", was my response. So we took another swing by the spot again and here's what we found.

It looks somewhat similar, but in fact it's a brand new cottage and boathouse. What a waste! It had all been torn down. As far as I'm concerned, there was nothing wrong with the previous cottage and that boathouse was practically new. But I guess it wasn't good enough! Now it's up for sale for more than double than the previous place. That's how the real estate moguls make a quick buck.

Further on our journey, we pass by another place that has a boathouse that looks familiar.

"Hey, isn't that the boathouse from the cottage that was torn down?", I asked my hubby.
Sure enough, it turns out that one of the contractors working on the site of that new cottage found out that they were going to tear down the boathouse and said that he'd take it. He had 24 hrs to get it out of there. So they got a barge and floated the boathouse down the lake to his own cottage. What a deal!
Okay, so the boathouse was saved but the cottage was still wasted as far as I'm concerned.
Somehow I think our wilderness paradise is eventually going to be nothing more than a lakeside suburb of Toronto, if it isn't already. Things are getting way out of control.

So that's my ranting for today! Now I'm off to see what new start I can come up with. It's almost as much fun as stitching it!

Lakeside Stitching

My holidays for this summer have sadly come to an end. We returned this week from an absolutely wonderful 11 days spent cottaging in the Muskokas. For Bob and me, this is our most favourite spot on earth. Nowhere else do we feel so relaxed and at peace. 

Before I bore you with more pics from our vacation, I'll show you what stitching I managed to accomplish by the shore.

Following the completion of Magic Garden Sampler, I decided to allow myself a new start. I wanted to stitch something for the upcoming autumn season so I chose Plum Street Samplers Turkey Love.

 

I do love those long legged turkeys! The colours are wonderful and after such a warm summer this is giving me a taste of the cooler autumn to come. Some of the evenings at the cottage also gave us a taste of what's to come.
This is really fun to stitch!

After several days spent with the turkeys I thought it best to start putting in some more stitches on my Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler. I concentrated on the area with the bird and tree to the left as well as the house and the sheep.

I definitely made some progress with this one and I'm continuing on with it now that I've arrived at home.

The view at the cottage was absolutely heavenly for stitching.

My only complaint was that when we retired indoors for the evening, I couldn't find a comfortable stitching chair. I'm having a lot of difficulties with arthritis pain in my hip and lower back which just makes some chairs too uncomfortable. Consequently I spent most of my evenings reading rather than stitching or by playing a good game of cribbage with my hubby.

I found that I rose quite early each morning at the lake. That's when I would take photos such as the one above.  Most mornings I was up by six, partly due to the haunting calls of the loons. We had a family of three residing around our parts - mom, dad and their adolescent. The adolescent's feathers haven't changed yet and are still grey in colour rather than black.

Most days we saw the mom and her chick while dad swam a short distance away. Here's a shot I managed to get of the dad as we passed by in the boat.

This year we cottaged at a new location on Bala Park Island so our only mode of transportation was by boat. Consequently we didn't venture too far from our spot this year. However there were some activities taking place that we were able to get to by boat. Whenever I'm there, I love checking out the antique shops in Port Carling. I also found another shop not far from the boat landing in Torrance close to where our cottage was located. I came home with two small purchases which I was thrilled to have found. The first will come in very handy for my stitching finishes. It's a box of buttons and the price was right - $5!

My second purchase was a tapestry change purse. Apparently it's quite old but is in fabulous condition. The picture doesn't show it but the tapestry has some lovely gold floss throughout it, similar to a Kreinik thread.

I love the handle and clasp on this too!

During our stay at the cottage we met up with two of Bob's choir members who have a family cottage not far from where we were staying. Peter and Faye took us our for a ride on their Dippy. Dippy is short for Disappearing Propeller. Follow the link to find out more about these boats. Apparently there are only a little more than a hundred left in existence on the lakes.

We dropped Bob off at the shore so he could get a few pics of this lovely boat. BTW, its top speed is 9 km/hr! It definitely wouldn't win any races.

Many of you know that one of my favourite activities on our boat rides is checking out the boathouses on the shores. These boathouses have massive "cottages" that go along with them. Most have at least 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms! I've always said that they can keep the house, all I want is their boathouse. Here's the latest addition to the landscape at the north end of Lake Muskoka in Whiteside Bay. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see a small portion of the cottage in the trees. Remember, this boathouse is only the "guest house"!

This particular point of land is right around the corner from where my husband grew up cottaging at his grandfather's place. The addition of this cottage and boathouse has changed the landscape for all the locals. Here's a pic of the boathouse that used to reside there. Quite the difference!

We are so fortunate that many of Bob's childhood friends and acquaintances still spend their summers at the lake and welcome us into their homes.

All good things must come to an end however and we are home once more, preparing for the upcoming fall season. Bob returns to directing all his choirs following the Labour Day weekend. I look forward to returning to my stitching get togethers. It's been many weeks since I've seen any of the Tuesday group. 
I'm going to give a try to something new this fall. One of my local Wednesday crafters does incredible quilting and applique work. She has offered to start teaching me applique on Friday afternoons at the same location where we gather on Wednesdays. I can hardly wait to get started!

For those of you who have read this far, thank you! I look forward once again to being able to drop by your blogs and leave a comment. First I have to get through all the many posts written in my absence. Be patient with me, I will be back!

August TUSAL

August's new moon has arrived and with it my TUSAL pic for this month. My internet connection at the cottage has been sort of hit and miss so consequently I'm a day late with my posting.

Here are my orts for the month with a lovely view of Lake Muskoka in the background. Most of these orts are from my last finish, Magic Garden Sampler, and from my new start, Turkey Love. I'll be home early next week and I'll be able to post my progress pics at that point. Until then, enjoy your weekend while I'm stitching at the dock!

Latest WIPocalypse update - a finish!

This WIPocalypse update is short and sweet. Summer travels mean less stitching time but nonetheless I managed to sneak in a finish. On our final day of our holidays I put in the last few stitches on Magic Garden Sampler. This was a real joy to stitch!

Shakespeare's Peddler Magic Garden Sampler
stitched on 32 ct PTP Mello
using the recommended GAST

The only other piece I've worked on over the past month is my Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler by With Thy Needle & Thread.
I haven't put in any more stitches since my last photo but here's another picture just the same.

Like I said, short, but sweet with that finish!