Tuesday 19 February 2013

Better Late Than Never!

Yesterday I finally finished off a couple of Valentine pieces I had stitched. One was from last year and the other is a recent stitch. I had planned on having these finished in time for Valentine's Day but there was a death in my ex-husband's family which meant I was ferrying the boys to and from Ottawa to Cornwall where the wake and funeral took place. Only my eldest son drives and he was not able to make the trip so Mom ran the roads again. 

As you can see from the pic below, I was also involved in our church's Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper. I flipped those flapjacks from 2:00 pm until 6:00 pm and didn't feel much like eating any after that, lol!



My first finish was a Valentine freebie which had been offered by The Primitive Hare as part of a contest last year. I finished the stitching last year but never got around to the final finishing until now. 


The Primitive Hare May Love
stitched on 32ct Sassy's Sugared Coffee
using Victorian Motto red floss

The second finish was offered as a freebie by Plum Street Sampler in 2009. You can find the chart here. I just finished the stitching on this on Valentine's Day.

Here's a picture before I finished it as a pillow:


Plum Street Samplers Lovely You
stitched on 32ct Pink Sandy Beaches
using Gloriana Rose Violet

And after the finishing:



Both pieces will be lovely additions to my Valentine decor next year. I still have two other finishes from this year waiting for final finishing touches. Perhaps they'll get done this weekend...... or not!

This past weekend I also picked up my two main WIP. I only devoted one evening to BBD Awake The Dawning Day.



The rest of my free time I spent on Heartstring Samplery Baby It's Cold Outside. I am loving this one!



I still have to finish frogging out that letter O above the house. I wasn't paying attention and started stitching the word Look ( as in look at what you're doing!) instead of Listen. That's what I get for watching TV at the same time!

I need to get my act in gear and start stitching a RAK for the Random Acts of Stitching Kindness blog next.

As a Valentine's Day gift my DH had planned on taking me to dinner at one of our favourite spots, The Village Antiques & Tea Room. Unfortunately, the night of our reservation we were hit with a massive snowstorm which left us with another foot of snow. When we tried to rebook, we found out the tea room is now closed for a week due to health reasons so our dinner has been postponed for now.  Instead we spent the day with a trip to the Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary. 

We took our new camera with us in the hopes of getting some good pictures of the deer that roam the woods as well as the birds. Here are a few shots from our day. First stop - the birds. The chickadees will feed directly from your hand! We brought some sunflower seeds with us.





 Not one, but two!


A Tree Sparrow


The Red-Winged Blackbird, a sure sign of spring!

Then I caught a flash of red!


Soon after, this male cardinal landed on the snow in front of me.

On to see the deer now. Most of these deer are fairly tame and reside in the woods of the sanctuary. They know the sound of cars and will emerge from the woods looking for handouts.



Is that a car I hear?


I'll just take a peek over this snowbank and see.


Yup, that's a car alright! Might be treats coming!


I love this little one! Look at those eyelashes!

One of my favourite shots of the day.
Time to head home

We spotted this fella after we'd left the sanctuary while on our drive home. This particular cornfield actually had about 25-30 deer in it.

Hightailing it home!
I hope I haven't bored you with the pics from our day. I love taking a drive out to the sanctuary. It's also a great spot for snowshoeing, cross country skiing and hiking. Hope you enjoyed the visit!

27 comments:

  1. Your finishes are beautiful!
    Absolutely live those wildlife photos!

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  2. Lynn,
    You have been busy! I love both of your finishes. So pretty!

    Both WIP's look great. Sorry you have to frog the O.

    What beautiful pictures of the birds and deers. Thank you for sharing!

    Hugs

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  3. Wonderful pictures of the birds and deers,
    You look great making pancakes. Your cushions are very, very pretty.
    Thanks for sharing-
    Greetings from Germany

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  4. WOW! What a sweet post filled with delightfully cute finishes, wonderful good acts of kindness shuttling boys and flipping pancakes, and those beautiful shots of the birds and deer....LOVELY!

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  5. Great finishes on the pillows. I loved all the pictures of the birds and the deer...TFS. So neat to have the birds eating out of your hand! Over here in BC, I have never seen a cardinal...I don't think they come here at all ;(

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  6. Gorgeous stitching and finishing! I've downloaded the Plum Street Sampler one already.

    Love your wildlife photos especially how tame the birds and animals are.

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  7. Wonderful post Lynn, so enjoyed reading it and the pictures are fantastic.
    Both your Valentine stitches are very pretty and finished lovely, love the Baby It's Cold Outside, the house and snow covered roof show up lovely on your chosen fabric.
    Sorry about your Valentine's Dinner but it will be something lovely to look forward to and hopefully the weather will have improved!
    Would just love to visit the Sanctuary and see a real Cardinal and the most sweetest deer ever ~ so jealous
    Have a good week xxx

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  8. Gorgeous finishes ,and great progress on your Heartstring Samplery one , I am liking that more every time I see it on blogs ,lol.
    I am so jealous of those birds eating from your hand. The only ones I've ever managed it with is pigeons!
    Love the deer pics too , thank you for sharing your day out .XXX

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  9. You look cute flipping those pancakes! I am sure they tasted great!!

    I agree about the Sanctuary, it is one of our very favourite spots. I think I know the field too where you saw the herd of deer.... It is lovely to see your pics - can't wait to get back from Florida and go there for a hike.

    Take care and hope to see you soon!

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  10. How can anyone be bored with beautiful pictures of deer. I love them . Both of your finishes are lovely. The coordinating fabric for the primitive hare piece is perfect.

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  11. Oh my goodness! I loved every photo you shared. Those sweet stitches you finished are beautiful. Yes you selected the perfect fabrics to go with your stitched pieces.
    Great deer photos:) Love Annette

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  12. Oh, those wildlife photos are the best, Lynn--can't get over the birds eating from your hands. What an experience that must have been! Your new camera certainly takes wonderful photos :)

    Your Valentine's finishes are adorable and I'll bet you made the best tasting pancakes ever!! Now that is what I call dedication standing over a hot stove for 4 hours!

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  13. Love The Primitive Hare piece, it looks great.

    Nope you haven't bored me with your pics from your day - they are amazing!

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  14. Beautiful Stitching and great pictures! I love your work. What fabric are you using for Baby It's Cold Outside? I love the color.
    I can't wait to see how it turns out.
    Hugs
    Rose

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  15. Thank you for sharing such wonderful pictures!

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  16. I love your little pillow finishes, so cute. But those bird pictures really caught my eye. CJ in OK

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  17. Great stitching, and what wonderful photos of the wildlife :-)

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  18. Your finishes are gorgeous and I love your WIPs.

    Fantastic photos of the wildlife. How lucky to have a bird land on your hand!

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  19. What wonderful pictures...especially the one of the bird landing on your hand.
    Love your finishes too!

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  20. I love your finishes. I've always liked how people add the lace and ribbon like that and the fabric on the side.

    I love your pictures from the sanctuary, they're beautiful! It would be a great way to spend the day.

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  21. Thank you for shaing your visit to the park, how I would love to visit there.

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  22. Fantastic finished freebies and beautiful stitches
    I would love to feed the birds in hand, matter a fact I have tried a few times in the backyard, but get bored sitting still for too long
    Thanks for sharing the gorgeous photos

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  23. Hi Lynn,
    Love your photos, I am praying that spring comes soon. It has been a long winter for me. I am still recouperating, I am getting better but it seems to be a slow process. Keep the photos coming I love them. I have started to stitch again, only small projects.

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  24. Love your photos. Great stitching too.

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  25. Wonderful finishes!
    Thank you so much for sharing these wildlife photos!

    Hugs,
    Tatyana

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  26. Beautiful finishes and stitches!!! I loved the pictures from your day ~ I would have loved t have been there.

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  27. Look at all those pancakes! Mmmmm!! I wish I could've been there to eat some! Your finishes are so lovely Lynn. I really like that heart fabric you used for the Primitive Hare design. Adorable! That photo of you with the chickadees is so precious. Very lucky to have two feed from your hand!! I loved the photos of the birds and deer. That's so amazing you have them nearby!!

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