September WIPocalypse

September has just flown by and my needle seems to be flying too. I have 3 small finishes and 2 larger finishes to show as well as a new start and some work on an older WIP!
If you're a regular visitor to my blog you will have seen some of these already.

First up are the smalls:  Threadwork Primitives Enchanted Crow and The Gentle Art Fall For Squirrels followed by my latest finish, PSS Give Thanks.

I'm working at getting all three of these finished off into pincushions.

Next up are my two larger finishes, PSS Turkey Love and With Thy Needle & Thread Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler.

My latest new start is PSS Ghoul. Think I'm on a bit of kick with all the Plum Street designs, lol!

I've run out of the black silk for this now and I'm awaiting the arrival of more skeins before I can continue with this one.
In the meantime I dug out a WIP which hasn't been seen since the end of January! It's Paradis Perdu, designed by A Mon Ami Pierre. I've done a silk conversion on this and I got sidetracked when a couple of the silks just weren't the right colour. I re-ordered them and when they arrived I put them away. Problem was, when I went to retrieve them and continue on, I couldn't find the darn things! Would you believe, I only just found them while searching for something else within my stash. Finally I'm able to move on again!

Here's a before photo:

And after:

I'd forgot just how much I enjoy this one!
That wraps it up for now.

 I'm very glad to have my computer back after several trying weeks with it. Goodness but I felt lost without it!!
The computer slowed down to a crawl and then started freezing on me constantly. On rebooting it wanted numerous check disks done and my worst fears were confirmed....the hard drive was finished. My laptop is not quite 4 years old and although I really would have liked to replace it since it operates with Windows Vista, I just couldn't afford the extra expense right now. It was far cheaper to just replace the hard drive, especially since they were on sale. 
So if I haven't responded to your emails I apologize and hope you'll understand. Some of the mail just wasn't getting through and in many cases I wasn't able to reply to it.

The spooky month is upon us now and so I'm off to get started on some Halloween smalls. Have a great day!

Three More Finishes!!

Woo hoo!! I find it hard to believe but so far this month, in addition to Turkey Love, I've had three more finishes. Halfway through the month and I've managed four finishes in total. Timing is everything since one of these finishes has been underway all summer. However, I've been spending much more of my time stitching and less time blogging.
The proof is in the pudding!

First up, Enchanted Crow.

Threadwork Primitives Enchanted Crow
stitched on 32 ct LL Sand linen using DMC

Next on the list is a really sweet little freebie chart from The Gentle Art that I found in my stash and had forgotten all about. It's called
Fall for Squirrels.

The Gentle Art Fall For Squirrels
stitched on 32 ct LL Sand linen using DMC

Both of these stitches will be finished off as pin pillows.

And finally, the third finish is the Birds of a Feather mystery stitch. This was stitched as a thank you for my friend Trish after all the times she helped me finish off my pin pillows with her sewing machine.

With Thy Needle & Thread Birds of a Feather
stitched on 35ct Weeks Confederate Gray linen
using WDW floss

After stitching this one, I've decided I rather like working on 35ct and so I have another project lined up on some 36ct linen.  Thank God for magnifying glasses!! 
As I mentioned earlier in this post, I think that one of the reasons my stitching has increased is because I'm spending far less time on the computer now. I can't keep up with all my blog commenting and was wasting a good portion of each day trying so now I'm merely reading posts and commenting on occasion. I do still enjoy reading all of your posts and seeing what you've been up to.

Today I pulled out another small stitch from my freebies stash. This one is by Plum Street Samplers and I should have enough stitched for a pic by the end of the week. I'm still deciding on my next big stitch.
PSS Halloweenies is up for consideration as well as BBD Christmas Garden and This is the Day by Tracy Riffle of Hands to Work. The latter is from the Just Cross Stitch Jan/Feb 2009 issue. Not one of these three is on my WIPocalypse list but I figure it won't hurt to add one or two more.

Clarisse has accompanied me each morning when I head into the gazebo with my coffee and my stitching. She loves to sit on the top of the bar fridge and watch the birds in the hedge. Here she is getting settled for the morning.

She's too funny. I've discovered that she equates the sound of the coffee maker with her jaunts outdoors. At the first sound of coffee being prepared she heads to the back door and cries at me to take her out. If for some reason I'm not heading out there that day, she sure lets me know about it and chastises me silly!

The fall season is in full swing now that everyone has returned from holidays and various groups get underway once more. My new applique group had met only once when I decided that applique was not the thing for me. I really was disliking all the sewing involved and resented the time away from my stitching. So I gave my supplies to one of the other ladies and promised that I would drop by once in awhile to check on their progress.  Guess I'm just a one craft girl!

Tomorrow I have a couple of my former coworkers joining me for lunch so I'm off to prepare a carrot soup. I spotted lots of carrots at the market on the weekend and thought that would be just the thing. It should be fun catching up with them. In the meantime enjoy this final week of summer while our friends on the other side of the globe prepare to usher in spring!

August 31st WIPocalypse

I can't believe that August has come to a close and September's cooler weather has already arrived. The full moon made its appearance last night which tells me that it's time for a WIPocalypse update.

I've spent most of this month alternating between my current two stitches - Turkey Love and Birds of a Feather. Most of the stitching has only taken place in the last couple of weeks since the early part of the month was rather hectic.
Turkey Love is nearing a completion. Only the hill at the bottom remains to be stitched. Within the hill there is a box which contains the date that the Pilgrims held their first Thanksgiving celebration. We Canadians however held our first celebration on a different date. There are two dates that I could use. One is the date that was first recognized by Parliament in 1879. Another option is the date 1578 which is thought to be the celebration of the first Canadian Thanksgiving by the explorer Martin Frobisher in what is now Newfoundland. I'm leaning towards this particular date. Whichever date I choose remains to be charted for stitching. Here's my progress so far.

I've completed the centre portion of the stitching on Birds of a Feather and now I've moved on to the border. I'm loving the colours of these flowers. They have such a fall taste to them.

That's about it for this month. I'm planning on stitching some Halloween smalls in the near future and by next WIPocalypse I should have a new start. I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend and manages to squeeze in some stitching time.

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!

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!

Stitching and summer visits

Our household has been very busy this past week and filled with the sounds of laughter and children. Stitching managed to make an appearance here and there and I'll start by showing my latest progress update.

My Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler continues to move forward, slowly but surely. I finished up the alphabet and have moved on to the lower portion of the graph. One thing I did notice was the lack of a letter I in this alphabet. Does anyone know the significance of this?


My stitching time was limited because of a family visit. Both my sister and her family arrived in town as well as my oldest son with his girlfriend and their children. The house was full! My sister's  family haven't seen Jeff since my wedding to Bob eleven years ago so there was a lot of catching up to do. My second oldest son Daniel was also able to join us during this time. My youngest son Chris now lives in the vicinity and he and his girlfriend were able to join some of us one evening in Ottawa for dinner. The weather cooperated and we had a wonderful two days together. Then my sister and family headed on to Quebec City for a vacation and Jeff and his family continued on their vacation with a visit to a water park near their home. I'm missing them all already!

Eating in Ottawa's Little Italy. Mmmm!

My granddaughters are on the left and in the centre.
The other children belong to Jeff's girlfriend, Pascale.

Daniel, Jeff and Pascale

The kids all got a kick out of this visitor to our bird feeder. 

I know that squirrels are often a nuisance at the feeders but this was a first for us. His antics kept the kids occupied for some time.
Notice our lovely brown grass in our front yard? We are still without any significant rainfall in our area and haven't mowed our lawn now for at least three weeks!


Once everyone had left, we started getting ready for our own holidays. We're planning to visit friends in Sault St. Marie, Ontario and from there head down through Michigan to visit my other sister and then on to Windsor for a family 40th anniversary celebration.
When we've returned home again we only have three days to wash clothes and get ready for our annual trek to Muskoka and the cottage. It's then that I'm likely to have a bit more stitching time.


My friend Pam called me early this week and asked if I was interested in joining her for a visit to The Morrisburg Antique Show in our area this weekend. Having never been, I jumped at the opportunity. The show takes place in a park on the shores of the St. Lawrence River. I had planned on bringing my camera but naturally, I forgot and left it at home. This is a small show but nevertheless, there was much to see. I came home with three small purchases. The first was a small iron which I'm hoping to use to display a piece of needlework on the surface.

Next I found some lovely buttons which will do nicely on some needlework finishes. Do I sense a theme here?

However my favourite purchase was this needlework stickpin.

I have no idea what count fabric this is stitched on but that stitching is really tiny. I didn't get a good look at it until after this picture was taken. I can't wait to use this on one of my finishes!

I apologize for my continued lack of comments on your blogs of late. The summer is just flying by and I don't want to spend it all indoors on my computer. I quite often read the postings in the evenings but I just don't have the time right now to comment on everything. I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things once the cooler weather is back. After all this extreme heat I'm sure there are more than a few of us who are looking forward to fall!

Progress and a Pincushion

Slowly but surely this week has brought progress, both within the house and in my stitching. We have been undertaking a giant cleanup of our basement storage area which resulted in the recent garage sale. That was followed by a trip to the local church secondhand store with what remained from the sale. After all, someone might as well profit from what remained! Then a final trip to the dump got rid of what was of no use to anyone. All that remains now is a rearranging of what is left in the storeroom. That completed, we can finally tackle the spare bedroom which is to become my craft room at some point.

Although we were busy, I would often take a stitching break here and there since I still tend to tire since my bronchitis episode. I worked on nothing except BoaF. I'm just about finished with the tree and can now move on to stitch something other than leaves and branches. This weekend I added the birds to the tree. I really love the colours of these two. I even managed the over one on the beak and legs without too much trouble. Amazing!

I think I'll continue to stitch on this until my family arrive for their visit. Once they're gone again I'll get back to finishing up Magic Garden. I've already kitted up Plum Street Samplers Turkey Love as a possible new start. I say possible because I just got my hands on a copy of the JC Halloween special edition. There are several ornaments I'm just itching to stitch as well as several larger pieces. I love Ink CirclesWings and Things but I'm also sold on The Primitive Hare Halloween Town and Praiseworthy Stitches Trick or Treat. Decisions, decisions. What's a girl to do?!

The mail brought a special treat for me this week. Several times I had admired the tatting done by Cathy's mother which she displayed on her blog. Tatting is something which I had never seen until she brought it to my attention. Cathy takes some of her mom's tatting and turns it into the most adorable pincushions. Seeing these, I offered to purchase some of their work. However Cathy had a different idea and chose to gift me with one of their lovely creations. Here's what the mail held for me.

Aren't the colours gorgeous!!?  I couldn't be more thrilled with my gift! Thank you so very much Cathy. I'm off to write a note to your Mom to let her know just how much I admire her lovely work.

Mother Nature has seen fit to with hold the rain so the drought intensifies. I haven't been watering the lawn because of the conditions but we have been advised to water once or twice a week only for a short period of time and to give any trees that we have a short drink once a week. As I write this it's gotten quite overcast however there is only a brief shower forecast which is not nearly enough to help the farmers. I know that many of you in the U.S. are also suffering severe droughts and I pray that rain will arrive in time to save the crops. In the meantime, keep cool and keep stitching.