Flattered

I am very touched and flattered to have received the Liebster Award recently from three individual bloggers! The three ladies who so graciously awarded me this are Nancy, Rhona and rosek1870. 

Liebster is German meaning favourite, dearest or beloved and the award is given to a favoured blog with less than 200 followers. 

Although I'm very happy that you think so favourably of my blog, I'm going to be a bit of a spoilsport here. I find it very difficult to pass on these awards to only a small number. I'm afraid that I might offend someone if I haven't chosen them. I have made so many blogging friends over the past few years and I would love to give the award to all of you! Plus, your continued visits and comments are all the award that I need. I enjoy sharing my passion with you and I'm thrilled when you take the time to stop and drop a line on my blog. Your continued visits and friendship mean so much more to me.

Thank you so much my friends and I hope I don't offend you by not accepting the award. That was never my intention!

I don't have a lot of progress to show you from this past week. The virus I have continues to linger. I thought I was over it this past weekend but it has rebounded and I'm feeling worse than ever these past few days. The virus is leaving me with a lot of fatigue and stitching seems to take so much effort. I have been doing a little more reading instead.

I do have a pic of Feather Your Nest to share with you. Most of the stitching was done before I became ill. 

I didn't have the required DMC for doing the house roofs in my stash so I substituted with some Victorian Motto floss which I won in a giveaway. Unfortunately the colour bleeds very easily, so much so that when I folded my fabric for storage, I found some pink discolouration on the fabric when I unrolled it. I'm going to have to be extremely careful with this one now. Just the heat from my hands seems to make the floss bleed. If I were to try and remove it now, the fabric would be quite stained. As it is, I had to treat the pink colour I found on the fabric with some spot cleaning. Fortunately I got out most of it. If I had known this was going to bleed this badly I would either have washed the floss first or substituted with another colour.  I'll know for the future!

The one day that I did venture out this week, I made a stop at my framer's to pick up a small Easter stitch I had dropped off. I stitched this one last year and only got around to the framing now. It's perfect for the upcoming holiday. 

LHN He Is Risen

This is a sweet little frame and I'm very happy with how it has turned out. 

I still haven't got my Easter pillows stitched up mostly because I haven't wanted to pass on this virus to my friends who help me with the aid of their sewing machines. I'm trying to get myself well enough to sing this weekend. Our choir is joining with two others for a production of Stainer's Crucifixion on Palm Sunday.It's an oratorio containing 20 movements for choir and organ. I managed to make it to our first joint rehearsal last weekend and it sounded so lovely that I don't want to miss singing in this one. 

I leave you with some pictures of my favourite mischief maker, Clarisse. Not long after I got in bed a few nights ago, I could hear a racket coming from the end of the hallway where our laundry hamper is located. Here's what I found when I got up to inspect.

 

I apologize for the blurriness of the photos. When I try and use a flash, this is the reaction I get.

 

Gee Mom, don't you know that hurts my eyes!!

The weekend is fast approaching. I hope it's a good one for all!

Turkey talk

My favourite turkey for the past few months has been Plum Street Samplers Gobble. As of Sunday afternoon, he is finished and ready to strut his stuff.

Plum Street Samplers Gobble
stitched on 32 ct PTP Legacy
using DMC floss

I am certainly going to miss this fine fellow for he has accompanied me to various stitching locations in the last few months. I think he will look wonderful next Thanksgiving when he is framed and proudly displayed in my home. I do have another turkey stitch in the wings (pardon the pun!) by Bent Creek which I can always pull to fill the void.


Once more we were hit with a winter storm in our area on Tuesday only this time we received more freezing rain rather than snow. The surface of the snow now has a definite sheen to it and the snow crunches rather loudly underfoot. Last night it was so windy that I couldn't get to sleep for all the noise it was making! I could hear the cracking of the tree branches which are coated in ice. It reminded me of the ice storm we had here in the late '90s.
My Tuesday stitching group cancelled their get together because of the weather so I spent the day stuck indoors, stitching alone. It was just too miserable to go out.

I spent the time catching up on a few of my WIPocalypse goals. I managed to complete The Trilogy Secret Snowdrift which has been hanging around since 2009! This should have been a quick stitch but for some reason or another it has been sitting unfinished in my drawer. I only had a few things left to stitch on it - the last little penguin, the border, some long stitching on the snowmen's arms and attaching a couple of buttons. This will make an adorable pillow or wall hanging.


Now I figure I'm on a roll so next I dug out LHN Acorn Hill. If you remember, when I last stitched on this one in the fall I only had the inner border remaining but had run out of floss. Okay so I ordered the floss and I distinctly remember it arriving sometime before Halloween. I also remember cleaning up my stash room, having the floss in my hand and putting it away. It's the part about putting it away that I can't remember. For the life of me I don't know what the heck I did with that skein! I'll be darned if I was going to order another one so I took the opportunity to try out some of the floss I won during Victorian Motto's Christmas giveaway. One skein of that floss looked almost identical to the CC Brown Sugar that I had been using. I pulled it, started stitching and personally I don't think you can see much of a difference. If you look at the border stitched along the top of the house, that's the Crescent Colour floss and my inner border around the piece is the VM floss.

Little House Needleworks Acorn Hill
stitched on 28 ct Lakeside Linen Buttercream
using Crescent Colours floss and Victorian Motto

Paradis Perdu also received a little bit of attention yesterday. I finished stitching one of the alphabets and started on another. 

At the top of this design,beneath another alphabet, it is charted for you to put in your year of birth which coincidentally just happens to be my birth year. Then, under the small alphabet I've just finished, there is a spot for another year. This time though, the pattern calls for only two numerals. They have used 04 which I suspect is the year the design was stitched in. I haven't decided whether to put in all four numbers here or leave it just as 12. There is plenty of room for all four. I'm also thinking of somehow highlighting my initials in the main alphabet with a different coloured floss.


I haven't decided which will be my next new start yet. Anything that I've picked out I'm missing something, either fabric or floss. I'm expecting some orders to arrive within the next few days so I think I'll just stick to my BAP and some ornaments until then. I'm in the process of finishing off the Prairie
Schooler Winter ornament right now.


Time to get a move on! Today our Wednesday group meets and following that I'm heading out on a drive to pick up my son Daniel. He is going to spend a couple of days with us and then return home on the weekend. It's a beautiful, sunny day and the temperature has risen some so I'm actually looking forward to the drive. 

Jenny Bean's Christmas and an Exchange Gift

Just in time for the holiday, may I present Miss Jenny Bean's Christmas.......

Jenny Bean's Christmas by Shakespeare's Peddler
stitched on 32 ct Lakeside Linen Magnolia
using Gentle Arts Floss

This was the first design by Theresa Venette of Shakespeare's Peddler that I've ever stitched and it won't be the the last, that's for sure. I loved working on this one! I've had several comments by non stitchers who've seen me working on this that they really like the design and colours. Theresa has created a new design for the retreat in Williamsburg, VA and has a few extra kits left to offer. It's called A Wassailing and you can see a picture of it here. If you want one of the kits, you can put in a request on her blog. It's first come, first serve and I put in my request as soon as I saw the kit.

I also found the time to finish up one of the ornaments that I stitched last year. It's LHN Pear Tree and up until now it's been hiding in the bottom drawer with all my stitching finishes. There are several more ornaments hiding in that drawer which also should be hanging on my tree but there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get them all finished. Finishing takes me forever! Before I even start, I could spend hours just trying to decide which fabric, trim, etc. I should use. I envy those of you who can finish up an ornament within a short period of time.

Speaking of ornaments, lookee what the postman brought me on Friday!

Not one, but two of the sweetest little snowmen! These cuties were an exchange gift I received from Patty. I have admired this pattern on several blogs where they have stitched this design and I was so pleased to see that I won't have to stitch one for myself now. They're both finished so beautifully and each one sports a little Hand Made with Love charm on the reverse.

Aren't they gorgeous? Thank you very much Patty! They will always have a treasured spot on my Christmas tree each year.

I have recently purchased a new tree for my ornaments. My existing little tree is too small to hold anymore. I've been keeping a look out for a small twig tree but I found they wanted a terrible price for the ones I'd seen. Finally, in my own backyard, I found a sweet little tree that is just perfect for my ornaments. I'll have a picture of it to show you on my next post along with pics of my main Christmas tree. My son Daniel helped me finish off the decorating on Thursday. It was his birthday and it's a tradition that he helps me decorate the tree on his special day.

Happy Birthday Daniel and thanks for all your help!

A finish of sorts and a flood



LHN Acorn Hill
stitched on 28ct Lakeside Linen Buttercream
using Crescent Colour floss

                                                                       While Acorn Hill may look finished, it's actually missing an inner border. The second border looks just like the one at the top of the house and runs around the inside of the outer brown one. I ran out of floss to stitch this with and it should be arriving any day now. I realized about two weeks ago that I would probably run short so I paid a little visit to my ONS to order another skein. Of course I couldn't stop at just that! I threw in a chart as well, one of the new fall releases by With Thy Needle & Thread. Hopefully they'll make an appearance in my mailbox shortly.
After all the colour trouble I had with this one it turned out not too badly at all.

I'm having colour issues again but this time it's with BBD Trix or Treat. One of the required flosses is a blue-black shade however my skein is pretty much all black so there will be no variation between the crow and his hat. I've put this one aside for now. I was never really happy with the fabric and since I haven't got very far with it, I'm thinking I just might restart the whole thing. I'm wanting to get going on some Christmas stitching so this will get put on the back burner for now until I decide where I'm going with it.

Other than this, I haven't got any other stitching done.Here's where the flood comes in! Late last week Bob and I arrived home to find that our hot water tank had given up the ghost and in the process leaked all its contents on the basement floor. Our basement is a finished one and fortunately the damage could have been much worse. The water ran behind the tank into the next room which is a storage room with a cement floor. However from there it ran out into the hall and soaked the carpeting along the entire length of the hallway and into the spare bedroom. The carpeting was ruined and the drywall soaked up a good portion of the water. It's hard to see in this picture but the darker area is the wet portion of the carpeting. When you stepped on it the water came up and covered your shoes!

 We have replacement coverage for the tank since it's a rental and the gas company was quick to show up with the new tank the next morning. A call to the insurance company has resulted in our wet carpeting being cut up and removed along with the wet drywall and then heavy duty blowers being brought in to dry out the remaining wall and floors. They have assured me that they will replace the entire carpet in the rec room not just the hallway and a fellow from the carpet store is coming out this week to bring samples for me to choose from. Of course new drywall has to installed too. It's the thought of moving everything when they replace the carpet that finally got us geared up to do a major cleaning downstairs the past few days. Our rec room is around 1100 sq feet and besides the furnishings, a good portion of the floor space is covered by boxes and file cabinets. What do they contain? Music, music and more music!! Every available surface down there has sheet music on it. I kid you not! It happens when you marry an organist/choir director!

Since all those furnishings have to be moved, the mess on them has to be cleaned off and all the extra boxes removed. While the new carpeting is being laid, all the furniture will be sitting out in the garage (including my stitching chair and lamp). I haven't got a clue how'll they fit it all in there! We've managed to clean up most of the main room but still have to get everything filed away in the spare bedroom which also serves as Bob's office. This room will also get new carpeting.

So it looks like we'll be living in a bit of a mess for the next couple of weeks. The thought of the drywall dust alone scares the heck out of me. That stuff gets everywhere! Wish me luck!!

O Canada!

LHN America (Canadian version)
32ct Belfast natural linen
DMC floss and Crescent colours

True, patriot love.... That's what I see when I look upon my latest finish of LHN America (Canadian version). I'm really thrilled with how this one has turned out.

 When I first decided that I wanted to do this I thought that I had better contact Diane Williams of LHN. After all, I was making more than just a slight change. Diane gave me her endorsement and told me to go for it which is exactly what I did. I was still tweaking the design right up until the finish. I wasn't sure whether to go with 2 red maple leaves at the top or one white and one red. I tried stitching it that way and didn't like the looks so I frogged everything out and went with the red. Then it seemed like too much red with all the colour in the flag so I then added the small white maple leaf as well. I changed the colour of what were originally white stars at the bottom to red leaves. I decided to go with the blue roof on the house because I wanted there to be a little more colour in the finished stitch. Stitching the vine meant moving it over otherwise it would have trailed right through the center of the maple leaf in the flag. After I'd finished things up, there seemed to be an empty space in the lettering. I went in search of a button or charm and found just what I wanted in my stash, a sweet maple leaf charm. 

Now I can proudly display my patriotism each July 1st. This one will be framed at a later date. After all , there's no rush. Now I've given myself permission to start stitching on PSS Gobble. Yippee!!

The starting bug

With the finish of Sunflower House I got the starting bug once more. Actually I don't think I've ever got rid of it but I've managed to keep it at bay! However it took over in full force. What to do, what to do? As you can see from the picture above, Halloween was calling to me. This is Jardin Prive's  Quaker d'Halloween . You can't see the fabric very well in this pic but it's a very soft 28ct linen by Kiwi Illusions called Kauri. I'm trying to use up some of the fabric in my stash and loved this one when I dug it out. It doesn't show up all that well but it has a very nice mottling to it. The only problem I found with it was that the black wasn't covering very well at all so I switched to using 3 strands rather than 2. I don't like stitching with three but it covered much better and I'm happier with the looks of the piece now. This one seems to be stitching up fairly quickly. I've only worked on it for an hour or so on Saturday and then for a few hours on Sunday.

Earlier this week I managed to finish off the stitching on my gift to a fellow blogger and all that remains is the finishing. Today I also completed the finishing on my exchange piece. For the life of me though I can't find the trim that I want to use on it. I've searched everywhere for it. I had it out to show to a friend and it seems to have gone missing since then. I want to get this piece mailed off so if I can't find it in the near future, I'll be substituting with something else.

The only other stitching I have to show you is my Canadian version of LHN America. I dug this out again yesterday. I was determined to finish off the stitching on that house. As you can see, I got it done plus a little bit more. Once the fence was stitched I discovered that it was up one line too high. There was no way I was going to frog things out and start over! So the fence now has one extra plank added to the bottom of it.

I'm hoping to stitch a bit more on this one this evening at my Tuesday SAL. I'll also be taking a former coworker with me tonight. Karen has been trying to get out and join us for some time now but she is one busy lady with a young family that keeps her otherwise engaged! Finally she has a free evening so she'll be picking me up and joining us tonight. This coming Saturday I'll be hosting an all day SAL at my home for all of the Tuesday group. So far I think there are about 12 who are able to make it out here to our home in the village. It should be a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to it.

One other new start has been calling out to me this week and that's Paradis Perdu by A mon amis Pierre. I ordered silk conversions for this one and settled in to get started on it last week. I've already run into a roadblock. The silk conversion for DMC 934 is just too dark. I'm using Vicky Clayton Hand Dyed Fibers and the conversion they list looks more like black than the darker green. This one is used for a good portion of the foliage in the design so I frogged out what I'd put in and checked my stash for a substitute. No luck! I'd love to stick with a silk for this colour rather than going back to the DMC. Is there anyone out there who can tell me what is a good conversion for this colour?

Startitis seems to be taking hold firmly because I also have Plum Street Samplers Gobble all ready to go. I'm trying to hold off until I have my LHN Canada done but with Canadian Thanksgiving coming up in less than three weeks, I'd really love to start this one. Not that I'd ever have it finished by the holiday but it would definitely put me in the mood!

It' been a very busy week past for us. My DH and I spent a good portion of our time in the city last week. Bob gave an organ recital this past Sunday so rehearsal time occupied a lot of our time in the city. While he practised, I ran errands and went shopping. I managed to grab this picture while I was running around. Our church is in Chinatown in Ottawa which this past year put up a beautiful arch to announce your entry into the area. The arch is 12 meters tall and 12 meters wide. A team of 26 Chinese technicians and artisans came from Beijing to assist in the construction, decoration and painting of the arch. The blue panel in the arch has Chinese characters which say "Ottawa Chinatown". Five special metal coins were embedded in the arch as a tradition to bring blessing. The oldest coin was discovered in the Tang Dynasty with over 1000 yr history!  The lions on either side of the arch guard the gateway into Chinatown.

In the picture you can see the church where Bob plays, which is in the background and is almost dead centre in the arch.

That about covers everything here for now. It's turned out to be a lovely afternoon so I'm going to head into the gazebo for a little bit of stitching before Karen picks me up for the evening. Have a good week!

Stitching progress

Two posts in one day. Wow, I must have time on my hands! Turns out that the weather hasn't exactly been what we'd hoped for today. It's been overcast and cool all day. DH and I have both been rather lazy and spent the afternoon watching the ball game rather than cleaning out the back room. It's a good excuse!

First off I'm going to show you the lovely gift that Bonnie made for me. I hadn't taken any pictures yet so I couldn't post it earlier. The last time I saw Bonnie at a SAL at Dani's house I asked if she could make a beaded fob for me. She does such a lovely job on her fobs and several of the ladies showed theirs off. We don't exactly live close to each other so I had to wait until this past weekend when our paths crossed again. I wanted a black and white fob to go with my new scissors and Bonnie has done a wonderful job. Thank you so much Bonnie!

Isn't it pretty? I love how she's added a charm with my inital. It looks fantastic with my scissors, don't you agree? Thank you so much Bonnie. I love it!

I also promised some more stitchy pictures. Below you will find pictures of the two RR that Kathy has been stitching on. The first is a TW Band Sampler and the second is a Mirabilia of Pixies and Fairies . Kathy stitched the top band in the TW sampler and the pixie on the upper left in the Mirabilia piece.  I believe that it's Ivy. Lovely work Kathy! The others pictured  in the Mira are Poppy, Sweet Pea, Lilac, Amaryllis and Jasmine. It's a beautiful RR and I love the fabric chosen for it.

Finally I have some before and after pictures to show you of my weekend projects.

The first is my LHN Canadian version of America. It was a good piece to work on. Filling in all the white on the house didn't take much concentration and then I could listen to all that was going on around me.







Before



After

When it was a little quieter, usually in the evenings, I would bring out my BBD Sunflower House.
This continues to be a favourite for me and I had many favourable comments on it this weekend.



Before



After



I'm really pleased with the progress I made on both pieces. In addition, I worked on a third project but since this is a gift for someone who reads my blog, I won't be showing any peeks at the moment. Considering how much chatter and laughter was going on it's a wonder I got any stitching completed at all! Oh yeah and how can I forget about all the eating!! Thank you so much Kathy for opening your home to us. It was a delightful weekend that I soon won't forget!

Anticipating fall

Can you feel it yet? The change in the air? I'm certainly feeling it here now. Our days are cooler and less humid and the night temperatures are going down to 13-17C (58-62F). We went from a cold, rainy spring straight into hot, humid summer and now the temperatures have changed drastically again. It's already dark at 7:30 pm so it's a good thing that our new gazebo now has electricity so I can stitch outside well after dark. 

For the past week my sister Laurie, who lives in Michigan, has been visiting us. It's been around 12 yrs since she's been up our way so there have been a lot of changes at the house. We spent her first day here just catching up and had coffee with my son Daniel so that he could visit with his Aunt. On the Tuesday we headed off to the village of Merrickville which is about a 40-45 min drive. This is a lovely Victorian style village situated on the Rideau Canal. Many of its buildings showcase 19th century architecture and it's home to numerous shops and dining spots.
We had a great time checking out the shops, many of which contain crafts and antiques.  This photo of Laurie was taken outside one of those lovely shops we spent time at. There were so  many pretty flower baskets outside each of the shops too.  We had lunch at a lovely pub, The Goose & Gridiron, to break up the afternoon.  Below are a few photos I took of the area.

One of the may shops we stepped into



Lots of summer decor on sale





The Goose & Gridiron Pub

My find of the day was a lamp. I'd been looking for a small lamp for our new gazebo, nothing too large and something unique. I found exactly what I'd been searching for..... a small lamp which looks like a teapot. I love it and it looks perfect in my outdoor retreat.  I just may return for another for the other table!

Wednesday we spent another shopping day, this time at the Rideau Centre in downtown Ottawa which is right in the heart of the market area. After a quick run through the mall ( most of the shops are pretty expensive), we spent the rest of the afternoon browsing through the stalls in the market area. We stopped for a glass of iced tea midafternoon in a quaint courtyard. I  actually took this picture of the area last year when I visited the market. I didn't have my camera with me this time around since my DH had taken it to work with him. There were far less crowds on this visit. The iced tea we were served was red in colour and was fantastic! When we inquired as to what type of tea was used, the shop owner told us it was a Rooibos tea with apple and sweetened with honey. Really quite nice!

 Later in the afternoon, Bob met us for supper in the market. My sister treated us as a thank you for hosting her visit.

After two days of walking and shopping, we decided to sit out the day on Thursday. It turned out to be a wise choice since there was a pretty wicked storm that passed through our area. Funnel clouds were seen in the nearby village of Mountain and we received some pretty heavy rains and high wind. My entranceway flooded from the rain whipping at the back door. We also had some small hail. The gazebo held up well with only some wet floors due to water running under the sliding doors. All the furnishings remained dry.

Friday was Laurie's last day of her visit. While we had been in Ottawa in the market, she had spotted a boat cruise that took you down the Rideau Canal through the city. There hadn't been enough time that day so when I got up on Friday and saw what a beautiful day it was, I decided we'd take in the boat cruise before her plane left at suppertime. I have done this cruise with Bob before and knew that it was a really relaxing way to spend an afternoon and this time was no exception. Below are some pictures of the sights we saw.



Our Parliament buildings in Ottawa viewed from the boat





The Chateau Laurier Hotel seen in the distance





The original train station in Ottawa, now used as a government conference center.





The view looking down the canal



The Canal Ritz restaurant



Laurie spotted this restaurant on the canal when we passed it on the boat. I asked if she thought she'd like to have a light supper there before our trip to the airport so after the cruise was finished, we picked up Bob so he could join us. It's actually a favourite spot for Bob and me. We love to go there for brunch after church on Sunday and sit out on the patio along the canal. In the winter months, we sit indoors and watch all the skaters on the canal.

It was the perfect ending to a fabulous week! I hated to see her go home, but she promised that the next visit will be much sooner than the last and she'll bring her hubby with her next time.

On the stitching front, I've made a bit more progress on LHN America. I decided to go with the blue roof on the house to add some more colour. Here's where I'm at now.

I'm starting to like the vine on this better now that I've got more of it stitched in.

I've also got a new Halloween start but I don't have enough done yet to show you.  It's BBD Trix or Treat taken from their booklet of the same name. I'll only be able to get so far on it and then I'll have to wait until the arrival of the rest of the floss in the mail. I put an order in to my ONS when I found out I was missing half of the floss. That's what I miss about not having a local store any longer. I have to order all of my supplies online and it's anywhere from one to two weeks before they arrive.

I also got my Wedding Sampler packaged up and mailed out to my cousin's daughter for her wedding which took place this past Saturday. She lives in northern Ontario and only family were travelling for the wedding. When I picked this piece up at the framers I couldn't believe how good it looked. The frame was really gorgeous and I have to thank Kelly at my framer for her help in choosing it.

Now I have to get moving. I'm heading into Ottawa for my Tuesday night SAL. I had hoped that I would be able to attend the open house at Knowledge and Needles in Brighton this past Saturday but I'd been on my feet too much in the past week and my hip (athritis) was screaming at me. I knew I just couldn't do the 3 hour drive. Ottawa is an hour's drive from me so let's just see if it's any better now. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

I hope you are all enjoying some much cooler weather and that the humidity and high heat of the past several weeks has past. Happy stitching!