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!

A finish and cottage bound

I held a stitching marathon this week to try and finish up the Wedding Sampler before leaving on holidays. It resulted in a serious case of numb bum!!  I was headed to the home stretch on Tuesday when I realized that I was out by a row on the right side and the two sides would not meet properly in the center. Drat! ( That's not exactly the word I used).  So I entertained the frogs for the remainder of the afternoon, removing about one third of the stitching on the right border. Wednesday I set about restitching the works, praying that I didn't run out of floss in the process. Besides what I was stitching with, I had one remaining skein of the gold however it appeared to be from a different lot and was much lighter than what I'd been using. I was very careful and managed to get everything completed. Then it was on to the beading. I spent Wednesday night and Thursday morning stitching the beads on,  picking myself with the needle on several occasions. That's what happens when you rush!

After the final touches I hopped in the car and rode into Ottawa to leave the sampler at the framers. That way it will be complete when we return from holidays and I can get it mailed to the bride-to-be.  I posted another pic here as well with a closeup of the beads. Originally I wasn't sure if I'd add them but they did make a difference. 

I feel much better now knowing that this is completed. I'm quite pleased with it and hope the newlyweds will be pleased as well.

That completed, I spent a small amount of time stitching on Their Song. This one will accompany me to the cottage  where I'll have much more time to spend with it.  I've kitted up Maple Leaf by Alessandra Adelaide which arrived this week. However since it's being stitched on white I'm hesitant to start it until we return from the cottage. I'm afraid it will end up soiled. So very shortly I'm browsing through my stash looking for some smaller stitches to take along with me.

We are cottage bound tomorrow morning and can hardly wait until we are seated on the dock overlooking Lake Muskoka. This is the weekend of our 10th wedding anniversary  and we spent our honeymoon in Muskoka so we intend to celebrate once we're there with a sunset dinner cruise of the lake on the Segwun steamship. It's a fantastic tour of the lake and a view of some of the lovely cottages not seen otherwise.
Here are some photos from our wedding 10 yrs ago. These were not taken digitally and we didn't have  professional photographer so the quality is not as good as the ones taken today.

  Jeff (center) and Dan (right) haven't changed all that much but boy oh boy has Chris ever changed!  I've posted another pic of them today with me taken during our recent spring get together.

As you can see, he likes to play with his hair colour. Mmmm, maybe he got that idea from someone else!

Since we're heading out tomorrow for 2 weeks I may not be online as much as usual. I am taking my lap top with me and do plan on posting at least once but I know I won't be commenting on your blogs as usual. I'll peek in once in awhile when time permits.

See you soon!

Wedding thoughts

My thoughts have been wrapped up in weddings lately. We celebrated two weddings within our church family and the choir had the opportunity to sing at one. I think we have the best view of the proceedings while sitting in the choir. I always get a catch in my throat and feel the tears well up just at the moment before the bride starts down the aisle. Doesn't matter who or even if I know them all that well. It's just such a joyous occasion and often brings to mind my own wedding day and the happiness I experienced .
Then, later in the week, I was sorting through my photo boxes and came across the wedding photos of several of my best friends and my sisters. They brought back some great memories and I thought that perhaps I should do a photo collage of them. I have the perfect frame for them if I can just find it!
Seeing all these weddings gave me the kick in the rear I needed to get my stitching going once more on my wedding sampler. We've been so busy here lately and in two weeks time we head off on vacation. Time to put the pedal to the metal. So this weekend I had a wedding sampler stitching marathon. That is, when we were home, lol! Just to show you my progress I've posted a before and after photo.

I'm being very careful in not wasting any floss since I seem to be running short. If I have any left I just might restitch the scroll on the bottom left. The upper part just seems a little pale in that spot due to the overdyed floss. This is the same sampler that originally started out in a tangerine colour in order to match the bridesmaids' dresses. However it really didn't suit the design so I restarted things using Gentle Art Sampler Gold Leaf. The design calls for the first and middle names of the couple to be stitched so that entailed a phone call to my cousin to inquire as to the groom's middle name. I would love to have this one complete by next Tuesday so that I can leave it with John for stretching while I'm on holiday. Then when I return it could be dropped off at the framer's. Wish me luck!

Canada Day will soon be here and keeping that in mind I finished off my small patriotic stitch by Veeandco.

As of today I almost have all of the finishing done. I'm finishing it as a little pin pillow. Okay now ladies, help me out here. This is my first time using the crushed walnut shells to fill my pillow. How the heck do you manage to get enough in the pillow without making a mess when you're stitching the top closed? I've looked everywhere for a little funnel with a narrow bore that I could stick in the corner but with no luck. We had all kinds of them at work so I'm thinking that just maybe I might be able to to "borrow" one.

I'm heading into Cornwall on Wednesday and will make a pit stop at the lab so this finish might have to wait until Thursday.

I don't have a sewing machine and my hand sewing skills are atrocious but I am learning! If nothing else I'm determined.

Last week the weather here was absolutely gorgeous and I took the opportunity to visit with one of my former coworkers who has been off of work due to surgery. She was unable to attend my retirement dinner or the get together I had at my place because of this. I wanted to take her a little something. Now that I'm not working I have more time to bake and decided I would make her a fruit loaf. June screams strawberries but it seems I have a surplus of rhubarb in my garden this year. So off I went to pull some of the fruit stalks and this is what I came up with.

The sourness of the rhubarb is offset by the brown sugar/cinnamon topping. This is a recipe I've used for years in making muffins. This time I tried adapting it for a loaf. It sure made a whopper!

I've been putting the rhubarb to good use this year. I also made some loaves and a rhubarb lunar cake for the church potluck and the choir's potluck dinners.

The great weather also resulted in our first boat outing. We're a little late heading out this spring due to some alterations, including new seats, that had to be done first. Our first trip was the result of a win by some friends at the church's silent auction. Every year my DH offers up an afternoon boatride for bidding at the auction. This year our friends John and Sally were the winning bidders. We put the boat in the Ottawa River at Rockliffe and headed out. Usually we go down river towards the Parliament buildings but this time we thought we'd try going in the opposite direction. There really wasn't much to see but the weather was pleasant, there was a nice breeze and it just felt good to be out on the water. We did manage to catch sight of this osprey nest with Momma sitting with the eggs.

This morning I felt rather lazy, maybe an after effect of the food consumed at the potluck dinner last night. In any case I put my clothes sorting on hold and dug out Their Song for a change from the wedding sampler. I seemed to be operating on one mode today.... slow! I did manage to get these two little flowers and tree stitched though.

If there is any time left after all the sorting tomorrow then I hope to get back to my LHN America (Canadian version). I'm making a colour change here or there as well and may have to make a stop at Michael's later in the week if I can't find what I want in my stash.  As for a new big start, I'm still undecided. Apparently the mail will be back on track here tomorrow and with that should come the arrival of a few charts I ordered as a retirement gift. Maybe Sixteen Birds?

Sweet Little Berries

Those sweet little strawberries should be ripe in a little more than a month from now but until that time I'll gaze on my own sweet finish and dream of the pies to come.

I spent some quality time with this on Friday and had it finished in no time. Would you believe I ran out of the CC Spinach used for the leaves with only 8 stitches to go? I had purchased this as a kit and there was just enough floss needed for the design. For every other colour I had floss left over but in this case I ran short. Now I know I didn't waste any. I made a point of being very frugal so I wouldn't be in this position. When I discovered my dilemma I made a foray into my stash and found some CC Desert Mesquite that appeared very close in colour to the floss in question. I don't think it's all that noticeable. You'll find it in the upper left corner in the dark leaf. For the sake of 8 stitches I was not ordering more floss!

I've decided that this will be a pillow finish. Now I'm on the hunt for some coordinating fabric.

I hope all the Mom's out there had a most enjoyable Mother's Day. My Mom lives 500 miles away so I don't get to see her very often. This photo was taken on the occasion of her 80th birthday this past August and she is surrounded by her three daughters.

My day was a very quiet one. I worked my final weekend at the hospital and upon returning home I had phone conversations with mythree sons who called with their wishes.
We will all be together on the Victoria Day long weekend in 2 weeks to celebrate my belated birthday and my retirement both which take place this week.

With SLB out of the way, I started concentrating on the Wedding Sampler for my cousin's daughter. If you remember, I'd hoped to stitch this in the colour of the bridesmaids' dresses. The dresses are tangerine and I started stitching the piece with a DMC floss which matched. The colour though just didn't suit the design. I talked with my cuz about it and decided to frog out the tangerine and go with something more suitable. The design calls for the use of metallics which I wanted to avoid. Instead I've decided to go with GAST Gold Leaf. I'm happier with it so far.The picture quality isn't the greatest since it was dark by the time I was able to grab a picture. I'll try and get a better one in daylight later in the week.

While shopping last week, I caught the straps of my purse in the shopping cart. Somehow during the process of trying to remove it I managed to pull a muscle in my shoulder. This in turn has aggravated some pre existing bursitis so at this point I'm not able to use my left arm much. I have pain when I lift it past a certain point. It's most definitely annoying. I can't hand my money out the window and grab my coffee at the Tim Horton's drive thru!! This is a major concern, lol!Nor am I able to swipe myself out of the hospital parking lot. I'm having to reach over and use the right arm instead. Consequently it bothers me when I'm holding my stitching in hand for any length of time. I've been icing it in the evenings and it is improving but very slowly. So stitching may have to sit on the back burner for now. I still want to drop by at tomorrow's stitch night though to drop off one of my pieces for our framer John to stretch. This is Cast All Your Cares which I stitched for my friend Priscilla. I told her she wouldn't find anyone better at looking after her piece. Once stretched, she can take it to the framer of her choice.

Now I'm off to get my pants pressed for work tomorrow. I can't believe I'm almost retired.

I hope you all enjoy a great week. The sun is staying with us for the next several days so it should be a good one.

Spring Quaker resurfaces

Isn't it great? It's 7:30pm, the sun hasn't set yet and I'm sitting here listening to the cardinals call to one another. I love it! Today I was out looking at a new gazebo for the garden where I can soon sit and stitch while I enjoy these evenings.

After completing Cast All Your Cares for my friend I felt I could once more spend some time with Spring Quakers. Saturday I packed up my stitching and spent a good portion of the day stitching with some friends. I wanted to give my full attention to SQ but my fingers seemed to be as tired as the rest of my body and my progress was minimal. The frogs also found it necessary to make my life miserable after I found a counting error which didn't help matters much. The result is only 2 more motifs completed after several hours of stitching. I intend to concentrate on this one for the next few evenings after work.

Sweet Little Berries is coming along as well. Most of the work on this one was completed last week. It's such a darling little piece and I like to take it to work with me to pass the time during lunch and breaks. Reminds me of all those sweet berries that will be ripe for the picking in a couple of months.

My fatigue level has been pretty high lately which is why I didn't spend much time stitching or blogging last week. There were several evenings when I didn't go anywhere near the computer. When I finally did I couldn't believe all the blog posts waiting to be read. There are not enough hours in the day to catch up and comment on everything so if I failed to comment on any of your recent posts please forgive me. I am reading them but when I get so far behind I don't leave too many comments lest I have no time for stitching. No stitching means one miserable woman here! After all stitching is my means of releasing stress and trust me, you don't want to see me when I'm too wound up!

One thing that did brighten up my week was the arrival of my giveaway winnings from Alisa's generous giveaway. I met Alisa through another blogging friend Judy and was thrilled to learn that Alisa also resided in Ontario here in Canada and quite possibly we will get a chance to meet in person during several SALs that take place in our neck of the woods.

I jumped at the chance to enter into her wonderful giveaway and was thrilled to find out I'd won.

Here's a couple pics of my winnings including the fabulous stitched card that accompanied everything.

Isn't that hummingbird adorable? The package of buttons on the far left of the group picture is full of all kinds of tiny bug buttons.... dragonflies, bees, ladybugs, etc. They'll be perfect to adorn summer stitches. It's hard to tell from this picture but that fabric is a lovely piece of cashel linen that will come in very handy for numerous samplers. Thank you so much Alisa for your generous gifts!! I promise I will put everything to good use.

I've given myself until the weekend to stitch on SQ and then I have to put some time in on my Wedding Sampler. I started this last week and as I mentioned on a previous post, I decided to stitch this in the colour of the bridesmaid's dresses. The chosen colour was tangerine and although it's a lovely colour for the dresses it hasn't suited this particular design. The colour is more of a neon shade when seen in real life. After getting a few second opinions, I've spoken to the bride's mom (also know as my cousin, Sheryl) and have decided to start over with another colour choice. Which one that is remains to be seen. I'll do a floss toss next week and make a decision. Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted. I was thinking of an overdye floss. The original design was done all in metallics and that would not be my first choice! I can go with another shade of fabric if necessary. I'm using a 32ct Lambswool.

That's it for now from my village hideaway. I hope Spring is paying a visit to your doorstep and you are soaking up some of that fresh air!