July Smalls

So I'm a little behind on my July Smalls post. It's just been busy, busy, busy! 

I stitched two small finishes this month. One was given as a gift and the other is a cute little bee... a perfect summer stitch.

This is a design by Prairie Schooler from one of their mini-cards. I finished it off and added it to a small bee skep. I think it's a little large for the bee skep but I couldn't find a bigger one so it will have to do.
The next stitch is by Pineberry Lane and I finished it off as a pin pillow for my friend Cathy's birthday. The back is trimmed with a gorgeous primitive velvet.

As I mentioned in my last post, I also received some lovely smalls for my birthday from my stitching friends. My birthday took place in May but since we were all getting together in July that's when we decided to celebrate. Two of us had May birthdays, one in June and another in August.
Here are some of the lovely gifts I received.

I was thrilled with everything. From my friend Nan I received the most gorgeous scissors with a matching tape measure. Theresa gave me the strawberry on the left which can be worn around the neck along with some silk threads and a Plum Street Sampler kit. They all know how much I love anything with deer in it! 
The strawberry in the middle was stitched by my dear friend Pat. It was her first finish of this type and I think she did an awesome job!
The strawberry on the right was made by Cathy and it's gorgeous. Cathy is a bee keeper and she also brought cinnamon honey for all.

These ladies are an amazing and very creative group. I am so blessed to call them my friends. They are my source of inspiration and they help me whenever I run into a problem with my finishing. Thank you all so much. I love you all dearly!

July WIPocalypse

Ahh July! We're right in the middle of all that summer heat and I'm loving it. From what I can see there is a lot more waiting for us. I must admit though that I'm very thankful for a/c on some of the more humid days. 

Before all that humidity hit I managed to stitch up an early birthday gift for my friend Nan. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. This one is designed by Needlework Press and is called May The Hinges of Friendship Never Rust. I stitched it with one strand of Gloriana silk floss in Winter Woods.

Here is the backing fabric and another front view of the piece which shows the lettering a bit better.

As you can see, Nan loved it and I'm so happy.

I also made a belated birthday gift for my friend Theresa. This is a Blackbird Design called Her Majesty from their Honeybee Hill leaflet. What I didn't know was that Theresa loves bees and collects them!

I do love watching their faces when they open their gifts. It was just like Christmas with the kids!

We exchanged all these gifts, both early and late, at a weekend getaway. This is a group of stitching buddies with whom I've become fast friends. We all live at a distance from each other both in the US and Canada. We chose E Syracuse as a location for our weekend which seemed to be a central location for most of us.

One of the reasons we chose this location is because there is a fabulous stitching shop in nearby Fayetteville called A Stitcher's Garden. I think we all laid down some serious cash there, lol!

During the course of the weekend we also had a staining lesson from Theresa and Nan. They each use different methods but the results are virtually the same. We stained both linen and chenille.

Besides stitching there was also lots of shopping and eating during the weekend. These pics are courtesy of my friends Cathy and Theresa.

Even Theresa's son joined in on trying his hand at stitching. He did a fabulous job, with a little help from mom!

I was also the recipient of some wonderful belated birthday gifts during our trip. There were several handmade smalls but I will share those on my Smalls SAL report next week. In the meantime, here's a couple other gifts I was thrilled to receive. Those silks are so pretty and in my favourite colour! The pattern is one I did not yet have. The girls all know that I love anything with deer in it. I'm almost afraid to use those beautiful scissors and tape measure. They're gorgeous!

I am so blessed to have such an amazing group of stitching friends! The weekend passed by far too soon and we all agreed that we should do it again next year. The count down is on!

Happy Canada Day!

From our home to yours, Happy Canada Day to all my family, friends and blogger friends. Whatever you do enjoy your day and be proud!

June Smalls

My smalls post is short and sweet this month. I've recently stitched three smalls but I can only show you one of them because the other two are for gifts and I don't want to spoil the fun. 

A lot of my time stitching is spent in our outdoor solarium or gazebo. In it I'm surrounded by the flowers in our yard and as I stitch I've been watching the bees stopping by at our planters. This little stitch by Prairie Schooler was inspired by my buzzing friends!

There is no name for this piece. It's from one of the PS mini cards. I simply call it Queen Bee. This is the first time I've stitched on black linen. It's a 32 ct and I found it time consuming. I've only stitched on black Aida in the past and that was bad enough! I have an idea for a finish on this and will share a pic when it's complete.

Continuing on the bee theme I've started another small by Blackbird Designs called Her Majesty - Pincushion. It's found in the Honeybee Hill leaflet. I might just stitch Honeybee Hill as well since I have a shaker box that it would look lovely on top of. 

See you next month!
 

June WIPocalypse

So I'm late posting now two months in a row. Life has been so busy lately but one of the main reasons I held back on this post is because I knew I was so close to finishing Dreaming of Tulips. I put the final stitches in today and I'll be sad that I'm not spending anymore time with this lovely design. I can't wait until I can have it framed.

 Rosewood Manor Dreaming of Tulips

Love the Algerian eyelets on those letters!

I think what I love the most about Karen Kluba's designs are all the different motifs within the piece. Each one could be stitched separately as a small. I still have her Summer Quaker all kitted up and ready to stitch. I'll get to it sooner or later!

The other stitching I completed I can't show yet because it's for a gift and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

 June is the month of not only weddings but graduations. My niece Dana graduated this past week with her undergrad in Social Work. I was unable to attend the graduation but she sent me these pics.

With her family..... lt to rt - Her brother Andrew, Mom(my sister Lana), Dad (Marty) and Dana

 We are all so proud of you and I wish you well in all your future endeavours!

Canada Day is fast approaching and this year Bob and I decided we'd take one evening and go see the RCMP Musical Ride. For those of you not familiar with the ride, just click on the link above to learn some background info. The ride was visiting a local attraction a week ago Sunday but it was just way too hot and the field was in full sun with no shade to be seen. So instead we headed down to the RCMP stables in Ottawa where every June they hold a sunset performance free for the citizens of Ottawa as a thank you for their support. 

Although the day had been warm, it was a lovely evening to bring a chair or blanket and sit back to watch Canada's pride.

Summer has finally arrived. Bring it on!

A Bit of This and That - Warning.... Picture Intensive!

Lots of family get togethers over this month. Between Mother's Day and my birthday we have had a lot of fun celebrating.

On Mother's Day I met with my youngest son Chris and his girlfriend Violet for a brunch. 

I knew that I would be meeting with all of my sons later in the month when it was more convenient for everyone involved. At that time we would have a delayed Mother's Day/ Birthday celebration.

Not being involved with the family on my special day meant that I could get together with good friends Paul & Michelle and Dan & Carol for a meal. We had a lovely BBQ with pork tenderloin, a favourite of mine and of course, birthday cake.

As you can see, it was a special birthday indeed! Oh no, the big 60 as my candles clearly state!

May also means the arrival of the Tulip Festival in Ottawa. This year's offerings did not disappoint! There was a new tulip introduced for the upcoming celebration of Canada's 150th birthday in 2017. It is fittingly called Canada 150 and is a red & white tulip in honour of our flag colours. Here are a few pics of the lovely displays.

The majority of the tulips are displayed at Dow's Lake where the park land is the perfect setting. More tulips can be found at Parliament Hill and at various downtown displays.

Then our holiday, Victoria Day weekend arrived and we were off to Quebec to celebrate with all my sons at my oldest's home. After an afternoon of visiting, I was treated to a lovely dinner followed by a stop at the local ice cream parlour.

Daniel - my second born

Jeff, my eldest and Mylene

Chris, my youngest and Violet

My granddaughters Oceanne and Summer

And of course, my hubby, Bob

It was a really lovely day and rare in that we aren't all able to get together very often. The boys surprised me with a very special gift for my 60th. 

I absolutely LOVE it!!! Chris found the artist on Etsy and the boys submitted photos for her illustration. Then Chris had the drawing matted and framed where he works. In the photo each boy is holding something that is a hobby for each. Jeff - a vinyl disc as he collects them, Dan - a writing journal and Chris - a microphone as he is the lead singer in his group. It was The Perfect Gift!! Thank you so much guys! I couldn't love it more!

There is one more celebration yet to come as Chris has his birthday this coming Monday. I'm not sure at this point if we will be able to meet up with him but you can be sure there will be a small visit at some point. 

Thank you to everyone for making this such a memorable month!