Joyce's Finish

My friend Joyce, with whom I stitch on Tuesday mornings, has completed her HAED "The Tempest" She did it on 32 count lugana over 2 threads.

Doesn't it look fabulous?

On Friday while Dan and I were in Mississauga taking Dan's Dad home from the hospital, two decorating faries named Marie Paule and Louisa came to the shop and decked it out in some Christmas finery.

Do I have wonderful friends or what?

And speaking of great friends...I am so fortunate... Fran came on Friday and looked after the Friday stitchers, Sharon was here as well and even stayed with the dogs until we got home around 6 PM. We were particularly concerned with the dogs because they had each eaten a sparerib bone on Thursday evening and complications could have arisen. Fortunately guzzle guts that they are...well really canine vacuum cleaners.. they suffered no ill effects. But that did not keep us and the vet from worrying...and dear Sharon stayed with them all day just in case, while we were gone.

We had to be gone on Saturday as well and then we had Wendy to check in on them and she ended up staying with them all Saturday evening until we got home at 10:15 PM. She didn't know about the bone incident because they were fine by then...she just didn't want them to be alone!

So Dan and I are very fortunate in our friendships and we appreciate you all!

Saturday 35 McDonalds got together for our Christmas gathering...lots of good food and good fun...we took our annual pic of my brothers and me and here it is...do we look alike or what?

November Retreat

Here are some picutres of the retreat...naturally I have started with the Saturday lunch made by our own Butteheads, Bruce and Dan...they had the room all set up ...and worked very hard preparing the feast...Sylvia is ready... as are Nan, Anne and Barb...

and Debbie, Sharon, Beatrice and Rebecca...

Back at Timber house Inn we all settled in to some serious stitching...or in Wendy's case a bit of knitting....

Nan and Dani...

Marie Paule...

Debbie and Sharon...

Dani and Nurse Sharon...

Clare and Joyce...

Bonnie and Rebecca...

Bernie and Beatrice...

Barb and Sheila...

Love, Peace, Harmony

We did have a very successful stitching retreat this past weekend and I'll get around to posting some pictures of it one day soon. If you are anxious to see some snapshots , check out Dani's blog and get the scoop! As you will see we all had a great time, so much so that it is all booked up again for next year!

Today's entry though is to show off my lovely stand up angels. They appeared over a number of months last year in the Cross stitcher magazine (US not UK) . I finally finished stitching all three, found suitable backing fabric and found Diana who finished them for me. She did an outstanding job and I just could not be happier with the result.

Moving along

I had to get some ornaments done, which I can't show unfortunately...but I can share these little guys. They are JBW mittens done over 1 on 25 count. They make pretty little ornies I think. My focus piece in the rotation, this William Morris bag is coming along at a good rate. It is easy to work on and seems to stitch up fairly fast. The trick is finding the time to stitch.

We've been back and forth to the hospital in Mississauga a fair bit lately to see Dan's Dad (who is doing well) and then it was to Niagara Falls on Saturday to David's Race Club Banquet. David placed third in the race standings and as an additional bonus, unbeknownst to all of us, he was awarded the "Sportsman of the Year" award also. It is a prestigious award because the title is voted upon by the club members. Dan was very proud of his son.

We went to Niagara Falls but did not see the Falls and I am a little disappointed since I think they are pretty spectacular at night with the coloured lights on them...but it never crossed my mind until we were home on Sunday, that we should maybe have driven around and had a look!

Green orts

My rotation is working extremely well except for the fact that it seems like I am constantly working with green threads! 470, 471 and 472 to be exact! This William Morris bag is number one in the rotation and as it is the focus piece it is moving along quite quickly.

Number two is my stained glass landscape.

and number three is Fairies in the garden...

Froth and Bubble came home from the framers on Friday and I am thrilled with the result.

Rotation

I decided that it was time to go back to some sort of a rotation. There are too many WIPs in my bag and too many things I am itching to start, so a little discipline is in order.
It is encouraging that the first WIP I pulled out was close to being finished and so I have a finish to show. It was started in 2006! Cirque des Cercles done on 36 count linen with Waterlilies Eggplant. Don't know what I am going to do with it but the stitching is done.

Having a finish of course necessitated a new start. This is the William Morris bag that was featured in a recent Cross Stitcher Magazine (UK) and it is very enjoyable to work on.Yesterday, today and tomorrow I will work on my stained glass landscape, which alas is far from being finished..

Halloween Treat

I finished this Lizzie Kate Merry Christmas banner a few days ago. Around the same time a customer and friend Janice came to the shop to show me her banner...finish finished. Mine of course was just stitched ... but look at how Janice finish finished it for me!!! I know if I waited to get moving and either (a) do it myself ... yeah right! or (b) get someone else to do it...it would be next Christmas before it saw the light of day. As it turned out Janice took it on Wednesday and brought it back in all its lovely finishedness today! On Wednesday when Janice came by she brought me this little Halloween tree. It is a gift from Trish ,who I have not met in person...but who is obviously a lovely and generous person! She sent the tree to Janice to give to me. So first thing this morning I headed over to Belleville to G & G and bought a couple of packages of Halloween buttons which I threaded up and installed on the tree. Isn't it great. The purple sparkles!!! Thank you so much Trish!!! and Janice the messenger!

I managed to finish page 7 of Jeannette Douglas's My Stitching album and I think this one, Rhodes Rhapsody...is my favourite so far. I got a little more adventurous with my colour choices and what a shame that I waited till the second last page to get colourful! Bright colours are fun!