Wishing You ...

Sunday, December 30, 2007
Considering that I only managed to stitch and finish 4 ornaments this past year, it is really remarkable that I have just completed stitching 4 in the past little while. I did these (and precious little else ) in the week and a half leading up to Christmas. I am thrilled with them and their message which seems appropriate for a post leading into 2008!


All four are from The Gift of Stitching magazine for Dec 2007.

I have no Pretty Pumpkins update and no CdC update because I haven't touched either one in about three weeks! So much for my one day a week plan! But I do have 4 ornaments!!!
Anyway ...I will get back into a routine after New Year's and then just watch that needle fly!

Happy New Year everyone!

JBW fan

December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas everyone!

Here is a sampling of some pillows made by Marie Paule! It is certainly hard to believe that she starting cross-stitching only two years ago! As you can see she is a big fan of Judy at JBW designs and haven't these pillows turned out beautifully?
They were here only long enough to show and be photographed then were being packaged up to give to various people as Christmas gifts. What a lovey hand crafted gifts to recieve!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Updates

December `9, 2007

Good news all around this week... My sisiter-in-law just called to tell me that her son and daughter-in-law had a baby girl yesterday, weighing in at 9 pounds, 3 ounces! No wonder poor Lisa was so uncomfortable when I saw her a couple of weeks ago..no name yet but everyone is well and happy.

Here is my CdC as of last week. Today is the day to work on it so I'll be at it very soon. This is what I got done last Friday on Pretty Pumpkings...It is coming along nicely!
I also dragged out Kaleidoscope this week and I am loving how it is shaping up!
This little ornie only took two days. It was fun to do and I am looking forward to stitching the other three in the series. (The Gift of Stitching magazine December 2007)
And of course we had a storm over the weekend. I did manage to make a snow angel when Dan and I were out snow blowing and shoveling at some point. Alas it quickly got covered up again during Sunday's blizzard.
It was quite a full weekend as we not only had David and Erin and the 2 grandchildren from Saturday afternoon till Monday morning but also Erin's Mom and step-father! It was full house with 6 extra people but we had fun. Mostly we ate and watched Christmas movies...Ernest Saves Christmas, The Santa Clause and at least part of Miracle on 34th Street! In spite of all that I even got a bit of stitching done. Nicholas, my 9 year old grandson, also worked on his "sewing". Up until this weekend he confined himself to plastic canvas and wool but this weekend he wanted fabric and a hoop so I fitted him out and we "sewed" together. I may have created a monster though because he likes the sparkly thread...so some gold and red sparkly stuff was added to his stitching stash! So far he is creating his own designs and not following a pattern...won't be long though!!

Cirque des Triangles

December 14, 2007

Look at what I now have in the shop!!!!

Any takers??? The Thursday stitchers had a lovely lunch out yesterday. Then we came back here for dessert and coffee. Marie Paule made traditional tartes aux sucre for us and what a feast that was! We even managed to get a few stitches in!

What a week

Wednesday December 12, 2007

I have been at best a sporadic blogger of late. That goes the same for my stitching. However I did get some done on Friday on Pretty Pumpkins, after missing a week or two and here is my progress on it. Similarly CdC has been languishing and when I do get to it, my time seems to be limited. Today is actually CdC day for me but this week I am going to postpone it until tomorrow. For some reason I got started on an ornament from Gift of Stitching yesteray and I am going to stick with it for today and until I finish it. As you can see from the next picture it is working up quite fast, so it should not delay CdC too much.
There is a series of 4 ornaments in the issue and I expect I will will to do all of them. ... but not for this Christmas!
On Saturday Dan and I went to the Ottawa area to my youngest brother's place for our annual McDonald Christmas with all the brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, and grand nieces (3) and grand nephews (4) and the two as yet unborn (one due any day and one in May)
Above is a shot of my three sisters -in-law and below my three brothers (and me of course) and one of my brother's grand daughters. She s a real little sweetie. We had a great time.

Look Kathy Look!!!!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

On Friday afternoon I put the last few charms on the Queen and doesn't she just look great? Are you proud of me Kathy???

B&L had arrived by that time and were both intrigued by the Queen. I thought it a little odd that they were so taken by her but didn't pursue the matter. All became clear on Saturday when we opened our presents.

This was one of mine! Do our friends know me or what???

Today is CdC day and I am looking forward to getting to work on it. I got a great early start to the day today...it helps that Dan was out the door at 5 am and for some reason I did not go back to bed... I have vacuumed, got bread in the bread machine, fudge cooling , almost ready to beat and my blog written! all before 7 am!

Early Christmas

Saturday , December 1, 2007

We have laughed so hard since yesterday afternoon that our cheeks are sore. Our good friends Bruce and Luci arrived in a blizzard on Friday afternoon and we have been having fun ever since. Last night we went out for dinner...today we enjoyed Eggs Benedict for breakfast, made by B & L, and then we broke out the champagne and orange juice for our traditional present opening. Well...we had fun... here are Dan and Bruce in their matching Butthead t-shirts... aren't they just the men you wished you had married?

and of course the backs! Some of you may remember my progress pictures of Luci's cactus ...well here it is in all its glory being opened by Luci..she is very happy!
And of course some of you are aware of the chicken saga that goes on and on and on and on with us...turns out that we gave each other the same chickens this year...here is Bruce with both of them...they are totally annoying ... they do the chicken dance to loud obnoxious music and make strangling noises when you grab them by the throat...totally suitale for the Buttheads.
We also exchanged other gifts...one of which I will show on my next blog because again it was so appropriate but I think that the buttheads and the chickens are all you guys can handle for one day.

Tonight we will enjoy a turkey dinner which I can smell cooking as I type and we'll watch Miracle on 34th Street ( my favourite movie...the old one of course) and no doubt laugh some more. Tomorrow we'll go out for lunch and have hot turkey sandwiches for supper. The wine will be flowing! This is one of my favourite weekends of the year!

Right now I can do this because the buttheads are gone somewhere in the car (who knows where) and Luci has gone for a walk. I am home with dogs (who also received presents) in case I get a customer or two (hope springs eternal) in the shop. Wow...just as I typed that Sharon and Lisa arrived and they bought Lanarte's Spring Ride which Sharon will stitch for Lisa!

BTW, I am typing this on our brand new computer!!! It is lovely and very fast.