Monday, December 28, 2009

Look at my great gift!

My nephew Clancy and his wife Lisa and their three gorgeous daughters stopped in for a visit yesterday on their way home from visiting Lisa's family for Christmas. They joined Bruce and Luci and Dan and me for dinner. They brought me this beautiful photograh of the girls with the pictures I cross stitched for each them. I was so touched that I choked up and tears came to my eyes. They are darling children and we love them to pieces.
This phot0 will be displayed proudly and prominently in the shop!

After finishing the William Morris bag, I concentrated exclusively for a couple of weeks on the stained glass landscape. It is progressing well.After Christmas I started something new!!! The latest project is the Sampler from JCS magazine (Jan/ Feb and Mar/April 2009) designed by Sharon Cohen of the Nostalgic Needle. I am using the recommended GAST threads and doing it on...drum roll please ... 40 count fabric!
So far I have the first band completed and I am loving the look! Pictures will be forthcoming.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas and Merry Boxing Day!

Merry Christmas everyone!
We are off shortly to see the grandchildren and celebrate the day with family.
However before we do that I wanted to wish all my friends near and far a very Happy Christmas Day.
I also want to spread a bit of Boxing Day cheer. Yesterday I decided to hold a 25% off Boxing Day sale on in-stock items in the shop. E-mail me between 12:01 am and 11:59 pm on December 26 to receive this discount. The e-mail address is on the website.
www.knowledgeandneedles.com
This discount covers charts, kits, patterns, fabric and thread and anything else in the shop...but it must be in stock! More details on the website. Paypal, cheques and e-mail transfers accepted.

Merry Christmas!
PS...Wendy... your 40 ct cream fabric is in
Clare...there are two charts here for you
Sharon A...your Cricket Collection stuff is in
Kathy A...some 36 ct fabric came in as well...maybe one that you asked for???

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Amazing stitching

I am so fortunate to be surrounded by such talented and creative stitchers. I have frequently mentioned the ladies in our Thursday Stitchers group, but I also have a dedicated group who come on Friday to stitch as well. This is Anne, one of the Friday stitchers. She is holding up her daughter and son-in-law's wedding picture from 25 years ago which she stitched. Sharon, another Friday stitcher, took the photo and used her PC Stitch programme to make it into a Cross stitch chart which Anne then stitched and this is the result. It is hard to believe that this is really totally stitched. I believe Anne said it has taken her 3 months to do it. Her daughter is going to be so surprised and I hope very impressed by her Mother's work. In addition to Anne and Sharon on Fridays we also have Fran who can turn her hand to anything it seems. She knits both by hand and machine, quilts, designs mystery quilts for an on-line group, teaches machine embroidery and oh yes, she cross stitches too! Lucie, in addition to stitching can also cook and sew. As a matter of fact I conned her into leaving the little pot of homemade pate she brought to our last stitch-in of 2009 yesterday. It is delicious. Cheryl does the most exquisite over one stitching on 25 count fabric. Catherine is new to cross stitching but determined to master it. She has completed one sampler on aida and is currently working on a bookmark...on black fabric !
Dani, in Ottawa, always marvels at how lucky we are here in our little town to have so many talented and zealous stitchers when she struggles to find a group in the big city. OK Ottawa is not that big but compared to here...it is!

This is my completed William Morris bag. It is on its way to my friend Heather in Virginia. She and I are both turning 60 on our next birthday (hers is this month!) so I thought that milestone deserved significant recognition! I hope she likes the bag. Diana did such an excellent job of finishing it that I had to show you all the inside as well.



Really it could be reversable, it is that well done!


Monday, December 7, 2009

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?














Thursday, November 26, 2009

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...
















Monday, November 16, 2009

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.









Wednesday, November 11, 2009

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!


Saturday, October 31, 2009

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.









Friday, October 23, 2009

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..

Thursday, October 15, 2009

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!




Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Finally back to some stitching

Look at what has finally resurfaced! Yes I am attempting a bit of a rotation and here is Cirque des Cercles. It has not been around much lately but now that I am back at it I am enjoying it. It is Eggplant Waterlilies on 36 ct linen. Here is my completed Lizzie Kate Merry Christmas by the letter, including buttons although you probably cannot see the buttons on the pic. It was fun to stitch. DMC thread on Natural 32 ct linen.
And page 7 of Jeannette Douglas' My Stitching Album. This page is really cool with all those Rhodes stitches in different shapes and sizes. My choice of colours ... waterlilies, a skien of WDW, and the rest are mostly Carrie's Creations and one GAST on 32 ct black lugana.




Friday, September 25, 2009

No stitching


We had our grandsons visiting for 4 days this week hence absolutely no stitching got done. Actually not much of anything got done except dog walking, some crafts, some skateboarding, some cupcake baking...you get the picture...

We did have some early morning visitors last week and here they are on the front yard.

And also last week we replaced our poor battered mailbox. The old one was involved in a couple of weekend tournaments of "Mailbox baseball" and obviously lost all the games.The new one is made of steel and will put up a better fight in the next round of play.


I am hoping to have some stitching pictures in the near future.








Monday, September 14, 2009

Great mini holiday

Dan needed a bit of a break before he gets started on a couple of big jobs that will take him to Christmas , so we drove to our friends' place in Vineland and had a wonderful two days playing tourist in our own province.
Not too much guesswork involved in where we went!
All 4 of us had been to Niagara Falls on numerous occasions but none had ever ridden on the Maid of the Mist.

Here we are still dry before the boat ride. After an awesome ride where you are virtually surrounded by the magnificent falls Dan and Bruce are very wet. We expected to get somewhat wet...afterall they give you these raincoats...but we were not prepared for how wet we actually got! Fortunately it was a glorious day and we soon dried off. I would recommend the Maid of the Mist ride to anyone and would do it again!...but don't do it on a cold day!

Lunch with a view...well Luci and I enjoyed the spectacular scenery. Bruce and Dan looked at us!

Next we rode on the Sky Wheel and got some more spectacular views of the Falls.

No trip to Niagara Falls can be without a walk on the touristy side.







We were just nicely drying off when we walked back to the Horseshoe Falls, where we again got soaked and went down to the Journey under the falls...This is a view from one of the portals under the Falls...actually all you can see from in there is spray.



But this walk out to the falls is what makes the Journey under the Falls worthwhile. Of course we got soaking wet again but I am in awe (as I always am when visiting there) of the sheer power and beauty of this natural wonder.


We had a fabulous dinner out on Thursday and spent Friday in Niagara-on-the-lake. I did not take any picutres there as we were all too busy shopping!
On Saturday we came home and immediately left again for Kingston where we had dinner out with my three brothers and their wives.
All in all it was a super mini holiday!