Monday, January 26, 2009

Page 3 + fairies

It is so cold out. Lovely to see the sun but man am I ready for the warmth of some Florida sunshine!
Meanwhile, I plodded along on Fairies and finished the last two days for my 5 day rotation. The lettering was fun to do but that #8 braid did in two piecemaker needles in the process. And I finished the stitching on Page 3 of "My Stitching Album" It is a most enjoyable project. All that remains to be done on this page is the addition of the beads and I am still mulling over what colour I will be using. I was anxious to finish this page because I will be seeing Jeannette Douglas next week in Nashville and wanted to show off my pages to her.
Next up on my rotation is Cirque des Cercles which I am doing with Waterlilies Eggplant on 36 ct linen. After my 5 days on it my rotation will be set aside for the trip to Florida. I am only taking one project with me and it will be Froth and Bubble.
And before I forget...a few days ago Beatrice tagged me and I am supposed to tell about 5 addictions. I am also supposed to pass the tag along but anyone who knows me also knows that I never do that...So to the addicitons...
I indulged a few of them this weekend..
1. Reading...I read a whole book on Saturday...it was too cold to go anywhere anyway!
2. Stitching..I spent practically all day yesterday working on page 3, see above.
3. Crossword puzzles..specifically the ones which appear in the Toronto Star on Saturday and Sunday. I consider it my way to staving off Altzhiemers and besides I enjoy the challenge. BTW, I got all the clues in both of them this weekend!
4. Enjoying the company of friends. Yeasterday while stitching I looked up to see a familiar looking person approaching the house but I could not place him. Turns out to be our friend Willie, from Switzerland. You know how it is when you know someone but see him or her out of context and don't recognize them? Well we had no idea he was coming to Canada for a visit...obviously to visit friends, certainly not for the weather! Great to see him. He and the folks he is staying with are coming for one of Dan's great dinners on Friday night.
5. Anything to do with our dogs. They are very special to us and we love their company. The number of smiles they have brought not just to our faces but to nearly everyone who meets them says it all.





Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Progress

Finally some progress on something....
Here is my work on "There are faeries at the bottom of my garden" I did keep making mistakes and ripping stuff out which was rather discouraging. Also, I did a whole bunch of backstitching which is not my ususal practice. This piece has so much backstitching in it that I knew leaving it all to the end would be a very big mistake.

And here is what I am doing for fun... Page 3 of Jeannette Douglas's "My Stitching album" This is called Scotch Switch ...
The colours in the picture are awful but in real life they are great with lots of Kreinik sparkles.




Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Froth and Bubble

This is Oliver who was our house guest for the weekend. Friendly chap isn't he? On Saturday night Oliver, Molle and Paddy all trooped into the house dripping clumps of snow which immediately melted on the floor. Then Oliver and Molly started romping around...I careened around the couch to rescue a lamp and promptly slipped on the wet floor and landed squarely in my tail bone. The pain was instant, substantial and ongoing. It was not aided by hours and hours in the car on Sunday going to Mississauga to visit Dan's Dad. I did get to the doctor on Monday afternoon and now through the miracle of science have painkillers which are working.

An instant like that can certainly have a big impact though...I am popping pills every 4 hours so I can sleep, bend, sit and stand with less pain...the cost is drowsiness which means I am essentially housebound as I cannot take a chance and drive...without pills the pain would be distracting and with them I feel that it would be like driving under the influence of something...no matter... the weather is awful anyway! It is not encouraging however that the tailbone takes a long time to heal.

I have worked on Long Dog's Froth and Bubble between naps but I am not really getting too far. I like the piece. Perhaps today, now that the pills are working I will be able to sit longer and actually concentrate.

Before the fall I got started on Page three of Jeannette Douglas's "My Stitching album" but the photos I took were terrible so I deleted them. I'll try again in better light later in the week.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The best laid plans

I had every intention in the New Year of stitching only what I had in the shop. I mean that's what the whole point of the shop and having models is, isn't it? I have a long list of "Things I really want to stitch " and another of "Things I really want to finish" and then there are the hundreds of patterns in the shop that should have models ... so what happens? I got hold of the newest JCS magazine and found about 5 charts in that issue alone(!) that I really really like...the Gerbera Daisies pillow by Vermillion, the Tree in the 4 seasons by Jeannette Douglas, the Sampler by S Cohen, a gorgeous little thing full of specialty stitches and three leaves AND a pillow done in swirly designs all in one colour of variegated thread on a dark fabric.
I haven't seen a magazine with SO many designs that I love enough to want to stitch in a long time! What's a stitcher to do? I 'm already retired and already spend way too much time stitching ...well not really, but I do stitch alot!

Oh well...if that is the worst thing I have to worry about, I guess I am doing OK.

Recently I noticed that the lid to our bird feeder had gone missing. After watching this little guy I suspect he may have had something to do with the disappearance!







And last but not least for today...on the weekend Dan and I spent some quality time together at his favourite store...Home Depot...and purchased some peg board. He promptly came home and went into an organizing frenzy...here is part of the result! I am under strict orders not to put the pans back in the wrong spots!
We also built 4 new shelves in the laundry room and yes things are much more organized now. I am sure I'll find a way to clutter it all up...but that's the fun isn't it?







Saturday, January 3, 2009

Happy 2009

Happy New Year everyone.
I have been very remiss lately with my blogging, writing , reading and commenting. Let's see if I do any better in this new year.
Here is a picture of Dan on Christmas morning opening my main present to him...These two pillows have been in the works since last summer. Sharon has a copy of PC stitch and volunteered to transform my dog portraits into cross stitch. Fortunately I have two excellent pictures of Mollie and Paddy which had been taken by Carrie a couple of years ago and they became excellent (and challenging) patterns.
I had to work on them when Dan was not around and there were quite a few days when I scrambled to shove stuff in bags if he came home a litte early. Also I could not post pictures since Dan often reads my blog so see what I am saying about him and what silly picutres I am posting.






We spent New Years with Bruce and Luci. Here is Luci with her Paula Vaughn Magnolia Pillow. I got it stitched in 15 days and made into a pillow with days to spare.
Here are Santa and his elf looking ...well silly.After Christmas I got out my Heart's Content Splendor II kit and finished it. It is beautiful and I am thrilled with it but I don't know if I want to spend 5 years working on another one. It was a kit done on 29 count Glenshee linen using one strand of DMC 612 throughout.

Since finishing this on Dec 30 I have only pickied up my stitching once and at that time worked on my CdC on 36 count. I did one earlier in the year on 25 count but liked the pattern so much that I started a second one with Waterlilies silk. What was I thinking? I probably should have waited until Cirques des Carreaux came out which it did this past month! Oh well...
Meanwhile, I am thinking of starting something new...Froth and Bubble from Long Dog. I have the thread and the pattern and am deciding between 32 and 36 count fabric.
I have decided not to begin the Mirabilia SAL that many of my friends are doing. I have stitched quite a few of them in the past and they are all hanging in the homes of various nieces and nephews who have had babies in the past number of years... But I will be happy to follow their progress.
Happy New Year everyone.