Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Froth and Bubble

This is my progress on Froth and Bubble.
That is all I have to show for the last week or so of stitching. But progress is being made.
Summer has arrived and my garden is thriving. Everything is sprouting and looking good. Unfortunately it will be awhile before there is any produce out of it but it is fun to watch it grow.
Coming up on July 9, 10 11 and 12 the shop will be closed because Dan and I and the dogs and this year Dani is coming too..will all be off to the Rodeo in Holstein Ontario. Our friend Bill does a bang up job of organizing this huge event for the Egremont Optimist Club and we have fun going there to help out.
This year Knowledge and Needles will have a small booth among the 40+ vendors. But our main reason for going is to sell 50/50 tickets for the club. Last year we, mostly Dan, sold over $7000 worth of tickets. That gave the club $3500 to donate to their various community charities and three lucky people went home with a nice chunk of cash in their pockets, one Friday, one Saturday and one Sunday.
http://www.holsteinrodeo.com/ is the link to the rodeo... it promises to be a great weekend.

Friday, June 19, 2009

My heart leaps up...

Thank You William Wordsworth...My Heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky...
This rainbow came out last Satruday evening and I had to snap it! On Thursday our own Creative genius, Marie Paule arrived at stitching with this unique and beautiful gift idea. She started with JBW's tiny chart of Tea, chocolate and coffee and went from there...creatingA gift box...

complete with toile bow...

And matching cups and saucers...



tea, chocolate and coffee in the box along with the rest of the cups and saucers...


oh and toile buttons....


I have the most amazing creative friends...
Here is my little contribution to stitching this week...my progress on Jeannette Douglas' My Stitching Album page on Cross stitches...









Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Celtic Ice

After a couple of incredibly busy and very tiring weeks I have finally been able to do a bit of stitching. I do hope the pace slows down a bit now, and I can get back at all my projects. Yesterday, at a delightful and relaxing pot luck lunch at Bernie's home I was able to sit quietly and put a few stitches into Froth and Bubble. I did not get too far but it was fun to dig it out again. Here are my only two ornaments so far this year. This first one is from a little kit designed by Tracy Horner of Ink Circles, called Celtic Ice. It came with the fabric, the two skeins of Carries Thread and of course the pattern.

Included in the package was this bonus chart which I also stitched using the same thread, and there is likely enough left on the skeins to do numerous more...I did this one over one on 25 count and I think it makes a gorgeous ornament...or will once I assemble it into one!



Wednesday, June 3, 2009

New Look in the Shop


While I was in Kingston at the Canadian Embroidery Guild Seminar, Dan painted the shop for me. It was the perfect time as the place was empty since I had everything with me in Kingston. So this is how it looked after the paint job but before the putting back started.




On Wednesday, after the paint on the floor finally dried Beatrice and Judie came over and worked hard helping me get the place back in order. Of course we re-arranged everything and I am thrilled beyond words with the result.

Here they are conferring on some important decision. Beatrice took on responsibility for the fibre wall and she did a fantastic job.I tend to like to bask in the reflected glory of other people's hard work.And here are some shots of the finished "New Look" shop.
The DMC remained in the same place because there is nowhere else to put it but everything else has found a new place to rest.
The finished thread wallShelves arranged according to designer with subject areas designated in baskets underneath. There is some fabric hanging above the shelves but I seem not to have taken a picture of the fabric but believe me it is there...just out of sight beside the sampler purse/bag hanging at the right of the picture below.Kits

Beads and miscellaneous important stuff
Once again, a big job was made so much easier with the help of my good friends. Marie Paule made me a curtain to cover the crawl space and a new tablecloth as well and they look smashing!
Thank you Dan, Judie, Beatrice and Marie Paule. You made a big job fun and easy to accomplish.