Twisted Sister

Hi everyone,
We had a lovely Christmas right up until 10 PM that night. The day was spent with family in Caledon , stopping off In Mississauga to pick up Dan's Dad, his wife and his care-giver. We all had a wonderful time and were happy to have 4 generations of Balych guys in attendance. I took a photo and will post it at some later date.

We got home to Brighton around 9PM after a long day on the road and celebrating with the family. By 10 it was obvious that Paddy was in extreme distress. Our Vet (bless her) got dressed and came to the house on Christmas night. She immediately sent us to the Emergency Pet Hospital in Kingston for Paddy to have surgery on her twisted stomach (hence the name of this post). I can joke about it now that she is home, shaved and scarred but alive. She would have died had she not had the surgery.
The people at the pet hospital were wonderful...stablizing her to make sure she could withstand the surgery and she got the best post operative care. They even took to calling her Sweet Paddy by the next day...That dog can win anybody's heart.
Paddy is the one on the right in the above picture. See all that lovely hair on her belly? It's gone now!
Anyway she is home, on drugs but they will end today and is sleeping a good deal of the time. No strenuous exercise or long walks (it's too cold anyway)  and no dancing around or jumping on things or people. Her diet is restricted to soft food for the time being...she is missing her doggie cookies but if that is the worst she has to suffer then she will have to cope.
We are just grateful that she is still with us. The name of what she had is gastric dilatation-volvulus which was followed by a rotation of her stomach. It is not uncommon, especially in large deep chested dogs and unless caught, fatal. In the course of her surgery they tacked her stomach to her abdominal wall so at least it will not rotate again. This tacking is sometimes done when a dog is being spayed and what a good idea...obviously it was not done on Paddy 9 years ago.

It was an emotional and tiring Day and Christmas 2011 will be remembered for a long time as the day the spent primarily on the 401 until 3AM on Boxing Day morning! We picked her up on Dec 27 and are very grateful to have her home with us.

Let's hope New Year's Day is somewhat less eventful!

More lovely gifts

Look at the beauritful gifts I have received lately...This pillow was stitched and put together by Janice.

This delightful ornament came from Wendy

and this fun one was made for me by Kathy.

Could anyone have nicer friends ?

Updates

 This is the beautiful table runner the Friday Stitchers made and surprised me with on Friday.  It is a reminder of all the lovely birds who come to the feeder we can see  as we are stitching. They took me completely by surprise.

 Am I not fortunate to have such wonderfuul and generous friends? More photos can be viewed on Fran's blog

 Next comes my meagre progress on Jardin Prive. I do not see a finish on this piece by Dec 31!

I am delighted however with this finished product. I only hope David likes it as much! My Christmas tree, which I put up yesterday is in the background. I feel much more in the Christmas spirit now!

 This is where I am with White Lilies on Red...my Mystic stitch project.

 And two pairs of socks finished...the green ones are a pair in spite  of the fact that they appear to be two different shades of green...all from the same ball of yarn!

 And these gems are the result of my first attempt a short rowing the heel!  I am not sure if I will pursue that method or stick with what I am used to.

Isn't this going to make a cute sock? It is fun to watch the pattern emerge.

Finitiative

Finitiative is one of Bernie's words...meaning actually finish finishing some projects. I exercised some finitiative this week by finish finishing these 8 ornaments and  grafting two socks!  I am pretty proud of myself!

 Here are a couple of shots of Paddy and Mollie being fierce , then relaxing after playing together  before bed the other night.

I was on my way to visit Joyce this week, a little later than usual,  when I was slowed down on the back road by a flock of about 2 dozen wild turkeys. They usually spend the early morning hours across the road in my neighbours field   but then disappear for the rest of the day. That day I found out where they go...most of them were across the road already but about 5 or 6 decided they needed a more leisurely crossing, knowing of course that I would wait for them...which I did...and where were they headed? Why to Sharon's back yard of course for their mid morning brunch of whatever treat she sprinkled out for them.I was wishing I had my camera with me but alas I did not. Trust me it is very cool to see these wild animals up close and heading for their next meal!

My ship came in...

Well not my ship exactly  but I am benefitting from it. I had numerous orders outstanding to Zweigaart and every time I called , I was told the fabric was on the boat from Germany. It has finally arrived along with some of my orders...

Don't these fabrics look great??

There is more to come but I am happy just to have these for the time being...Cheryl, your 32 count ice blue is here; Sharon...the 40 ct sand: Barb...your 32 count opalescent white...Military Sharon..the 22 ct for your HAED!

And Wendy...finally Penny will have her bib. She can now compete with her male cousins in the bib department!!!

I'll get it to you...maybe as soon as this weekend!

Ironing beer bottles

Dan asked me why the iron was out on Tuesday evening...my reply...I was ironing neer bottles and here they are...all ironed. They are currently at the framer. They and a beer calendar are my present for Christmas to my step-son David. I think he and his friends will have fun picking out their favourites and guessing which beer is which. Tracy from Ink Cirlces who designed this fun piece thoughtfully provided a two page list of which is where!


I have had a very productive morning. I briefly considered going back to bed when Dan left at 7 am  but decided to get busy instead. It snowed overnight and there must have been a fair bit of freezing rain as well, since the trees were coated with gorgeous icy  crystals. No doubt the roads were too,  so I chose to stay in today and bake.
Yes you read correctly...I baked a whole batch of my Mother's white sugar cookies AND made a batch of chocolate fudge. I am astonished to say that both forays into  baking world turned out beautifully. I don't think I have had a batch of fudge turn out so perfectly in  many years. Of course the fact that I do this only once a year  for Christmas, and due to my broken finger I didn't do any baking at all last year...the whole business is something for me to be proud of!
My brothers, who don't know how to make Mom's cookies,  will be pleased at our family Christmas celebration next week and so will the grandkids when we have Christmas there on Christmas Day. 
Alas stitching ladies...all this good stuff goes to family and since everything turned out the way it should have, I have packed the recipes back in the recipe box till next year. I can't jinx myself by trying another batch of anything! (Now that sounds more like me doesn't it)
Oh yeah...I vacuumed too!   I am sure I'll be back to normal soon though.

22 to go

77 Beer bottles stitched...22 to go!

At our Knowledge and Needles stitching retreat this weekend we enjoyed another great ornament exchange. I was the fortunate recipient of Dani's gorgeous Ink Circles ornament. I will treasure it!

 

I was also very fortunate recently to receive this very appropriate gift from Barb...yes those were her trees featured on Dani's and Bonnie's blogs...She is an amazing stitcher and finisher!

Retreat

Alas I have no pictures for this post but you can see photos of our retreat on Dani's blog, on Beatrice's blog  and on Bonnie's blog.
They were the ones taking pictures and they are all hands down better photographers than I am.  (Better get some retreat pics on there Bonnie!) I think Beatrice will also have some on her facebook page.

We had a lovely time and got lots of stitching done. I stitched  11 beer bottles. This afternoon, now that the bathrooms are clean, the house is vacuumed  (we have anew vacuum cleaner so it wasn't as onerous a task as usual, but I still hate vacuuming) and my Christmas baking is started I am going to tackle the next 11. So far I have 66 of the 99 done. Pictures will be along this week...I promise!

Backstitching!

What a difference a couple of days of backstitching makes

Michael Powell Wedding Sampler for my nephew and  his fiancee

BEFORE and AFTER

Getting caught up

Okay, I have been working on various things but alas blogging has not been one of them...so to get all caught up...here are my current projects...

 I bought this yarn at the Creative Festival on Sunday. The festival was something of a disappointment for me as a cross stitcher but I had a lovely day out with my friends and as you can see did not hesitate to shop for other  non-cross stitch items. Notice the great blue that is coming up . I can hardly wait to see where it ends up in my sock.

 These socks are progressing...as well. Why I can't seem to do two socks the same in a row is a mystery.

This one was fun to knit and I am sure the mate will also be fun to do once I get around to it!

 My White Lilies on Red is slow going but then I have a couple of projects (see below) that have deadlines so the lilies will have to wait.

Here are 55 of the 99 bottles of beer on the wall from Ink Circles. My step son is quite the sampler of exotic beers so I thought this might make a great Christmas present to hang behind his bar. Tracy has included a list of each brand on the shelves so he and his friends can tick them off as they try them!

My nephew is getting married on New Year's Eve in Nova Scotia. We will not be attending so I am hoping to get this Michael Powell wedding sampler finished for them before Dec 3, when we will be seeing the happy couple at our annual McDonald Christmas bash.

CGNA Oct 1

Before I tell you about the Cataraqui Guild's Needle Arts Fair I must share this beautiful Iris stitched by Narine. She really does a  beautiful job!

Narine's Silver Lining Pink Iris

 On October 1, the Cataraqui Guild of Needle Arts in Kingston hosted their annual Needle Arts Fair. Once again I was privledged to be a vendor. Here are a few pictures of the booth and some of the visitors to the fair.
It is a great day attended by needle afficianados and it is so much fun to visit and chat with so many people who love to stitch as much as I do.
I additon to the vendors present, the guild hosted a luncheon and in a separate room, a display of their fabulous work. I would like to have some photos to show of their artistry but alas it was requested that no photos be taken.
The guild members are fabulous needlewomen and you will have to trust me that the stitchery was superb.

Scenes from the Needle Arts Fair in Kingston on October 1

Gifts

People have frequently commented about how fortunate we are in this area to have such a wonderful group of stitchers with whom to share our hobby/passtime/passion/cult. They are correct of course and today I want ot mention one particular friend who also feels that way. Anita gave me this touching gift on Sunday when we were together at a gathering of dedicated stitchers/knitters/quilters.
I have it hanging in my stitching room where stichers are found on Thursdays and Fridays and many other days as well!
Thank You Anita!!! I love it.

A gift from Anita
Where stitchers meet
Friends are found
With needles and floss
Hearts are bound

At the same gathering on Sunday I gave out a couple of gifts of my own to Grandma Wendy. Last June we had a Granny shower for Wendy to celebrate the impending arrival of her twin gransons and her granddaughter. I gave her an IOU  for a bib with each child's name on it...so here they are Jack and Luc's bibs. As you can see Carrie, their proud Mom has a bit of a wild animal theme going on so I adorned the bibs with appropriate jungle motifs. Wendy's other daughter is expecting her daughter  in about three weeks so when she arrives she too will get a name bib.

Finitiative

What a productive morning...not only did I clean! but while doing so I managed to pick up some finitiative and this is the result...
Fran sent me a great link for grafting socks. I followed the directions and viola...I have two pairs of finish finished socks. Fran or Clare..did the grafting on the first one of each pair ages ago and I did the second sock of each pair this morning. Fran and Clare will be very proud of me!!!
This is the link Fran sent me.

http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html

Before I got carried away with the grafting though I got out some ornaments and did some finishing...yes there are 8 more days of Christmas  but I ran out of cording so I will be asking Sharon to bring her corder to Friday stitching to make more. I will then add thread hangers on them and will have 12 new ornaments. Yes I know I stitched these guys about two years ago....you see that finitiative really works!

I also put together the ornament I made for our November exchange but I will not be showing it until then.
And if that isn't enough I finished two bibs in the last three days. They will be unveiled  next week after I have given them to the proud Grandma and Mom...did I mention it was twins???

Bon Echo Provincial Park

This is such  a beautiful Provincial Park. We had 5 days of camping and enjoying nature. We did a lot of walking and  the dogs went swimming frequently...of course the first order of business today was a bath for each of them!
We tired ourselves out walking the trails. No stitching got done but I do have a sock which I will show off at  a later time.

Mollie and Paddy after a swim and a roll in the dirt

Paddy got very dirty

The view from at the back of our campsite

Lower Mazinaw Lake

Upper Mazinaw Lake and the famous Bon Echo cliff

Another shot of Lower Mazinaw Lake

Will this work???

OK.. Blogger did not like my old browser so I updated my browser from Explorer 7 to Explorer 8 and now it is working again.. so tomorrow I  will post some photos of our little camping trip  to Bon Echo and two very dirty  white dogs...they do love to swim and roll in the dirt!
I did no stitching but I did knit a sock!

Problems

It would appear my blog is having problems...so I am just trying to see if a new post will help.

What a great day!

Saturday was my 11th annual stitching day and what a fabulous day it was. There were over 40 stitchers in attendance and just have a look at some of the amazing stitching we had on display.

A stitchalong from Jardin Prive that a number of us are involved in.

Fairy Grandmother from Wendy and a golfing snowman from Barb

A tableful of smalls

Harry's cats

Kathy A's Royal Holiday and part of another piece stitched by Harry

Some stitchers with displays in the background

More stitchers...or maybe the same ones...

Beth's incredibly huge London scene

Fran's first hardanger piece!

Barb's Sheltering Tree

Barb's Midsummer night's fairy

Sharon's iris

Kathy B's realistic over-one wolves!