"There's a tractor in our driveway"

September 14, 2007

Dan noticed the tractor first yesterday around 5:30 when we were making dinner...of course it was running at the time so the noise was fairly significant...sure enough to accompany the tractor there was a farmer on the porch along with...TA-DA...My Sign....


George, our neighbour spent all day yesterday aboard said tractor cutting corn in the field across from our house. At some point during the day the tractor and my sign had a close encounter of the third kind...contact... well actually the tractor ran over the sign...but then who would expect to find a sign in the among the corn??? Anyway neither sign nor tractor seem to have suffered from the encounter and I am just delighted to get my sign back! It is a little bit dirty and does have a suspicious tractor tire sort of crease in it but all in all it survived its ordeal remarkably well. I do see a case of beer in George's future, courtesy of K & N.

Obviously the addle-brained little thieves just cut down the sign, transported it , oh about 20 yards and then chucked the thing into the cornfield. The corn of course was high and dense, rendering the sign invisible from the road...They must be very proud of themselves!

Anyway, Dan says we will afix the sign this time around with chain rather than tie wraps. Chain will require bolt cutters for removal, not an apparatus most people carry around in the back of their cars or pick-ups on a regular basis!


Other good news...

Here is Nan, a Thursday stitcher with her completed "Mother's Bliss" Nan just started stitching this Spring and this is her first major finish. It looks great and her great-grand daughter will surely love it !!!

Congratulations on a great finish Nan!

All in all...a good news post!!!!

I am obsessed

September 13, 2007

This is as far as I got on "It's good to be Queen" before I got sidetracked by Cirque des Cercles. There is something about that chart that has me fascinated. Anyway, earlier in the week I showed my beaded circle from "Cirque". Since then I have stitched two more of the circles in varigated thread, one in Emerald Waterlilies and one in Cherry Waterlilies silk. They are going to make fabulous ornaments. Pictures will follow.

Anyway yesterday I was just obsessed with finishing the second one and stitched all afternoon on it. The beauty of these ornaments is that they have cost me virtually nothing since both the fabric I used and the thread I used, in both cases, were all leftovers from various other projects.
I am also way behind in my ornament stitching for this year so this is a fast and gorgeous way to catch up quickly. I had invited the Cobourg stitchers here last evening and some of them are looking forward to an ornament finishing day so I had better have some stitched so I can demonstrate for them when we do have the ornament finishing seminar.

Queen is coming along nicely but has suffered a bit this week during my Cirque/ornament frenzy!

I'm so pleased

September 11, 2007

My Hampshire Clay thread arrived from Mafawny at Sassa Lynne in the UK today and it looks like it will work out just fine for my mandala. I am so pleased that I will be able to finish this great project and not have to rip out a border and settle for part of the design instead of all of it.

More Cirque des Cercles stuff

September 10, 2007

Last week I sent an e-mail to Tracy Horner of Ink Circles to tell her that the patterns I had ordered had arrived safely and to (yes) gush over them. I am so blown away by these designs that I want to stitch them all...well the three I have...Cirque, Kaleidoscope and This Heart of Mine.
Anyway she responded with a great idea, which I wish I had thought of myself...that if you are trying to choose thread and fabric, maybe doing one of the circles by itself as a Christmas ornament will give you an idea of whether you like the thread and fabric you have chosen. Great idea I thought!

Then Carmen sent me this link to a picture of Cirque done completrely in beads....You gotta see this!!!
http://chatelainedesigns.yuku.com/topic/6608/t/Finished-Cirque-Cross-posted-.html

Suddenly it came to me...I would try to make some ornaments in beads, using some of the circles from Cirque. I was very ambitious and got out about 4 different pieces of fabric and all my bead stash...spread it all on the table and got started.
Below is Saturday afternoon's effort. I love the look but ...let's just say the beads and fabric have been put away and there is NO WAY I will be doing Cirque all in beads...not that I had thought to anyway! I am not even sure I want to make any more ornaments all in beads...although I may break down and attempt another one. I do like the look! But I am not that avid a beader!

And just so you know...I finished stacking all the wood in the basement this morning and I am quite proud of myself. The dogs have also been walked, there is a load of towels in the laundry and the floors have been swiffered. (Not vacuumed...I am not that good a housekeeper)

I am tired

September 6, 2007

The garage is empty. The basement is full of wood and I am tired. It is hard work but very satisfying as well. I still have a huge pile to stack neatly but that will be for another day.

I am very excited because I just got some Ink Circles designs in and they are beautiful. A number of stitchers at the retreat indicated an interest in doing a Cirque des Cercles stitch along so the patterns are here ladies. Actually I will be e-mailing everyone who was interested. This rose out of the fact that Dani, Christin, Beatrice and Kathy are starting a stitch along on Nov 1 on Paridigm Lost. I wasn't interested in that chart but my interest sure got piqued with Cirque des Cercles...so we may have a parallel SAL.

If anyone is interested in joining in either one..please feel free. I don't have Paradigm charts in the shop but Cirque is available.

Of course the problem is that I also ordered Kaleidoscope and This Heart of Mine, both also from Ink Cirlces and I love both of them as well. To think a few weeks ago I didn't know what I wanted to start next and now I am overwhelmed.

Have I mentioned that Carmen, Colleen and I are also doing a stitch along for Glendon Place's Pretty Pumpkins...over one on a gorgeous Moss Green 25 ct lugana. That will also be fun once we get started...although I did pull the thread for it yesterday!

I am going to relax and stitch now . The work this morning with the wood has wiped me out and all this fondling of beautiful charts has inspired me to sit quietly and get some stitching done!

I have no pictures of my current projects but will share a picture of Judy and her 12 Months of a snowman afghan. Judy was here on Thursday for the first time but as you can see she is no beginner!

Amazing what you can do in an hour

September 5, 2007

This is what I managed to get done on Tuesday after John delivered the three loads of wood.


This is what I was faced with this morning in the garage This is what I did in an hour...there are two layers of wood there. I like throwing it in the basement and stacking it but an hour is about my limit. Today, I threw, stacked and threw some more. Tomorrow , or maybe tonight, I'll stack the stuff that is all in a heap.
This is what is left in the garage for tomorrow
This is what I worked on last night when I couldn't cope with the quarter stitches and changing colours of "Its good to be Queen"
Yes this is a Heart's Content kit done over one on 29 count Glenshee linen but it was easy to just stitch away at the border without having to refer to the chart or colour guide.

Progress Pics

September 4, 2007

Here is the latest progress picture of Joyce's HAED design "The Tempest" As you can see it is really taking shape.


And my week's progress on "It's good to be queen" , with my toes peeking out at the bottom. I worked on it a bit more at our weekly stitching session with Joyce this morning and managed to fill in the blue called for inside the letters in Queen.


My stitching may take a bit of a back seat this week, as I had to get home early this afternoon since three loads of wood are being delivered. The first one is here with the remaining two coming along in the next little while. The rest of the week will likely be taken up throwing it in the basement and stacking it. I hope I'll be able to lift my arms to stitch when the Thursday stitchers show up!