Pretty Pumpkins

October 16, 2007

Here is my progress as of last Friday on Pretty Pumpkins. I just love this design!
Unfortunately is is about the only stitching I have to show this time around. I did do a bit on "Its good to be Queen" this morning at Joyce's but not enough that it would look like progress if I took a picture.
I have found a really sweet bib pattern that I am going to do for my sister-in-law for Christmas. She and my brother are thrilled and delighted that their daughter and son-in-law will be presenting them with their first grandchild in May. The bib has a couple of cutsey ducks or chicks on it and the saying...If you think I'm cute, you should see my grandma" Susan will love it. I'll tell her that it is for when the baby visits at their house.

We're going to Florida!!!

October 12, 2007

Well we aren't going until January but it is a neat vacation and something to look forward to! We are going to be renting a friend's condo right on Daytona Beach. We have been to both the condo and Daytona before so we know our way around. Actually we have been to Daytona a number of times since my Mom used to go there for a few months in the winter (where her sister also had a place) for a number of years after my Dad died.

Anyway our friends Bruce and Luci will likely be joining us for a week (Bruce and Luci , of the chicken lamp!...for those of you who have seen it) so we will have a lot of laughs while there with them. I must post a picture of the chicken lamp sometime...not that it has anything to do with stitching...but oh well...

And if that is not enough, when we leave Daytona we will be heading to Nashville for the Cross stitch show!!! Man the winter is going to go by so fast if we are away from mid January till mid February...and when we get back I will have my big Open House of all the Nashville goodies to look forward to.

What a good day this has been.
Also it is my day for working on Pretty Pumpkins...have I mentioned in the last five minutes how much I am enjoying this SAL and this pattern???

Election Day in Ontario

October 10, 2007

These works in progress pictures are not in the order that I wanted them but oh well...here they are...
On the weekend I finished a little house on my friend Marg's round robin. However Marg doesn't want to see her RR until it has made the rounds so I did not take a picture. I did think though that since I had a finish that I was entitled to a new start so I pulled out Kaleidoscope by Ink Circles and here is my progress so far. While visiting with Joyce yesterday morning I dutifully stitched on It's good to be Queen and I am pleased to note that she now is wearing the skirt to her dress.
If you have quessed that my interest in the Queen is waning, you are correct. This is my new favourite work in progress... Pretty Pumpkins by Glendon Place. It only sees the light of day on Fridays. It is a joy to stitch, even over one...and the colours are fun!
If you live in Ontario...don't forget to vote.

A slow week for stitching

October 5, 2007

I have no pictures and not much to report this week. Monday and Tuesday were write-offs as far as stitching is concerned. On Wednesday I started a house on Marg's Neighbourhood RR. It is cute and coming along nicely but Marg doesn't want to see her neighbourhood until we have all contributed to it, and I haven't even finished my little house yet anyway, so no pic of it. This is just a small RR a few of us are involved in...no deadlines or anything so it will be awhile before it ever gets home to Marg!
Thursday was Teapot day with the Thursday stitchers and it is progressing...slowly.
Today is Pretty Pumpkins day and I am looking forward to getting back at my tiny stitches in those gorgeous fall colours after I do a bit of housework (yuck).
I also have to make a couple of loaves of bread. A word to the wise... don't try to make bread on a day when 9 or 10 people are coming to the house to stitch, or if you do make some , be sure the loaves are baked before the company arrives. Yesterday, I had a couple of loaves proofing in the oven (yeah there is a handy little bread proof button on the stove...you push it, and shove the loaves in the oven for 45 minutes) The trick is...don't forget they are there when the stitchers arrive or else the loaves will proof for 3 hours and 45 minutes instead of 45minutes. This is not good. I re-shaped the loaves and baked them anyway but they are pretty misshapen and really not very good. At least the piece of toast I had this morning was no prize.
I do the dough in the bread maker and the rest in the oven. I guess I'll be making more today. Yesterday's effort may be OK for dressing (oh! and I am cooking a turkey on Sunday so all is not wasted) or for the birds.
I did make some apple crisp after the bread yesterday and it turned out so my day was not a total cooking disaster.

Pretty Pumpkins

October 1, 2007

Okay so these are cars, not pumpkins but I thought it was pretty cute to have two beetles in the garage for the night. Helen came for a visit on Sunday and we had a lovely day of driving around Prince Edward County. It was gorgeous out and the County is always a restful place to visit. The leaves are not out in all their glory yet but it was still beautiful. We hit Wellington, Bloomfield (great ice cream), Picton and Lake on the Mountain before heading home. At home Dan was ready to make dinner for us after having already washed both Helen's car and David's truck. David is on a business trip so they switched vehicles for the week. The truck doesn't fit in the garage so Helen's car got to use it for the night. Here is my (2 Fridays) progress on Glendon Place's Pretty Pumpkins. It is over one on 25 count moss green lugana. I enjoyed every minute I stitched on it on Friday and am sorry that I won't be picking it up again until Friday. The colours are fun and the stitching is easy...well, I can say that now that did not have to rip out a bunch this time around.
Beatrice did Glendon Place's Witching it was Halloween and said it was an absolute joy to stitch.
If you use the link to look at Beatrice's witch..the picture of it is on the August 13 blog entry. I don't know how to make the link go directly there.

Works in Progress

September 28, 2007

I went back to my Teapot on Thursday and for the first week since we started I actually enjoyed working on this design. I think it is because I finally did a whole lot all in one colour and the thing is finally taking some kind of shape...well teapot shape I guess.

I had a phot of Glendon Place's "Pretty Pumpkins" to share as well but as it is very blurry and there is not much there anyway I deleted it. This is another over one piece so even though I spent a lot of time on it last Friday the result is just a tiny blob. It didn't help that I had to rip a whole bunch out right at the beginning either. Ripping out over one work is tedious!!! . But today is Pretty Pumpkin day with Carmen and Colleen so after today I should have a bit more to show plus I will endeavour to take a n0n-blurry image and to not have to frog vast quantites of it either!

This week for some reason, I hauled out my Heart' s Content kit and did some work on it. As it is over one on 29 count linen, the progress is slow but I am enjoying it. I believe I am in the mood for it these days beacause it is all in one colour which cuts down on the decision making when stitching. I must be feeling overwhelmed or something to go to such lengths just so I don't have to be making decisions!!

I also did a bit of work on "It's good to be Queen" but really it was just some back stitching and some white so it wasn't enough to justify a picture. As a matter of fact it is probably the multicoloured Queen that I was escaping from when I jumped to my monochromatic Heart's Content pattern!

Harry Potter

September 25, 2007



I have not been stitching since Sunday since I found myself immersed in the wizarding world of the last Happy Potter book. I will not go on about it other than to say I liked it. ... but it did cut into my stitching time, especially since I felt I should re-read the sixth book first!



Anyway...stitching...I enjoyed a wonderful day with a great group of stitching friends in Pickering on Sunday. There was great food, some exquisite stitching and a fair bit of enabling going on...three more stitchers succumbed to the charms of Cirque des Cercles!



I have not been doing much stitching these past few days so I have nothing to show. Instead I have pics of a couple of Prairie Schooler Santas to share. I made these last year and then made them into Christmas Ornaments. They made gorgeous little oval ornies...I do love over one stitching!