Scrappy Weekend Update, TUSAL, Stitching Disaster, and A CoupleSockMonkeys!

Hello my faithful readers! I hope everyone's weekend is going well!  Here in Canada is the first official long weekend of summer, Victoria Day weekend, or May Two Four!  It has been absolutely gorgeous here, sunny, warm, and not a hint of rain!  I have alot to share with you, so please grab your refreshment of choice, cause this is a long one!!

First off, I had a scrapbooking weekend planned the last weekend in April with Hubby's Aunt Bev.  We went to Friday night crop at a local church in her area to scrap and eat!  (It was pot luck!  I brought danishes)  I met some fabulous ladies and managed to make some cards.  On the Saturday, we went to a crop for ovarian cancer.  I managed to get two double page layouts and five cards made!  I even won some Creative Memories papers!  We scrapped some more at her house Saturday evening, and Sunday morning.  Around noon, I left to pick up DD, who spent the weekend with my parents.

Layout I made for Korbin, now just need to add pics!

Layout of our 2007 Florida trip to Disney World.

This is one of the cards I made.  It was for my Dad's Birthday, which was May 2.  It had birds on it in honour of my Dad!

This one is for my BIL, whose birthday was on May 13, but since I won't be seeing him until June 19, I am saving it and his present until then.  Besides, he doesn't read my blog.

I have a couple more cards, but I can't show you until the events have passed, because I don't want to ruin the surprise!

These two charmers down below are what my DD and Mom made while I was away!  They had a crafty weekend too!  They finished these two, and had two more almost finished.

The one on the left is one DD made for a friend of hers.  He loved him!  But he is as yet, un-named!  The one on the right is DD's.  We (alright, me!!) have named her Gertrude, Gertie for short.  DD was taking way too long naming her.  And if her friend doesn't hurry up and name his, I will!!

The other two are going to little ones, one for my nephew, Korbin and the last one to my sister's niece, Lexy.

I just have to share, I won a giveaway from Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine blog!  I was so excited! I won a surprise goodie bag full of things to scrap with!  Plus some extras!  I check out this blog faithfully everyday.  And I won a prize over a year ago, but had never received the prize.  So I called the magazine and got the owner/editor, who felt very bad that I never received my prize, so she threw in some extras and had it shipped priority to my house!!

I can't wait to play with all this fun stuff!!

This is the view from my vehicle three of four afternoons a week!  I sit by the lake, watch DD row, and stitch!

That is her rowing in the distance.

This is my start on Around the World in 80 Stitches by Papillion Creations.  Not very far with it, I'm afraid.

The frogs have come to visit!  I seem to be making counting mistakes everytime I sit down to stitch this one!  I get one specialty stitch done, then I have to rip it out and start it again!

The next part came out today, but I am having trouble getting it to download! I have an email into Yvonne, so hopefully she can help me sort it out!

If you don't mind, please take a look at  Mirabilia's Silver Moon Tea below.

Can you find the mistake?  Me either.  Sigh.  But there is one there somewhere!  I just can't find it!  At this time all is being ripped out.  Going to start in the top left corner and work at it that way.  Hopefully I will be able to trick the frogs into going away!  If any one wants my frogs, willing to get rid of them real cheap!  lol

Here is my monthly TUSAL update!

Here is DD's stitching update for the last two months.  Since Florida, actually.

Dragon of Water, Dragon Dreams

Dragon of Earth and Dragon of Fire, both Dragon Dreams as well.

Since it has been so nice this past week, I've been motivated to tidy up my flower beds.

Front bed, with two oriole feeders

Back flower bed.  Trying to discourage Copper from using this as a litter box!  I also cleaned out my big pots and urns yesterday, so now all I need to get is dirt, fertilizer and plants!  More pics to come when I get my pots planted!

This was the view out my upstairs hall window one morning a couple weeks back!  Yes, it is my nemesis!

This thing just makes such a mess!!  Don't let the cuteness fool you!!

It must be spring!!

This was taken with my iPhone the other day at the lake where DD rows.  The goslings were so cute and fluffy!  But these birds are the bane of DD's rowing coach!!  They leave little presents all over the dock!  lol

Speaking of baby birds leaving the nest.  I know I usually like to end my blog with a bird picture, but this is my baby bird!

She's not quite ready to leave the nest, but she is a step closer.  Here is a photo I took of her at school a week ago for her Grade 8 Grad photo shoot.  There was a professional photographer there to take individual and group photos of the class.  I brought my camera along too!  I'm not ashamed to admit I got a little teary-eyed looking at her looking so grown up.  All the grads looked wonderful in their dresses and suits!

Well, if you made it this far, thanks for coming along!  Hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend!  Chat soon

April TUSAL and other stitching news

Hello, all my faithful readers! I have lots of big news to share, so grab a coffee, tea, or beverage of your choice. I am using my iPad for this post, so things might look a little different.

First of all, Sharon (aka Daffycat) I must apologize, I completely forgot to post March's TUSAL update. We were in Florida when my alert notified me, and when we got home, it completely slipped my mind. So here it is, with both my ort jars.

Since my last post, I have been really busy running DD to volleyball practices and games, and finally the tournamnet, which they came in third! Way to go, Bulldogs!! Plus outdoor rowing, on the lake! Then our water pump for the house went, and my washer and dryer had been acting up! So all three have been replaced!

We also had a scare with our kitty, Chloe! On Easter weekend, we woke up to our little bebe not feeling like herself. She was lethargic and not eating, which is so not like her! She is the first one to want to eat! And she wasn't drinking, so I gave her water by medicinal syringe. Easter Monday saw her at the vet's, where she stayed for three days and two nights. Blood tests, x-rays, and meds later, the conclusion was she had an inflamation of the intestines. I am happy to say she is back to her old, demon-like ways! lol we are happy to have her back!

Now on to the stitching update! With everything that has been happening, I'm afraid I haven't been getting much stitching done!

April TUSAL

TSS Thread Exchange for Jeanne Schutts

These are the threads for the Birthday Thread Exchange! I hope Jeanne gets it soon!

Here is my progress on Mirabilia's Silver Moon Tea. Not much, but every stitch helps!

Around the World in 80 Stitches SAL by Papillion Creations
Fabric-28 ct Lugana in New Khaki
DMC floss- 3011, 3012, 3013, 315, 778, 924, 927, 3821, 3823, 3740, 3743
Metallic thread-Rainbow Blending Thread #908
Beads- Mill Hill #00330
Perle Cotton-#8 and #12 Ecru

Here is my biggest news!! I have a new stand! A Lowry stitching stand! I am so in love with this stand! Hubby bought me this for our anniversary in May! Isn't he wonderful?! Many thanks go out to all the ladies who helped me with their opinions and advise! This is completely adjustable, and I am still kind of fine-tuning it, but so far it's wonderful! My shoulder doesn't hurt anymore, which is great!

I also bought The Victoria Sampler Stitcherama Cyberclass, Gingerbread Etui, which starts in September! I am very excited about this, as it goes with my other Gingerbread VS projects! Hopefully I can get the Stitching House and Church done before it starts! Wish me luck! lol

I was going to start ATW today, but I have a head cold, stuffy nose, earache, so I think I will just continue with Silver Moon Tea. Hope everyone has had a great weekend! Chat soon!

March Update: Home from Florida!!

Greetings, my faithful readers!  And a very big and humble "Thank You" to you all, as I have just reached 200 followers!  That just amazes me, that anyone would want to follow and read what I have to say, all my ramblings and goofy pictures.  I may not post as much as some, but it sure is nice to know that some are reading.  So again, thank you very much!!

On to the update!  My family and I went on vacation to Florida for some rest and relaxation!  We drove down thru NewYork, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and finally Florida.  We rented a lovely house, with four bedrooms and screened in pool!  With a jacuzzi!! It was marvelous!  We had the most relaxing time! 

Our Florida home!

It had everything and more that our own house had!  It even had a garbage disposal!  That was so much fun to play with!!  LOL!  We played in the pool a lot, and I LOVED the jacuzzi!  It was my favourite place of all!  I even stitched by the pool one afternoon!  Bliss!!

We spent the Sunday before we drove home at Universal Orlando, at their Islands of Adventure theme park! We had a whole lotta fun!

 DD and I were really excited about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction!  We toured Hogsmeade and Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, rode dragons and hippogriffs, and even rode brooms with Harry, Ron and Hermoine!  We ate at The Three Broomsticks and sampled Butterbeer!!  Mmmmm.

 Rooftops of Hogsmeade.

 Hogwarts School.

It was really impressive!  We felt like we were actually there!  Everything looked just like the movies!  Hubby didn't know much about Harry Potter, but he was a really great sport about the whole thing.  And he LOVED Butterbeer, which surprised him!

On to the stitching!!

Here is my Mirabilia's Cinderella before we left.  I put her away while I was gone, and haven't picked her up yet!

 I decided to take only small projects down to Florida with me to work on, and am ashamed to say this was all I accomplished.

 It's a freebie biscornu from Faby Reilly.  I changed the colours to pinks instead of purples.  It's for DD as she  informed me that she is the only one who doesn't have a biscornu.

I finally managed to make it to a JoAnn's!  I bought a couple Cricut cartridges that I have been wanting, and they were on sale!!

 I also picked up some more perle cotton and DMC Memory floss to play with there as well.  The Crescent colors and GAST and silk ribbon were from a LNS that I went to, which I will tell you more about below! 

 I also picked up some beads to make some scissor fobs for DD and I!  I wanted to find some frog beads, but they didn't have any.  The Halloween beads were so cute, though, it will be fun to make these up!

 Hubby promised me that we could go to a needlework shop, and I found one fairly close to where we were staying!  Yay!  It's called Needle Craft World !  And the owner Cathy is so wonderful!!  Chatting with her I discovered that we are both members of the Victoria Sampler Yahoo group!  What a small world!  I went there on Friday, and then again on Saturday!  It was small, but she had it packed with the most fun stuff!  I had a ball there!

 I found the second Janice Love book, and it found its way back to Canada with me!  I can't wait to delve into the stitches!!

Remember me telling you in my last post that I would buy Mirabilia's new chart, Silver Moon Tea?!  Well, it too found it's way home to Canada, almost completely kitted up!  Just need a couple of Mill Bead packs!!  Cathy spent time with me choosing fabric.  We choose a lovely soft purple in the dreaded 32 count linen!!  I have started it, but won't post just yet, I only have a very few stitches done!

 Mirabilia'sSilver Moon Tea and 32 ct linen.

And also while at the store I saw this chart!  I have never seen this one!  Thea has been talking about her farm series on the Yahoo group, and I fell in love at first sight! I completely kitted this one up as well!  Fabric and specialty floss!

 Ravenhill Herb Farm by The Victoria Sampler

While I was away, I got an email from Val B. from the Friendly Stitchers Yahoo group, asking if I had received a visit from the postie.  I responded that I might well have, but couldn't check as I was away.  Low and behold in my mail when I got back was a lovely envelope with this gorgeous biscornu from Val B., with a note thanking me, saying it was stitched with Caron Waterlillies and Needlepoint silks!!  I had sent her a Told in the Garden Baby Sampler chart that I had, but would probably not stitch again.  I just wanted to help a fellow stitcher out, and  never expected that I would get something in return.  Thank you so much, my friend!  It is beautiful!  It has a place of honor with all my other biscornus near my stitching nest so I can glance at it often and think of you!

 Front

 Back

Also in my mail, was this chart that I won in blog giveaway!  It's from Riona's blog .  Not sure when I'll get to it, but rest assured I will!  I should go away more often if this is what comes in the mail!  lol

TW's Tracery Dragons

I don't have any bird pictures to share this time, and didn't really see any in Florida to take pics of!  I have seen a robin since we've been home, so will try to snag a photo of one soon!  Now that I have the laundry all caught up, I should get to some housework, but I think I'll stitch instead!  Housework will be there tomorrow!

Shhh, don't tell!  Chat soon!

TUSAL and February Update

Happy Family Day to my fellow Canadians!!  And Happy President's Day to my American neighbours to the south!  And Happy Whatever to the rest of the world!  (My calender only listed the two holidays, so if I missed anything, I apologize!)  This Canadian holiday is not very old, only a couple of years or so.  Basically the kids get a day off from school, and govenrnent offices are closed.  February needed some sort of holiday, and it's a great excuse for a three-day weekend!  My DD is very happy, to say the least!  lol

This will be quite a lengthy update, so please grab a beverage of your choice!

Here is my February TUSAL update!  I did quite a lot of stitching, if I do say so myself.

 February TUSAL

 This is the jar that I empty out the previous month's orts! (Mentioned this last month, so here is the picture!)   I just wanted a way to keep track for my own personal amusement.  I'm weird that way!

I am really liking that I have to post every month for the TUSAL as it forces me to post to my blog as well!  And this way I kill two birds with one stone.  

Now on to the stitching!

 This is where I was previously on Mirabilia's Cinderella.

 And here is where I am at now, as of February 20, 2012.  She is coming along beautifully!  I am having so much fun stitching her!  But that darn Nora Corbett has come out with a new design, "Silver Moon Tea"!!  Why must she do that?!?!  It's a beautiful lady holding a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea in the silvery moon!!  That's my favourite tea!!  So you see why I must stitch this?!?!  Stay tuned for an update.  Sigh.  (I can justify anything!!  lol)

I have a couple small starts to share this month.

 First off is a Needle Fob Challenge for TGOS magazine Yahoo group.  Basically we choose a needle fob chart and stitch it and finish it by March 2.  I chose the Ladybug needle fob from TGOS April 2011 issue.  And as it's a challenge and not an exchange, I am making it for my sister's birthday in May, once again killing two birds, one stone!

 This is what I have done so far!  Yes, I know, not much is done, but I have been doing it only during DD's rowing practices, and sometimes I get yapping with other parents.  I'll try to do better from now on!

This is my second start of the month!

 It's a freebie called "Heart of My Heart" from Abi Gurden of The Stitch Specialist's Yahoo group.  But you have to be a member to get it!  I used some raspberry coloured fabric from my stash and ecru DMC floss and perle cotton.  I am having a ball with all the specialty stitches and can't wait to use my new-found Hardanger prowess to cut!

Now on to some exchanges!!

 I sent this out to Theoria in South Africa for TSS Birthday Threads exchange.  She finally recieved it, so I can now post it!

The second one is from The Friendly Stitchers Yahoo group!  A Spring Biscornu exchange!  My partner was Sara from Ireland, and she stitched me this lovely one on tea-dyed fabric that she dyed herself!  Thank you so much again, Sara!  It has a place of honor with all my other biscornus!

 This is the one I sent to Sara.  And between you and me, if it had been finished when my mom first saw it, it would have went home with her!  She really liked it. I may have to make this one again. 

 My DD has been stitching up a storm lately!  She has stitched three Dragon Dreams freebies in the last month, with a fourth one very close to being finished!  She is going a marvelous job on these!

 Dragon of Hope 2005

 Dragon Love

 My Treasure

And I have done a wee bit of shopping in the last month too!  Nordic Needle had a few things on sale and Hubby paid for part of my order for Valentine's Day, as well as the 2011 Back Issue Bundle from The Gift of Stitching magazine.

 I have been eyeing up these scissor since I saw them, and being the patriotic Canadian I am, well, they found their way into my cart!

 I bought this one to continue my Hardanger journey.

 And this one needed to join my library so I can learn and practice new stitches!

This is the card I made for Hubby!  His Aunt Bev and I started this at her house, and I finished it up in time for Valentine's Day.  It folds out, and I wrote a lovely sentiment inside.

 Here is DD at the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships (CIRC) on February 5, 2012.

 She did really well for her first time, placing 4th in her division out of 9 competitors.  Her best friend Kaylee, placed 1st, beating the previous record!  The girls had fun and represented the club well!  Their coach was very pleased!

Now on to my bird pictures!

 This one was taken at the farm where my parents live.  There is a bird sanctuary close to their place, and the swans often fly across the road to the field to feed.  

 This one is one of the Blue Jays that often come to my feeder.

And this one is my favourite!  An Eastern Blue Bird!  It is very rare to see one in Ontario in the winter, but I think that because it's been so mild here this winter, they are still here!  I emailed my dad this picture and he and I both got our bird books out to discuss over the phone what it could be! I was very excited to get this picture!!

I may be late with my update next month, as Hubby, DD and I are going on vacation over the March Break!  We have rented a house down in Florida for a week, near Disney World and Universal!  We are so excited to be getting away!  It has been a few years, 7 to be exact, since we have had a real family vacation.  We are driving down and back, so if any one knows of any good LNS, please feel free to let me know!  We will be going down I-75 and then back up the Eastern Seaboard, and I hope to hit a couple needlework places as Hubby said he would stop if we knew of any!

Well, need to get going to put a roast beef in the oven with carrots and potatoes, so supper will be easy today.  Then DD and I can spend the afternoon stitching and watching movies!  What a nice way to spend Family Day!  Thanks for sticking with me!
Chat soon!