Back From the Finisher! Thanks Mom!

Don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I'm not sure where the month has gone. July is almost done! Where did it go? We haven't really done anything yet, no real vacation or getaways. I guess we'll just have to pack in more in August.

Changed my blog design to something new that suits my personality! Yes, it's pink! My fav colour! I love pink! I have a wonderful raspberry pink Coach purse, and a couple pink cases for my iPod (just in case I feel like light pink, or dark) and my iPad case is hot pink! Even my cell phone is hot pink! Yes I love my pink!!

I have a couple of things back from my finisher! Thanks Mom! LOL! She may take a while, but the price is sure right! First is my DD's Unicorn pillow. Mom did a fab job on the sewing! DD is very happy with her new pillow!
The second is my TW Designworks bookmark! We decided it needed a ribbon, so we found one is Mom's stash. I think it works well!

Here are the update/progress photos of my Spring Carousel Horse. I have finished the top left corner. It's not coming along as fast as I would like, but it's progress nonetheless. I have to now put it down to work on CITA Parts 13 and 14, which I hope to have finished by this weekend. According to Papillon Creations website, the next part won't be out until the middle of September, so I will have plenty of time to stitch the TIAG Baby Sampler. Of which I hope to be done by that point, other than the lettering, which I won't be able to finish until the baby is born in December.

A closer shot to see a little more detail.

I bought myself a little treat while Hubby and I had taken a trip to Brantford. We went to http://www.countryaccentsneedlework.com/ and I bought some silks and threads and this little needle holder. I have been better about not using my teeth to hold the needle while changing thread. (Very bad habit, I know! I'm working on it!)

Then we had dinner at Eastside Mario's. It was a nice treat to just go out together. DD was at my Mom's for a couple of days.

I have a some animal shots for your viewing pleasure! First, here is a picture of a cute little rabbit. It was just scared to death. The wheat fields around the house were being combined last week, and Hubby was cutting the lawn. Poor little thing had no idea where to go!

Next, are a couple of my birds! A couple of downy woodpeckers and

a little hummingbird!

That's all I have for now. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer! Will update again soon!

Canada Day, Stitching, and Wildlife

Happy Canada Day!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day! And to my neighboers to the south, Happy Fourth of July!! This is a picture of my flag flying in the breeze this morning. It took a couple of shots to get this one as it kept twisting. But it turned out all right in the end.

Here is my CITA update. It's coming along very well.

Part 13 is printed out and ready to start on Monday. I need a few more days to work on my Spring Carousel horse. I will post an update on her next week!

Now, these wee finishes are from my DD, Samantha. She has a real interest in Egypt and I found these for her in an old issue of the British CrossStitcher. And it's her first venture into beads! I think she has done quite well! They're going to be made into a little pin cushion for her.
She is also in the process of working a little sphinx head, but didn't want me post it until it's finished!
And she also loves little dachshunds, and couldn't resist stitching it as well. (Again, another British CrossStitcher chart!) Not sure yet what we are going to do with this one yet, but I'll keep you posted!
As I mentioned before, my DD's and my birthday are at the end of May, beginning of June. But we purposely held off DD's friends birthday until now so we could all go and watch the new Twilight Saga Eclipse movie that has just come out! We have been so excited for the past couple of months, waiting impatiently for it to hit the big screen! It's finally here, and we're going tomorrow to see it with her best friend and her mom! We're going to grab our favourite pizza first (Rico's Pizzeria in London makes the BEST pizza in the world!! Thin crust and their garlic bread pizza is to die for!!) and then watch the movie! DD and I are Team Edward all the way! We have both read all the books, including the new novella, "The Short, Second Life of Bree Tanner". So we are primed!! LOL!!

Here are a few wildlife shots that I managed to capture.

The first one is of a fawn we've seen wandering around the farm a week or so ago.(Way on the left side of the photo!) I ran after her to try and take a picture, and that's why it's not great. I apparently run only for fire and fawns! LOL! The second was taken this morning out the window over my kitchen sink. He was singing away while eating. I just love cardinals!

And last but not least, this one is of my precious Periwinkle! She is quite loud and very opinionated, and sleeps with both my DD and me. Sometimes, both of us in the same night. She likes to play musical beds. And if I don't feed her as soon as I get out of bed, her shrill meow tells me to hurry up! She hates my Hubby, I have no idea why. She glares at him! She doesn't realize that he brings home the bacon that buys her food! LOL!

I hope everyone has a lovely start to the summer and gets lots of stitching in! Will check back in soon!

Birthday Fun and More Wildlife!

Birthdays are fun, aren't they? I manage to ignore my age most of the time, and this time was no exception. I'm still trying not to think of how old I am! LOL! But, my DD's age makes me think about it more! She is now 12!! Where did all the time go? She is getting far too old! The big milestone this birthday is that she can now ride in the front seat of the vehicle. But with her height, she probably could have been there before now! She is taller than me! Of course, that's not saying much as I am only 5'1-1/2"!!

We held a joint family birthday this week, on Monday, May 31. Her birthday is one day before mine, May 31, with mine following on June 1. She is my birthday present every year! The gift that keeps on giving! Hubby was actually home and my parents came over for dinner. This year I had all my favourite things; BBQ-ed hamburgers, baked potatoes, home-made potato salad, green beans and for dessert, angel food cake with local strawberries and real whipped cream!! Mmmmm!

And boy did I get spoiled! Hubby has bought me a couple magazine subscriptions to Just CrossStitch and CrossStitch and Needlework, as well at the back issues for The Gift of Stitching Magazine. Plus for our anniversary in the beginning of May, and iPad! And boy is that baby fun to play with!! We don't have high speed yet, but when we do, I will be carrying this thing around the house with me, checking email, looking at youtube and all kinds of fun things!! My DD got me a new Cricut cartridge to play with and I can't wait!

My parents got me the Best of Teresa Wentzler Fantasy Collection Vol 2 and a chart from Told In A Garden, baby sampler with fabric and most of the threads to go with it. As well, my Mom already gave me a needle holder.

Finally I can tell you all the good news!! Very close friends of our family, Wendy and Kirk, (who got married last September) are going to have a baby! Wendy is like a little sister to me and the family can't be any more excited!! So I am going to stitch this up for her and her hubby and little one, who is due early December! We gave them all Samantha's furniture, crib, change table, high chair, swing, excersaucer, bouncy chair. We are all done with it, and it was just sitting here waiting to be used. I am also going to be making a baby album in a farm theme. Watch for that!!

I have a finish to share. In one of my groups, we had a bookmark challenge, the TW one. I have finished stitching it, but have no idea how to put it together. My Mom to the rescue!! LOL!Thanks again to Karen for helping me with this one! She brought over enlarged charts so I could make my own grid for easier stitching. The picture doesn't do it justice; the blues melt into greens and greys, making me think of driftwood and waves.

I think I should run a wildlife preserve here! I keep seeing more animals, and during the daylight hours! Yesterday I saw something at the edge of the wheat field in front of my house and wondered what now? So I ran and got the binoculars and saw a deer!

She was halfway between the house and the road!

Today, while making some lunch for myself, I look up out the window over my sink, and in disbelief, there she is again! REALLY CLOSE!! I ran for my camera and snapped off a whole bunch of pictures thru the window!! (It's a good thing that I cleaned my windows last week! LOL!) She is just beautiful!This one shows how close she actually came to the house! The picture was taken thru the door window off the porch. She kept looking at something up by the house and stomping her hoof! I found out that it was this character!! This guy is Copper. He just showed up one day a few months after we moved in, very tame and affectionate. He'd been neutered by someone, and I took his picture around the neighboerhood, but no one claimed him. So we kept him, and he's Hubby's cat, as Copper thinks he's half dog. He like cheese and summer sausage. Which I discourage Hubby from feeding him!! But they sneak it after I go to bed!

Well, must be going for now. I am working on Papillon Creations Castles In The Air and after that I will be working on TW's Spring Carousel horse and the baby sampler, after I pick up the few colours I need. Enjoy the weather!

How Does Your Garden Grow? Quite Well, Actually!

Finished one SAL!! Yeah! I loved how Papillon Creations How Does Your Garden Grow came together! I must confess, though, that went on ahead with this one! I stitched it thru my LNS, http://www.threadneye.com/ , where I just got Part 11, but I have had this one saved to my computer for over a year. When I saw the end in sight, I just went for it! Here it is!

Part 11

Part 12

And here it is in its entirety!

I even finished the bullion knots! Not bad for my first try! This SAL has been claimed by my DD, Samantha. It was her idea to use the purples and greens on the blue. It was stitched on 25 ct Wedgewood Blue Lugana using GAST Purple Iris, Hyacinth, Jasmine, Baby Spinach, and Crescent Colours Purple Aster and Spinach, with Mill Hill Seed Beads in white (#00479). Thanks again to Thread'N'Eye for hosting this SAL!

I joined a new group, and I have to say that they are WAY more talented then me! But I try my best. We have a group project, a TW bookmark to complete by June 1. I started it last night, but am having difficulty with it because it is not on a grid completely. I am really struggling with this one. Here are the colours I have chosen.

This one is being stitched on Antique White 28 ct evenweave using Caron Waterlilies #207 Bermuda Reef, GAST Huckleberry and Tutti Fruitti. Now, I am not normally into blues, but I love the turquoise range of blues. It is one of my favourite colours, along with pinks and reds. Please wish me luck as I navigate this one!

That's all for now, but I hope to have an update on my other SAL's and projects in the near future. I also have to make a baby album and assorted scrapping projects in the coming months. More on that later! ( I am under a gag order, but had to give a small hint! And no, it's not me! Hubby might have a few questions for me if that's the case! LOL!)

Obsess Much? And a scare!

Yes, I do obsess! About many things, but this blog is about my creative endeavors. So, we will discuss my current stitching obsession, Spring Carousel Horse by TW Design Works. I am loving how this one is coming together. My Mom gave me an early birthday present, a needle organizer by pako! It is much easier to stitch larger pieces with all your needles already threaded! I had to put it down to work on my SAL's, or else I would be so far behind. I finished the mane and head last night, and am now reluctantly putting it down again to work on the SAL's.

Now I just have to work on the border around it and then the backstitch. It is really weird, but I am not that fond of real horses, but I have always loved the carousel! I went horse-back riding once, and it kind of scared me! They are huge, especially when sitting on one. But my DD loves riding horses and has taken lessons for about 8 years. And watching her canter scares the daylights out of me! But she loves it, and is really gaining confidence. She walks, trots, canters and jumps the horses she rides. She has even fallen off a few times. After a few tears, she gets right back up on the horse and continues on. I envy her persistence! And I applaud it!

Here is Part 10 of Papillon Creations 2009 SAL Castles in the Air. This one is lovely and I am learning so many new stitches. Her diagrams are wonderful.

Here is the left side.

And here is the right side.

1 Now, I had set down my How Does Your Garden Grow by Papillon Creations, 2008 SAL, because of the bullion knots and I had a counting mistake and the right side top corner was off in Part 6. I set it down so I could breathe and regain my composure!! Kept putting it off, then out came Part 10! I hunkered down and got caught up. Now I took pictures of all the parts after I finished each section, but I won't bore you with all of them. Here it is up to Part 10.

I took this photo a couple weeks ago, and a beautiful, sunny, warm, windless day in SW Ontario.

I went out on the porch to go for a walk to end of the driveway to go get the mail and this is what I found about 10 feet away on the driveway! A foot and half long eastern hog nose snake!! Now I walked right back into the house, then grabbed my camera and snapped a photo of this little treat!! And ran right back into the house like the girl I am!! I don't like snakes! I hate snakes! I loath snakes! I understand that I live out in the country in a rural area, and animals will sometimes roam close, but why can't it be deer or fluffy bunnies? I emailed the picture to a couple people, my Hubby and sister. Thank heavens, my BIL knew what kind of snake it was, because I panic and over-react! (He asked me that the next time I photograph it, could I make sure I get a photo of its face! I think the next time I see him, I will punch him in the nose!!) My first thought was "is this thing poisonous?" I freaked out and shuddered for about 2 hours! I was useless! I watched it slither away into the grass. When it came time for my DD to get home, I drove down the driveway to get her off the bus and grab the mail. Now I will leave you with this visual. It was warm, so I have on shorts and a sweatshirt, and as I don't own rubber boots, I put on my puffy blue winter boots, and scurried to the SUV. Needless to say, my DD laughed at me when I explained why I drove down to get her off the bus on a cloudless day! Thanks for looking!

A Finish, A King, and a New Start

What can I say, it's been a while! March is always a crazy month! Between the weather and my DD, it's always nuts! This cute little ornament has been done for a while now. It is from Novalee
and I used a small piece of 28 ct that I dyed myself. Had some over-dyed floss and beads left over from some other projects. I think I will give it to my Mom after I stitch it into an ornament.

The Wednesday before March Break, the family that I lived next to where I grew up experienced a tragedy. My family has been very close to the Andersons, since we moved there the summer I turned 9. Actually, we became part of each other's families. As a matter of fact, she was like another grandmother to me and my sister. Gladys Anderson was 85. She was always a quiet, funny, creative lady. She will be greatly missed by her daughter and her four grandchildren who I have the great pleasure to call my family. I get tears in my eyes just typing this out. My sister and I had the honour of spending the Friday night before she was laid to rest with our brother and sisters (her grandchildren) where we remembered her by telling stories and memories, laughing and crying with each other. It was one of the nicest times I can remember in a long while, and I would like to believe that we helped them just a little bit with their grieving. I know that it helped me. She will be greatly missed!

On Monday, March 15th, my mother picked up my DD and I to go into Toronto to see the King Tut exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario. WOW! What riches! It was amazing! To see the bed he slept on perfectly preserved! And listening to Harrison Ford's voice during the audio tour wasn't bad either. They wouldn't let us take photos, so that's why I don't have any to show you! But it sure was interesting! My DD was a little disappointed that the remains of King Tut weren't there, but I don't think they take him out of Eygpt. The jewellery, the artifacts, and statues were wonderful, and again, I am in awe of what remains intact!

After, that we journeyed up to Peterborough to spend some time with my sister. We stayed until Thursday. We shopped, visited and just hung out. It was a lovely mini-vaca! I even found a little chair for my dressing table. I have been looking for two years! Thanks again Bananie!!

This is my latest start and obsession! Teresa Wentzler's Spring Carousel Horse! I have had this pattern for about 8 years and was always afraid to start it because of all the half and three quarter stitches. Now I know better! It was started Friday February 26. I didn't get much done during March Break (see above), but she is coming along great guns now! Working on the tail, then will move on to front quarter and head!

Will have an update soon on CITA and HDYGG and the Christmas Tree as soon as I can bear to tear myself away from my horse!

Olympic Stitching, NOT!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE CANADIAN ATHELETES!!

I have been very lax lately. I can only blame the Olympics! I got too excited to stitch! As much as I hate the winter, I love to watch the winter Olympic sports of hockey, curling and figure skating! I viewed all our atheletes triumphs with fist pumps and all their disappointments with groans! I was even yelling at the TV! My DD thought I was going nuts! And the closer they got to gold, the more excited I got, and the less stitching I actually did! I can't stitch with my stress level that high! I started The Victoria Sampler's Gingerbread Stitching House and have one side almost completed, and will post as soon as I have finished.

On another note, I have some stitching to show from before that time. I managed to put the beads on the AAN "A Christmas Tree" SAL.

I am waiting for the second part, but I think I have to rip it out, as I started it too far down on my fabric!! Grrrrrrr! That darn frog!

Next I have a couple pictures of Papillon Creations "Castles in the Air". I have finished Part 9. I am really loving this one.


It is coming along so well!! The only thing I have to worry about is my mother changing her room colours! Which she better not do before I finish this thing!! LOL!

I have wanted to try dying some fabric for a while now, and found a method for tea dying. And it worked pretty well. I used an antique white 28 ct jobelan and a natural-coloured 14 ct Aida. The 28 ct jobelan took the colour really well, and turned a nice,solid gingerbread colour. The aida looks a lot lighter, but more varigated marbled look. All in all, I am very pleased with the experiment. I have an idea to use some green tea and maybe some red. That red tea just puts me to sleep, and I have no idea why!
I used the small piece of the 28 ct for a little French ornament, which needs some gold beads! Hopefully I will get that done today and post it later. Also, I'd like to start Teresa Wenzler's Spring Carousel Horse, as I have all the fabric and threads for it now. I have had the Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter Carousel Horses' charts for about 8 years now, and decided that they will be my next BAP's for the next while. I will still be doing my SAL's, but want to get these done as I have always loved them. Trying to use up my stash! Wish me luck!