December 27, 2016

This project is not a stitching project, but a project nonetheless. I bought these plastic balls at Canadian Tire last week when they marked down the prices on their Christmas decorations by 50%. They are strung on a wire clothes hanger that we unwound and roughly bent into a round shape. I really had no plan for stringing on the bulbs beyond I wanted a pretty wreath so there was some "string and remove" as I stepped back to see the colours and the fullness. A pair of pliers was used at the end to bend the hanger ends to make a clasp that is hidden under my fingers in this picture. My plan is to hide the clasp under wire ribbon that I need to find at one of our local craft stores and perhaps weave some ribbon in and around the bulbs to cover any open areas where the wire can be seen. Sadly, I used up the only wire hanger I could find in this house so there may be no more attempts at other colours or combinations.

December 26, 2016

Stitching challenge for 2017

I am putting this here as a reminder that I want to do this challenge. 

December 24, 2016

Merry Christmas Eve from my mom's house in New Brunswick! Progress is being made on this piece as part of Operation Declutter at my house. I had hoped to make lots of progress yesterday while I was on the Bay of Fundy ferry since I had over two hours to do nothing but enjoy being on the boat. Sadly, seasickness threatened even though the boat was barely rolling so I had to lay down during the crossing and no stitching was done. I did get a fair bit of stitching done last night while I relaxed with my mom and sister after a lovely visit with my best friend!

I know that my readers are few, but I wish you a happy holidays and all the best in 2017.

December 19, 2016

Now that the Christmas gifts are pretty much finished, bought, wrapped and sorted out for family, friends and co-workers, I started this cute little pattern last week during one of our stormy, snowy days as a reminder that this too shall pass and warm summer days will return. I have a love-hate relationship with winter. I love the beauty of falling snow and the crisp air on a cold sunny day, but I hate driving in blowing snow and paying the heat bills. Again, my thoughts wander. 

This pattern is a kit that I bought on a whim from eBay. The brand is Needle Kung Fu and comes from China. The quality of the kit fabric and threads certainly does not rival that of a Dimensions or Janlynn kit, but the pattern was bright and cute and a 180 change from making Christmas ornaments so that makes it worth it for me. Plus, I love cats.

December 15, 2016

My photography skills lag behind my needleworking skills so I apologize for this photo. This finish is hot off the needle this evening. The pattern was found on that incredible time suck known as pinterest and I stitched it on 28 count fabric that I had left over in my stash. If I had to guess, the fabric is Monaco. The threads are from my leftover thread stash which is a collection of odd skeins and threads that are left over from kits. One of my best purchases ever has to be a booklet of all the DMC skein colours that actually has bits of the threads. How does one properly match colours against the printed colours in the newer booklets? Anyhow, I am wandering in my thoughts and it is almost 11pm here in Nova Scotia on a stormy night so back to describing the finish. I cut a circle out of cardboard that I recycled from work from our pharmacy label packages, basted the stitched fabric onto it  and used the blanket stitch to attach a piece of red felt to the back. Then, I tacked a piece of red pearl cotton with a strong of red beads wound into it to the blanket stitch.

I think that I may keep this finish for myself. I was going to give it to a co-worker for her December birthday, but I quite like the piece. Christmas is not something that I have been excited about for years although I have gradually begun to re-discover a joy in my heart about the love and beauty of the season that I once used to love. We both have done more Christmas-y stuff this year than we have in years. Heck! There are Christmas lights out in front of our house and I have been wearing Christmas bell earrings which ring like cat collar bells. One of my co-workers kept waiting to be swatted by a cat the first day I wore them to work!

Well, I should go crawl into my warm bed on this blustery night. Happy stitching!

December 9, 2016

Somehow I have lost access to my previous stitching blog so in keeping with the theme of my life in recent years, I am starting over from scratch. Two years ago, I moved away from my hometown where I had lived for almost 40 years to follow a military guy who somehow caught my eye and then my heart. Moving to Greenwood, Nova Scotia involved leaving behind a lifetime of friends, memories and connections to take a chance on starting something new. I sold my home and moved into military housing with my guy. Then, a black Lab named Maggie stole our hearts when we met her at the SPCA and she joined our home. One of our two cats suddenly died one morning and an orange ginger cat named Strong joined our Penelope as the feline presence in the house. Along the way, I have come to know and love my guy's five children who live a few provinces away from us.

The only constant in my life in the past couple of years has been stitching. There have been a few major projects like a baby blanket for my gorgeous little nephew who was born in July of this year and a black Lab pattern that I bought and stitched because the pattern showed the same excited about life look that we see in our Maggie all of the time. I kind of like my dog a lot and any one reading this blog will read lots about that silly dog. In between the larger projects, I also stitch many Christmas ornaments to give to co-workers and friends. My stash was overwhelming when I first moved here and it has been a goal to both reduce and organize the threads, fabrics and patterns. The reduction has been a success and the organization not so much. I would love to add more fabrics to my stash as my fabric inventory is now limited at best, but the nearest cross stitch store is about 3 hours away which makes browsing a bit difficult. Browsing for fabric on-line really does not do much for me as I like to touch the fabrics and look at the colours to see them as I see them and not how my computer screen may distort them.

Stitching gives me a sense of calm, accomplishment and pride. I love watching a project come alive under my needle. Sometimes, it seems to take forever before the picture comes together on the hoop and then there is the sadness of putting in the last stitch on a beautiful, favourite piece. My guy does not really understand why I enjoy stitching so much and he rolls his eyes every time I lose yet another needle in the couch, but he enjoyed picking out the ornaments to send to his children and sisters.

So, welcome to my new blog. I hope you enjoy my thoughts, projects and pictures.