April 30, 2017

Wow! I have really slowed down on the blogging as it has been a week since my last post. My stitching drive has slowed down as well, thanks in part to some tough days at work and an arthritic knee that has decided to be a pain in my.........knee. I am gaining a new appreciation as to how pain can tire a person out and I just have arthritis in my knees! The bib is CADPAT bib number three. I posted a picture of a completed one on Facebook to get some feedback from my friends and the response was quite favourable so hopefully I can sell a few as I had hoped!

The warmer weather has arrived and today was a great Spring day here on the East Coast of Canada. We cleaned up the yard, emptied out and reorganized the shed and I dug up more area for our many tomato plants. My fella' checked over the lawn mower and made it ready to mow the grass that has burst out the ground this past week with the lovely Spring rain. I took the dog for a run on the woods trails and she spent the rest of the afternoon like this:

I guess being out in the yard all afternoon and a rip around the trails wore her out! Now, if we could only convince her that she loves baths because she stinks like the swamps she ran through this afternoon.

So, today I dove into the boxes that hold my patterns and kits because I was looking for some booklets on origami that were given to me by my grandmother. A friend of mine wants to do origami in her classroom so I offered to lend her my books. Somehow, I had forgotten just how many patterns and supplies I have managed to collect over the years until I started going through those boxes. Those boxes are like the last frontier of de-cluttering in this house so my next project is to go through the boxes and sell off some of the patterns are realistically never going to get done. I recently joined a group called Stash Unload that seems like it could be a good site to use to sell some of my patterns once I decide which ones to part with.

Happy Spring and happy stitching!

April 23, 2017

Two finishes in one day! I was the first one up this morning so I came downstairs, made some coffee and stitched a maple leaf onto the bib on the right. A few episodes of "Call the Midwife" later, we took the dog to the shores of the Bay of Fundy to run off some of her Lab crazy, as I call it. Maggie was so hyper this morning that she was running around in circles and not listening to any instruction from either of her humans. My fella' dropped me off at the local fabric and craft store on the way home so that I could get some skeins of DMC 632 to match the brown I have been using on the CADPAT. I did not have one of the bibs with me so I could not double check my attempt at matching with my old DMC chart until I walked home. Fortunately, the match was pretty darned close .The dog is now passed out on the floor by my feet as we settle in for a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Here is another project that has kind of gone a little haywire. A month ago, I bought three packets of tomato seeds and started them on the kitchen window sill. The seeds were all viable, much to my surprise, so now we have more than 100 sprouts growing on three window sills. There are cherry tomatoes, medium sized tomatoes and beefeaters all merrily growing in our kitchen, Friends and family have spoken for some of the plants and I have started digging a bigger tomato patch in the back yard. Eggshells and coffee grounds are being mixed in to enrich this sandy soil to improve our chances at decent tomatoes this summer.

Well, back to my stitching and tv watching. Happy stitching!

April 20, 217

Stitch by stitch this bib is slowly getting done. Not sleeping well for 2 nights, thanks to the noise of engines from the air base and these lovely knots in my muscles that cause lots of pain, has slowed my brain and stitching mojo. I have also run out of the brown floss which came from my leftover kit thread bag so a match from my DMC threads needs to be found. Fortunately, with this kind of "pattern", I can fudge the design quite a bit if I choose to stop using brown for the remainder of the bib. Well, off to bed for me!

Happy stitching!

April 18, 2017

Stitching came to a screeching halt today after running out of the red colour (DMC 321) the other day and catching up to the point where I *had* to go to the craft store this afternoon to be buy the floss. Fortunately, the floss store was also conveniently on the way home from the dog walking trails so I completed a two fer one outing! I have done a little thinking about pricing and I am still not sure how much I would sell these for. There is no way to be compensated for the hours that go into stitching these pieces and I am just looking to make some pocket change off of supplies that I have accumulated. My current thought is $25. That thought could change.

Happy stitching.

April 17, 2017

Hello dear stitchers! It has been a few days since I have posted because I went back to my hometown in New Brunswick to visit with my family for the Easter long weekend. Blogger does not seem to work on my phone so I could not post an update on my bibs. The first CADPAT one was finished while I relaxed on the ferry that goes across the Bay of Fundy. The second one was started while I hung out with my family on Saturday, in between watching hockey and eating lots of yummy food made by my mom. How is it that the same recipe that I learned from my mom tastes so much better when she makes it??

I drove back to Nova Scotia with my brother who lives in Halifax and the fella' ventured into the big city to pick me up. The afternoon was spent transplanting tomato plantlets and relaxing with my critters who missed me while I was away. I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter weekend, whether religious or secular!

Happy stitching!

April 12, 2017

Okay, so my stitching mojo disappeared last night and the stitching was put aside until this evening. This bib is taking FOREVER to finish! My goal is to finish it tomorrow night, Friday at the latest. On the other hand, a plane ticket has been booked so that my fella' can go see his oldest son graduate from high school and I have been cruising websites to start planning our summer vacation.

Happy stitching!

April 11, 2017

Stitch by stitch this piece is getting done. I am quite liking how this is turning out and the reviews were favourable when I took it over to the curling club to work on in between games this past weekend. I had hoped to get more done these past two days as I don't work on Mondays and Tuesdays and there were no appointments. The dog foiled that by developing crystals in her urine so there were a couple of visits and phone calls to the vet. The sudden arrival of spring weather had me out cleaning up the yard and enlarging my tomato bed to accommodate the many seedlings that are sprouting on our window sills. So here I sit at 9;45pm, about to put a few stitches into the piece before I fall into bed.

Happy stitching!

April 9, 2017

Progress report. A few stitches were put in here and there over the weekend in between curling and sleeping! My curling team won 3 free drinks over the weekend and we had a blast at the dinner and dance last night. I am now nodding off in front of the Canada-Sweden Men's curling world final. Go Canada Go!

April 6, 2017

Progress is slow but steady on this piece. Lack of sleep the other night and a headache that is hovering over migraine territory have slowed my fingers and brain. Muscle relaxants for knots in my neck and shoulder are slowing the brain function even more. Ugh. I did manage a few stitches tonight, on the area above the maple leaf  but my body is betraying me and I am heading to bed. There may be few stitches this weekend as I am curling in the end of year bonspiel for the ladies' league at my curling club. This weekend promises to be lots of fun, curling and partying with a great bunch of women.

April 4, 2017

Here is my latest bib pattern and it is not from Pinterest! I forget where this piece of CADPAT came from beyond my fella' had ripped either a shirt or pants and I saved this piece to incorporate into something like a small quilt for his kids. CADPAT is the official pattern used by the Canadian military for its day to day uniform. There may be a more official name for that uniform, but I am still learning the acronyms and terms that used here. I am not sure about the match I made for the lighter green as I kind of think that I should have chosen a lighter shade now that some of the stitching has been done. Anyhow, I am kind of excited about this bib as I think that I may be able to sell some of these bibs to people who are posted to this base. One of my friends is due in May and has been to several baby showers recently so my plan is to get her thoughts on this bib once it is finished to see if there is a market here for this pattern.

Happy stitching!

April 2, 2017

This pattern was a pain in the butt thanks to the pain in my head. I feel like I stitched this twice with all of the stitches that I ripped out because I miscounted all over the place! Seasonal allergies suck! Every time I made a mistake, I became more determined to get this friggin' piece done tonight so that I would be done with it. The pattern comes from pinterest and will be going to the grandchild of a dear friend of mine. By morning, my feelings of frustration should have dissipated and the love for my friend will restore this bib to being gift-worthy.

My plan for tomorrow is to match the colours in the scrap piece of CADPAT (the camouflage pattern used on the Canadian military uniforms) that I have and to start a bib in that pattern. There are a few military families around me who are having babies this year. I am considering selling the bibs if I can get the pattern designs and colours just right. My other plan for tomorrow is to get my tomato seeds planted and set up on the window sills so that we will have something to plant once the warm weather arrives in a few months.

Happy stitching!

April 1, 2017

The fingers were smoking tonight! I started this one around supper time and stitched the back shut just now at 10pm. The pattern comes from pinterest and the pattern was chosen by a friend of mine who used to sing this all the time to her daughter when she was an infant. The bib is now going to a baby about to arrive in their family. When I was looking through my stash, I found 8 other bibs that I had purchased. The inner workings of the brain of a cross stitch addict are a funny little cogs and wheels. Yes! Let's order 12 bibs to stitch! It is a deal and baby bibs are cute! Order more stuff for the stash! 

Now, this tired stitcher is going to drag herself to bed. I have had a busy week between work, Rotary club stuff and being out most evenings. This tiredness is a good tired from making memories with friends and giving out bike helmets to elementary students from our Rotary club. Happy stitching!