May 29/17

I had hoped to post before midnight, but my fingers were slowed by the late hour and the final thread of the evening just never seemed to end. We were out late last night to watch the fireworks that marked the end of the 2017 Apple Blossom Festival, a festival to celebrate one of the main economic drivers of the Annapolis Valley. The pets let me sleep in for a short while this morning before I tackled my usual Monday stuff of laundry, Rotary, groceries, walking the dog, etc. A few stitches were put into the bib this morning while I drank coffee and watched the two remaining episodes of "Call the Midwife". The rest of the stitching was done this evening after the fella' went to bed. On that note, it is time for my head to hit the pillow, too.

Happy stitching!

May 28/17

A few stitches were put into the current bib last night while I watched some TV before going to bed. The fella' was out hanging with the boys in our neighbour's shed so I chilled and stitched with the critters sprawled around me. Not much stitching has gone on around here recently. Work and home have been challenging to say the least which wipes out any energy I have left to stitch at the end of the day.

Speaking of the critters, look what I found in our kitchen recycling bins this morning! This little one likes to lick plastics so it was not a great surprise to find her in the plastics bin. It is hard to believe that she has only been with us for two months now. Pebbles has been a wonderful addition to our home!

Happy stitching!

May 23/17

Here is a picture of my stitching companion, Strong. She is fast asleep beside me on the couch, oblivious to the world. She used to spend the majority of her time upstairs on our bed. The arrival of our new kitty caused some switching of routines and favourite spots in the house so Strong now spends her time on the couch instead. She is our miracle kitty, surviving and thriving a bout of liver failure this time last year.

CADPAT bib number 5 underway. I did a little stitching today while watching "Call the Midwife" and "Hoarders". Most of my day was spent running errands because I refuse to shop on holidays even if the stores decide to open. I also voted in the provincial election in the advance polls.

Happy stitching!

May 22/17

CADPAT bib number 4 was finished this evening after a busy day of laundry, lunch with friends visiting Canada from New Zealand (she is an old friend from university and he is her Kiwi husband), planting 98 tomato plants in our backyard and my second attempt at bike riding this summer. My tomato project went a little overboard this summer with so many seeds actually sprouting. I gave 20 plants away last week to a nearby military spouse and another 8 to a good friend today. There are still easily 100 seedlings on my kitchen table as I search for homes for them! The development of arthritis in my knees has slowed down my walking and jogging because the jarring against pavement causes pain and warmth in the joints later. Biking seems like a better exercise for the summer and perhaps I will look at swimming at the sports complex during the colder months. Perhaps....swimming is not something that I have ever enjoyed.

The rhubarb plants in our backyard are into their third season in those beds and are growing gloriously. I harvested enough for a rhubarb crisp yesterday and I harvest 4-5 stalks every day to tuck into my freezer for future use in smoothies. There is something so satisfying about growing one's own food, even if it is on such a small scale. I look forward to the day that I can grow more than a small patch by the fence.

So, that sums up how I spent a good part of my Victoria Day holiday weekend. Yes, we celebrate dear Queen Victoria. Heck! I will celebrate anyone who will give me a holiday day! Happy stitching!

May 20/17

Here is a little peek into the shoreline near where I live. The temps were hovering around 30C yesterday in the Annapolis Valley so we loaded up the dog and headed to The Shore aka the Bay of Fundy to find some cooler temperatures. Our Maggie loves to explore the beach as you can see in this photo of the cliffs.

My stitching mojo kicked in a little bit this evening while we watched "Hacksaw Ridge" after a lovely afternoon on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. This bib is almost completed now and will hopefully be done tomorrow if something else does not come up on this Canadian long weekend.

 I also flipped through the latest issue of Just CrossStitch and found a few projects of interest as well. There are some Charlescraft tote bags in my stash so they may be the next items to be stitched up with the pattern I found in the issue.

Happy stitching!

May 19/17

Well, no stitching progress worth showing as my stitching mojo has gone away this week. My dear cat Penelope passed on Tuesday morning. She had refused food and water for about 24 hours and was so weak that she could not get up off the bed where we slept together on Monday night. I spent Tuesday cleaning up the basement of her bed and other Miss P items and generally let myself grieve her passing. Wednesday was spent getting ready for the arrival on Thursday of friends of ours from Maine and then last night was spent entertaining them before they left for Halifax this morning. I hope to put in a few stitches over the weekend, but I will see how it goes. It feels so weird to not being going downstairs multiple times a day to attend to Miss P and it feels so weird to go downstairs to do the laundry without her being there to rub up against my leg to say hello.

Happy Victoria Day weekend!

May 15/17

Here is a quick update on this bib. I am stitching with great sadness tonight because the time to say goodbye to my gorgeous white cat, Penelope, is quickly drawing near. She is sixteen years old and has been in chronic kidney failure for several years. Today she has been refusing food and has barely moved except to slightly shift position every once in a while. I have set up a bed downstairs in the basement to spend the night with her as she has declined so quickly in the past 24 hours.


Here are some photos from healthier days:

May 14/17

There has not been much stitching going on here this week as I picked up two extra shifts and we had friends over for a party last night. The extra shifts will come in handy as the dog killed a laptop by knocking it off the table the other day and we would like to buy a propane fire pit for the backyard to enjoy this summer. There was some discussion about cross stitch last night as one of my friends was looking at some of my work. She is quite crafty and wants to learn how to do cross stitch beyond what she has self taught so she has lots of questions for me. I love to share and encourage people to try new things so I can not wait to help her out.

It does not look like much stitching will get done today as we are babysitting a friend's kid and the sun is shining after a week of rain. Hello Sunday!

May 11, 2017

Update photo! I managed to get a fair bit stitched last night after walking the dog and going to bed. The dog walk was interesting to me in that this is Spring Cleanup for the junk one finds in all the corners of one's house. I love to look at the piles on the curbs because I have had some fabulous finds like the little table that sits on our deck and the decorative lighthouse that sits in our flower garden. I did not see anything of interest last night although I did find two barbecue covers that had blown away during storms and landed in the field where the dog was running off leash. They were both fairly new and in better condition than our current barbecue cover, but I decided to drop them by the nearby school bus stop shelter as chances are one of those families is missing their cover.

I deserve a medal as I received this email:
"From now through May 31, 2017, you can use coupon code MAYSTITCH at checkout to get $10 off any single order of $50 or more! 

Thanks for being an Everything Cross Stitch customer, and happy spring stitching! "

I looked at the website, found some cute patterns that I would love to have and I DID NOT BUY ANYTHING!!! There are two boxes of patterns and one box of kits upstairs in my spare room that should be tackled before any new patterns come into this house. At least that is my official stance today.

Happy stitching!

May 9/17

Work is underway on CADPAT bib #4. I had hoped to be farther along as I was off yesterday until noon when a friend called to say that they were feeling quite sick and could I cover their shift? The extra money will help out for our summer vacation and the cottage rental involved. I have not offered them for sale yet as I want to have several stitched up before I post them for sale. Part of that hesitancy is anxiety about putting my name and wares out there and part of that is wanting to have a decent supply available if there is a demand for them.

My little Mason jar is almost full to the brim with orts and discards. I like to cram the orts down and fill the jar until it can hold no more. Weird, I know.

May 6, 2017

CADPAT bib number three was finally completed this evening. I was supposed to go see the movie "Maudie", but it was sold out at our little theatre here on the base so I stitched to pass this rainy evening. There was a bit of competition for my spot on the couch this evening.

This little critter kept grabbing my spot every time that I got up. She is a great mix of annoying and cute at the same time, protesting just a little bit each time that we scoot her furry butt over on the couch. Her favourite spot used to be on our bed, but the recent arrival of our newest cat who now sleeps on the dog bed beside our bed has made this little kitty decide that the couch is a better place to spend her time. Sadly for her, the humans keep insisting on sitting on her couch.

Happy stitching!

May 5, 2017

No pictures tonight as my phone is hovering on the edge of shut down today....problems with the charging port. I am almost done the latest CADPAT bib, but I just can not seem to quite finish it. My fingers and brain move so slowly after a busy and challenging day at work. Fortunately, we are in for a very rainy weekend so I suspect that there will be a fair amount of stitching in front of the TV while we receive up to 50mm rain if the forecasts are accurate. The rain started a short while ago, but is really more of a drizzle. Maggie was barely damp when she came back in from her bedtime pee.

Well, it is off to bed for me in a few minutes. I work tomorrow morning and then off to see the movie"Maudie" tomorrow evening with some friends. Here is hoping that the rain water stays out of our basement!

Happy stitching!

May 3, 2017

So, not much stitching to report these past few days as there just seemed to be so many other things to get done before I could sit down to do much stitching. I know, right? Priorities are out of whack. Stitching should be more of a priority over laundry, the dog and our 16 year old cat who has to be hand fed to get her to eat any amount of food. On the plus side, I received a bib envelope of these cute little Charlescraft bibs. I must have hit a sale last week when I placed my order because the order total, including shipping was only $50 US and I had purchased twenty of this little bibs. If my fella' is reading this, there were only 2 bibs in that envelope and I only spent a few dollars. Honest!

Happy stitching!