July 31/17

I started the back stitching this evening during the latest episode of "Game of Thrones" and completed it during the first episode of season 2 of "Queen of the South". A few quick twists of wire around a pen and voila! Now to decide what to do next with my projects.

After two summers of trying to figure out this sandy soil here, I think that I finally have figured out a thing or two. This bloom that greeted me on Saturday morning is evidence of my triumph after several failures to get plants to thrive and bloom in this yard. All of my lilies, both day and asiatic have been blooming like crazy this summer, making it a joy to pull into my driveway after a long day at work.

Speaking of work, I should head to bed as tomorrow I am working the second of two extra shifts that I have picked up this week. As part of my continual attempts to improve my life, I have come to realize that I am rather sleep deprived these days so I am trying several lifestyle changes to help improve the quality of my sleep. The first step for me is to actually get into bed as it is so easy with the bright Ott light on to stay wide awake into the wee hours as I stitch away.

Happy stitching!

July 28/17

Despite my exhaustion tonight, I was determined to finish the cross stitching part of this ornament. Sleep deprivation thanks to peri-menopause and a scent-induced migraine knocked me sideways today to the point that I am exhausted, but I am waiting for my brain to slow down after a whirlwind of a day at work. I must have sounded a bit nuts this morning on the phone because one of my favourite doctors in the building said, "You do good work" after he called in some refills for his patients. So, the cross stitching is done. The back stitching may happen this weekend.

Here is my belated TUSAL contribution for this month:

I only empty the jar when it is full so there are more than a month's worth of orts in the jar which may not be fully in the spirit of the TUSAL. I like watching the different layers of colours as they reveal themselves as time goes along. There is also a little of perverse pleasure in seeing how many DMC floss sleeves end up in the jar because they mean that yet another skein has been stitched up.

Here is a photo of our cat, Strong, to give you a giggle. She likes to sit on this chest so that she can keep an eye on our other cat, Pebbles. Everything else in this house has cat hair on it so why should the tennis rackets be spared?

July 24/17

So, stitching has been close to non-existent in this house because I have been so busy at work that my brain is mush in the evenings and then we were away this weekend. I have also been busy cruising through Pinterest to help me put a picture to some ideas that are percolating in my head for my next project or two. My brain and fingers were able to get a few stitches done last night to get this far:

I was going to post some pictures from our travels, but it looks like the photos are all on the fella's phone. We spent the weekend wandering along the southwest part of Nova Scotia. We drove on the beach at Crescent Beach, visited Kejimikujik Seaside national park, dodged marathon runners on Cape Sable Island and ooh'ed and aah'ed at hundreds of kilometres of shoreline. Here are the views we had from lunch in Lower West Pubnico and Liverpool.

We delivered the wedding gift bag of wine on Friday night to rave reviews. Our friends were so excited to get something homemade and filled with wine! They head home to Newfoundland this week to begin their wedding celebrations. I was thrilled that they loved the gift!

Well, Mondays for me mean laundry, Rotary, groceries and various other errands so I should get my butt in gear.

Happy stitching!

July 16/17

Not having all of the colours that I need to do the back stitching for the canvas bag has forced me to change gears until I can get myself to the craft store to purchase the necessary skeins. Last night, after an afternoon of touring Port Royal, I pulled out this little kit that I had in my stash. Actually, no, I started this on Friday night after working and then hanging out at a friend's place with the fella'. My progress is slow on this project because I have been starting to stitch it late in the evening so my time is limited before my eyes start to droop. We are busy without being crazy busy, with lots of hanging out with friends and neighbours and puttering away at things. My French lessons are moving along nicely, summer vacation plans and day trip planning is coming together and somehow, I am not too far behind in the battle of three shedding pets against the vacuum. Well, it is off to bed for me.

Happy stitching!

July 13/17

The orange seahorse developed a tail and snout last night! My stitching time tonight was spent putting away skeins from other projects while trying to find the skeins for back stitching this piece. I have 2 of the 5 or 6 skeins so there may be a trip in the near future to the local fabric store to get the rest.

Not stitching related, but definitely relative to my life:

Happy stitching!

July 12/17

I suspect that I am not alone amongst stitchers when I stay up to stitch far too late at night when I have to be up early for work. Last night was another one of those nights. Just as my eyes were starting to droop, I realized that the orange seahorse was missing his fin so hopefully that will get stitched tonight before some thought goes into whether to back stitch or not. I probably will do the back stitching so that the pattern is complete although the pattern looks pretty good without it, I think. First, I need to do a quick bike ride around the neighbourhood to shake some life into these tired legs and feet. The joys of being on one's feet all day at work.

Happy stitching!

July 9/17

Where has the time gone? I just looked at the time stamp from my last entry and six whole days have passed since I have done any stitching. The heat and humidity are partly to blame as is my new resolve to read more books while decreasing my mindless internet time. Work is a bit nutty at the moment as other staff members are off on vacation. Plus, there was a promotion party for one of the fella's colleagues, our Maggie requires daily walks and attention, one cat is coughing up hairballs, etc. We spent the afternoon today at a friend's son's birthday party, enjoying the beautiful summer day while hanging out with friends in the pool. All of the sunshine and shenanigans left us rather tired so my evening was spent relaxing on the couch with needle and thread in hand. 

The seahorses are coming along nicely. Only the fin of the orange seahorse and the parts of the leaves that require DMC 319 remain for the full crosses before I start the back stitching. I have no definite plans for what I will stitch after this bag is completed, but I have been looking at cat themed patterns on pinterest and I have been thinking about making myself a pin cushion. My idle needles are all shoved onto a scrap piece of Aida which has been holding my needles nicely for years. Seeing all of the beautiful smalls projects on the various cross stitch groups that I belong to on Facebook has given me pin cushion and biscornu envy. Time will tell where the next project will take me although these are my preliminary thoughts.

Happy stitching.

July 3/17

The heat and the humidity got the best of this afternoon so we headed to the shores of the Bay of Fundy. The thermometer in the car was showing 28C when we pulled out of our driveway and 19C when we left the shore. Craziness! The shore is only 15 minutes drive from our house. Here is a picture to show the highest tides in the world. We were there during low tide this afternoon and these boats were high and dry at the wharf. Right about now at midnight, the tide is probably about halfway out again.

Our house was so warm this evening that I sat outside to read for a while to enjoy the shade and the breeze before coming inside to stitch. The heat got the best of me today, resulting in two naps! We have had such a busy week that the fella' and I flaked out this evening. We have spent all weekend visiting family and friends so it was a relief this evening to not be out visiting and to not have any one here. The fella' has to go back to work in the morning after being off all week for his son's graduation so he fell into bed around 9pm and I am on my way now at midnight after my two naps. I stitched until my eyes and brain gave out on me tonight. This pattern is stitching up nicely and I am loving working with these colours. Making a wee dent in my stash is also a joy to me.

Happy stitching!

July 2/17

No stitching was done here on Friday as I came home from work, attended to the needs of the critters and went out to the pub and mall with friends who live on our street. I fell into bed shortly after finally get home for the night. A few stitches were put in yesterday morning as I sorted out the timing of the fella's arrival back in Halifax as his flights were delayed on the homeward bound leg. As a stitching bonus, his delays meant that I had an extra hour at home before I had to go pick him up and then head over to my brother's place for a BBQ. We ran into a thunder and lightning storm on the way home last night. It had mostly passed over by the time we pulled into the driveway, but I enjoyed an hour or so of stitching while listening to the rain before going to bed.

Canada Day was a rainy and foggy day here in Nova Scotia. We did see a few fireworks as we drove home along the 101, the highway that goes through the Annapolis Valley, despite the thunder showers that were rolling down the valley. I was disappointed to not be able to see Halifax from the Dartmouth side of the harbour because I wanted to see all of the ships that were in port this weekend, but Mother Nature and the fog had other plans. Maggie went to Halifax with us today because all of our friends were either busy or away. She was a loud and boisterous greeter for the other travellers while we waited for the fella' in the passenger pick up area.

Well, off to see what we can see and do on this soggy long holiday weekend Sunday. Happy stitching!