Dec 16/18

My current obsession is the knitting of dish cloths. These ones are being knit up with Lily's Sugar and Cream Vineyard Twists. I have given some of the Christmas coloured ones away as Christmas gifts to neighbours and friends and I am trying to decide what to do with these ones. I may try my hand at selling them at a craft sale or online or I may keep them for those moments when I need to quickly find a gift for some occasion. I am considering some other ideas for possible selling of crafted items and I have even come up with the perfect business name for me! The business name is still floating around in my head, but the moment I thought of it was a BINGO moment for me. The thing is though, I feel paralyzed by the thought of putting my work out there on the market. Giving it away is one thing, but asking for money, for the worth of my handiwork is scary. How do you do it? What drives you to sell your items?

My phone photography is not great and here is a close up attempt to show the lovely colours in this twisted yarn.

I like to do seasonal displays on our front step. This is our current display. The chair has seen better days and was found on the side of the road during a Spring clean up. The frame was found on the side of the road during the recent Fall clean up and decorated with a recycled ribbon clump and some plastic bulbs. Cheap and cheerful for the holiday season!

Happy stitching!

Dec 11/18

The stitching has ground to a halt in this house thanks to the constantly changing weather systems and the migraines that foreshadow any change in weather. It is all I can do to shower and maybe get a few things done as I am usually in pain from the migraine or recovering from the hangover. I did manage to put up the tree last night. As you can see, it was a monumental job to retrieve it from the basement and to peel off the price tag before moving my old world globe off the bench and finding the perfect spot for the tree.

I hope that your days are more productive than mine at the moment! Happy stitching!

Dec 3/18

Yesterday was "I HAVE TO GET THESE ORNAMENTS DONE!!!" day in our house. They have to go in the mail this week if there is to be any hope of them arriving at their destinations on time between the calendar showing December and the aftermath of the Canada Post rotating strikes in recent months. I had a slow start to the day thanks to a head cold virus that saw me up early only to take a nap at noon. After my nap, the supplies and tools were dug out, the fabrics ironed and everything was spread out on the table so that I could begin. My little helper was removed from the table several times only to return a short while later to check on my progress.

This group was completed by supper time.

This group was completed by midnight. Once I was in the groove, I just could not stop even though my eyes were protesting and my back was letting me know that the kitchen chair was getting uncomfortable. There were a few mistakes like a ribbon being sewed in backwards and a few ribbons not being centred properly. Overall though, I am pleased that I managed to get anything done this year. These will be gifted to family and friends this holiday season.

Happy stitching!

Nov 25/18

My current philosophy about Christmas is to do a little bit every day and eventually, it will all come together. I stitched away at this ornament yesterday evening. The fella' went to bed early with a headache so I watched the first two episodes of the most recent season of the "Great British Bake-off" and stitched. 

I have been working on more dish cloths as I am thinking of gifting them in bundles of two, one with the variegated holiday yarn and one white cloth. So far, 5 white ones are completed and a sixth is on my needles. The other women at my book club meeting on Friday night were fascinated by watching me knit while we all talked. They found it freaky that I could knit while talking and looking at them because my fingers know this pattern so well now. Truthfully, I found it freaky that they were all watching me so closely! It is interesting to me because I grew up in a rural community where every one knits, sews, quilts, etc. The women in my book club are 15-20 years younger than me and so many of them wish that they knew how to do these things, but have never learned whereas I learned because my mom and her friends were always working on such projects. While I certainly appreciate the convenience of mass produced items, I feel sad that so many people have not known the joy of sewing or knitting or making things by hand. Thoughts from anyone else?

Well, back to hauling laundry to my neighbours' house because our washer is making some warning sounds. Thank goodness for kind neighbours who are allowing me to traipse through their house with my laundry!

Happy stitching!

Nov 19/18

Well, would you look at that. The first ornaments of the 2018 Christmas crafting fiesta are now completed. They are cross stitched on plastic canvas and backed with red felt stitched onto the canvas with ribbons sewn in. These ornaments are for the fella's kids so they were the most important to finish. Our postal service is being hit with rotating strikes as the union tries to put some pressure on Canada Post with the Christmas parcel season rolling in. These ornaments and other assorted items will be put in the mail next week. My philosophy is that it is best that they arrive a little early than too late.

I have listed a few kits for sale on some of the sale groups to see if I can reduce my stash any further. So far, there have been no bites, but it just takes one person to really want the item. I am encouraged to open up some more boxes and list some more items for sale to reduce the stash. I set a goal for myself that everything has to fit comfortably on the shelving unit I have in the spare room. Currently, there are 3 boxes of crafting supplies sitting on the floor beside the book shelves so this could be a bit of a challenge! These kits are all listed for $5 except the dragonfly which is listed for $20. I just want the stuff gone!

Nov 12/18

Today was not a crafting kind of day here. Today was a "get things done" kind of day here since the fella' was home for the Remembrance Day holiday. He was up on a chair taking down light fixtures and washing them while I tackled some paper work that I had put on the back burner. Light fixtures are clean and fly-free, paperwork is filled out and printed, and the dogs were taken on a lovely walk along the rail trail, on a section that was new to us.

After our walk, I set about on another task that I have been putting off....selling off some of the stash. A few months ago, I had done a very quick skimming through the boxes of patterns in the spare room. My boxes were full of collections of Teresa Wentzler, Paula Vaughn, Lavender & Lace, Mirabilia and so many more. So many patterns that will never get stitched by me! The fella' was grumbling recently about waiting for an appointment with the career manager to see if we stay here in Greenwood or if we move in the next posting season. While the military looks after the move for us, I keep trying to reduce the clutter in this house and selling off those things which I really will never use. Once the dogs were in the door and my jacket was hung up, I headed to the craft room to pick out some patterns to sell and took their pictures for the listings:

               
 

I belong to a facebook group that is for Canadians to buy and sell cross stitch patterns. I had been having some anxiety about whether my patterns would sell, was it worth the effort and would people want to buy from me. Plus, there was a general paralysis about just putting myself out there and getting things done. You can imagine my surprise when I sold 3 patterns within 10 minutes of the listing. The fella' is amused that there are other "me's" out there because he does not understand the affliction.

There are 3 parcels, containing 6 patterns, on the table to be taken to the post office in the morning. Now, I don't expect that all of my patterns will sell so quickly, but I am glad that I made the effort and I will look through my boxes again to cull more patterns.

Happy stitching!

Nov 6/18

There are days when I wonder what the heck I have been up to because it is the end of the week, I am exhausted, my house looks like a bomb has gone off and I feel like I have done nothing except work and vacuum up pet hair. Apparently, there has been a little bit of this

and a little bit of that 

and a few other things going on around here. Hallowe'en is a favourite night of mine with the kids out and about in costume and I go a bit nuts with carving jack'o'lanterns.

For good measure, there were chocolate chip cookies made as well.

The jack'o'lanterns have been chopped and roasted. Pumpkin soup was made yesterday, muffins will be made today and the rest will be frozen for treats for the dogs. The dish cloth pattern has finally morphed into something that I am quite happy with. There have been a few adjustments made to the size and the number of rows within the pattern to where I am quite happy with it.

One of the downsides of the Hallowe'en decorations would be this fright I gave myself the other night when I walked by the front door during the wind storm. Our peeping tom was dealt with ASAP after I got over my scare!

Happy stitching!

Oct 22/18

I surely can not be the only person who has so many interests and just not enough time to dabble in them all? There are just not enough hours in the day or energy left over after doing the necessary stuff like working, looking after the house, wrangling the dogs and cats and sleep to do all of the stuff that I want to do. I recently did a shift at the thrift store and found myself collecting things to upcycle when I had to give my head a shake about when was I going to find time right now to upcycle clothing? It was painful to put them back on the shelf, but the fella' was muttering about meeting with the case manager some time soon so that means that junk collecting has to be kept to a minimum in the off chance that we move within the next posting season. Instead, I am trying to focus on the projects that are already underway and doing things that are easily achievable like emptying my ort jar. Reaching my ort jar was a little difficult last night as you can see:

Pebbles was doing her best to be in my way after her favourite human went to bed.

She did let me stitch a little on this ornament last night. My progress is difficult to see as I filled in all of the white stitching in the moon and in the candy cane border.  A few stitches of grey around the edges and some gold in the centre of the star will complete this one except for the back stitching.

I also started knitting some dish clothes for Christmas gifts. I am making up baskets of homemade stuff for my mom and my sisters-in-law. The dish clothes are in variegated red, green and white for Christmas and will be given along with the home made soap and perhaps a cross stitched ornament as well.

Happy stitching!

Oct 17/18

So, a quick peek over here tells me that I am a little late  for the TUSAL, but ya know, better late than never! This photo is doubling as my stitching update for tonight, done after walking the dogs and while watching a few TV shows.

The late night hail against the window is telling this chick that it is cold and wintry outside tonight and that it is past time for me to be in bed. The 6:20am alarm comes earlier than this night owl prefers.

Happy stitching!

October 16/18

There has not been much crafting going on here because of arthritis in the baby finger of my left hand. The arthritis flared recently while knitting dish cloths and while not debilitating, I am reminded of it while typing or doing anything that involves my baby finger. Ugh. This getting older thing is a learning curve of what body part is going to ache next. 

We had a beautiful day on Sunday, in between rainy days thanks to the tropical storms sweeping up the eastern seaboard, so we packed up the dogs and headed to the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Here they are having some fun in the ocean before a woman yelled at us for having our dogs off leash.  Yes, we should not have had them off leash as there were signs at the park entrance, but there was no one around when we let them go to enjoy the ocean. There were several other dogs off leash in the park and we avoided them when we spotted them because our Lab goes snaky when she sees another dog while she is on a leash. We are responsible dog owners, but unfortunately, our puppy loses all sense of recall when she gets excited. I suspect that the woman must have been afraid of dogs which would explain her reaction. 

The cooler temperatures have brought on the annual flare of colour as all of the hardwoods turn brilliant colours before the leaves drop. Here is the view I have from my spare bedroom where I have placed my reading chair by the window. The winds today are pulling off many of the leaves and I see a carpet of leaves forming on my lawn. The drive to and from work is a delight of orange, red and yellow splashes of colour along the highway. Sadly, it also signals that cold and snow are around the corner. Brrrrrr!!

I have done some cross stitching in the past week. Here is a kit of Ursula Michaels ornaments that I had in my stash. I am not sure who they will be for just yet, but it will not hurt to have the designs stitched up.

Happy stitching!

Oct 2/18

So, this happened this weekend:

Yes indeedy, 25 years since this chick graduated from pharmacy school. Can someone please help me find out where those 25 years have gone? I could have sworn that it was only a couple of years since we put away our text books, donned the robes to accept our diplomas and headed out into the world. It was so cool to catch up with my classmates and to learn about some very interesting careers. My classmates have gone on to do cool things like movies about pharmacists, a dean of pharmacy in the US and a corporate executive. I kind of fall into the cool category with the medical missions to the Dominican Republic. Everyone has an interesting story to tell about where they ended up and why.

The fella' and I were tiffing on Sunday and Monday so I ignored him last night *(Monday) and did the last of the back stitching on these ornaments for his children before sewing on the red beads. My plan to finish them is to attach red or green felt to the back with a blanket stitch instead of glue and make ribbon hangers. Hopefully, the love, and not the bickering, was stitched into these Christmas gifts.

The fella' and I called a truce when I sent him this meme this morning:

He laughed and we moved on. I went on to make this gorgeous pan of soap this morning. I took a class on soapmaking this morning from a wonderful soap maker at the Happy Hippie Soap Company. It was so cool to be measuring and stirring the ingredients while looking out the window to see the source of the goats' milk grazing in the pasture behind the house. The fella' mistook this pan for supper and was sorely disappointed when he licked the finger that he had stuck into this mix. NEVER A DULL MOMENT IN THIS HOUSE!

Happy stitching!

Sept 25/18

Whew! I am worn out. My day started out with walking Tillie in the woods with some friends and their dogs. Two of us have puppies who are only 1 month apart in age and who have enough energy to power a subdivision. The other dog is 8 years old and much more sedate in her comportment during our walk. I rushed home to grab some lunch before heading to my hair appointment and then the grocery store to pick up a few ingredients to make chicken and rice soup for supper. Soups are a go to for me in the Autumn when the house gets chilly because I refuse to turn on the heat until November and I use tricks like soup and herbal teas to warm up. While the soup was simmering, I made chocolate chip, oatmeal and cranberry cookies. This is the photo I sent the fella' to cheer him up while he was working because he has been hinting for several days that he would really really really like some homemade cookies. Yes, I used my favourite appliance and new family member, the Kitchenaid mixer!

After supper, I took took Maggie, our Black Lab, out for a walk because she stayed home this morning from the walk in the woods. I knew that Tillie would be a maniac with the other puppy so I felt it best that Maggie the Enforcer stay at home. Mags and I took a quick turn around the neighbourhood so that I could get in my 10 000 steps for today. She made sure that she marked her voyage well so that all of the other dogs in the PMQs will know that she had been there. Once I got her unbuckled from her harness and lead, I settled onto the couch to put a few more back stitches into these ornaments. The owl ornament back stitching is about two thirds complete and then my attention will turn to the french knots and the beading. Arthritis in my hands is making my crafting a bit challenging, especially in these damp, cooler days of Autumn. I force myself to keep crafting so that I keep the strength in my fingers, but the ache in several of my fingers makes it challenging. Ah. The joys of aging.

Happy stitching.

Sept 23/18

The weather has been glorious recently, beautiful days with cool nights and lower humidity. We spent last weekend at a rental cottage and this was my view for 4 days. I spent alot of time sitting on the deck of the cottage with a book in hand, looking up on occasion at this view. We could not help but relax!

The fella' spent alot of time getting into the lake with the dogs where the water was still warm enough for swimming. We had a great time throwing sticks into the water for the dogs to retrieve and horsing around in the lake with the dogs. On day, Tillie went walkabout on us and wandered into a seasonal trailer site that is rented by a guy that has worked with the fella`. Despite the naughtiness of our dog, he let us use his kayaks and dock to enjoy the lake even more. There were few people at the campground because the summer camping season is almost over so it was glorious to be the only people out on the lake with the heron that hung out nearby.

Crafting wise, not much cross stitch has been done recently as my attention has been turned to knitting up dish cloths to replace the ratty and unraveling ones in our linen drawer. Bernat has a wonderful collection of free patterns for dish cloths so I am merrily knitting away while watching the new Sons of Anarchy show, "Mayans MC". I also altered one of my favourite dresses today to make it much more flattering and work appropriate. The dress had an oddly placed tie on it that made it unflattering and caused a big display of cleavage. The removal of the tie makes the dress more like a tunic and I am much happier.

Another project that has been keeping me busy is something I call my Positivity Project. I recently did some therapy to deal with some post traumatic stress that had reared its ugly head  and one of my healing strategies is to journal about 5 things for which I feel grateful at that moment. I am trying to build more positive pathways in my brain so that the negative stuff has less influence and I can better cope with stressful bits in my life.

On that note, I hope that all is well with you and Happy Stitching!

Sept 10/18

The back stitching is now complete on three ornaments. Three down, three to go before beading!

Does anyone else have a preferred time of day to stitch? My stitching urge is at its strongest from 9pm to midnight. I can stitch at other times of the day like all day during a snow storm. I tried all evening to settle in to stitch, but one of our neighbours came over to have her passport application signed and then the dogs needed to be walked and then I finally sat down to stitch after catching up on phone calls. Maybe it is my preferred hour because the world quiets down at that time of day, the phone does not ring, the darkness of night calms things down and it is my way to slow down at the end of the day.

Today was an amazing day. Somehow, I was the first one awake which is highly unusual because the fella' is the morning person in this house. He slept until 10am while I was up and reading at 8am. I am enthralled by the author Lisa Genova. Her books are gripping me in a way that has not happened in a long time. This morning, I polished off "Inside the O'Briens", a novel about a family grappling with their father's diagnosis of Huntington's Disease. This topic hit close to home as the husband of one of my dearest friends has a father with Huntington's. After the fella' finished washing his uniform, we hit the road to explore a part of Nova Scotia we have never seen.

I have often seen the place name Bear River on the highway signs so today was the day to visit this place. We pulled off the highway onto some back roads and followed them down a steep hill into this quaint little village of buildings on stilts along the river, old homes that revealed the shipbuilding roots of the place and signs all over for artists' studios. We had a late lunch of two of the best burgers we have ever tasted before heading out to poke around in some wonderful galleries. I enjoyed learning about the place and enjoying the vibe of the village which was rural and slow placed, but with interesting nooks and crannies tucked into the hillsides along the river. I need to go back to explore more of the galleries as places like that inspire me so much!

Well, tomorrow is a bit of a busy day with Rotary and the Health Auxiliary so I should go curl up in bed with my Maggie dog. Happy stitching!

Sept 9/18

The back stitching in black has begun. A headache, but not quite a migraine, made stitching a slow process this evening because my brain was working as if it were trying to wade through mud. I persevered despite my headache and stitch by stitch, managed to complete the back stitching on one ornament before putting some stitches onto a second ornament. I also found a section of gold filament that had been overlooked and quickly filled in that section around the mailbox of the top ornament.

I had an idea for the third panel of the triptych that I was working on ages ago. The third panel has languished for lack of inspiration, my failing eyesight and lack of motivation to stitch. My brain was in processing mode as I was driving to work the other day when the idea came to me. The idea involves using various shades of the same colour and creating a cascading kind of effect. Christmas ornaments are a priority at the moment, but I look forward to the third and final step of the triptych.

Happy stitching!