Oct 19/17

My stitching mojo has been making itself known again after two bouts of whatever the heck has hit my system this past month. The fella' was muttering about our house being cursed as a virus felled me on the last leg of our vacation in September. Then, he came down sick two weeks ago, recovering just in time for him to leave for a week long course that involved rappelling and rescue techniques. The day after he left, I came down sick and am still hacking and coughing 9 days later, but I am able to work without feeling like I could just lay down on the floor and sleep which is good because he is now sick enough that he gave me NO resistance when I suggested that he go to the health clinic in the morning. He even called his supervisor to let him know that he would be a bit late in the morning as he was going to the sick parade, or what we civilians call a walk in clinic.

Enough about illness, here is what I have been stitching these past few evenings after the evening stroll with the dog.

This project is a Dimensions kit called "Cardinal Joy" that will make a cute Christmas present for one of my dear friends. She and I met at a concert at the Mess, discovered that we are neighbours and have built a good friendship these past 18 months. We both love doing creative things and she loved the bag I stitched as a gift for her wedding this summer. I think that she will love this little banner.

It is a relief to stitch again and to get my life back after being laid up in bed with the dog so much recently. I also need to get moving on finishing all of the ornaments that are stashed upstairs in the craft room. Finishing is not my favourite part so I always put it off until the last minute. There are so many other fun things to do right now like plan a weekend get away to Prince Edward Island, having friends over for dinner and thinking about how to carve my Halloween pumpkins. The fella' just shakes his head as he listens to all of my plans and like a good sport, he helps me to pick out things to go in the Halloween goody bags and agrees to cook everything after I invite our neighbours over for supper.

Well, I should get my germy self into bed so that I can get a decent amount of rest to face another day at the pharmacy. 

Happy stitching!

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!

June 29/17

So, the fact that any stitching at all is happening in this house is a miracle! I had a minor accident on Tuesday night while out biking with our dog. She stopped to attend to a call of nature and I did not which resulted in me skidding along the street on my belly. There are a few large bandages attached to a hand, a knee and an elbow and work is interesting as so many people have questions about the scrapes on my nose and forehead. My glasses and bike helmet saved my face from a huge disaster while sustaining a little damage. The woman at the the optometry clinic who re-adjusted the nose pieces on my glasses tonight remembered that these glasses are fairly new (bought in January) and apparently, still under warranty so a new pair will be here next week. I could have made do with my current pair despite the scratches on the lenses, but I would not say no to new ones. The muscle stiffness and tiredness from not sleeping well have been more of a hindrance to stitching than the bandages.

I did manage to put in a few stitches last night and ended up here:

After supper for both human and critter and a walk with the dog, I managed to put in a few more stitches this evening. There may not be much time for stitching this weekend as tomorrow is dinner and drinks at the pub to welcome home a friend who has been working overseas for the past 6 months and Saturday is Canada Day. The fella' flies home on Canada Day so I will pick him up at the airport before heading to my brother's place for a BBQ with my mom and sister who are visiting my brother for a few days.

Happy stitching and Happy Canada Day!

June 27/17

I was too tired to take and post a photo of my progress last night so here is a photo of where I finished off last night along with the skeins that I purchased today. One of my favourite fabric shops is the Avonport Discount Fabrics which, if you have driven in the Annapolis Valley, is right where you catch the first glorious glimpse of Blomidon as Highway 101 drops down towards Wolfville. Usually when I am in that part of the Valley, the fella' is with me and all of my dear readers surely know how painful it is to drag the fella' to places like fabric stores. I took full advantage of the fact that I had just dropped him off at the Halifax airport to pull into Avonport to see what wonderful fabrics were in store. I did only come away with the skeins because I could not decide on which fabrics might suit my current stitched but unfinished ornaments and I am trying to curb that "bright shiny" shopping habit of mine. There was a tour bus full of quilters in the store as well. The store is full of beautiful, affordable fabrics so it is no wonder that bus loads of quilters from other provinces stop in to visit.

The fella's flight was delayed by over an hour and a half out of Halifax which means he will miss his connection in Toronto for Sudbury. According to the airline website, he is somewhere in the air between Montreal and Toronto, arriving almost two hours late in Toronto. I guess I will find out in an hour or so if he has managed to get himself on the last flight of the day to Sudbury. My hands are sore after a particularly painful massage today so no stitching has been done yet today. Maybe later after the dog has been walked and I hear that the fella' is on his way to his final destination. He is on his way to see his oldest son graduate from high school on Thursday. He was so excited to see his kids today that he probably could have flown there under his own power if that were possible.

Happy stitching!

June 25/17

After a lazy Sunday morning and a trip to Wolfville to check out the Botanical Gardens, I settled in to stitch this evening. The heat and sun beating down on me while we were walking around Wolfville this afternoon has given me a bit of a headache, but I managed to make some progress on the sea horses. I am missing 3 or 4 of the colours so I will have to make a trip to our local craft store to pick up those skeins because it is becoming a bit of a pain to stitch around those areas. 

There was a moment of panic earlier when I realized that the pattern called for a 13x13 piece of 18 count and I have a 14x14 piece of 14 count. Fortunately, it looks like the design should just barely fit on this panel. Good gravy, one would think that after almost 30 years of cross stitching, I would have remembered to double check the count of both the design and the fabric.

Even though Monday is my day off, my to-do list is growing as I need to make sure that my fella' is ready to go away for the week to see his son graduate from high school and that I am ready to handle our household while he is gone. So with that, I am off to bed.

Happy stitching!

June 24/17

Well, it is that time of the month again. Noooo, not THAT time of the month. It is TUSAL time and here is my contribution to the TUSAL blog that I follow. My ort jar is lovely and colourful this month from the threads used in the project pictured just below my ort jar. The threads on the left are being used for my next project that I started this evening while watching "Rogue One".

I had to work this morning at 9am so you can imagine how bleary eyed I was when the alarm went off this morning after putting the last stitch into this pattern at 1:15am. Now to wash it and fill it with some Nova Scotia wines.

Here is my new start. This lovely seahorse pattern is also found in the June 2017 issue of "Just Cross Stitch". I had two canvas Charlescraft bags in my stash so I decided to stitch this one up as a Christmas gift for my mom. While I do not have a specific goal for reducing my cross stitch stash, I am thrilled to be using up as much as possible as quickly as possible right now. One of these days I will take a picture of my thread stash to share with you all as it astounds me at its size. Then, there is the pattern stash and the fabric stash. Besides, any of you who are into crafts can most likely relate to the reality of having enough materials for a few life times of crafting. Guilty as charged.

Well, back to the movie for me and then bed for this tired little stitcher.

Happy stitching!

June 20/17

Here is my end point for yesterday evening. It was too hot and yucky to put enough thoughts together to do even the briefest of blog updates.

Here is the end point for this evening:

The hot, sticky weather seems to have blow over for the moment so I have turned off the heat pump and have begun opening up windows so that we have a hope of a decent night's sleep. The new fan we bought yesterday helped to cool down our room, but the heat and the humidity had me headachey and sticky all day at work despite the air conditioning. I understand that the weather should be better tomorrow, i.e. no rain in the forecast, so hopefully I can get lots of laundry out on the line in between working on my Rosetta Stone course to re-learn the French language. The end is in sight for this pattern and I hope to finish it tomorrow in between the laundry, French lessons and biking over to the farmer's market to stock up on veggies.

Happy stitching!

June 18/17

Here is the end result of 10 hours in the car as we drove to and from New Brunswick to visit my mom. It has been a great relief to discover that I can stitch during our frequent road trips because as a child, I was a motion sickness expert. I am fine to stitch on straight stretches of highway and with patterns like this that do not require much reading. Driving in town with my nose in my stitching or indepth examination of the pattern will bring on nausea. We had great days for driving both ways....overcast with the occasional drizzle or shower so we were comfortable in the car without the air conditioner being on full blast and the dog did not overheat when we would stop for a break. I stitched away until it was too dark to see on Friday night as we did not leave until I was done work at 6pm and I had the whole drive to stitch on the way home this afternoon. Now that I have had a spot of supper, family members have been called for Father's Day greetings and the dog has been walked to make up for being cooped up in the car, I am going to continue on with the border.

Happy stitching!

June 13/17

Here is a photo of where I left off last night after stitching my way through three episodes of the latest season of "Orange is the New Black". We had some friends over last night to play washer toss and to sit around our firepit until a fierce rain and thunderstorm rolled in. We went from feeling a few drops of rain to grabbing the kitchen chair we had taken outside and running as fast as we could to the house! The storm passed within an hour or so and cooled us down from the 31C (37C humidex) that we had been sweating through all day.

Does any one else find that stitching allows them to filter through the madness of the day and life to find some calm in the eye of the storm? Sometimes I wonder where the negativity that I start out with when I sit down to stitch ends up being stitched into the piece or whether it is the time and focusing on something beautiful that allows my brain to make the negative have less of a hold on me. Turning the negative energy into something beautiful helps to keep me sane. My life is no more or less stressful than any one else's and stitching is one of my coping mechanisms.

Today's plan is to finish this post, stitch while watching a couple of episodes of OITNB and mow the lawn once it dries out enough. Then, there is a much needed haircut appointment this afternoon and grocery shopping. Oh! I also need to remember to buy three graduation cards for people in our lives who are graduating from various levels of education. The joys and exciting happenings on a day off.

Happy stitching!

June 11/17

This photo shows the result of a couple evenings of stitching since the last photo. This photo does not do proper justice to the cheery and bright colours which are making this piece so much fun to stitch.. The curtains are all drawn in the house, in an attempt to keep the house cooler during this hot and sticky day so it was difficult to properly photograph the colours. We are off to the shore in a few minutes to enjoy the cool air ocean air of the Bay of Fundy and to let dear Maggie run free to her heart's content. Some stitching may get done this evening if I am not too grumpy and tired from the heat.

Happy stitching!

June 7/17

So, I decided to switch gears yesterday from stitching CADPAT bibs to stitching this gorgeous design. The design is from the June 2017 issue of "Just CrossStitch" and it is being stitched on a Charlescraft tote bag. The colours are so very warm and tropical which is perking me up on these rather cool and damp Spring days that we are having here recently. Friends of mine are getting married next month so I thought that this would be a great little gift, especially with a couple bottles of local wine tucked in. There are some lovely wineries here in the Annapolis Valley that of course, do not compare to the vineyards of France and Italy although they do produce some very nice wine here. The bag alone is going to be stunning with all of the bright colours. The wine will be a bonus! *clink clink*

Happy stitching!

June 5/17

Tadaaaa! I just put the last handful of stitches into this bib a few minutes ago. I have one more bib of this style to stitch before biting the bullet to put them up for sale and to see how I make out with the sale of these bibs. There is a little voice in the back of my mind that says, "What if no one buys them? What if someone tells you that you are crazy for thinking that you could make a little money off your handiwork?". There is a slightly louder voice that says, "Jump!!!!!! What have you got to lose?"

Happy stitching!