Jan 5/18

Blogger is agreeing with me tonight so here are the photos that I tried to upload last night. The first wall hanging was done with the contents of the Janlynn kit.

The second one was stitched on a scrap of Monaco that I had in my stash. I could not find a hanger at our local craft shop but they had these painted wooden craft sticks (20 for less than 3 bucks) so I grabbed a bag of the sticks along with some bells.

The kit did not have any backing material and I felt that the hanger looked unfinished without any backing so I slip stitched the hanger to felt that I cut with my new Olfa cutter (so fun!!). The picture does not show the sparkle in the felt very well. I thought that the sparkle, although hidden unless one has flipped over the piece, gave the hanger a fun element.

Cardinals are my favourite birds and I had several pairs at my feeders and gardens when I lived in the neighbouring province of New Brunswick. They are slowly making their way to this area as I have heard that they make regular appearances in the next town over. I have yet to see one here at my feeder although I think that I may have had a female cardinal at the feeder over the weekend. Some people say that seeing a cardinal means that an angel is visiting you. I don't necessarily believe that, but the romantic in me is not quick to discount it either.

Happy stitching!

Dec 17/17

I finished the piece on the left tonight. The piece on the right is from the Dimensions kit titled "Cardinal Joy" with 14 count Aida and threads from the kit. The piece on the left is on 28 count white Monaco with some threads from the kit and many others from my scrap thread bag. Now, onto the washing of the pieces tonight before I go to bed and maybe finishing them tomorrow. They will be sent to my longtime penpals who live in Norway and Sweden once I return from my Christmas visit home.

In other news, the puppy has struck again. We are now up to 1 phone card, two pairs of sandals and 1 library book that have been replaced. Fortunately, the librarian was good humoured about it and told me to just buy a replacement copy.

The puppy is most fortunate that she is both cute and amusing as these replacement costs mount! When she is not pestering her big canine sister, she is wrestling with and chasing the cats around the house. Yesterday, she jumped onto the back of a child who was enjoying our recent snow falls at the local sliding hill and took a trip down the hill. What a little card!

I doubt that I will get much more stitching done this week as I try to get ready to head to my mother's for a Christmas visit. There are gifts to wrap, work shifts to get through, gifts to exchange with friends and co-workers, laundry and packing and possibly another visit to the doctor for the results of the repeat chest x-ray that I had done on Saturday. I have pulled a muscle from coughing and 5 weeks later, I still have a very wet, congested cough so my doctor is trying to figure out what the heck is going on. It is frustrating because I am barely able to visit with friends or get more than 1 or 2 things done per day. A close family friend recently had heart surgery and I may not be able to visit with her at the nursing home because of this awful cough. Anyhow, I will recover. I just need to be patient!

Happy stitching and happy holidays!

Nov 26/17

There are some signs of life out of me. We went to the grocery store this afternoon because the cupboards were bare and the fella' did not want to brave the grocery store on his own for a long list of items. I took forever to go from aisle to aisle and the fella' had most of the groceries packed in the car by the time I made it from the store. The small victories can mean so much.

Here is a photo of our new puppy with Maggie in the background. This was taken last week when getting out of bed was akin to climbing a mountain. The easiest way to supervise Tillie, the puppy, was to keep her in bed with me. She is a mutt although we strongly suspect that Australian shepherd may be her breed. She has two speeds: a million miles a minute and stone cold asleep. We are constantly trying to find new games for her to keep her busy and to stop her from chewing on things that we would prefer she not chew like my phone charging cords.

I picked up my needle the other day and started to stitch during the moments when I was out of bed and feeling energetic enough to stitch. Here is the second version of this cardinal kit. I can usually make 2-3 versions of the Dimensions kits with the leftover threads from the kit, adding in threads from previous Dimensions kits when needed. The fabric is 28 count Monaco from my stash.

While watching a movie this evening, I closed up the backs of the CADPAT bibs as one of them needs to go into the mail soon. After two weeks on not being able to do anything beyond walk to the back door to let the dogs out to pee, getting even the littlest thing accomplished feels awesome. I still have a long way to go as I learned when I went upstairs to fold the four loads of laundry that had piled up. Walking up a flight of stairs and folding sheets should not have left me winded.

Enough whining from me. I hope that you all are well and are happily stitching away as the holiday season arrives!

Nov 12/17

The fella' was watching the Leafs play the Bruins on Hockey Night in Canada last night when I came back from a chilly walk with the dog so I pulled out this piece to put in a few more back stitches. All the remains now is the brown that frames the cardinal and the french knots.

Just a short update today as we are leaving a few minutes to go pick up our newest member of our household, the cutest little miss Tillie!

Happy Sunday!

Nov 8/17

Hold the presses! There has been some back stitching done on this piece. Only a few strands have been stitched but it is back stitching nonetheless.

From what I have read on the various facebook groups about cross stitch, it would appear that back stitching is either greatly disliked or greatly loved by those who post in those groups. Me, I love back stitching as I love watching the piece grow and become more alive under my fingers. I have never been good with a paintbrush and paint so I view cross stitch as my painting with back stitching being the last bits of shading and definition.

Well, it is off to bed for me as I need to be up a few minutes earlier so that I can get a flu shot from my doctor before I start my work day.

Happy stitching!

Nov 6/17

The progress on this piece mimicks my return to health.....super slow! I am still coughing two months later and my energy levels are low. It is frustrating because I can barely get anything done around the house before I have to stop and recharge. The fella' is not one to notice when the house is disgusting and grungy and he has been quite sick as well so our house is barely presentable.

Anyhow, enough complaining about something that will eventually pass. Here is the update on the Dimensions hanger that is taking forever to stitch:

The back stitching and french knots should be done a few days after Christmas, at this rate.

In other news, we are adopting a puppy. While we were crashed out in bed while on vacation, a friend posted photos of puppies that she is fostering for a rescue group. Long story short, we met the puppies, introduced our Maggie to the puppies, filled out the application and paid the fee for little miss Tillie who will be coming home to us on Sunday, November 12. Never a dull moment around this house with two cats, a dog and now a puppy!

Happy stitching and good health to you all!

Oct 25/17

As you can see, a few more stitches have been done on this cute little hanger. There is still a lot of coughing and tiredness as this chest cold lingers on, but I am plugging away at getting back to normal by walking the dog further each day and putting a few stitches into this piece. Well, it is off to bed for me.

Happy stitching!

Oct 22/17

Despite the coughing coming from both me and the fella', I am putting in a few stitches here and there.

I do not have much energy, but I am trying to keep working away at the house work, laundry and dog walking to avoid the slovenly conditions I found when I emerged from my bed a few days ago. The fella' just is not bothered by grime like I am so, well, no need to go into great detail, but I have been wandering around with a cleaning rag always in my hand to both clean and disinfect this house. He does try to keep up with the dishes and laundry so I will give him credit for that and he has a weak stomach so I understand why he avoids the kitty litter boxes, but he somehow can not see dirty hand prints (his) on these white walls of our cozy PMQ.

Well, time to hang out the laundry on this glorious and, oddly, warm October day before taking the dog out to enjoy some sunshine.

Happy stitching!

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!