January 9, 2017

We had over 40cm of snow between Saturday afternoon and Sunday night. I was knee deep out on the walk way when we went out to shovel out our vehicles and Maggie would not leave the deck to go pee until we had shovelled some of the walkway! For such a transient neighbourhood where sometimes it seems almost like we get new neighbours on a weekly basis, we have a great bunch of people who help each other out. We have shared driveways here and our new neighbour was surprised when she looked out to see us clearing the driveway with another neighbour who has a snowblower. She could not come out to help as her two little kids were napping so we cleared the driveway and dug out her vehicle. My fella' went on to help another neighbour before the snowblower moved onto that driveway.

Once we were done with the shovelling, we spent the day watching movies and I stitched. Here is another pinterest pattern in the series that I am stitching. I have been searching for more patterns in a similar style as I only have one more in the snowflake style and I was hoping to make a dozen.

Today we are back to normal although the schools are closed because of road conditions and there are delays all over the place. I just finished cleaning up the driveway from the plough going by this morning and from us cleaning off the roofs of our vehicles!

January 7, 2017

For some reason, my non-morning person brain went from 0 to 100 at 7am when I rolled over this morning so I came downstairs to have a coffee, stitch and watch the first episode of season 7 of "Sons of Anarchy", my current tv show obsession. I finished the backstitching on the piece on the right and started the piece on the left. My fella' woke up about one and a half episodes later and came downstairs at 8:30am which is sleeping in to his morning person brain. A nor'easter was forecast for later on today so I took advantage of the gorgeous morning to strap on my new snow shoes and to take Maggie out for a walk in the woods. A light flurry had started by the time we came home at noon and has slowly progressed to the blurring of the world through my window at midnight. All in all, it was a good day to relax and stitch, Tomorrow, we shovel!

January 6, 2017

Another pinterest pattern on the go this Friday night. I started it last night during the Junior World Hockey Championship gold medal game that saw Canada losing to the USA and continued stitching on it this lazy Friday night. The weather forecast this weekend is full of snow so the piece should be stitched up quickly along with a few others. I am loving the colour combination and the beauty of the filigree look, so much so that I have up to 10 different patterns pinned to my pinterest boards with the intention of doing a series of these designs. Happy stitching this weekend!

January 4, 2017

The stitching juggernaut continues! There are several similar designs pinned up on my pinterest board so you may see variations on a theme with these snowflakes and Christmas balls in future blog entries. I like the simplicity and elegance of these designs with the basic outline in cross stitches and the beautiful back stitching to bring the design to life. Pinterest has been an on and off thing for me with a recently renewed interest now that I am finding all kinds of interesting and beautiful ornament designs. I am like a kid in a candy store when I review my pins.....so many designs to stitch and so little time!

January 3, 2017

Today was my regular day off from work and because we have both been home since December 30th, we have been able to take care of several of those little projects around the house that only take a few minutes, but never seem to get done. The outside Christmas decorations and lights came down and were stored away. Christmas cards were put away because I keep cards that are sent to me although I did re-purpose one of them into the red gift tags seen here. I used the gift tag on the right as a template to cut out the shape and a hole punch to make the hole.

Then, I moved onto finishing this ornament wreath that I had made recently. I was going to put a ribbon through the wreath itself to better camouflage the wire, but I was not able to manipulate the wire ribbon in such a way that I was happy with the result so I re-positioned a few bulbs instead to hide the wire. Making bows is something that I have never attempted before so this bow is my first! I used a snowflake patterned white ribbon and a twist tie to make the bow along with several passes at plumping the ribbon to look full while hiding the twist tie.

This piece was finished late last night, too late for a blog update. I did not get around to washing it today or thinking any further about how it will be finished.

A Christmas ornament that I had stitched before Christmas was partially finished today. While I was waiting for the glue to set on part of it, I started stitching on this ornament that I found on pinterest recently. The fabric is a 28 count amber coloured linen and the threads are from my mystery thread box.

My computer is telling my that is 10:07pm and 6:30am is going to come early after being off for most of the Christmas break and such a productive day that also included a hike in the woods with our Maggie and a loss at curling tonight. Ciao!

January 2, 2017

The tail of the momma cat just needs a few more stitches that I was too tired last night to stitch. The back stitching on this piece is fairly minimal so hopefully the stitching on this piece will be completed this evening while we hunker down on the dark and cold January night. My Canadian version of the Danish hygge is to curl up on the couch with my guy and to wait for Maggie, our black Lab, to wiggle her way in between us. We usually have an herbal tea to ward off the chilly night while I stitch away and my guy watches TV.

I am still undecided as to whether I will make this into a quilted wall hanging or perhaps stretch it over a canvas or a piece of plywood to hang on the wall. More to follow!

January 1, 2017

Very little stitching was done today as we went to watch "Rogue One", the latest Star Wars movie. Instead, I present my ort jar for posterity and to ask what other people do with their scraps and bits while stitching. I like to keep my bits until either the current project is complete or the jar is full. Perhaps it is a sign of minor hoarding or a measure of accomplishment. I love emptying the jar and starting over. I also love to look over to see the colours and textures in the jar as it fills with the scraps.

I have almost completed the stitching on the three cats piece and will post my progress on that tomorrow. The final finishing is still undecided despite my determination to see projects through to completion. Completion is something I struggle with which has resulted in a box of stitched pieces that need finishing. My not-resolution to completely finish some pieces this year!