Ahhh - cottage country

Ahh, cottage country

We have arrived at our beautiful, isolated cottage in Northern Ontario. Leo and I stopped and picked up our two grandsons and headed out last week. Leo's brother, wife and 2 grandchildren arrived at the cottage at the same time.
Blogger is being a pain and won't allow me to place the photos. I hope you can put the right pictures with the right words. This is my third attempt - sorry I just couldn't get them to move.

On the drive up we saw field after field of yellow. I have never seen so much canola and all in bloom. What a lovely sight it was.

We have had a wonderful week withour grandchildren. Lots of fun and laughter, and lots of bathing suits and towels.
What do you do when the clotheslines are full. You start hanging them on the deck railings lol.
The view, as you can see, is spectacular, the water is warm and the grandchildren are laughing lots. What more could you want.
Oh, maybe a stitching picture or two.

Ok - here they are.

 First, I stitched on Jardin Prive - I completed the house and the section above it.

Second, I completed W and X on the Alphabet Zoo Sampler for my friend Carolyn.
Third, my first Band Sampler RR arrived in the mail and I contributed the yellow bands. Joanne wants a rainbow Rr and so we are following the colors of the rainbow. I stitched a section from Sweetheart Tree "To Have and Hold Sampler" and a row from Just Nan's Floral Bouquet. I used WDE Squash, Marigold and Carries Creations Lemon. What pretty colors they were to use. I hope she likes my contribution.
Fourth, I started a new piece. Doesn't a holiday mean a new start LOL.
I started my Christmas ABC Sampler that I have dragged around forever. I swapped out the aida for evenweave and started with the letter O - ornament. I haven't gotten very fat - with the grandkids I do a lot of stitch two - get them a drink, stitch two - get them a snack - stitch on - I want some lunch, stitch two- GRAMMA - I want to go swimming in the lake. I'm sure you get the picture.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Until next time - I've seen lots of lily pads and not a single frog. I hope they have not hopped to your house instead.

Fly-by Post

Hi everyone.
Thank you all for you so kind messages. It has been a very difficult time for us and I appreciate your words. Paul was a very dear friend - one of those people you loved the minute you met and he will be a great loss to this world. He has left behind 4 beautiful children, lots of grandkids and his wonderful gift of laughter.

Before I left to go to the funeral, I managed to finish up the pillow shams to match my parent's quilt. There were no large pieces left - just enough for the backs - and so they became patchwork shams.

In the car, traveling (1200 miles one way) to south west Kansas, I finished up the finishing on my
Seasonal Exchange and the stitching on my Fair and Square Exchange. I cannot show them until they have been received so you will have to wait for those pictures.

Beatrice came to spend the day with me shortly after I got home. She and I entered my sewing room at 10 a.m. and except for a lunch break did not leave until 5 p.m. Leo said every time he went by the room all he could hear was " YAK, YAK, YAK "  Sewing and quilting does take lots of discussion lol.
I made a Kindle cover for my DIL

and Beatrice showed me how to make project bags.  The bag I made is a gift and so - when it is received  - I will post it. You can see the bag she made for me in a previous post.
We worked on her quilted piano cover and the sashing and borders on a quilted wall hanging she was doing. It was a wonderful day spent with a best friend.

When I was at Knowledge and Needles for our regular stitch in, one of our stitchers, Bernie, gave us all a wonderful handmade ort container. Isn't it cute!

I received the next Mirabilia RR and added my square. I stitched Tigerlily. What a beautiful RR this is and how unique the shapes are. It is now packaged and ready for mailing.

Oh, and look - some new stash - Mystic Dragon II from an online friend, Eastern Seaboard Sampler from Karen and some purchases from Rachel who is destashing to my benefit.

I will be leaving tomorrow to spend 3 weeks at our cottage in Northern Ontario. It is a lovely spot on a lake way off the beaten track. There is no phone service and the cell phones work intermittently. I am hoping to have lots of time to relax and I plan a serious case of stitcher's butt!! There is no internet but I will go into town once a week to check my email.


Until I return to the fold, I hope you all have plenty of lovely stitches and the only frogs you find are in the local ponds.

In sorrow

Leo and I lost a dear friend Monday. We are out of town until mid next week to attend his funeral. I will update my blog when I can.

TUSAL, and some little stitches

Here is my poor frog after this month's TUSAL. He informed me that he is very unhappy with me overstuffing him like that and would appreciate it if I could find a new home for my orts. I am giving him indigestion. I have informed him that he is a frog, he cannot speak and therefore I don't see a problem.

My threads are from many assorted projects this past month. I flitted from one to another.

My friend Bonnie sent me this link. I believe it is "gazette 94".  I thought to myself - now that's a quick stitch - can do this in a couple of days. RIGHT! 4 days later - here is my finished biscornu! And what do you know - it has lighthouses on it.
It is stitched on a piece of 32 count blue opalescent from a Zweigart grab bag.

I finished the second I Spy Quilt for Grandson #2 - Hunter. He loves dinosaurs and therefore he  loved the back almost as much as the front. He is visiting for the week and when I tuck him in at night we play I Spy before light's out. That alone is worth the work involved in his quilt.

I am also working on the shams for my parent's quilt. Not quite sure how this is going to lay out so I'm playing with ideas.

I am working on a couple of exchanges at the moment and therefore have no other stitches to show.

To all my Canadian Friends ----- HAPPY CANADA DAY

To all my U.S. Friends----------HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

To all my other friends around the world------HAPPY DAY IN YOUR PART OF THE WORLD TOO!!

I love this photo  - The Pfeiffer clan celebrating Canada Day!!



Until next time, keep the frog out of your threads and in his own pond.

Lighthouses Abound

As you know, I have been up to my ears in paint. Here are the photos of the finished guest room. I used a grey wash on the walls.

The center attraction is my framed lighthouse RR. The framer did a wonderful job and I am very happy with it.

Scattered around the room are gifts from many of my stitching friends - lighthouse goodies. My father made the boat shelf. On the bed is my Hello Neighbor RR made into a cushion. I think of you all when I enter this room. Would you like to come and stay for a bit?

We had a lovely visit with our friends and my parent's quilt is finished. The quilter did an amazing job. Each block has a flower in the corner and small leaves in between. The outside sashing has larger leaves  (family tree). This is my left handprint on the quilt.  I did the left hand for myself and my two left handed nieces. The top section has my parent's dates, their original wedding photo and a photo of the entire family taken last summer. My friend and I sewed on the binding while visiting. She taught me how to do a proper blind stitch and I am so much happier with this hem.

I won Joy's 6th blogaversary recently and this is the wonderful package she sent in the mail. The fabric is gorgeous, the threads just so delicious and fondleable (is that a word? LOL) and the Just Nan design - just perfect. It was on my wishlist. I am trying hard to resist picking it up until Fairies are done. And the tea towel - isn't that just so cool.

Thank you so much Joy for your generous gifts. 

I did all the back stitching in the latest section of the Fairies. I love how the fairies just pop from the design with a little outline.

I picked up my Jardin Prive and stitched away. I stitched that bleeping little bird at the top three times before I got it in the right place.

I added the beads to my Band Sampler RR and pulled out the pink row and changed it to light blue. I could just feel that pink glaring at me saying "I don't belong"

Finally, I have read through 265 blog posts. As you can imagine, I did not comment - my eyes were crossing just reading everyone's adventures. You all continue to amaze me with your skill and beautiful choices.
I will try to be a better commenter!

My DH has gone away for the weekend to do some work at our cottage. A couple of stitching friends are coming to stay for the weekend. Will hopefully have lots of stitching progress to show.
Until then, keep those x's crossed and may the counter-stitching frog find some other pond to swim in.

And life continues it's crazy path,......

I know it has been two weeks since my last post. I have been busy working on my new house.
I have finished the front garden finally. Here is the overgrown front yard before

Here it is now.

I painted the guest bedroom - 4 days - 2 coats to repaint a mint green ceiling and  3 coats of paint on the walls. Photos to follow in next blog post. I got my lighthouse RR back today and it will be featured in the new room.

We had a new back door installed in our kitchen. The previous door let in no light whatsoever. Isn't it just the prettiest door!

I went away for 4 days stitching with my buddies - Beatrice, Anne, Dani, Christin, Barb, Clare, Rebecca, Sylvia, Bonnie and our wonderful hostess Sheila. It was beautiful, peaceful and so restful. We ate too much, laughed too much, stitched a lot and enjoyed each other's company to the utmost. I developed a serious case of stitcher's butt and loved every minute of it. You can also see photos and stories of this wonderful weekend on my buddie's blogs.

Here is Christin - stitching

Here is Dani stitching - oh wait, she's texting with her stitching on her lap

Sylvia is sampling the food.

Ann and Rebecca stitching away.

Clare, Sylvia and Sheila stitching like crazy. Can you smell the smoking needles???

I am joining a new band sampler RR and I plotted out and got the bands done on my RR. These are bands from Parlor Ribbons by Just Nan. I have some beads to sew on. It doesn't look like a lot but believe you me some of those stitches were very tricky and were ripped out more than once.

I picked up Fairies in the Garden and did another chuck on it. I have now finished this page and will be starting on the back stitching. With this one I have been backstitching as I finish a page. I didn't want to face all that at the end. One more page to go!

I also completed a secret stitch.

Our granddaughter is studying for her exams and calls for one of us to go get her because she wants some company. We drop everything and go.
We have friends visiting for 5 days.
What can I say - it is summer time and it is so brief, we try to grab every minute of it.

My google reader has over 250 posts. I will do my best to get them read as soon as I can. I will try to comment as I catch up.

And oh yeah ----------- Canada Post is on strike. I have one RR in the mail to Arizona, one of the way to me and goodness know what else caught in this ridiculous strike. How very frustrating! Let's hope the strike is short lived.

Until next time, enjoy your summer breezes - it just goes so fast.

Hugs to all