Why is it so quiet?

With Jackson back home with his parents, Dh and I have settled into our regular (boring) life again.
We had 9 for dinner Monday, dinner for 8 Tuesday and a couple of overnight guests. The rest of the week was very quiet.

I took full advantage of it.

Here is Jenn's Mirabilia RR finished and ready for mailing.


I chose an angel from Crystal Christmas. I love this piece so much I may have to stitch it for myself.

I started and finished this piece except for the back stitching in three days.


It is called Charlie's Ark. Once I back stitch it, you will be able to tell that it is a little boy with a stuffed animal under each arm. It is the second of two baby pieces I wanted to do.
I spent late Friday, all Saturday and all Sunday watching episodes of Stargate SG-1 and stitching.
In my mailbox today was a lovely gift. I won Chris blogaversary and this sweet package arrived in the mail.
The card appears to be hand made. The kit is just too cute.


The scissor fob, scissor keeper and needle book are just gorgeous. They are perfectly stitched and beautifully finished. Thank you so much Chris. They are a treasure that I will enjoy for many years.

This weekend is a stitching weekend at my home. My DH is away male bonding and I take advantage of the time to do a little female bonding. There will be a few overnight guests and many pop in guests over the 3 day weekend. When you have needle in hand this weekend, think of us and we will feel that you have joined us in a stitch along.

Fancy and frog free this week lol.

Laughter heals the soul

What a week this has been!

We had our grandson, Jackson for a week's visit. He is off to school next week for the first time and we wanted some quality time with him before his life changes.


Our Jackson is all about his Poppa so I don't often come into play except as a source of food and clean clothes. However, his Poppa was busy one afternoon and we had a great time. I let him pick the schedule.
We went to the local store to buy a Matchbox car, then to the train station to watch the trains - 3 came by, then to visit his Uncle Bob at his job, then to Dairy Queen for a chocolate dipped cone and then the Splash Park for an hour or two. This necessitated driving all over the city and retracing our steps several times but he was having a great time and I was enjoying his undivided attention.
We came home to pizza for dinner and then it was Poppa for bedtime. DH took him back home to his parents Saturday.

Saturday and Sunday was Ann at Knowledge and Needles annual open house. What a great time we had. We were about 30 stitchers over the two days.

There was a great deal of food, a great deal of laughter, a large showcase of finished pieces and some small amount of stitching. Since DH was out of town, I packed up my pj's and spent the night at Ann's with some of the out of town guests. Ann's husband, Dan, made French toast and bacon on Sunday morning. It was divine.
I borrowed a couple of photos from Dani's blog. For other great shots check out Dani, Christin, Beatrice and Ann's blogs.

In this photo you will see Beatrice and mine finished Paradigm Lost.

We added fabric to them and made them into table centerpieces. We had to learn to make mitred corners and that caused lots of discussion and finally success.

My stitching progress for the week - Baby Shoes is down to the back stitching and adding the name.

My Mira RR piece is well on it's way - This is one of the little people from Crystal Christmas. What fun it is - lots of beads and some Kreinik.



I have a request. One of the ladies in our stitching circle is looking for a pattern from some magazines. They are spread over more than one magazine and with all her hunting she has had no success. I told her I would put it out there and see what happens. If you can help her please contact me.
She is looking for

Cross Stitch Collection - Lazy Days in Cotswold - Issue 88 and 89
Victorian Street Scene - Issue 97, 98 and 99

Please pass the word around. We would appreciate any help.

I want to thank everyone for your kind words, prayers and warm hugs. They are so much appreciated. We are on hold as we wait for further appointments before any decisions are made.
It is tough to wait but stitching, family and friends make the waiting easier. Thank you.

Sometimes it's hard to sparkle

Hello one and all. This has been a very difficult few days for me. We have had some family news that is tough to deal with. I am not ready to share yet, but perhaps later.
My stitching and blogging urge went out the window.
My dearest BFF, Beatrice has done everything she can to help me through this. She spent all day Saturday and a good part of Monday with me and we did some finishing. One piece we cannot share with you until after Ann's (Knowledge and Needles) Open House this weekend.

I can show you

Finished Apple Tin Pincushion.

Finished Boo Lighthouse.
This will hang in my lighthouse bathroom.

And the view on the lake this weekend.

A little sailing regatta with their colorful sails full of wind. There were about 15 sailboats but they just wouldn't all fit in the frame.

Until next time, happy stitching everyone!

Baby shoes

Hello one and all. Hope the weather is treating you well. Me - it's just rain, rain, rain and more rain!
I am so tired of it all. Our 14 days at the cottage included 11 days of rain and we get home Saturday, well it rains Sunday and it's raining today. Okay, complaint department is closed.
There is one beautiful result from all that rain.

This gorgeous rainbow above the shed at the cottage. It almost makes up for the rain.

For those of you who are following the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pattern - it is finished and ready to move on. Go add your name at www.itsdaffcat.blogspot.com.

I had two lovely packages in my mail when I returned.

Here are my beautiful Fair Squares from Daniela in Finland.

They are an adaption of a Mon Ami Pierre design. Aren't they wonderful!

My next RR for the Mirabilia RR was in the mail too. This belongs to Jenn.

I love it. Jenn wants children or fairies on this one. I have the pattern all picked out, just need to pull the threads.

And here is my meager start on a baby sampler for my new nephew, Owen.

There is so much white on white, I am struggling to see where I am and of course, it doesn't photograph well. Here's a photo of the kit. I am, of course, doing the blue in the bottom right corner.


On a personal note, I am very excited today. We have some very good friends from Rogers, Arkansas arriving today for a visit. This will be their first trip to Canada and we are looking forward to showing them some of our beautiful country.

There are over 400 posts in my google reader on my return. Please be patient with me as I work my way through them and comment where I can. Please be assured that I am checking up on all your beautiful works even if I do not comment.

Till next time, may all your stitches lay straight.

Family time at the cottage

Hi one and all.

First, I want to say a big thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post. I did not realize so many of you had watched my Noddy progress. I was astonished and oh so flattered by all your nice comments. It still seems strange not to have that piece in my stitching bag. It is washed and ironed and ready to be handed to the owner next week.

I took a break from large pieces this week and did a couple of small things that were in my bag.

First up, is a Pie Tart pincushion from BH&G Cross Stitch 1993 - it doesn't look like much now but will when I put it in a little tart tin with all the trimmings. There were a great many half and quarter stitches in this one.
Then I stitched a little gift that my BFF Beatrice had given me when I got home in the spring.
It is Lighthouse Boo Quilt from Hand Blessings Patterns on 28 count blue Jobelean.


I received word from Daniela from Finland that she has received my Round 14 Fair Squares. Daniela had her trusty bicycle stolen just before I received her name and so I stitched her this little bicyle in remembrance.

We are at our cottage in Northern Ontario and the weather has not co-operated. We have had a great deal of rain. We spent several days touring the area for a way to pass the time.
Here is a photo of DH with DS and his family at the Miner's Memorial in Kirkland Lake.


I am, of course, not in the photo cause I'm taking the picture. I tease my family that I am never on vacation with them cause I'm always behind the camera and not in front.

Here is photo of my little grandson Hunter picking wild blueberries. I just couldn't resist adding this one. He is just so cute!

This past holiday weekend we had a family get together at the cottage. There were trailers and tents everywhere in the yard. Some of my extensive family read my blog and so I have posted this photo for them here.
Here is most of the group with the exception of little Joey who did not want his photo taken and Jocelynne and Mark who left just before the photo.Check out my grandson, Jackson in the back making a face LOL! With a quartet of visitors plus the family we were 37 for the weekend. It was a fun time with lots of laughter. I am a big fan of family and to have us all together warmed my heart. I consider myself very lucky to have such family.

Till next time, please stay safe and dry. Oh, and a prayer for the end of all this rain and black skies would be nice.

Keep those needles flying!!!

45,000 Stitches = HAPPY DANCE

It is done. 45,000 stitches and two years later, on July 26th at 8:10 p.m. I put the last stitches in Noddy.

It was a long haul, not always fun but there is a great sense of completion now.

I am on vacation at our cottage deep in the bush of Northern Ontario until August 9th. Internet will be very sporadic but will check in when I can get in to town to the local library. We have our youngest son and his family with us for the first week. Assorted cousins and their families will be arriving with trailers and tents for the August long weekend. It should be a lot of fun.
The second week will be a more restful time with Leo's brother and his wife sharing some time with us. They have a new grandson born in Victoria, B.C. last week and so Leo and I have a new great nephew - welcome Owen Cooper!! and yes, that means another baby sampler. Now that Noddy is done I can start stitching the sampler.

A special thank you to Vonna for all her encouragement when I struggled to find the incentive to stitch on Noddy. Her quirky comments always made me smile and pick up my stitching again.

Well folks - our typical summer - another day of rain - and so we have all piled into the van are off to Kirkland Lake on a "road trip".

Till next time - keep those needles smoking everyone.

Emerald Mermaids and animals galore

Hello every one.
It looks like summer has finally come to the area. We have had a few days of wonderful sunshine and warm weather. We still get rain but just enough to send a busy stitcher scrambling to take her clothes off the line and drape them all over the house like some madwoman who couldn't decide where to hang her belongings. No, photos are not included lol.
It has been a very busy week socially. I have not had to cook a supper since Monday. Hurrah!!
We did Christmas in July with some friends this week that caused lots of hilarity. I did a Red Hat Luncheon with Beatrice this week and then to friends for a BBQ. Friday, it was golf day for DH. I joined him for supper at the golf course. Saturday we spent with our son Bob and his family and they BBQ'd dinner. Sunday we arrived at the grandsons and their parent's home to stay for a week. They cooked dinner and so the week has gone without having to make a single supper. Now, who can I visit next week so I don't have to cook again. Any volunteers?
On the stitching front, it has been a busy Mirabilia week.
I stitched Emerald Mermaid
on Deb's beautiful fabric. This is my first addition to the Mirabilia Round Robin. It was a great stitch. And the beads - I was surprised at how many beads there were in this small section - 30x70 stitches. I used invisible thread and that had me cursing at times. I love how it turned out. Deb has let me know she approves. I am looking forward to the next piece arriving.

Noddy has gotten some serious work. I completed the dog, cow, pig, boat, the blue sky and since the photo was taken completed the ostrich. And that pig, he is lucky I didn't make him into bacon when I discovered he was in the wrong place, after finished, and I had to tear him out and do him again. When I was out visiting this week, the owner of Noddy presented me with a substantial gift certificate to Knowledge and Needles to thank me for all my work. Now, the push is really on to finish it. I am hoping to have it done by the beginning of August.
We are at our youngest son's house for the week looking after our two grandsons as their daycare is on vacation. It will take Leo and I together to handle two very active, noisy, busy little guys. Thank goodness we are off the clock when their parents get home at 4 p.m. Let's hope the weather stays nice as they have a lovely pool in the backyard to help keep them occupied.
That's all for this week. Keep stitching everyone.