Going on vacation

This will be my last blog until August 10-12. We are off on vacation. We have a wonderful rustic cottage in Northern Ontario that we spend some time at each summer. Our children, grandchildren and other family come to visit us while we are there. We have many lazy days and quiet nights. We have no telephone service and very few neighbors so it is wonderfully peaceful. The water is very cold but very refreshing. Most years the fishing is good. It is the one time of the year I indulge my joy of fishing and we usually catch our limit of bass and the odd pickerel (walleye). I love catching bass because they always give you a run for your money. I don't eat them but I do a big fish fry for the rest of the family who salivate while I pan fry them.

I have packed my stitching bag - well two bags - full of supplies and ideas. How many I will actually get done is anybody's guess but I do have two RR's to do. I hope to have some progress photos when I return.

Snowflakes

I have been working on snowflakes. My first snowflake was a freebie from Nordic Needle and my quick stitch is now into it's third day. The pattern was not very clear and much of it has been done by guess and by gosh. I have pulled it out many times. I am using a Danish flower thread and it frays very easily so I have had to use short pieces. Not my favorite stitch but I will persist until it is done. The second snowflake is a lovely snowflake from Silver Thaw Designs. It was a delight to stitch and done in an evening.

I have reposted the photo of Celtic Banner from my last blog in a separate post. Apparently, the link did not work. You will find it directly below this one.

Link for last blog

I don't know what the problem was with my Celtic Banner link so will try to do it again.

Some finishes!

This is the very first piece of cross stitch I ever did. I can't tell you where the pattern came from or the date. The saying under the striped cat is "You are what you eat." It was a very dusty piece hanging in obscurity, so I took it out of the frame, washed it and stitched it into a little pillow. The fabric on the back is black with little paw prints. New life for an old piece.

The two baby samplers are for my two new great nephews - Benjamin in April and Kody in July. The two mothers are sisters. They were stitched but waiting for names, dates etc. and they are now framed and ready to give to the new parents.

And last, but not least, my Celtic Banner finished and hanging on the wall. Barb, from our Thursday stitching group at Ann's came by and gave Beatrice and I her valuable assistance in backing and and finishing our banners.

If you look close you can see the painting I did in my kitchen. The cupboards are painted (this is the color I have chosen for Paradigm Lost), I painted the tiles on the blacksplash and painted my kitchen countertops. It is definitely an improvement.

A different kind of blog

I am going to write a different blog today. There will be no stitching updates. I wanted to share a very special little girl with you. This is my granddaughter Drew. Her photo was in our local paper today. She raised $420 to buy Canine kits for police dogs. She dyed her hair pink and then shaved it all off to raise $200 for cancer. She has also adopted ,through World Vision, a little girl from Africa. When her parents told her she was old enough to get an allowance she told them she did not need the money and wanted to use the money to adopt a little girl instead. Drew is an only child and on her maternal side is also an only grandchild and niece. She is one of the most giving and unselfish children I have ever known. I am not just bragging because she is my granddaughter. I just wanted to acknowledge how truly wonderful she is. I hope you agree.

Snowman Mitten

Here is the latest from the General Ornament Round Robin. This is Ursula Michael's Snowman Mitten from 2005 Just Cross Stitch. It was a pleasure to stitch. I love her snowmen. They always have such sweet faces and character. I am now finished with my round robins until the next one arrives in the mail. The debate becomes - what shall I pick up next? - my neglected wreath of flowers, my cursed Christmas tree or that blasted 18 count navy Christmas stocking. You can tell I am not really enthusiastic about any of them but they do need to be stitched. Maybe I can look for something new or maybe I should try this rotation business and that way I need only work on each one a short time.

A very special day

I have some good news to share. On Saturday evening , we added a new member to the family, a grea nephew. Kody was born to Michelle and Malachi weighing in at 6 lb. 8 oz. His big sister Maya is delighted. We are happy and proud to welcome him. You may remember the teddy bear and balloon baby sampler from my earlier posts. Now, we have all the necessary information to add to it.

I thought I would share with you my most special piece of cross stitch.

When my DH and I decided to full time RV for a couple of years our granddaughter Drew was worried what she was going to do without us. I did the Lavender and Lace Fairy Grandmother for her and her mother hung it over her bed. I told her anytime she needed me the fairy Grandmother would be there in my stead.

This piece also has a framing nightmare. When I took it to be framed in some small town, they were not conversant with needlework - unbeknownst to me. When I went to pick up the piece they had it framed up into the right hand corner and had cut off the tip of her bottom wing. They did not write down my instructions and made their own judgement as to how to frame it.

When I let them know that was not how I wanted it framed they said no problem. They would reframe it. A short time later I got a phone call saying they had ripped the fabric trying to remove it. I was devastated and stood in the middle of the store crying. Our only solution was to add the mauve mat and change the frame. When you look at her, you don't see that she is not framed properly and my granddaughter just loves her Fairy Grandmother. So, she is my favorite piece and my most heartbreaking as well.

Chrisanne's is done

This is Chrisanne's Instant Gratification RR. I stitched the sunflowers. I love the little bees with their smiles. I am on to my Ornament Round Robin. This one came with two to stitch in the package so I will be busy. Will post a progress report when I can.

Brides for the brides

Here are my brides. The left one was done for my DIL Julie when she and I my older son were married. It is a Lavender and Lace design - The Bride. The right one was done for my DIL Cindy when she married my younger son. It is Lavender and Lace designs - The Spring Bride. Both pieces were a labor of love. I have been very fortunate and think a great deal of both my DIL's. I am busily stitching away on Chrissanne's RR. No progress of note yet.

Saying goodbye to my Neighborhood

I have done all the work I can do for now. My round robin is in the envelope and ready for the mail tomorrow. I am strangely reluctant to let it go. I don't think I have ever spent so much time and thought on a piece before it became something. It is almost like giving birth to a child -(but not nearly as painful). I did a closeup of the boats as the other photo was not too clear. I feel at a loss for what to do next even though I have three round robin pieces sitting by my chair. I will get over it shortly I am sure and on to the next project.

Boats, borders and sunsets

Just a little progress report, as I change sheets and do laundry for our next set of visitors. We live in Canada for 6 months of the year and Arizona for the other six. When we are at home in Canada, we try to pack a whole year's living into that 6 months. So we get times when visitors come back to back. We do enjoy it but sometimes it is a little hectic and it cuts into my stitching time.

I worked on the border for my neighbourhood RR. I originally had picked a rope border. Well, I worked on it for days and did not like how it looked. I changed a couple of the colors and tried again. That did not look good either. Yesterday, I pulled it all out and changed it to this border. I like it much better and will try to get one corner done in the next five days. I have the pattern picked for the Gratification RR so will try to get a little done on that too.

I took these pictures a few days ago of the sunset from our front deck and thought I would share one with you.

Round Robin done

I am grabbing a few minutes while our guests are at church and DH is out for his daily run. Here is my finished Sweetheart Tree Round Robin piece for Autumn. This piece will go home to her and this round robin is done. I will miss working on them. On to the next project. I am working on the border for my lighthouses and I am not happy with it's look. I may change the border or leave it until it comes home.

Sweetheart Tree

I am currently working on a Sweetheart Tree piece for a round robin. This is the last piece I have to work on and this round robin is complete. I had such fun with this round robin. When I started I had never done a Sweetheart Tree piece and I was seriously intimidated. Now, I am more comfortable with the intricate stitches and actually enjoy the delicate work. I am working on the section below Marjean's name. I have a couple of rows of backstitching to add, my name, a row of herringbone then some more backstitching and it will be ready to mail back to it's owner.

I have had a couple of questions about the lighthouses that I would like to answer. The pattern for the lighthouse is from a series of 1997 Stony Creek magazines. There are 11 lighthouses in the series. I am going to use all 11 patterns for my round robin. There are 9 people in the round robin and I have 2 friends who are more than willing to do the last two light houses. I have down sized the patterns for the most of the lighthouses, since their average grid was 105 x 105, to make them workable for the members of the round robin. I plan to have this framed and hung in my bathroom. I always like to do a theme bathroom so guess what I am shopping for over the next 1 1/2 years that it will take to complete this. You got it - accessories, wall paper border etc to do a lighthouse bathroom. Yahoo - a new excuse to go shopping.

There will not be much on the blog front for the weekend. We have some visitors from Denver arriving today for three days so DH and I will be spending some quality time with them.

Mariner's Compass and Lighthouse complete

Long weekends are certainly great for stitching. I finished my lighthouse including all the backstitching. I did the mariner's compass I wanted to include. I rebasted some of my blocks as the thread was pulling loose. I found the verse in an online thesaurus and thought it suited the piece. So, here are the photos of the lighthouse, the compass, the saying, the space for names and the overall piece. I will work on the border a bit since I have about 10 days before I have to put it in the mail. The border is a rope design. I really need to learn more about posting photos. They are all over the place. Oh, well, maybe next time.