Home at Last - sort of

We have arrived safely back in Ontario. We are staying with our son and his family until Sunday and then will move back to our home.

When we leave for the winter, we winterize the house, turn off the propane, the water and the electricity. I empty all the cupboards and the refrigerator and we take anything that will freeze to Beatrice for the winter. When we first arrive home, we have to turn all these back on and give the house time to return to some kind of warmth. That time also allows us to spend time with our sweet granddaughter since they live about 15 minutes from us.

We had a great trip home. We stopped in Denver to visit with some friends we met RVing several years ago. They always find some cool place to take us when we stop by. Our friends took us to the little town of Evergreen - really rustic and very cool. We went to a barbershop quartet performance at one of the local high schools in the evening. When I first heard barbershop I kind of rolled my eyes but they were more a men's chorale group with some barbershop quartet pieces and they were very professional. The voices were incredible and we really enjoyed it.

Next stop was Guthrie Center, Iowa where we visited for a few days. The guys did their thing and my friend Joann and I explored a beautiful quilt shop and did lunch. The next day we did a little drivng around the countryside and had to check out the baby chicks at the local feed store. They are DH's favorite thing to see when we are there.

I was sweating when we crossed the border because the van was full to the roof and we were over our import allowance but they barely even looked at us!!! The border agent probably took one look at the overstuffed van and decided she wanted no part of even opening a door LOL.

Our granddaughter spent this Friday with us and helped us unload everything into our house. I have been unpacking the last two days and almost everything is in it's place. It is amazing that all my cross stitch supplies disappeared into their assigned places without too much overflow. We will move back in on Monday. After buying food to fill the cupboards and the fridge we should be at home.

One nice thing about so many days in the car is the amount of time I could spend stitching. Check out all my progress!

Paradigm

A full page of Book of Stitches

Finished Part 1 of Periphaeria Spanish Mystery Sampler

And I even put some time in on Noddy and friends. We now have a mountain and a houseboat!

I also managed some time on a mystery stitch to be displayed one day. Amazing what 2700 miles in a van will do for your stitching time.

I arrived home Thursday afternoon and found time to attend a needlework show in Kingston on Saturday. I went with some of the Thursday stitchers and did lots of catching up. I saw some other stitchers I knew there (Christin, Carrie, Wendy and Marie Paul) Ann from Knowledge and Needles had a large display set up at the show and Dani was her assistant. I bought a few JBW designs from Ann's booth.And I found all these wonderful hand dyed threads from New Zealand. Barb, Dani and I tried to buy out all the colors. We were so in love with all the beautiful colors. Check them out. Well, that's all for now. I know this is a photo intensive entry but I just could not decide what to leave out. Till next time - keep on stitching!

Hello and see you soon

Good day everyone. This has been one busy week.

A little background - DH and I are Canadians who live in Ontario, Canada on Lake Ontario. Come late October when the rain starts to fall, the leaves start to drop and the wind starts to blow, we pack up our tent and move to Arizona for the winter. When the neighborhood starts to empty and the temperatures climb into the 100's, we head back home.

Many of our friends have folded their tents and headed back to their homes in B.C., Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Missouri and other places across Canada and the U.S. We have said goodbye every day for the past 9 days with either a "Happy Hour", supper out or a "Must Go"(everything left must go) party.It is hard on the diet to eat out so often. We ladies had to do our last minute shopping (every day for the past week) and do our last lunch out (more than once).

We are now getting ready to fold our tent and hit the road. We have 25 cardboard boxes, 3 large Rubbermaid totes and a myriad of other stuff to stash in between all this containers. Our van will be loaded to the roof as always. We are leaving here on Thursday and will be home in Ontario by the 24th. We are making a stop in Denver and again in Guthrie Center, Iowa to visit with some friends. We will travel approximately 2800 miles in seven days. My rear will be quite square by the time I finally get out of the van!!

On the stitching front, I did make some progress between packing boxes and all the other things that happened this past week.

I finished this large motif on page 6. I stayed up until midnight to get it done and rewarded myself by staying up even longer to do the small motif and the little elephant as my reward.

Here is my ornament for April - Partidge and Pear by Prairie Schooler from the Just Cross Stitch Ornament magazine 2005. I ended up doing two because a friend is a partridge collector and just had to have one. I will give it to her once I make it into an ornament.

I am amazed that I have managed to stick with an ornament a month to this date.

I am also working on my Swedish weaving afghan and will share a photo next time. My stitching bag will travel with me in the car and I hope to get some things done as we venture down the road.

I will probably not blog again until we get home. Internet on the road is always iffy.

I will leave you with a couple of photos that I took this week of the cactus in bloom. We don't often see blooms. You need an extra amount of rain for this to happen. I think this is the second time in 6 years we have seen so many in bloom.

See you back in Canada.

100th Post

I can't believe it - When I got ready to post today - it says #100. Wow, I don't know what to say. LOL If you knew me well you would know that I am rarely at a loss for words.

What an amazing ride this has been. Each and every one of you that I have met have in your own way added and enriched my life. I have learned all the wonderful things about fellow stitchers from stunning round robins, wonderful exchanges and contest winnings to RAK's. I have learned about new designers, more beautiful patterns than I could ever hope to stitch and new threads and colors. I have met people from all over the world via the blog world. I have learned the worst from disappearing pieces of needlework, to round robins and exchanges that fell apart, from spam and nasty comments. You have encouraged me when I was down or blocked, you offered up your prayers for my sister and her husband, you have adored my grandchildren and you patted me on the back more times than I can count. You have walked with me through all my stitches and counter stitches, my finishes and my odd piece that ended up in file 13.

THANK YOU ONE AND ALL

Now, on the stitching front. It has been a busy week. I did a replacement stitch at the F&S exchange for Peg She is a teapot collector. This was a freebie from SanMan Originals that I chose for her. Also included was a recent magazine with "Teapot Cottage" with fabric and threads.

Here is my progress on Paradigm for the week. This is one huge motif with lots of solid stitching. I still have another week's work on this one.

Next, we have Prairie Schooler's Partridge in a Pear Tree that I am working on. This will be April's ornament when I am finished. It is a really pretty stitch.I finished my next round for Fair and Square and before it went in the mail I ordered a pattern to put in the package. Well, you can't just order one pattern so I ordered Ursula Michaels Lighthouse Welcome and Tree Trunk Designs Lighthouse Alphabet. While perusing blogs this week there was lots of talk about Reader's Digest Big Book of Stitches. Before I knew it I was at Barnes & Noble and look what I found.

This is my progress on my Swedish Weaving afghan. This pattern is called Marquise and it is coming along nicely.

Well, that's it for this post. Thank you everyone for all your kind comments on my ribbon wins. I know it is not really important in the long run but I did like those ribbons.

GRAND CHAMPION

I am sooooo excited. I entered two pieces of needlework in the Yuma County Fair this year.

Result:

Over my right shoulder is Crystal Tree with my first Grand Champion Ribbon.Over my head is the bottom of Celtic Banner with my second Grand Champion Ribbon.

One Grand Ribbon is best overall in cross stitch and the second is best overall in needlework. I found this out last night and I'm still grinning this morning.

A bit of this and that

My urge to stitch seems to have returned and I have some progress to report.
First, it was my friend Dani's birthday last week and I sent her a little package. Included was this freebie design. Not even sure where I got it but Dani likes blue and peacocks so what better to stitch for her. She is going to make it into a little pillow. The thread is DMC Variations #4230 and was stitched on a piece of hand dyed that she had given me.
I picked up my Little Book of Stitches for the first time in a couple of months and completed page 4. This is a really fun and quick stitch. The color is WDW Peacock.

And out of the bottom of the pile came Paradigm Lost. I cannot remember when I stitched it last. I think that the huge motif I am working on now intimidated me and I tossed it in a corner for quite some time. The large motifs I find sometimes make it seem like a long time before you get anywhere.

And for something a little different - I also do swedish weaving. This will be a wedding gift for June so I really need to get my needle flying. Will show you progress as I work along. I hope you enjoy something a little different.

I also completed and mailed a replacement Fair and Square for Round 5. I have my squares done for Round 6 and am waiting on a package so that I can bundle this one up and wing it on it's way.

My three wallhangings are all sandwiched and ready for the machine quilting. I may not quilt these until I get back home.

We are starting to talk about returning home and are picking up some last minute things to take home with us. We are heading out April 17th. We are hoping that the snow will be gone at home when we return but everyone we talk to says there is still lots.

Stitching and stuff

I am really sorry everyone. I just don't seem to have any pep these days. I have been doing a little stitching and quilting but not up to my usual standards. Blogging has gone by the wayside too. I am reading and commenting where I can.

I have finished and sent off some squares for the Fair and Square exchange. I will post photos when they are received.

I have also done a little stitching on my newest project. Periphearia's Mystery Sampler 2008. It was quite the job to grid this thing and I hope it is right. I am not sure I like the colors but think I will stick with it for a while and see how it develops.

I belong to a group of quilters in my RV park in Yuma. This is my latest project. It is called Sunset Sky and it is another stain glass quilted hanging. It is ready for the batting and backing to be added. It will join the Flamingoes to be quilted. I have the angel to border and sandwich and they will all be ready to quilt when I return home to Canada. Hope you all had a lovely Easter.

Camera, birthday cake, angels and other things

I have lots of things to share with you today.
First, my camera story. Canon Camera has a policy where you can return your camera to them for repair at a flat rate of $97. So, off went my three year old S1IS Canon Powershot. I did not hear anything for two weeks and finally last Thursday I received a package in the mail. I was expecting my repaired camera, so you can imagine my shock, disbelief and utter joy at finding a brand new S1 I5 Canon Powershot and all it's accessories in the box. Along with the camera was a note that stated that my old camera was defective, they were not able to repair it and therefore AT NO CHARGE they have replaced my camera. My note to you BUY CANON!!!! That is incredible customer service.
Next up, I spent some time working on the collage you see below. My youngest son was treated to a Panda Bear birthday cake made by Mommy for his first birthday in 1977. His oldest son, Jackson received the same cake made by Gramma for his first birthday in 2006 and his youngest son, Hunter received the same cake in 2007 for his first birthday. I stumbled across photos of my son with his cake and the end result is the following collage. I hope my son likes it. The cake pan and design are the same. No, it is not the same 31 year old cake. LOL
A little quilting is up next. With the help of my teacher, I put together this stain glass angel on the weekend. It is going to be a wallhanging. It was great fun and not as difficult as I had expected.My stitching these days are secret stitches for exchanges and other things so I am afraid I cannot show you anything. I will as they are sent and received.
I promised a few pictures of the visit to L.A.
The first is along the coastline from San Diego to L.A. - the sun is shining and the flowers are starting to bloom on the hillsides.

What trip to L.A. is complete without a visit to the Hollywood sign. Our tour guide tells us we were lucky to be able to see and photograph the sign because the smog is normally so bad.

Next up, where else but in Hollywood would you see Charlie Chaplin and Catwoman having a chat. This was in front of Mann's Chinese Theater - the footprints of the stars and the stars on the Walk of Fame.

And for all us ladies, some eye candy on the Venice Beach Boardwalk. Hope you enjoyed the sights. It was difficult to only pick a couple of photos but I hope I gave you a broad view of the craziness known as L.A. and Hollywood.