Wierd and unusual websurfings:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Honourable Lady Erica the Undefeated of Chalmondley Chumleyton Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Never knew I was royalty! :-)

It's been an astonishingly busy week - baking like mad (totals came to 3 blueberry-banana oat breads, 10 dozen one-bite Pecan Pies, 10 dozen Chewy Chocolate Bites, 2 large batches of Peppermint Chocolate Fudge, 1 batch of Cookies 'n Creme Fudge, 2 large batcheds of Chocolate Snow Swirl Fudge, 30 large cupcakes (iced), 3 dozen small cupcakes (iced), 14 dozen Chocolate Pinwheel cookies and I'm not exactly sure what else at this point but I'm sure there was more!). Teachers gifts are done and given, neighbours gifts are packaged and will be given tomorrow and I'm going to do dishes for what feels like the hundredth time this week........

Sadly, I've not picked up a needle. I'm feeling the lack. I do have a new model to start though all kitted and ready and another model should show up in another week or two.... Time to get back to work, I guess!

Happy Holidays to one and all! Stay safe, keep warm (or cool, depending on your locale) and most of all - hug someone you love!

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SBQ and a little finish!

Yes, it's that time again! From http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2006/12/sbq-finishing/ this week's SBQ was suggested by Carol (http://carolsxsblog.blogspot.com/)and is:

Do you have any good internet links to tutorials for your favoritefinishing techniques that you would like to share?

I have found many good tutorials on-line. For the most part I finish ornaments with my sewing machine since it's quite fast and easy. This year I have found some other websites that have intersting finishing techniques that I've yet to try but really want to at some point:

http://susimac.blogspot.com/2006/02/ribbon-trim-instructions.html
- an interesting tutorial on how to do ribbon ruching

http://institches.batcave.net/mystitching/nosew/nosewcube.html
- how to make a no sew cube with a needlework design

http://institches.zap3x.com/mystitching/flatfold/flatfold.html
- how to make a flat fold

I also dug up some instructions given to me quite a while ago about how to make tuck-away pillows that I really want to try in the next little bit. It seems simple enough, but then I haven't actually sat down and tried it yet. I would share these instructions, but I'm not the copyright holder so can't share them. Maybe after I try it I'll write my own and post them. We'll see...

In the finishing department - I finished stitching my youngest DS' ornament for this year. It's from Dragon Dreams and was in the 2004 JCS ornament issue. Bryce is quite happy with his ornie!

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Busy, Busy Me!

What a crazy weekend we've had! First we had to head off to DH's family Christmas. This is a large gathering of family - we're so many now we need to rent a hall! I think there were between 35 and 50 people there. We do a gift exchange as well amongst the ladies and the men. I had a panic moment when I woke up on Saturday - I forgot to finish an ornament for the exchange!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Luckily I had one stitched, just not made into an ornament. So out came the handy sewing machine and the cording drill and some glue from the magic glue gun. Here's the finished product. It's from an old JCS issue, but darned if I can remember which one! I know it's a piece by Mosey 'n Me. It turned out quite well, I think, especially considering I finished it in an hour flat! :-)

Sunday had us at home briefly then it was off to a surprise birthday party for my youngest DS and the annual cookie exchange for me. It was a wonderful afternoon spent with friends. We do a little gift exchange as well and it's always fun. I had another AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH moment as I realized, yet again that I was asleep at the switch and I forgot to finish my stitched gift for the gift exchange..... This year I stitched an SB needleroll - English Christmas Roll. So, another frantic hour with my sewing machine produced a finished roll. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product...... I'll have to 'borrow' it from the recepient so I can grab a snapshot of it! Someday I'll know where I put my head, really I will! ;-)

Now I need to spend this week getting the darned tree decorated (it's been up for almost 2 weeks and is naked bar lights!) and getting the rest of the decorations up. I need to get DH's Christmas gifts too and I've got to plan what I'm baking for teachers and neighbours for Christmas! Someone stop the clock, please? Just for a day or two???

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Over-ornamentification!

Well, I've been busy this last week! A bunch of friends and I get together every December for a cookie exchange. I got over-zealous this year and made everyone Sapphire Star as well as the cookies....(well, okay, the cookies aren't baked as of yet, but the dough is made - just need to slice and bake!)... I made the cording and the tassels and did the glue thing to put them together. They look alright, but it took waaaaayyyy too long. Think I'll go back to my trusty (if somewhat unreliable) sewing machine (please Santa - new machine please!!!???!!!)....

This design is from the 2004 JCS Ornament Issue. I substituted the Waterlilies called for in the pattern with Wildflowers (LNS didn't have any Waterlilies and I couldn't wait) and the bugle beads I used are from a little bead shop near my parent's house - Gecko Beads.

I think they turned out pretty good and hopefully my friends will like them. Just hope they don't read this before Sunday..... ;-)

Now I've got at least one more ornament to stitch and a few more to ornamentify before Christmas... Maybe I should finish putting up the tree at some point too..... Hmmmm.........

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Happy Birthday Bryce!





Well, so Mommy is a few days early..... My little Bryce will be 7 this coming Saturday. Hard to believe! We had his birthday party last weekend as we're busy with other things on the actual day. So here's my little birthday boy....who isn't so little anymore!

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SBQ from http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2006/11/to-knot-or-not/ :

How do you secure your thread when you begin a new one? Specifically,do you or have you ever used a waste knot?

The short answer to this is: depends. If I'm just doing plain counted cross stitch, then I will either use a loop start (for pieces I'm stitching for myself) or I will hold the tail at the back and cross stitch over it (when I'm working on models). If I'm doing specialty stitches (such as on the ornament in my previous post) then I will usually use a waste knot simply because there is no easy way to secure the thread and have sufficient tension to make the stitch look 'nice'. I try to ensure that the thread from the waste knot will lie in the path of my stitching, then when I'm done a particular stitch I don't have to bury the thread from my waste knot - it's already done. Clip and go! Makes it quicker at the end. I don't really like to bury threads.... :-)

The rest of my world keeps spinning - my youngest DS is now on some groovy drugs that are helping with what we now know to be a bronchial infection, we go to school tonight for parent-teacher interviews for both boys and somewhere in there we need to fit in dinner and getting oldest DS to his cub meeting. The fun never ends!

I'm still stitching Christmas ornaments, but no pictures today. :-)

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What a Week!

Well, for the first time in a week, I finally have a minute to sit at the computer and do something *I* want to do! It's been busy between shuffling the kids around to their various activities, volunteering at the boys' school (it was pizza day this week), another trip down to Sick Kids with my youngest and then having that same youngest come down with a nasty bug (everything on my bed is presently in the washing machine - can you guess why??????) and just to add that little extra something - DH is off at his parent's place this weekend helping them move! Just another week in paradise!

I have managed to stitch though and have a couple of progress pictures to add. The first is a design by Patricia Ann Designs called Sapphire Star. It's from the 2004 JCS Ornament issue (I think). It's really pretty and a quick stitch. It'll get finished in the next couple of weeks or so - the stitching is done tho' (although I need to pick up some rondelle beads to put in the empty spots - I had the wrong coloured ones here at home)!

My other progress picture is Teresa Wentzler's Needle Guardian. This is from a class I took at the CreativFestiv al in Toronto this past October. I haven't been able to put in as much time on this as I'd like, but it is coming along slowly but surely.



And my model went back into the post to the designer!!! Yay! I can't wait for her to see it as I really liked the finished product. For me though, it's now head down, nose to the grindstone to get Christmas stitching done!

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Okay, I admit it. I found a quiz that I just had to post my answer to. My question to everyone out there is simply this: How Canadian are you?

You are 100% Canuck!

You rock, you are an almighty Canadian through and through. You have proven your worthiness and have won the elite prize of living in a country as awesome as Canada. Yes I know other countries think they are better, but we let them have that cuz we know better than they do, eh?

How Canadian Are You?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Needlework-wise I've just about finished the model I've been working on (yay!) and will soon get back to working on my own projects. I'm about 1/2 done TWDesignworks 'Needle Guardian' from this year's CreativFestival in Toronto. Can't wait to finish that piece. Then I need to get motoring on some ornaments.

But first, off to pick up some supplies for my youngest son's Beaver troupe - they're making balloon airplanes today... :-)

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Someplace new to visit:

http://find.mapmuse.com/interest/stitch_shops

Ever wonder where to find a needlework shop in the US? Mapmuse has a map of needlework shops all through the US. If you know of a shop that isn't on the map, add it! Know of a shop that has closed but is still on Mapmuse? Let them know so it can be removed.

Isn't that neat? On the rare times I head to the US it would be nice to know where to find an LNS.

Here's a picture of 'Dragon's Tea Party' by Dragon Dreams. I gave this piece to my niece when she was baptized. This also got entered in a couple of local fairs this year and took first place at one fair and was completely ignored at the other! My guess is that fantasy designs didn't go over well with the judges. Oh well, no harm done! :-) My niece still likes it....

Off to finish cleaning - oddly enough the floors haven't yet learned to wash themselves..... Guess I'll have to do it - again! *sigh*

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Alas, no pictures again today as I'm still model stitching like a crazy person in between dentist appointments (me), counting pizza day money (kids school) and primary literacy helper (also at kids school). And groceries and toilet scrubbing need to happen somewhere in there too.

The weather has been nasty, evil, damp and wet today so I'm feeling highly unmotivated to do anything besides curl up in a warm corner.

Since I've decided to be a stitching blogger, I elected to do the SBQ thing since it'll at least get me posting *something* once a week... :-)

From http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2006/11/tis-the-season/

Here's this week's question:

Do you stitch Christmas ornaments? If so, how many do you stitch eachyear and for whom? If not, why not?

I do stitch ornaments but I couldn't say how many I do. Many are given away (see the post below.....) to friends and I've done some for family as well. It depends on what ornaments grab my attention and whether or not I have the materials at hand. I like to have ornaments around and kitted up as a portable project for myself - you just never know when you'll need something to stitch, right?

Here is a non-ornament Christmas-y picture though - Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum's Celtic Christmas - we call her CC for short. I stitched this piece for my MIL some time ago now. It hangs proudly in her hallway. CC has one first prize in a couple of local fall fairs this past year. I miss having her in my house.... (and yes, I cut off some of her dress in the picture - sue me, I'm not a photographer!!!!!)

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Things I Have Learned:

1. I should never answer the phone when I'm in the middle of something else.

2. I should never place 2 gallons of paint on top of a running washing machine.

3. I should never, never, never answer the phone when I'm in the middle of something else.

4. I should never buy a new rug that has white on it and place it in the laundry room.

5. I should never, never, never place 2 gallons of paint on top of a running washing machine.

I am now short 2 gallons of paint (just couldn't be a couple of little quarts, could it????), my laundry room floor is cleaner than it has ever beeen, my new rug no longer has any white spots on it (they're now paint-colour brown) and I'm never going to answer the phone again when I'm in the middle of something else.

So, how's your day going????

Stitching wise I'm still working on my model for my designer, so again no pictures. However, here is something I finished last year. Some friends and I get together every holiday season for an old-fashioned cookie swap. Last year I not only made cookies, but managed to stitch a Christmas ornament for each person in the exchange. Now I've got to work on this year's ornaments, but that's a problem for another day.

I'm going back to my corner to whimper now....

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Well, here I am. I seem to have fallen into the blog universe after many years of avoiding it.

I've been a stitcher for over 15 years now doing everything from counted cross-stitch to needlepoint to canvaswork to everything in-between. You name it, I've probably tried it at least once (crewel didn't stick - anyone want the project????).

Currently I'm working on a model for a brand-new designer, so I can't share photographs. Perhaps once it's released I can, but right now it's all hush hush. :-)

In the meantime, here is a picture of an ornament I finished a little while ago for my oldest son. With a bit of luck it'll be made into an ornament before Christmas - some year!

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