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TUSAL Time Again….

 Sunday, November 27, 2011

I seem to have missed the new moon by a couple of days.  I thought I entered the correct date in my todo list, but I guess I didn’t.  Oh well!  Better late than never, right?

 

Here’s the ORT jar as it stands today:

 

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There haven’t been a ton of additions from last month as I really haven’t had much time to stitch.  Work has been crazy busy, to say the least.  I’ve worked every day in November except 3.  Even my fellow scientists have commented that they’ve been unusually busy this November.  Needless to say, by the time evening rolls around and I might have time to stitch, I’m often too tired to manage it.  It’s hard to put a needle through the correct hole when your vision is too blurry to be sure which hole to put the needle through!  On the up side, I only work Monday and Tuesday this week and then I’m off until Dec. 5th and after that, I don’t work again until January!  I’m looking forward to some time off – mostly so that I can finally recover from the seemingly endless series of colds I’ve had since the end of September.  I’ve lost my voice twice and gone through enough tissues that I think I should be sponsored by a tissue company.  I have started to feel better in the last couple of days and I think I may be back to ‘normal’ in another few days.  (normal is in quotes because who really knows what normal is?  Most of the time I figure normal is just a setting on the washing machine…..)

 

More pictures, you say?  Okay – here’s what I’ve finished since last month:

 

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Snowman Kisses

by Cherrywood Design Studio

Stitched on 28-count Cashel ‘Blue Frost’ from Enchanting Lair

using DMC and GAST

 

I can’t help but smile every time I see this little piece.  Now I know how snowmen can kiss and not have their heads roll away on them! 

 

CdC has received a little bit of needle time:

 

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Not nearly as much time as it should be getting, but I’ll get back to it soon.

 

Last night I couldn’t settle to work on anything, yet I really wanted to stitch.  So, I rummaged through my stitching basket and this piece caught my attention and decided to come out to play again:

 

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This is my Legends of the Dragons.  I am totally in love with this piece and always have been.  I started it ages ago as a SAL on the TWBB, but for reasons that make no sense, I stopped working on it.  So, it’s back out and I’m going to work on it some more.  I really needed a good dragon fix.  Doesn’t everyone?

 

The day after Halloween, I came home from work to find this little vignette:

 

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Looks like Mojo is cuddling up to Hazel – maybe she heard Hazel calling ‘here kitty, kitty’?

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Cue the band….

 Saturday, October 29, 2011

Because I actually finished something!  Look:

 

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Halloween Rules by Lizzie*Kate

Stitched on 32-count Chestnut linen from Wichelt

using recommended Crescent Colors, GAST & WDW

 

I liked this piece from the first moment I saw it online.  Something about the tombstones at the top caught my eye and hence my needle.  I still wish the skeleton looked like a mummy, but I’m learning to live with it.  I totally hated the linen!  Felt like sandpaper in my hands.  But, I bought this project all kitted up and that’s what came in the kit.  I have no idea what I’ll do with this now that it’s finished.  At least it’s done before Halloween!  Here are a few close-ups:

 

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Last weekend was my weekend to run away to Gananoque and help with running a fabulous retreat.  I always have a ton of fun running this retreat and spending the weekend with a great group of ladies.  I keep hoping for more time to stitch at this retreat, but it just never seems to happen – there are always tons of other things that I need to do!  It’s hard to mind too much though – I’m having far too much fun!

 

But, Saturday evening I finally did manage to put needle to fabric for just a little while….  CdC came out to play and I knocked off another motif.  Here’s a picture of the whole thing so far and a close up of the motif I finished:

 

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Still loving this piece!

 

And then because I have the resistance of a gnat, I discovered some lovely new patterns at retreat (that’s a whole ‘nother post!), I had to start one of them:

 

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This is an adorable piece from Cherrywood Design Studio called ‘Snowman Kisses’.  I’m stitching it on a piece of 28-count opalescent linen from Enchanting Lair called Blue Frost.  It’s turning out so darned cute!  I’m using the DMC conversion mostly, except for the pale blue colour that is used for some of the snowflakes down the side.  The DMC recommendation was far too bright for my tastes and clashed horribly with the linen, so I’m using the recommended GAST (Huckleberry) for that.  I didn’t even have to go rummage in the stash heap to find the GAST – for reasons known only to the heavens, when I got home from retreat, a skein of Huckleberry was hanging on my floor stand, just waiting for me to start stitching.  Isn’t it funny how that happens sometimes?  Maybe it only happens to me…..

 

I’m late again getting my ORTs posted for the TUSAL…..  No matter how many reminders I set up for myself, I seem to be unable to put camera, ORTs and computer together on the right day….  Anyway, here’s this month’s addition to the ORT jar:

 

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Halloween is only a couple of days away and I have slowly been putting out all my decorations.  I admit to being slow getting things out this year because of one thing that’s so hard for me to look at:

 

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There’s Hazel ready to greet the trick or treaters, but she’s got no Callie on her lap to keep her company in the meantime.  It’s the first year in many where I look over at Hazel and don’t see my furry friend trying hard to get Hazel to pet her.  You can see a couple of previous years of the Callie and Hazel love-in here and here.  I still miss Callie.

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TUSAL Time

 Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Time has managed to escape from me again.  How does that keep happening?

 

My electronic to-do list told me that today was TUSAL day, so I hauled out the camera and managed a picture for this month:

 

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Another good quantity of additions to the jar this month.

 

Here’s what I’ve been working on for the past month….

 

First up, an actual finish:

 

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Season of Love

by Country Cottage Needleworks

Stitched on random 28-count hand-dyed (unsure of dyer)

with recommended DMC/WDW/GAST

 

This piece is from last year’s sneak peek ornament issue (at least I think it is – I’m not entirely sure!) from JCS.  I started it ages and ages ago and it just languished in the WIP pile.  It finally got some time and attention over the last month.  It turned out larger than I expected – not sure how it’ll look when it gets ornament-ified.  *shrug*

 

And I’ve been making some progress on Halloween Rules as well:

 

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Close ups of the finished blocks….

 

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The whole shebang so far.

 

I’ve only got 3 blocks to go before it’s finished.  I only have one little issue with the patterns – why does it say mind your mummy, but there’s a skeleton in the picture?  Oh well!  I still like the piece.

 

Work is starting to ramp up for me now.  My first presentation of the school year is this Friday.  I’m looking forward to getting back to work.

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Thank you

 Wednesday, August 31, 2011

First, I’d like to thank everyone for their expressions of sympathy on the loss of my furry friend.  It’s been hard adjusting to the change.  Callie’s illness came on so quickly and took me by complete surprise and left me deeply saddened in its wake.  Callie’s sister and littermate, Mojo doesn’t understand what has happened and still spends a portion of her day searching all her sister’s favourite hiding spots.  When she’s not looking for her sister, she’s glued to my side.  It’s going to take some time for us all to adjust to the change, I guess.

 

But, this is a blog about my needlework and it’s time I got back to it.  There’s just going to be a little less cat hair in my work from now on.

 

I’ve had a slight case of stitcher’s ADD recently and have been jumping around of project to project…  I seem to be unable to really focus on my large pieces right now, so small things have come out to play…..

 

I’ve fallen dreadfully behind on my monthly ornaments, but I have managed some super-duper catching up this past month – I actually completed 3 of them.  I’m still not caught up, but now I’m only 3 months behind instead of 6.  :-)

 

First up:

 

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Got Snow? by Lizzie*Kate

From Tiny Tidings XIV

stitched on random 28-count pulled from stash

with recommended GAST & WDW

(pardon the wrinkles)

 

Next:

 

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Jingle by Lizzie*Kate

From Tiny Tidings XIV

stitched on random 28-count pulled from stash

with recommended GAST & WDW

And last:

 

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Halloween by Mill Hill (Autumn Harvest Collection)

Stitched on 14-count perforated paper with included beads and floss (kit)

 

I loved this little piece – the colours are even prettier in person.  And since I’ve finished this piece – does anyone want the chart, leftover beads and floss?  There are probably enough beads to stitch the piece again.  You’d just need to provide your own perforated paper and perhaps some additional floss (it’s all just DMC though – the numbers are on the chart!)….  If more than one person is interested, I’ll do a random draw for it.

 

And I finally clued into it being TUSAL time…  I’m a bit late this month.

 

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The jar took a decent jump upwards, considering the amount of upheaval around here this month….

 

Anyway, back to my stitching corner with my remaining kitty.

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Rest in Peace

 Friday, August 12, 2011

Callie

Callie

June 16, 1995 – August 12, 2011

I’ll love you and miss you forever.

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Winner, winner, chicken dinner….

 Monday, August 08, 2011

We made it home from the camping trip, bug-bitten (I stopped counting bites after I got to 50) and tired (hard to sleep when the guy in the next campsite insisted on revving up his Harley at 7AM!), but home safe.  We had a really great time (Harley-revving aside) and the weather co-operated too (only rained once).

 

So, do you want to know who’s next to join the Stitcherhood?  Do you?  Do you?  I did too this morning, so I plugged everyone’s name (except Silverlotus – after all, I got to join the Stitcherhood because of her!) into random.org and here’s the name that came out the other side:

 

(drumroll, please)

 

Joy of My New Perspective

 

(and the crowd goes wild with applause!)

 

Congrats Joy and welcome to the Stitcherhood!  If you could please e-mail me at e k i l l i n s at r o g e r s dot c o m (remove spaces and replace the at and dot with the right things) with your snail-mail address, I’ll get your pattern off to you as soon as I can!

 

I’m sorry I couldn’t let everyone join the Stitcherhood.  But there’s just the one pattern to pass along!  I hope you’ll follow the pattern on its journey – maybe you will be next.  In the meantime, I’m going to have to update the blogroll – I’ve got some new blogs to read!

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Second TUSAL for July

 Monday, August 01, 2011

Okay, so I’m a bit late.  This getting ready to go camping thing is consuming all my time!  We leave in just a couple of hours though (hopefully – still some packing to do!). 

 

Here’s my jar:

 

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I was actually surprised when I reached into my bag-thingy to pull out my ORTs – I didn’t think I’d been stitching that much – particularly in the last week or so.  But my little ORT jar took a gratifying jump, so maybe I stitched more than I thought I did!

 

Don’t forget to enter in the post below if you want a chance to join the Stitcherhood of the Travelling Pattern!  I’ll be back next Monday to announce the winner.  Good luck!  (And to those that have entered so far, thanks so much – I’m enjoying having a look at some new-to-me blogs!)

 

Off to finish my breakfast (it’s dark o-thirty here) and then get packing!  Behave yourselves while I’m gone!  :-)

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L*K Travelling Pattern has its bags packed – who’s next?

 Saturday, July 30, 2011

I guess the title is pretty straightforward, right?  Finally, I have gotten my act together and taken a picture of my finish of ‘Life’s A Stitch’.  I’m embarrassed to admit that it’s actually been finished for over a week but I do have a good excuse!!!!!

 

You see, DH and I (and the boys too) have been avoiding a task for years.  Many years.  Yes, it’s the dreaded toy and crapola purge.  We’ve spent the last week digging through boxes, throwing out crap (I mean really – when am I likely to use my notes from my first year of Calculus in University???) and deciding what to keep, what to toss and what to sell.  A week of nose-to-the-grindstone work left me with an emptier house and a fuller garage.  Solution for *that* problem – the mother of all garage sales.  That was today’s adventure and we did really, really well.  Got rid of tons of stuff and my boys have got a nice-sized addition to their LCD TV quest (they want to buy an LCD TV for the basement to use with the PS/3).  There’s still a pile of trash to get rid of, but that’ll go soon enough.

 

So, I haven’t been stitching much for the last week – mostly because I’ve been too pooped and I couldn’t be bothered to turn on the computer either….

 

Anyway, excuses over – here’s my finish:

 

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I really, really like how this turned out.  It’s so pretty (or at least it is to my eyes).  I’m leaning towards finishing it as a cube-it.  We’ll see if/when I get around to it.

 

So, I’ve packed the pattern’s little suitcase (okay, so it’s an envelope!), and it’s all ready for flight to a new home.  Here are the rules:

 

1.  Comment on this post (and only this post) saying that you’d like to be part of the Stitcherhood.

 

2.  You agree (if you are chosen) to stitch the design and send it along to the next person in a timely manner.  If this means dropping everything in your rotation to concentrate on this project, so be it.  If you can’t bring yourself to do this, DON’T SIGN UP!

 

3.  You must have an active blog to participate.  If you have a blog, but never post to it ~ you won’t be chosen to be the next stitcher.

 

4.  This is a giveaway-type Travelling Pattern.  That means you must follow it from blogger to blogger to enter each time it is ready to send along. Commenting on this post doesn’t make you a guaranteed part of the Stitcherhood.

 

To date, this pattern has been stitched by:

 

1.  Angela, Hooked on Stitches, Ontario, Canada

2.  Elisa, Old Ragged Threads, York, United Kingdom

3.  Loretta, Loretta’s Stitching Blog, Manitoba, Canada

4.  Silverlotus, Reflections in the Pond, Ontario, Canada

5.  Erica, Erica’s Places, Ontario, Canada

 

If you would like a chance to be the next stitcher please leave a comment on this post only. The next stitcher will be chosen on Monday, August 8.  I would choose someone sooner, but we’re leaving to go camping next week!

 

(and yes, I know it’s TUSAL day – I’ll post *that* tomorrow!)

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Progress and the mailman delivers!

 Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Last week we went up to the cottage for a week of R&R.  The weather co-operated wonderfully – only the slightest bit of rain the entire week.  My ‘boys’ spent most of the time playing in the boats or the water or just hanging out doing next to nothing.

 

Naturally, I stitched, when I wasn’t fending off the mosquitoes.  They were bad this year!  DS#1 and I could both be nicknamed mosquito-bait.  But when they elected to leave us alone, I got to work on 3 different projects.

 

First up, CdC came out to play:

 

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I’m almost up to the right hand corner.  It’s chugging along quite well.

 

Then for some variety (and no doubt because I was wishing for some slightly cooler weather – no a/c at the cottage!), Halloween Rules had some time spent on it:

 

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Still enjoying this piece tremendously.

 

And then, because I was getting bored of all those little x’s, a canvaswork piece came out to play (thanks to my portable stand as well – I can’t do canvaswork without a stand):

 

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This is a Carolyn Mitchell piece called ‘Golden Reminiscence’.  I took this as a class at the CreativFestival last fall.  I’m enjoying the variety of stitches, although the colour palette isn’t totally me.  I love how fast canvaswork comes together – I did most of this stitching in only a few hours of work.  Don’t even need to look at the pattern once I’ve got the stitch down.

 

The Canadian postal strike finally ended a couple of weeks ago, but mail is still very slow moving.  Slowly our mail is catching up and this week has had a few things starting to arrive.

 

A while ago, I won a giveaway from Barbara over at mainely stitching.  I had never seen this LHN chart before and I just had to enter.  Surprisingly, I won.  The mailman finally coughed it up today.  Barbara also included a lovely packet of spices & seasonings for a blueberry pie.  Can’t wait to try them out! (gotta get more blueberries – we ate all the last ones!  :-) )

 

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And then Heather was looking for another stitcher to join the Lizzie*Kate Life’s a Stitch Travelling Pattern Stitcherhood…..  I threw my name in the hat, fully expecting not to be chosen because I was the first person to comment.  I was really hoping it might get others to comment in the long run since folks don’t want to be first as it seems the first commenter never wins….  :-)  You could have knocked me over with a feather when I discovered that I had won!  After strapping the pattern to a slow-moving turtle (inside joke), the pattern arrived yesterday:

 

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Per the agreement of the Stitcherhood, I am officially dropping everything else I was stitching to focus on this charming little piece.  I pulled fabric and fibres:

 

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I’m going to use a 28-count Opalescent (somewhat predictably – I like sparkly!) that was hand-dyed by Enchanting Lair (Ametrine, if you’re curious) and the above bunch of random fibres yanked from my stash.  There’s a good bit of Vikki Clayton silks in there.  I’ll start this evening (gotta feed the natives dinner first!)….

 

I took the kids to see the last Harry Potter movie this afternoon.  It was very well done and a fitting end to an epic saga.  I’m sad that it’s over, but so glad I’ve got the books to read again and again and the movies to watch as well.  Even better, I’ll get to watch my kids plow through the books again with me. 

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TUSAL Update

 Saturday, July 02, 2011

I’m a wee bit late on posting my July TUSAL, but yesterday was Canada Day (Happy 144th Birthday Canada!) and I spent the majority of the day running hither and yon.  DS#1 was attending a farewell party for a friend who is moving to Australia (!), DS#2 was going camping with his grandparents and DH was trying to get some work done….  Between laundry and packing and driving, TUSAL slipped my mind completely.

 

But, better late than never, right?  Here we go:

 

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Not a ton of additions this month, I’m afraid.  I have been stitching, but mainly on CdC and since it’s all one colour, I’m not generating tons of ORTs….  I have made it round the corner now on Cirque, but my progress is little enough that I decided to skip a progress picture for now…..

 

I’m sure the coming week will be busy enough around here – DH will be trying to figure out how to re-attach the passenger side mirror on my van.  While I was working on Wednesday, it appears someone broke the mirror off, then carefully re-balanced it on the side of my van and left.  I know for a fact that when I went into work it was fine as I opened the door the mirror was attached to, yet when I returned to my van after finishing work, as I approached my van, the mirror looked as if it jumped off the side of my van as I didn’t touch it, yet it was suddenly dangling on the side.  Joy!  In the meantime, I’m driving around with my passenger window open and the mirror hanging on the inside.  A bit windy, but doing the job until DH figures out how to fix it.  Luckily for me, I married a handy guy.

 

Off to watch ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ with DS#1!  Do you know where your towel is?Happy

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*gasp* Two posts in a month?

 Friday, June 24, 2011

I know, don’t fall off your chair – it’s a second post in a month.  Amazing, isn’t it?  Things are finally starting to calm down a bit and I’m catching up on things like toilet scrubbing… And blogging….

 

I had thought that I would be completely finished with work for this school year – I had even gone so far as to scrub my equipment and run things like lab coats through the wash…..  Clearly that was a sign for the universe to rain on my parade…..I got a last booking for (get this) June 29th…..  Who’d a thunk it?  But on the up side, I’m going to a school that might take me 5 minutes to drive to if I hit all red lights, so it’s no hardship to go there.

 

But outside of this last workshop, I’ve gotten all my expenses submitted (yay!  Money!) and I went to the end-of-the-year party (a bit damp about the edges as it rained that day, but it was still fun!).  And for the first time since March, I’ve had time to sit around and do absolutely nothing.  I’ve done a fair bit of that lately.  Paige (my Kindle) and I have been curling up on various couches, beneath warm cats and enjoying some time together too.  I did rouse myself for long enough to plant some things in the garden (floral instead of vegetable this time).  Mostly I’ve been enjoying not needing to go somewhere or get something ready to go somewhere or go buy something to use to get ready to go somewhere….

 

Needle, fabric and fibre have been meeting up a wee bit too…..

 

Cirque des Cercles (from Ink Circles) has been out and played with.  I so love this piece and I enjoy every little stitch:

 

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I’ve made it to the lower right-hand corner and can relax a little – it’s going to fit on the fabric.  Despite measuring, counting, checking and double-checking, until I know for sure that a piece will fit on my chosen fabric, I always harbour a little worry that I’ve messed up.  It’s always pleasant when I discover that everything is going to work out just the way I had hoped.

 

Here’s a little close-up of the areas I’m stitching now….

 

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The blank area to the left is blank only because the chart for that section crosses over two pages….  Since I’m working with an overdyed, I want to stitch that section all at once, but it’s a pain to flip back and forth between two pages.  I’ll be photocopying those pages and sticking them together so I have one chart for that little oval.  I’m looking forward to working my way up the right side of this piece…. 

 

Halloween Rules has come out and been worked on a bit too:

 

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(sorry for the wrinkles – I couldn’t be bothered to iron!)  I’m loving the colours in this piece.  It looks so much better IRL.

 

My purse project is nearing completion – so much so that I’ll probably sit and finish it off this weekend, if I get time to sit and stitch:

 

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This is a close up of the square that is left to finish – just a little metallic in 3 more corners and it’ll be done!

 

DSC06176  That’s both squares….  I’ll be finishing this as a biscornu.

 

I’ve also been spoiled by a good friend recently…..  I mentioned that I had a birthday last month and this past week had me meeting up with Heather from Reflections on the Pond…  We both had birthdays in May and we exchanged gifts.  I feel very lucky, because Heather showered me with the loveliest things:

 

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First Heather sewed this beautiful Pyramid bag.  I love the colour and it’s just so neat.  I intended to try and sew one for myself, but now I don’t have to.  I did have to rescue it from the clutches of DS#2 though – he thought it would be great for storing Lego in.  I quickly made it clear that it was mine and he’d need to keep his paws off it.  I think I’ll put a knitting project in it – I really want to get back to some sock knitting – even if I am a rather pathetic knitter.

 

Then I discovered this charming pincushion:

 

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(No, it’s not crooked – my camera and I are having ‘issues’)…  I’m totally in love with this.  It’s currently sitting on my cutting table, waiting for me to transfer my pins to it.  The colours are totally ‘me’ and I’m looking forward to using it.

 

And if that wasn’t enough (and holy cow was I feeling spoiled by this point), Heather also gave me all this:

 

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Lizzie*Kate’s Abcs of aging artfully (something I’m not doing, but this piece offers some good advice on how I should do it!), some KnitPicks scissors (that I wanted to try out – and they’re purple!) and a lovely sachet full of fragrant lavender.

 

Aren’t I lucky?  I certainly think so.  Thanks again Heather!

 

I’m off to play with my new toys!

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*tap* *tap* Is this thing on???

 Thursday, June 02, 2011

Um, well, it’s been a while.  The merry month of May has been positively insane around here.  I’ve hardly managed the most basic of blog reading for the last month.  And commenting?  Um, no.

 

Work has been insane, but in a good way.  I’ve worked like mad and driven over what feels like 90% of the planet.  I work with schools in 5 different school boards, which has me driving as much as 100 kilometres in a day sometimes.  Thankfully, not every day, but I’ve had numerous opportunities to see if my van can drive long distances this past month (if you’re interested, yes the van can still do long distances, however there is no air conditioning and it needs a new muffler.  It also refuses to start if it’s really rainy.  And the windshield leaks water.  Bring an umbrella if you’re in the passenger seat.)

 

Usually by this time of the school year, I’m finishing up work until the fall.  This year seems to be an exception – I’ve still got two weeks of work to go and I found out yesterday that there’s another school that has just asked if we can squeeze in 9 more workshops for them before the end of June.  I can’t believe how late I’m presenting programs this year.  I can’t complain though – it’s hard to turn down money, especially since the hot water heater gave its last gasp a couple of weeks ago and we did an emergency replacement. 

 

I’m a little late (but I don’t think anyone will shoot me) for this month’s TUSAL post.  Here are my ORTs:

 

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Most of the threads this month are from sewing rather than stitching, but the last bits of the model I had been working on are in there too.  The model has been returned to its owner and I’m free for a bit!  Stitching for myself is odd now – I don’t have to feel guilty for working on projects for myself since there isn’t a model that should be worked on….  In that vein, since I did finish my latest model, I started a new project for myself:

 

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Halloween Rules by Lizzie*Kate.  I’m using the recommended fabric and threads – I bought it all kitted up as I’m just too tired to contemplate pulling all the bits together myself.  I’ve actually stitched a lot more since this picture was taken – I’ve completed the first two blocks and I’m almost done the third….  But I’m too lazy to haul it out and take pictures again – and the light is fading fast now that it’s evening.  The pictures would be horribly dark anyway.

 

As for the sewing that’s been going on around here – I’ve actually been sewing for work.  I needed a small container for an experiment that my Grade 3 students perform.  And I needed 15 of them.  I wanted something that would hold some shape, but could be squished for transport (I haul around a *lot* of equipment at any given point in time and anything that can compress and take up less room is a good thing!)…  So, I found this tutorial to make a hanging bag and knew I found a great little solution.  So, fabric and interfacing was purchased and much time spent at the sewing machine later, I made 15 different bags that look like this:

 

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I used a variety of fabrics for these – this is just one of the bags I sewed.  I would take a picture of all of them, but they’re all packed up and ready for my next presentation and I’m not up to digging them out of their container.  I used them two weeks ago for my workshop and they were just perfect.  The kids liked them and they did just what I needed them to do.  I’ll try and take an action shot of them next time I get a chance.

 

In other news, one of the models I stitched has come home to roost.  The designer is finished with it, so I get to keep it.

 

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This piece is called A Treasure Trove and it’s from Enchanting Lair.  I had so much fun picking out my own colours for this piece!  Laura always lets me do things in my own colours.  Her version of this has more green in it.  I’m rather fond of purple (in case you hadn’t noticed), so I’ve got lots of purple in this piece.  I also spent hours and hours and hours writing and re-writing and re-writing the chart for this – something I’ve never done before.  It’s not as easy as it seems!  But I’m very happy with the finished product.  Hopefully there aren’t too many errors in it.  I need my own proofreader…  It’s hard to proofread your own stuff!

 

And waaaaayyy back in April, I entered a draw over at feeling stitchy.  I wasn’t really thinking about the draw itself, but rather the question they had asked – they were asking about where and when you stitch.  So, I answered because after I read everyone else’s answers, I wanted to share my thoughts.  Then I promptly forgot about it.  So, imagine my surprise when I was catching up on blog-reading and I discovered that I had actually won the prize.  Me!  I was beyond surprised!  So, my prize arrived in the mail a few weeks ago and here’s what arrived:

 

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I’ve only managed the most cursory glance at this book called ‘Sewn by Hand’, but it is beautiful!  There are tons of neat little projects in this book and I’m looking forward to having some time to really sit down and read it.  I may even attempt to make a few things from it.  I’m not a huge hand-sewer, but I am interested in learning better ways to do it.  This book may be just the thing to get me moving on it.

 

I unwrapped the little package that came with the book (wrapped in an old sewing pattern), to find these goodies inside:

 

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What a nice surprise!  And even better – I found out I won this lovely prize on my birthday!  Couldn’t ask for more than that.

 

And because it was my birthday back in May (and I admit it was a big birthday – one of those numbers that divides evenly by both 0 and 5, but that’s all I’ll say!), DH and my boys asked what I wanted…..  I’ve been drooling admiring these for ages, so the mailman dropped this in my mailbox….  Paige, my Kindle, needed a better case than what she had and now she’s really travelling in style.  They bought me a bunch of new books for Paige as well.  I’m all set for summer reading.

 

Well, now that I’ve blathered on and on and on, I suppose I should go and get ready for tomorrow’s adventure – another day as Scientist Erica and more fun wrangling ankle biters.  At least this time I’m at a school that’s only a 15 minute drive from my home.  Next week I’m not quite so lucky as I’ll be driving much further afield, but I’m enjoying having a few days with short trips.

 

Maybe I’ll get to put needle to fabric too – but first I’ll have to convince one of my cats to stop using it as a pillow first….

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