Assorted bits of this and that

My creativity has abandoned me for the moment hence the rather uninspiring title…..

 

Last night I went and picked up Rebecca and I took her off for a nice dinner and some stitching.  Another friend joined us (hi Christine!) and we had a lovely evening sitting and chatting and stitching….  I really, really enjoyed the evening and the company even more.  Thanks so much Rebecca and Christine!  I had forgotten how much I enjoy hanging out with people who get what I do and don’t think I’m odd for doing it.    Silly me brought my camera to take pictures and then proceeded to forget to take it out of my bag.  Next time!

 

Earlier this week, I managed to kill off a WIP that I’ve had going since June.  I was using this as my travel project as it doesn’t require a pattern to stitch it – it’s one of those needlepoint Stitch ‘n Zip cases:

 

 

Stitch & Zip Preassembled Needlepoint

Sweet Violets Purse/Cosmetic Case

Kit – stitched on pre-printed 14-count canvas with supplied threads (cottons)

 

I plan on using this case to hold my iPod and its headphones.  The two things keep getting separated and tangled in my purse and this will be a pretty way to keep them together.  This was a very easy stitch – just basketweave and it was great to work on while we were travelling – no pattern to wrangle!

 

Once I finished that, I had a rummage about for another WIP to resurrect.  I found another one with little effort (surprise, surprise, right?) and I’m *this* close to being finished…..

 

 

This is a freebie from Pelin Tezer called Moire.   I’ve had this piece floating around for quite a while and I’ll likely finish it in another evening or two, depending on how much time I get for stitching….

 

The mailman has been very kind to me this week too.  The first thing that arrived in the box was my first lesson/ornament from the needlepoint club I joined just after Christmas:

 

This club is going to be highly interesting.  We don’t actually get a kit with everything we need to stitch the piece.  I’ve got the lesson, a piece of canvas and a bunch of sample threads (which I seem to have deleted the picture of).  Now the colours of the threads aren’t in any colour I’ll likely use to stitch the quilt block, but they’ll give me an idea of how they feel to use and how they would lay when stitched.  Now I’ll have the opportunity to either dig through my stash and pick out a monochromatic colour scheme, using what I have on hand or I can go shopping for fibres similar to my samples, but in colours that will work for me.  the lesson has some wonderful information about picking a monochromatic scheme.  I’m looking forward to getting going on this one soon.

 

The next thing the mailman dropped in my mailbox was a wee little package from Silverlotus.  I was scratching my head when I first saw it because I didn’t recall her mentioning that she was going to send me something – but then again, my memory is faulty at the best of times, so maybe I forgot…..  I opened the envelope and this is what fell out:

 

 

They’re buttons!  Aren’t they the best?  They totally made me smile.  Thanks again Heather!

 

I recently discovered that we’ve been adopted by a female cardinal (her mate hangs out too, but I think she like us more than he does)….  A couple of weeks ago the female cardinal actually bashed into one of the windows of our house.  She wasn’t hurt – but was a little stunned for a bit.  Ever since then, she spends most of her day perched on the window sill peering into the room.  She stays longer if the TV is turned on – she can see it clearly from her perch.  I managed to catch a picture of her this morning:

 

I’ve never had a bird adopt us like this before (she’s inside the red box that I drew on the picture!).  Any time I look out that particular window, she’ll be there.  Her favourite shows seem to be the Nate Berkus show and the news, but she’ll stay there for just about anything.  If the TV is off, she’ll sit there for a couple of minutes and then fly off – and she’ll return every 5 minutes or so until the TV is on again.  Never thought I’d turn a bird into a TV addict…..

 

Today I also managed to solve another mystery that has plagued us from time to time – my furniture snores.  Yes, you read that right – it snores.  Periodically as I move through the house doing this and that, I’ll notice that a chair is snoring or that the couch is snoring…..  Now I know that furniture can’t *really* snore, so today when the couch started snoring, I got down on my hands and knees and found the real culprit:

 

That would be one of my cats – Mojo.  She was all curled up under the couch (I don’t know how she fits there – she’s a big girl and it’s a small space!) and snoring like there was no tomorrow.  That’s the leg of my floor stand in front of her.  Mystery solved!  Still won’t stop the couch from snoring upon occasion, but at least I know *who* is responsible.

 

I’ve had a busy week so far.  And tomorrow I’m going for my annual hair cut and DS#1 has to write two final exams – it’s a busy day around here tomorrow!

 

I’m going to curl up and stitch a bit!