A Little of This and A Little of That…

I’ve been writing this post for the better part of two weeks now.  I’ve been working so much (at more than one of my jobs) that I’ve barely had time to do anything else.  This is a long, picture-heavy post – grab a cup of tea and a warm cat, it’ll take a while to get through it all!

 

A couple of weekends ago now, we packed up the kids and took them to Ottawa so they could experience Winterlude in our nation’s capital.  First we went skating down the Rideau Canal (we skated the entire length of it – almost 8 km (around 5 miles)!

 

My DH’s aunt and uncle live in Ottawa and kindly put us up for the weekend and took us *everywhere* we could have wanted to go!

 

Here we’re almost at the very end of the canal.  Behind us is Chateau Laurier (amazing hotel, but out of *my* price range!)

 

Now the Rideau Canal is usually a waterway.  In the winter, they lower the water level quite low and then allow it to freeze.  They drill holes in the ice nightly and draw water up from the canal to flood the ice.  The ice is really quite smooth, although there is the odd spot where you have to watch where you skate….

 

We noticed this sign when passing under a bridge:

 

Apparently, you can’t have a mustache while on the canal!  :-)  (I think the sign is really supposed to mean no wake (when you’re in a boat))… 

 

After we finished skating and had the obligatory Beaver Tail (we love the maple butter flavour) and Hot Chocolate, we went off to see the incredible ice sculptures:

 

There were tons of them made by people from all over the world.  They were stunning IRL.

 

The B had some fun playing with some ‘ice chairs’:

 

 

(a little hard to sit on, apparently)

 

One of the sponsors of Winterlude is one of Canada’s biggest Wireless providers.  As part of their display, they froze a bunch of cell phones and tablets into these:

 

I wonder if they’ll work once thawed…..

 

The next day, we went to Jacques Cartier Park and the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau (although when I grew up, we just called it Hull  :-) )….

 

We went down the ice slides:

 

Although shortly after this picture was taken, B slipped and fell down this ice slide, biting through his bottom lip and giving himself a nosebleed….  Needless to say B didn’t enjoy the ice slides much.  However, I have it on good authority that one Advil and one Beaver Tail (cinnamon & sugar variety) heal many wounds.  2 weeks later you wouldn’t know he’d been injured…..

 

There were some really awesome snow sculptures at the park as well:

 

 

Then we went and played at the Museum for a bit….  The kids found a giant domino set – so of course, they had to do this:

 

 

(Okay, I admit it – I started standing the dominoes up and the kids took it from there….)

 

We had an awesome weekend….

 

In other news:

 

I recently entered a giveaway over at Karin’s blog – The Sparklie Things Blog (which I think is the most awesome blog name!).  Besides being an awesome stitcher, Karin makes (yes that’s right, makes) some of the most gorgeous beads I have ever seen.  You should go look at her Bead Journal Project pieces from 2010 – what beautiful bead work!

 

But I digress – imagine my surprise when Karin e-mailed to say that since only 4 people entered her blog draw (really?  only 4 of us?), she was offering up 4 packages of goodies!  How’s that for a jaw-dropper!  My package arrived yesterday….  I was just expecting the skein of floss that I picked and the beautiful beads….

 

I got the package out of the envelope and found this pretty little package inside:

 

It felt oddly heavy in my hands….  So I unwrapped it and found *this* inside:

 

Besides the floss and *gorgeous* buttons and beads, I also received a stunning scissor fob (already adorning my favourite scissors), some Kreinik and some really pretty Mill Hill beads…  Aren’t I spoiled?  Here’s some close ups of the beads and scissor fob:

 

  

Now I need to uphold my end of the bargain – I need to stitch something and incorporate these beads…  I think there’s a Biscornu in my immediate future!

 

The mailman also left some more goodies in my mailbox – although I asked for these ones.  First up is my February Quilt Block…..

 

It took its own sweet time getting here – as it didn’t arrive until yesterday.  So, I’ll be doing February’s block in March.  I really hate Canada Post.

 

And then, because I have the willpower of a gnat, I caved and ordered this from Down Sunshine Lane:

 

Everything I need to stitch Lizzie*Kate’s Halloween Rules Double-Flips.  I fell in love with the border first and the rest is, well, history….  This will be my reward for finishing both of the models I have on the go.  One I’m re-writing the chart for now and the other needs just a little more stitching time to finish!

 

And I did finish something recently too:

 

Witch Shoes

by CherryWood Design Studios

Stitched on 28-count Pistachio Cashel from Enchanting Lair

with Vikki Clayton Silks (converted from DMC)

 

This is my February ornament.  Yes, it’s a little late.  But, it’s done.

 

And finally (yes, there is an end in sight!):

 

There are a couple of giveaway’s wandering around the ‘net!  Go wish Measi a happy 10th blogoversary!  And Staci at Snippets ‘n Stash is celebrating 3 years of blogging with a giveaway!  Go enter!  Maybe you’ll win!

 

Okay, I think I’m finally done now.  Thanks for staying with me if you’ve made it this far.  Work is nutso from now until the end of May, so postings may be few and far between until then.  For the first time ever, I actually asked for no more work to be assigned to me as I have no more available dates!  Yikes!