What Have I Been Up To?

It's a question I frequently ask myself somedays......

Things have been busy here since we got back from our camping trip. DS#1 left for Scout camp the day after we got back from the family camping trip. It was a challenge to unpack, do his laundry, re-pack the things he'd need for his week away and be out the door the next day, but we did manage. It's a bit of a blur, really.

Since DS#2 was going to be without one of his best playmates for the week, we decided to sign him up for a day camp. He really wanted to do a computer camp this year, so he went to this cool one where he made a bunch of neat animated movies, he filmed his own movie in stop frames (a la Wallace and Gromit-style) with Lego and built a really cool Mars rover out of Lego - it was motorized too. He had lots of fun.

As for me - well, I first decided that I wanted to get back to working out again. My knee has started bothering me again and I know it's because I'm not getting enough exercise, so off I went to the gym like a good girl and renewed my expired membership. A few hours on treadmill and bike later and I'm a bit sore around the edges, but feeling good that I'm making an effort. Maybe I can drop some of the extra poundage I've picked up lately too. If I could just stay out of the Fudgee-o's.... *sigh*

Seeing as the gym wasn't taking up my *entire* day, I finally started on a little project that's been sitting in my garage for a few months (what can I say, sometimes it takes me a while to get going!).... DH and I were lucky enough to receive this old filing cabinet for free from a neighbour of my in-laws - they were throwing it out. Now I can understand why - it's really, really ugly but I just knew I'd think of something to do with it. So, into the garage it went. I spent some time web-surfing and looking for ideas of just what to do with the darned thing and how to go about it properly....

Here it is just as I was beginning its transformation:


I took this just after I finished sanding the exterior. I pulled out all the drawers because I had another plan for them:

You can see better in this picture just how butt-ugly-brown this cabinet was. It was really ugly. (as an aside, why do they make filing cabinets so gosh-darned ugly? Would a little colour and style *kill* them????)

So, step one involved these two handy tools:

Ah, spray primer, how do I love thee? Plus my little trigger-thingy. I discovered many years ago that spraying something without the trigger-thingy (that's the technical term, dontchya know?) causes much elbow pain. Trigger-thingy prevents it entirely. Worth every penny.

Anyhoo, I now had a cabinet that looks like this:

Still pretty ugly, but it couldn't get much worse....... It took me a can and a half of spray primer to get it to this point.....

Next up was the real paint - but oh, what colour to choose? Well, this cabinet is going to live in the basement office - a rather dim and dreary place overall, being that it lacks real windows and has a really bad light in it (DH picked it out without my knowledge or approval - I hate it!)...... Our office furniture is very dark (almost black) and the walls are a non-descript beige colour (again chosen my DH without me - dratted man!), but I do have a bright red drawer system for holding my office supplies. I really like the splash of red - brightens up the place immesurably. So, I picked this can of paint:


Actually I picked this can of paint 4 times. Red doesn't cover that well. Ask me how I know. Go on. You know you want to. Thankfully Home Depot is close by.

And you know what else I learned? If you don't cover yourself properly, you end up looking like you've got a sunburn. Really. Try it. Sunburn without the pain. It'll also make people look at you funny. I can't be entirely sure that's not a normal occurrence in my case, but you never know.....

So, cabinet painted, sunburned-look accomplished and 3 blistered-fingers later, I decided it was time to work on the cabinet drawer fronts. I really didn't want to paint them (take a wild guess at to why!) and I wanted to break up all the red. More web-surfing and inspiration strikes again - fabric! And, one of my ultra-favorite items, Super 77 spray adhesive (now having admitted publicly that I really like this product, it will be promptly discontinued and will vanish from all stores on the planet....):

I fell in love with this fabric and what's better - it was on SALE! So, $20 later I still have enough left to play with for something else.

So, after removing as much hardware as possible from the drawer fronts (okay, I could only take off the handles....), I created a paper template of the front of the drawer - cutting out holes for the latch and the spot where you can insert a label on the drawer (does is have a name?). I transferred the holes to the fabric, cut out holes and sprayed enough glue to last a few lifetimes. We won't talk about just how many hours it took to do this, okay? Nor will we talk about how many times I glued my fingers together, nor about why there is a lone flip-flop in the middle of the garage floor and why it won't move.

With a little help from DH to wrestle the drawers back into the cabinet frame, I was finally able to see the finished product all together:


Ain't it purty? Just funky enough to make it interesting.... I'm quite pleased with the whole thing, although my spray-paint job isn't the best (it's quite streaky in spots). Hopefully with the crappy lighting in the basement, no one will notice???

My in-laws are coming tomorrow (both DS' are off having a mini-holiday with their grandparents), so hopefully DH and my FIL and wrestle the thing down into the basement where it can be filled with all kinds of handy things.

As for stitching (what? This is a stitching blog? Who'd a thunk it?), I have been working away at a model, so I've nothing to show. Model work can be slow sometimes, especially when there is a fair bit of back-and-forth about the design. I'm lucky to be able to have so much input to the design itself and the chart layout and instructions. Hopefully at the end of the day it'll equate into a superior project for both the designer and stitcher.

Off to tidy up a bit after the spray-paint extravaganza!

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Well, it wasn't much of an adventure....

The Traveling Project has returned after another adventure out in the wild. Sadly, this trip didn't really agree with the project overly much. We departed home last Saturday and drove into rain. Lots and lots of rain. It alternately poured and sprinkled, poured and sprinkled the whole way to the campground. It let up for just long enough at the gate for the project to agree to get out and have its picture taken:

After diving back into the van, it began raining again. We were lucky to manage this one shot. So, we set up a tent in the rain. I don't recommend it, especially if your tent (like ours) isn't water-repellant until after the fly has been put on. The project sat in the van and giggled at us putting up a tent in the rain.

The next day the rain had quit but it got really, really, really humid. Like air-thick-enough-to-chew humid. The project didn't want me to stitch on it because I was sweaty and sticky. We went to the beach, but the project then refused to come out because it was too windy and there was too much sand flying around. It wasn't too keen on my sunscreen either.

After dinner back at the campsite, all hell broke loose as the heavens opened yet again. Except this time the rain was set to 'deluge' rather than just 'rain'. Within half an hour, our site was under 5" of water. Don't believe me? Look at this:

That's Bryce and one of my nephews standing in the water shortly after the rain quit. It was over our ankles with lots of floating debris in it. Thankfully the tent did stay dry or well mostly dry - one corner got relatively wet, but at least that night I didn't have to sleep in a puddle. The project remained in the van where it was nice and dry. It reportedly laughed at the silly people wading through the water, but it's unconfirmed.

Thankfully from that point on the weather improved and it was sunny and warm for the rest of our week. We spent most of it either at the beach or riding our bikes or playing at something or other. The kids had a great time.

We rented a hydro-bike:

We practiced(?) canoe-tipping:

We played with some sparklers - or well, at least the kids did:

The project pretty much refused to come out - after the storm it felt it was too muddy and then when it was warm, it felt it was too warm. Picky project.

Still, the rest of us had fun, even if it meant packing up a filthy tent and groundsheet on the last day. Everything is unpacked, washed and put away - thanks mostly to the fact that DS#1 had to be packed and ready for a week-long camping trip with his Scout troupe the day after we returned home!

My favourite shot over the week-long camping trip is of Bryce - I caught him at a quiet moment and couldn't resist taking this picture:

Hopefully our trip to the cottage in a couple of weeks will provide a more interesting adventure for the project!

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13 years ago today.....

This little person entered our world - with no little ceremony.....


It's hard to contemplate just how much change has happened in the intervening years - but here's the proof:


He's not so little anymore (as I noticed when I bought him Men's size 8 shoes just two days ago!), but he's still a sweetheart. It's so wonderful to watch the person he's becoming, to watch him find his way, to watch him try out who he'll be once he's a man. He makes me proud just by breathing. He makes me prouder when I see how good of a big brother he is, when he lets me hug him still (as long as we're not in public!), when he remembers to take a shower without my having to nag.... :-)

Now if I could just convince him to clean up his room!

Happy Birthday Cameron! Welcome to becoming a teenager! Know how deeply you are loved.

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Some questions to make you think....

I found this over on Musings from a Three Bedroom Ranch. Definitely worth answering, if only so I try to verbalize my love of this art form....

1)Why do you stitch?

Because it is my craft, my art, my way of expressing my need to be creative, even if I'm only copying patterns someone else made. And maybe too, because I can't live happily without it.

You see, I can't draw to save my life (I've often said I struggle to draw stick people!). I've tried and the results are best left lining the litter box than being seen by humans. I don't have that ability to look at items in three dimensions and turn that into something in two dimensions. It has frequently left me with pictures in my head that have no way of getting out into the real world. Discovering cross-stitch gave me the ability to create art simply by counting. For a girl with a Mathematics degree, this was a powerful thing. Counting I could do, art I could not. Cross-stitch bridged that gap for me.

2) On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being least important and 10 being most important what is your cross stitch passion level?

I think that this varies from day to day and mood to mood. Generally though, I'd say I range between 8 and 11. I am passionate about this art form and would be heartbroken to see it die. However, I can live for a day or two without a needle in my hand. I'm not entirely happy about it, but I can make do if I have to. I'm happier with a needle in my hand, by far.

3)If you're only option for cross stitch supplies and patterns happened to be the major chain craft stores would you just walk away from the little X? Kiss it goodbye?

I don't think I could. Putting aside the fact that I have a large enough stash to keep me busy for a few lifetimes right now, even if my only option were a chain store, I would still be there buying something. I'd have to. After all, it was a kit from a chain store that got me started in this craft to begin with. I'd go back there if it was all I had.

4)Also are you so passionate about cross stitch that if indeed your only option was the major chain craft stores, would that inspire you to create your own cross stitch pieces because you have to stitch and you've stitched your way through the whole of Dimensions catalog--because you must stitch and the thought of life without a relationship with the little X leaves you feeling empty?

I'd have to say maybe to this one. Having no ability to draw would definitely be a drawback to my designing. However, I do think that I could come up with some band samplers that would make me happy and I could play with lots of neat specialty stitches. My other side hobby is rescuing books about needlework from thrift shops. Sometime I'll have to take a picture of some of my rescues. They'd be my resource for inspiration.

5)Finally what do the cross stitch magazines on the market offer you? Do they relate to you as a cross stitcher? Do you look at them and think to yourself, who do they think buys this magazine? I guess what I'm asking, when you see the current cross stitch magazines do they make you feel like they know their readers or do you find it's more of the same? What could they do to be ambassadors for the art of cross stitch other than putting a sampler on the cover with "F-U" on it? What are we missing on a PR level that could change the opinion of cross stitch itself?

Some magazines appeal and some don't. I am a regular purchaser of JCS and of late I regularly pick up the British Cross-stitcher as I enjoy the variety of projects there. I enjoy flipping through SANQ at the LNS and I have enjoyed having a subscription to The Gift of Stitching in the past (and am having major wanna-resubscribe-issues - drat that budget!). Other magazines on the market might be worth a flip through, but often do leave me wondering why I'd want them or why I'd ever stitch from them. Simple designs, basic layouts, themes I'm not into and repetitions by the same designer in every issue just don't grab me. I do wonder about a magazine when I can flip through any issue and pick out who designed each project just by the picture. And I still don't want to stitch the pieces, I just know exactly who designed it.

It's hard to know how to change things though. The 'bigger named' designers don't appear in magazines all that often (although Mirabilia/Nora Corbett is appearing regularly in CS&N it seems although only about 1/4 of her designs grab me....) and maybe that is to their detriment and the detriment of the craft. They are as big as they are because they did appear in magazines at one time or another and caught folks' attention. Maybe some of them need to go back to having some magazine designs to catch people's eye as they walk by. Maybe the magazines themselves need to be available in more places besides the LNS and specialty bookstore. I can rarely find JCS anywhere but the bookstore nowadays. I did enjoy picking it up in Wal-Mart whilst I was getting other household necessities. It's almost never there anymore.

6) Do you do other crafts and if so what are they and why do they pull you away from cross stitch?

I am a bit of an intrepid knitter and crocheter, but they really don't get much of my attention in the grand scheme of things (I just took 3 bags of wool to the local charity shop and I hadn't touched it in at least 5 or 6 years....). I crochet because it was one of the earliest crafts my grandmother taught me and so it occasionally pops up in my hands. I knit because of the same grandmother although I didn't knit for many, many years and only started knitting again in the last couple of years. Although I don't knit much beyond the odd scarf and socks.

As for why they pull me away from cross-stitch - well, I think I tend to pick up a knitting or crocheting project when my needlework is driving me round the bend. Sometimes I need the boring repetitiveness of knitting or crochet after a project or two that might have too many colour changes or tweeding or that I know there is a huge error in and I haven't the patience to figure it out just then. It's a way to still be creative but without the huge committment of a needlework project. My crochet and knit projects tend to be small and fast to finish. Needlework - not so much.... :-)

So there are my thoughts on it. What are yours?

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On the road again.....

(sorry for the bad Willie Nelson reference....)

The project has had an exceptionally busy few days, going out and about in society, as it were.

First off, last Thursday (I know, but I was busy getting ready to go!), the project had the chance to go to the drive in movie theater that's about a 1/2 hr. drive away. It really, really, really wanted to see the newest installment in the Harry Potter series, so Thursday evening found us stitching and waiting for the movie to start:


All went well, until the heavens opened and we spent the first 1/2 hour of the movie huddled inside the van with 2 sweaty teenagers (DS#1 and his friend) and DS#2. The fug was enough to make me wish sincerely that I could open windows. Thankfully, the downpour soon eased and we were able to escape to our lawn chairs to watch the rest of the movie. It was an excellent movie and it has set things up perfectly for what should come in the end of this movie series. The movie wasn't entirely true to the 6th book and many things were missing or not handled in quite the way I would have chosen, but if it had been, the movie would have taken about 4 times as long! We all enjoyed ourselves, even though it made for a very late night.

The next day (Friday), we were trying to get up and out early, but we were all tired and we ended up departing home a good hour later than originally intended. Still, once we made it on the highway, we made good time. We stopped in Colborne to visit this landmark for the area:


Still not sure what we stopped to see? Maybe this will help:


We stopped to see The Big Apple. It's big, it's red and it does look like an apple (that's DS#2 standing slightly to the right of the apple - he's 4'3" - the apple is big!). We couldn't go into the apple as it was closed for maintenance (darn it!), but we did enjoy wandering around inside the bakery and gift shop beside the apple. The bakery smelled amazing and left me craving apple pie with surprising ferocity. Being that we weren't going to be near a fridge for 3 days meant there was no point buying a pie, but I sure did want one! :-) I may end up making one later this week.

After our stop at the Big Apple, we were all getting hungry, so we drove on a bit further and stopped at my kids' #1 choice of eating out food:

Greasy pizza consumed, we continued on to our final destination:


If you're wondering, it's pronounced GAN-on-ock-way, more or less. It's a beautiful small town. We checked into our hotel:


We didn't have a room with the Whirlpool tub - it would have cost an extra $120 and we just couldn't justify it, considering how little time we were likely to actually be in the room. Besides, how romantic would it really have been with the two DS' along? :-) Once we checked in and got settled the four of us went swimming at the hotel's pool and had a good time overall. Our stomachs were calling after our swim, so we got dressed and had a little drive around town and tried to decide what to eat for dinner. We ended up at the golden arches. The project wasn't enthused about it, so it declined to have its picture taken.

By the time we finished dinner, the rest of DH's family arrived and all the boys (DH, both my DS' two of my newphews and my BIL) and some of the girls (my SIL and niece) went in for another swim, splash and play around in the pool. We headed off for bed around 9:30 or so, but not before all the kids ended up in our room playing video games (DS#1 brought his Wii for playing in the van on the drive up and we hooked it up in the room too). My niece isn't so into the video game thing, so instead she asked to help me 'sew'. I get my needle through the fabric and in the right place, it's her job to pull the need all the way through. She was also starting to help push the needle into the fabric in the right place. I might have a stitcher on my hands soon. The traveling project really enjoyed having someone new to play with. I forgot to take a picture when she was helping me, but I grabbed this picture the next morning:

She's the first person to willing hold my project and pose for a picture! :-)

Saturday morning found us heading to Fort Henry to step back into the mid-1800s and learn about military life of the time. There were tons of people dressed in appropriate costume and behaving just as expected for the time period. There are tons of interesting displays of all kinds of military arcana, various historical guns and cannons and lots of opportunity to get an idea of what life was like when the fort was an active military post. We all had fun wandering around and looking at everything.

The project stopped near the entrance for this shot:


We met up with a guard on our way in, but he's not permitted to acknowledge anyone, so he couldn't hold the project. He did stand still for a photograph though:

I don't doubt for a minute that he was wondering what the heck we were doing, but he was unable to ask. I did tell him. Maybe it was a good thing that he couldn't respond to the crazy lady and her husband. :-)

The project insisted on having its picture taken with one of the cannons:



We stayed for dinner at the Fort and then watched their annual military Tattoo. Unfortunately, the Tattoo was rained out part way through, so we didn't get to see everything that they had planned but what we did see was excellent. I give tons of credit to the pipe band that played in a torrential downpour for at least 15 minutes while the finale's fireworks went off overhead. We had a sheltered spot to sit in, so we weren't soaked, just a bit damp about the edges. When the rain let up a bit we headed back to the hotel.

Sunday found us heading out for a boat tour around the 1,000 Islands. The project agreed to let me take a picture of it before we boarded the boat:


The tour was excellent - well narrated and interesting. The kids had a blast running around the boat - with 3 floors of boat to run around on, they didn't get bored. Funnily enough, we ran into a family that lives near us and whose kids go to the same school as DS#2. What are the chances of that?

One of my favourite pictures from the boat tour:

After yet another meal at the golden arches (one of my nephews is severely allergic to peanuts, so the only 'safe' place he could eat was McDonald's), we all headed back to our respective homes.

We all had a great weekend and the project had lots of fun seeing all the things we did. The project is going to have a couple of weeks off now, as we're not going anywhere for the next bit (probably a good thing - I've got a model to stitch!). Camping is next on our agenda, but not until after DS#1's 13th birthday!

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It's me, I'm sure it's me.....

The traveling project had a little adventure last weekend. We headed down to my in-laws house to go the rodeo:


Because we went to the Saturday night show, the light went early, so the project chose to stay in the van rather than come up to the grandstand. The rodeo was lots of fun though. Well run and things moved quickly. Much fun was had all around. I didn't enjoy the calf-roping at all though, it looked painful in the extreme. Everything else looked like fun and it was clear to see how well cared for and how well trained the animals were.

The next day was DH's family's annual golf tournament. My FIL has 5 brothers, all of whom are married with assorted children and grandchildren. About 26 years ago they started having an annual family golf tournament - the younger kids would play mini-golf while the adults would play 9 holes of golf. They even have trophies..... The project arrived a little early (DH and both DS' wanted to hit a bucket of balls on the driving range before playing....):



In an attempt to get *someone* to hold the darned thing, I did ask the nice people that own the golf course if they would let me take their picture with the project, but they declined. Maybe I have a habit of always picking folks who don't want their picture taken????

There was so much family around and we were so busy catching up that the project got put back in its bag for the rest of the day. I admit to forgetting about it in all the enjoyment....

The project did have another mini-adventure on Tuesday when we took DS#2 to Sick Kids to see his endocrinologist for another checkup. I didn't take any pictures, however. I stress out just enough when at Sick Kids that photographs really aren't high on my list of to-dos. DS#2 did have a good check-up though and it looks like a treatment we were hoping to avoid (it involved needles daily for 4 years!), we are going to be able to skip it. Good news there! We return in September to meet with DS#2's urology team to schedule what we hope will be his last surgery.

This weekend has us taking off to Gananoque for the weekend with all of DH's immediate family (my MIL, FIL, all my BILs and SILs, and all my nieces and nephews - we'll total 16!). Hopefully the project won't get into too much mischief! (and if you see me wielding my project, won't you let me take your picture with it? Please???? It won't hurt, I promise!)

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The Traveling Project's First Adventure...

We got kind of a late start heading to the cottage as it seemed to just take us *forever* to get packed and loaded. You'd think we were going away for years instead of just 1 week.... But anyway, we were finally off around 10:30 in the morning and I pulled out the Traveling Project. I got lots of curious looks from other drivers as we wove our way along the highway.

We were all hungry by noon, so the project made it's first pit stop:

We did, however, elect to go in and sit down. The project chose to remain in the van whilst we ate as it was concerned about getting dirty. :-)

Much refreshed, we continued northwards and stopped here:

Despite having driven past this conservation area for the last 13 years, we've never stopped before. The project's appearance caused a large dump truck to stop and look at what the crazy lady with the camera was doing. He declined to have his picture taken with the project. You'd think it was poisoned or something....

We decided to go spelunking for a bit. The project took one look at the dirt, grime, mud and mess in the caves and elected to stay in the van while the rest of us wriggled, crawled and duck-walked through the caves. They were super cool and very interesting to poke around in.

The project was getting bored and wanted to move again, so after a few hours we finally gave into its incessant pleading (I've never had such a vocal project before!), and continued on to:

This is the marina where we park our van and hop into the boat for the ride to the cottage. The project was happy to have its picture taken again, although it knew it wouldn't come out again since we'd arrived at our destination. Another person stopped to watch the crazy lady with her camera, but again declined to hold it and be photographed. Is it me?

The Project spent a relaxing week at the cottage, but did keep asking if we were going anywhere so it could come out and play..... I had to remind it that we weren't traveling while at the cottage, but rather enjoying being in one place.

We finally headed for home, but I wasn't quite feeling up to snuff, so I had to ask the Traveling Project for a reprieve on the way home - I didn't think I could manage stitching and the motion of the van at the same time. It agreed as long as I promised that it could come out to play again on our next adventure.

So, we are off again on the weekend - heading to a rodeo and the annual family golf tournament. With a bit of luck I'll be able to get *someone* to hold the darned thing and let me take a picture!

As for the project itself, for those that have asked, it's a freebie from gazette94. I'm stitching it with plain old DMC (550 & 3821) on a hand-dyed fabric from Enchanting Lair called Passion Myst.

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Home again, home again, jiggity jog....

Well, we made it home late last night after a relatively nice week at the cottage. The weather wasn't the greatest - I think there's something horribly wrong with wearing jeans and sweaters in the middle of July! - but we did manage to enjoy ourselves nonetheless.

I noticed that Silverlotus received the blog giveaway prize that I sent her just before we headed north. I still can't believe how long it took me to get my act together - I did the drawing way back in February! Thankfully Heather has some serious patience!

You see, I have had the good fortune to have met Silverlotus a few times over the years and while I fully admit that I don't know her well, I felt a real urge to attempt to make something personal and not just stitch any old thing. That's where all the problems started. :-) It was hard to decide on a project and then even harder to get the thing stitched and finished. Then I half changed my mind and stitched something else entirely and attempted to finish that. Then I couldn't decide, so I sent both things. I wanted to include some other fun things too, so I did some serious snooping around Silverlotus' blog and tried hard to come up with a few things that would make her happy. The end result took far too long, but I think the end product was worth it. Here's some pictures (there's more on Silverlotus' blog too - go look!):



This is only the second tape measure cover I've ever made and while it's not perfect, I'm relatively happy with the end product. This is the over-one project that I was working on some time ago that was giving me fits! I think I started and re-started the darned thing at least 3 or 4 times before I finally got it to work. I found the pattern in a stash dive and thought Heather would like it.

Here's the back of the tape measure:


Then came the second project:

I found this freebie on-line somewhere, but darned if I can find it now. I played with some Dinky-dyes that I had in my stash (I know, hardly a surprise, right?). The finishing on this gave me fits to no end - I've never attempted something heart-shaped before. I did discover the merits of photocopying though - I copied the finished piece and then drew a heart shape around it that was slightly larger and used that as a template to cut out the mat board I used to mount everything. Sounds simple, right? Well, it was downhill all the way from there though. :-) I stupidly cut the stitched heart too small (I have a math degree, but apparently don't have any ability to actually *use* those skills.... *sigh*), so I had to fiddle with the heart shape and it's smaller than I originally intended. However, it did come together for me in the end. Naturally, I'm not entirely happy with the finished piece, but then I rarely am. I'm probably being too critical, particularly because this was a gift. Anyway, it's done now and in Heather's hands....

Here's the back of the heart:


And the rest of the toys I sent:


Just a few things from her wish list and some cute little finger puppets that I had put away for just the right little person.

I'm very happy she seems to like what I've done.

I have an update on the Traveling project's adventures from last week, but that will have to wait for another post - the laundry pile is threatening to overwhelm the house and I'd better attend to that right away!

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It's ready...

It's on the Q-snap, it got a brand new pretty bag to carry it around, methinks my travelling project is ready for action!

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In which much is accomplished in a short time....

Since my last post, I really got down to business and I'm happily surprised at just how much I have managed to accomplish in the last week...

First off, I finished the model I was doing for X's and Oh's. While this piece is not to my personal taste, I did find the fabric choice wonderful and it certainly stitched up quickly. I accepted this project after the original model stitcher was unable to complete it due to a family crisis. Luckily we stitch in the same direction (I had visions of my having to rotate the project 90 degrees and stitch sideways, but thankfully that didn't happen!). I'd share a picture, but the piece hasn't been released yet. I think it's scheduled for September, but maybe since I finished it a good month ahead of schedule it'll get released sooner. Either way, it's done and back in the designer's hands, safe and sound. Yipee!!!

In celebration of finishing the model, I immediately stitched up two small things since I was in a 'get-it-finished' mood:

Princess of Perpetual Projects by Cross Stitch Happy
Stitched on random hand-dyed from Enchanting Lair with Dinky-Dyes Moonie Ponds

I have no idea what the thread count is on the fabric - I found it in a stash dive and it was unlabelled. I know I got it from Laura at Enchanting Lair though (as an aside, is there anyone but me buying Laura's fabrics? They're stunning!!!!!). It's really pretty. I hope to turn this into a little pillow of some kind and hang it by my stitching spot. It suits me to a 'T'. It just needs a little sparkly tiara or something that will glitter to really finish it off.

Next up:

Link from Legend of Zelda
Designed by DS#1 (stitched by Mom)
On 14-ct perforated paper with DMC

This little piece was drawn out, coloured and floss chosen by my oldest DS. It occurred to him recently that cross stitch charts kinda look like 8-bit pictures that he's seen on the 'net of various Nintendo characters. He then asked if I would stitch him something if he drew it out. So, a little time with his coloured pencils, some graph paper and my DMC colour card and voila! Link in all his glory. I think DS did a great job. Maybe I've got my own little designer on my hands.... :-)

My urge to finish things had me rummaging in the stitched-but-not-finished pile and I dragged out 3 things. Here's what I've been doing with them:


This is Here Be Dragons by Dragon Dreams. I stitched this piece many years ago when it was offered as a class at the CreativFestival (although it was called the Creative Sewing and Needlework Festival back then....). It has sat in my pile of projects since then and I had a sudden urge to *do* something with it. So, I made it into a flat fold. Here's some pictures of the side and back:



I had found the dragon fabric ages ago and easily put it together with Here Be Dragons. I didn't have enough of it to do the inside of the flat fold with it, so the insides are just a simple dark blue fabric. I'm quite happy with how this turned out.

Then I tripped over these two pieces:


Now these two pieces aren't completely finished as I didn't have the right kind of ribbon or fibre to make cording in my stash. I'll rectify that later today. These two pieces are old as the hills though - they're my first pieces on an evenweave as opposed to Aida. I don't remember precisely where the designs came from, but I think they're from a book. I'll need to do a little rummage and see what I find. I could also tell the age of this piece simply from the new-stitcher mistake I made on them - they edges of the fabric were masking taped! They've left a few yellow marks on the fabric, but I cut that off before I made these up.

I'm going to add ribbon and a hanger to these and give them to my mother. She loves these pieces and has done for years. I don't know why I've waited so long to do something with them and give them to her.

Finally, something Silverlotus said in her blog not long ago has inspired me a bit. She's right in that we, as stitchers, do need some kind of Public Awareness League. Our craft is declining in popularity and I really this it's up to us, as stitchers to try and do something about it. It needs to be visible or folks just won't catch on to what an awesome thing needlework is. I've no desire to become a needlework celebrity(!?!), but I do have a desire to share my passion. To that end, I'm going to start this:

What's so special about starting another project, you might ask? Well, this isn't just going to be any old project pulled from my rather embarassingly large stash. It's going to be my travelling project. For however long this might take (it's not exactly a *small* project), this project is going to travel with me when I leave home. It'll be stitched on while I'm away from home and I'm going to try to document it's travels (something akin to the Yarn Harlot's travelling sock).

Tomorrow we leave for the cottage for a week so my project will have it's first adventure in the 'real' world. I will put in a few stitches today whilst at home, just so I don't waste time figuring out where to start.

This could be interesting....

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So, we've been a little busy......

Looking back over photographs we've taken in the last 18 months (um, we kinda forget to actually take the photographs somewhere to be printed on actual paper....), I realized that June has been quite busy in our little neck of the woods....

First, my nephew got married (he's the dude in the tux and he's standing with my parents and his new wife):


It was a day fraught with *issues* (namely that neither the mother of the groom nor the mother of the bride elected to attend the wedding for what I can only decide are *stupid* reasons), but we did our best to have a lovely day. The weather did co-operate as for weeks previously it had been cold and rainy. The day of the wedding was clear, sunny and pleasantly warm.

Then DS#1 broke his finger - we found out from the dr. that he has an undisplaced fracture - meaning it's broken but luckily nothing has shifted out of place. We're into our 3rd week of having it buddy taped. It's still swollen and sore and he can't do silly things like cut his meat at dinner or open a bottle of water or ride his bike, but we're managing. He'll likely be taped up for at least another week and then he'll need to learn how to use it again.

After that bit of drama, I had to work for a few days, DH had his birthday:


We took him out to a nice restaurant for dinner. Upon hearing it was his birthday, the servers at the restaurant promptly got together, brought out the longhorn hat and got the restaurant to sing him Happy Birthday (DH said the hat was really heavy and very hard to keep from tipping backwards off his head)....

End of the school year craziness set in next and I was busy preparing for the Grade 5 graduation at DS#2's school (he won't graduate until next year, but I always help out preparing for it each year). It was *such* a relief to get to the last day of school. Both boys did well on report cards and much joy was had by all.... :-)

This past weekend had me realizing that I was definitely spending my time in a small town....

How did I know this, you ask? In a word, PoultryFest....

We saw lots of chickens:


We watched the chicken chariot races:

Believe it or not, they actually hook up small chariots (you can't really see them in the picture) to the chickens and release them in lanes. Chickens, being somewhat dim bulbs, don't know what to do and so they walk back and forth looking confused. It's not really a race, but more of a see who might wander down to the other end..... One did make it to the end of the race and escaped the enclosure. Much hilarity ensued as the chicken made his bid for freedom whislt at least a dozen people made attempts to catch him. I was rooting for the chicken, but sadly he was recaptured and hooked up to his chariot for the second heat.....

Later in the day we watched the Egg Drop:


If you look carefully, you can see a dude in a cherry picker (it's got the 1-800-RENT-CAT sign on it). He stands up there with a whole lot of eggs. There's a measuring tape so they know how high the cherry picker is. The kids stand beneath the dude in the cherry picker and attempt to catch the eggs as he drops them. If they catch the egg and don't break it, they're in the next round when the cherry picker goes higher. If it breaks (and splats and makes a big mess all over the hapless child), the catcher is eliminated. The winner caught an egg from 39ft. up. It's quite funny to watch the kids try to catch the egg. They do the same thing with adults too, but we didn't stay to watch that.

Poultryfest is a really great family event - all the inflatable stuff you can see in the background is completely free - and DS#2 made good use of it all. There were all kinds of climbing structures and slides.... There was a tractor pull and an antique and classic car show as well. You could spend the day there and not part with a penny. We however, did buy food and drinks while there but even that was reasonably priced. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went.

On the stitching front, I'm still plugging away at models. One is almost done, the other I still need to pull DMC for (generally designers do provide the DMC, but I asked not to for the second model because I have so darned much of the stuff here! ).... I haven't picked up a single project for myself, beyond another attempt at knitting a sock with a heel. Attempt #1 was comical - I discovered after turning the heel that I was knitting in two different sizes - I started off knitting for size small, then switched to medium and then went back to small again. So, if you've got really wierd feet, I would have had the perfect sock.... Being human, they wouldn't have fit me, so I frogged the whole thing and am working my way through again, but in the correct size this time. Cross your fingers that I keep one size through the whole sock....

I'm off to prepare for a Canada Day BBQ tomorrow. If you're Canadian, Happy Canada Day! If you're not, Happy Canada Day anyway........and an early Happy 4th of July to all those Americans out there!

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