Mixed Emotions

Today I find myself happy, sad and excited all at once and for a variety of reasons.

Happy, because I finished my travelling piece of needlework:

The Spooks Are Out! Copyright © Waxing Moon Designs

Stitched on 32-count Natural Belfast Linen with recommended DMC threads

I started this piece back when we were camping this summer. The picture is a bit wavy because I really need to iron it! :-) I think I'll make this into a tuck-away pillow and hang it in my front entry-way to greet visitors as we approach Samhain.

I'm feeling excited because after many months of working, asking, begging, pleading, being annoying and so on, DS#2's school is finally going to get additional landscaping at the front of the school. It's taken months of work, but it looks now like it will happen. It's going to mean spending this coming weekend shoveling dirt to get the planting beds ready, but I'm willing to spend the time. Better news is that the school itself is willing to pay for the dirt, so it won't come out of the limited budget the parent volunteers have. Yipee!

The only downer to my week has been the newly invoked and equally newly revoked adoption record laws in Ontario. I'm an adoptee, so this affects me personally. Since around 1927 (but my dates could be totally wrong here, so don't quote me on that!) adoption records in Ontario have been sealed - meaning neither Adoptees nor Birth Parents could access anything but the most generic information about each other. For instance, I could find out that my birthmother was a nurse and was 23 when she had me, but little else.

Sometime in the 70s or 80s (again, I'm not sure of dates here), the government established the Adoption Disclosure Registry. Adoptees and Birth Parents could register in a passive registry, meaning that if an adoptee registers and his/her birth parent registers, then they would be matched up and could meet and find out about each other. Additionally one could request a search for birth family or adoptees. I registered for a search in 1993. At that time, searches took between 7 and 10 years (yes, that's years folks) to commence. I was contacted in 2000 to indicate that my search was about to begin. It was completed in 2001 with the location of my birthmother. This would be great, except for the fact that my birthmother passed away in 1999.

In 2005 the Ontario government finally passed a law that would open Adoption records for adoptees and birth parents. It would allow adoptees to access their original birth certificates and birth parents to access their child's amended birth certificate. Identifying information all around. This is good. The law came into affect Sept. 17. More good.

Sept. 19th a judge heard a challenge to the new law and struck it down. This challenge was brought about by 4 people - 3 adoptees and one birth parent. 4 people out of the thousands of adoptees and birth parents in Ontario. They felt the law violated their constituitional rights and freedoms.

An appeal is being launched and I imagine this will eventually end up in the Supreme Court of Canada, but I am left feeling unspeakably sad that yet again I am denied that most basic of information - my name and the name of the people who created me. I am one of the lucky few who does actually know this information already, but I would still like to have my original birth certificate. It's not fair to all those who haven't been so lucky to date.

I hope this law will come back into affect and soon. All adoptees and birth parents in Ontario have been denied this information for far too long.

If you're interested, you can read more about the judgement here.

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Surfacing.....


I finally came up for air today, looked around and realized it's been almost 2 weeks since I've posted anything. Ack!


What have I been up to? Stitching. Lots and lots of stitching. Sadly, I can't show you what I've been stitching though.... I've been frantically working to finish the one remaining model that I have kicking around - only to have the designer push back the release date, so I didn't need to work so frantically. I'm not unhappy though - I'm really far ahead now and can take a little break from the project to...................pick up another model. How do I get myself into these things???? :-) Luckily this model is quite small and it'll be finished within the next day or two.

I do have a stitching picture that I can post though! I finished one ornament I stitched earlier this year into an actual ornament:

This is the Merry Christmas Ornament from Glory Bee. I know the picture is a bit yellow, but it was late at night and I barely remembered to take a picture before it was packaged up.

You see, I had forgotten that DH's annual family golf tournament and Christmas gift exchange was coming up the weekend before last....... The gift exchange is just something small - we spend about $10 - $15 and I've gotten into the habit of putting a small Christmas ornament with my gift..... I had a real 'uh-oh' moment at around 10PM the night before the tournament when I remembered that I had stitched some ornaments, but couldn't remember actually making them into ornaments...... I dug through my stitching basket and what popped out but this ornament all made up with cording attatched and everything. Clearly the stitching guardians were watching over me!

As for the golf tournament, we had a good time as always. The younger kids (and their moms) usually play mini-golf while the older kids and all of DH's uncles go play a round of golf. This has been going on for over 20 years now and there are even trophies for mini-golf and regular golf. The trophy has 3 categories - Low Gross Score, Low Net Score and Most Honest Golfer. I'm pleased to say Cameron won Low Gross Score for mini-golf this year. It's his second year in a row to win Low Gross.... He was quite pleased with himself:

Cameron receiving the trophy for Low Gross Score in Mini-Putt from his Great Uncle Terry

Beyond that we're mostly settling into our new fall schedule with school, Scouts, Cubs and so on. It's always a bit crazy the first couple of weeks as we adjust to the new routine. Cameron is now attending middle school and has to ride the bus every day. School is good, apparently, but the bus thing has had some hiccups - late pick-ups, strange driving behaviour, extra early pick-ups, etc. I think it's sorted out now though as the driver has been coming mostly on-time last week. Today is a day off school for the kids as the school re-organizes, meaning they re-adjust classes and kids.

I'm off to make some lunch - the boys are hungry and I need to put the kitchen back together as I had it apart to wash the floor this morning!

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Back to reality.........


It's been almost a month since I've posted here - and what a month it's been! I feel like I've run from one end of the province to another, but then again, to a point, I did.


We spent the first week of our vacation camping at a place called the Pinery - it's about a 3 hour drive from our house. We camped with DH's family - his parents, sister & brother and their respective families. It made for a total of 16 of us. The kids ranged in age from 11 down to 1 (there's 8 of them). It was busy. It was noisy. It was soooo much fun! I didn't realize it but I failed to get a picture of everyone. Although with that many of us, I doubt there would be a good one anyway!


We returned home to do laundry, unpack some things, buy groceries and then drive up to my parent's cottage for another week. Unfortunately the weather didn't co-operate with us much as it poured rain for the first 4 days we were there. So the boys watched movies (when the power wasn't out) and played together. The last few days were lovely though and we were off to the beach to build sand castles and play in the water.


Returning home we found we had a lot of laundry, a lot of mail and a lot of cleaning up and putting away to do. Then the spectre of back-to-school shopping hit and we were off to buy new shoes, lunch bags and other sundries so necessary for a new school year.


This year does mark a big change for our family as DS#1 heads off to middle school for the first time. It involves riding a bus every day but we're really lucky that the bus picks him up and drops him off directly in front of our house. We're also lucky that he's the last one on the bus and the first one off, so he shouldn't be on the bus for more than a half-hour per day. I can't wait until he gets home to hear all about his first day at his new school!


DS#2 happily returned to our primary school for Grade 3. I really like his teacher (I've known her for a few years now) and I think he'll have a really great school year. Most of the renovations to our primary school are finished - they put on a 2 storey addition that has (at least temporarily) left us without portables. I imagine that as class sizes go down again (as legislated by our government), our need for portables will re-appear as there aren't enough classrooms for all the kids. But for now, we're portable free!


I did manage to stitch while on holiday, although not much. Many times the light was too bad or we had no electricity to power my OTT-lite. I did get some work done on one of my models and have since picked up another model (am I nuts?).....


Here's the non-model stitching I did:

These are two of the tooth-fairy pillows that I'm working on for DS#2 and two of my nephews. I couldn't find some DMC819 to finish the space-man, so I need to run to Michaels to pick that up. I don't know how I have 2 full sets of DMC, yet can never find one colour for any given project. Just how does that happen, anyway???

I also started a freebie from Waxing Moon called 'The Spooks Are Out':

I doubt I'll get much done on either of the above pieces for a while yet now as the models are just going to keep me too busy. One is so close to being done that I can almost taste it! :-)

Time to go enjoy a cup of tea and then go pick up DS#2 at school.....

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I just couldn't resist this...

What kind of witch are you?

You are an Earth Witch! The Material Element of Earth is at your command. You feel out of your skin when confined to the indoors but instantly feel better once your bare feet are touching the Earth you love so much. You nurture all things you feel need nurturing and don't care what people think of you for it. Blunt to the point of having no tact, you don't like to beat around the bush, no pun intended. It takes a lot to get you riled up, but Goddess help the poor soul who gets to you. They'll probably end up 6 feet under... or deeper.


Common Powers:Geokinesis- the ability to move rock and metal with one's mind


Florakinesis- the ability to control trees, plants, and flowers with one's mind


Healing touch- the ability to heal another person with their touchShapeshifting- the ability to take on the form and abilities of another
Take this quiz!

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Ow.

That about sums up my visit with the radiologist last week. My knee got blown up like a balloon (I swear by the time it was done my knee was 3 times the size it was....), then I got to perform contortions worthy of any acrobat in order to get 360 degree films of my knee.

The good news - the radiologist couldn't see an obvious tear in my cartilege. The bad news - the radiologist couldn't see an obvious tear in my cartilege. The long and short of it is that we still don't know why my knee is causing me so much pain. I have to admit to feeling a little better now, but am still finding it difficult to sleep and if I stand for too long it hurts. We went for a relatively long drive over the weekend (a good 2 hours anyway) and I found that by the half way point I was just about ready to reach out and strangle DH as I was sure he was finding every single bump and pot hole in the road just so I could whimper in pain. More ice.

Now I wait until I can get an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon - likely won't happen until September now at the earliest. Wonder what tortures he has in store for me. *sigh*

I've been stitching on my model whilst sitting with my ice bag on my knee. It's coming along well and I'm really hoping I'll finish it early in September - maybe even by the end of August if I get more fibres from the designer. This piece eats perle cotton for breakfast! :-)

I did also pick up a piece I started for myself back in May for a little while as I've hardly worked on it at all. It's a large piece and I don't want to get too lost in it as the model work comes first. Here's the progress to date:

Any idea what the grey blob is? No? Okay, I'll give in. It's the beginnings of L&L's Nantucket Rose. I've literally had the linen for this piece for years and finally decided I needed to stitch it. But as I said, it's not getting much needle time as the model is my top priority.

The other big event in our family has been this:

DS#1 celebrated his 11th birthday over the weekend. It's amazing to think that he's 11 already. Time flies when you're having fun!

We're off camping on Saturday for a bit, then off to the cottage for a bit longer so I may not be around much until the end of August!

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And the pain continues..................

My trip to the doctor last week has proven fruitful to a point, I guess. I've been referred to an orthopedic surgeon. I've also been sent to have a knee arthrogram (you can read all about the tortures of it here.). It involves needles - that's good. Sadly, they're all going into my knee. All I can say is ow. I imagine I will find some more inventive words tomorrow around 1PM EST. Perhaps I should bring a gag???

*whimper*

In an effort to not think about the tortures of tomorrow I've been stitching a fair amount. When you consider that standing, sitting and walking all cause pain in various forms, it's impressive that any stitching has occurred. Then again, when I sit, I can sit with my handy ice pack on my knee. This is a very good thing.

For the most part I've been motoring on my last remaining model which I naturally can't show pictures of.... However, I did have some wait around time and hence finished one travelling project and made amazing headroads on another....

Here's the one I finished:







This is the last of a series of 4 ornaments that I've been working on for the last wee bit. It's from the June 2007 issue of the Cross Stitcher. I used good old DMC 310 and the same 32-count platinum belfast linen that I used for the other 3. I really like how these 4 ornaments turned out. I plan to finish the above one with some gold lame (can't find my French character to spell that correctly)-like fabric I've got and make cording in black and gold. I think it'll look quite stunning when all is said and done.

Next is what I'm working on now during those hurry-up-and-wait moments:

Toothasaurus Rex

Design Copyright © Dragon Dreams

This still needs some backstitching, so it's not really finished as of yet.... Soon though!

My little Bryce has been losing teeth left, right and centre (corn on the cob isn't an option right now...) so I decided it was time he had a tooth fairy pillow - especially since I've heard the tooth fairy has a hard time locating the tooth beneath the pillow due to its diminuitive size.....

Then it occurred to me - I've got two nephews who are a year younger than Bryce who are also starting to lose teeth like no tomorrow. So, there are two more pillows to come. Then you add in the two other nephews and two nieces who will all get to the tooth losing stage within the next 3 - 5 years.......................................................

I'd better get stitching.

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Ow, ow and ouch!

$600.

Yes folks, that's how much it took to get my faithless vehicle out of jail, um, the mechanics place. What's worse is that it likely needs another couple hundred dollars worth of work done on it. Sadly neither my credit card nor budget can do that this month. *sigh*

And just to add a little fun and entertainment to the mix, my knee has started acting up again. You see, I've had a chronic knee problem since I was 12. I've done a variety of stupid, idiotic and painful things to it over the years - torn ligaments, dislocated kneecap, etc., etc..... I won't bore anyone with the gory details... Well, after the zoo trip with DS#2's class it started bothering me again - to the point where I saw a dr. about it for the first time in the better part of 12 years. Generally I just hobble along on my own when it acts up and it really hasn't been that bothersome until lately. One anti-inflammatory prescription later and much rest, ice, compression & elevation (ahhh, good old RICE) I was feeling better, but not quite my old self.

This week I got very tired of just sitting around and not getting any exercise, so I thought I would just try some gentle toning movements - some squats, leg lifts - easy easy, no impact and slow movements..... And now I'm limping again and discovering the joys of a bag of frozen peas applied liberally.....

Off to the dr. this afternoon. I feel an orthopedic surgeon in my near future. Bugger!

In other, more interesting and less whiny news, all this sitting about has got me plugging away on my remaining model at a good clip. However, I did decide to take a little break and finish off a really, really, really old UFO from a class I took at CSNF waaay back around 2001 IIRC. I was almost finished but ran out of the #8 perle cotton I needed to finish it - in two colours. I was lazy about getting more #8 and just put it off and put it off. Well, I finally ordered the last of the fibre and decided I'd finish it off.

A Dragon's Quilt

Copyright © Dragon Dreams

Stitched on 28-count Cobblestone Linen by Zweigart using recommended fibres (DMC Rayon, perle cotton, Kreinik #4 braid and DMC floss)

I really enjoyed stitching this piece originally and have no idea why I never ordered the fibres I needed and finished it years ago. Oh well, it's done now!

My garden has moved into hyper-blooming phase and many things are busting out all over.... Here are a few pictures of some of the things that are blooming today....

This is a daylily of unknown type. I rescued the daylily from a friend's garden - she had an overabundance of ditchweed at we call it.... I really love the colour of this lily - very rich and vibrant!

This is one of my Morning Glories. I plant these every year and usually by now they are thick with leaves and blooms. This year they are very scraggly and just not doing well overall. But, I am getting some very large blooms as this one shows.

This is one of my Hybrid Tea roses - Chrysler Imperial. Last year I had a really bad case of black spot on my roses but so far this year they are remaining spot-free and they're blooming quite well, all things considered. This rosebush has at least 4 other buds working their way towards a full bloom. My other Hybrid Tea rose is called Tropicana which was my grandmother's favorite rose. It'll be blooming in another day or two.

Off to get some things done!

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I'm ba-ack.....

Here I am home again after a lovely week at the cottage. The weather wasn't the greatest - it rained a few times and was quite chilly at night but we still managed to have a great time lazing about, playing games and watching the odd movie or two.

Being forced indoors was a good thing for me though as I finished one of the two models I've got on the go right now! I am *so* happy to have gotten one of the two out of the way. Now I can focus on the one that's left and motor through to the end of that.

We came home from our holiday early on Friday so that Cameron and I could hit our local Chapters for our copy of Harry Potter. Things were going along swimmingly until we stopped at a shop to get some black hair-spray (Cameron was dressing up in his Harry Potter Quidditch costume that I made him a year or two ago for Hallowe'en)..... We returned to the van, got in, turned the key - and nothing happened! GAH!

So half and hour and one taxi-ride later we made it to the book store in time to enjoy the fun set up at the store. I had pre-ordered the book in February so when we got there we just needed to pick up a wrist band and wait for midnight. The store had spots where you could get your fortune told, see some snakes and other assorted reptiles, play Quidditch and so on. It was fun and entertaining.

We lined up for our book at about 10:45 - after we each picked a book out to read while we were waiting.... At midnight Cameron set his stopwatch to time how long it took us to get a book and we had one in our hot little hands within 12 minutes and 53 seconds....

Luckily we ran into friends in the lineup who kindly offered us a ride home and Cameron and I settled in to read the first two chapters before bed. I managed to sleep for a few hours but then woke up early to read. I finished the book by Sat. afternoon. Cameron is a ways behind me as he's had to wait for me to finish. :-)

All I'll say here is wow. And I'm sorry it's over.

I suppose I should get on with laundry - there's an unusually large amount of it. I'm sure we only went away for a week, but the laundry pile looks as if we've been gone months!

Here's a picture of the boys out in the kayak. They loved paddling around in it while we were up this time - although you'll note that Bryce doesn't have a paddle. He's conned his brother into doing all the 'hard' work for him..... :-)

I sure hope that my van remembers that just because it's visiting it's favorite mechanic that there's no reason to bankrupt me with repairs...... :-(

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News, views and a brief change of locale!


Well it's been a typically busy time in my little corner of the world. Now that the boys are home from school for the summer, I spend most of my time prying them away from the computer (Mom needs time on the computer too), video games and TV and re-directing their energy to more fun stuff like large Lego project building, bike riding and playing in the great outdoors when it's not too hot..... My youngest DS is taking swimming lessons daily, so that gets us out of the house in the morning and often gives us an opportunity to head to the park for a picnic and some playtime in the afternoon, although it's been dreadfully hot and humid in the last few days, so we've been house bound, but not bored really.


I have managed to put in a little stitching time - mostly in the evenings after the boys are in bed. I'm working primarily on my models - one is almost done! I'll likely finish it in the next week. I did finish one more little ornament in the series of Damask ornaments that I've been working on - whilst watching DS#2's swimming lessons....



And here's the current SBQ!


Suggested by The Wagon (http://thewagon.yuku.com/):

What do you love to do that many people hate? What do you hate to do, but do anyway?

The permalink to this post is:http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2007/07/sbq-love-and-hate/


I would have to say french knots and back stitch, although I wouldn't say that I love either of those stitches, I can do them with great ease and no bad feelings come with. I don't mind doing either of them - I've actually gotten pretty fast at french knots and can do them in rapid succession. I can do colonial knots as well, which I know may folks prefer over french knots, but I'm faster at french knots. About the only thing I hate would have to be confetti stitching. I hate having a back that looks like a rats nest and often confetti stitching leads to messy backs. I do it anyway though because usually the end product is worth the angst. It might just take me longer to resign myself to actually doing it though.....

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I have mentioned in the past that I'm a cat person and am owned and operated by two little darlings. Here's a pictures of my diluted calico, aptly named Callie. She has an obsession with sleeping with her head on a pillow..... As a result, I regularly have to de-fur the couch she's sleeping on (velveteen + hairy cat = furry couch!)....


We're off to the cottage for the next week, but we're coming home in time to go to the Harry Potter Book Release party on Friday night. Can't wait to get my hands on #7! :-)

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SBQ Catch Up

Well, since blogger is presently accepting posts from me, I think it's time I caught up on some SBQs. I've fallen dreadfully behind!

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June 14, 2007: suggested Jennifer(http://astitchinwrinkledtime.blogspot.com/)

How do you store your WIPs and other projects that you have kitted up?

The permalink to this post is:http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2007/06/sbq-storing-stuff/

I don't generally kit things up in advance, but current WIPs are usually stored in Ziplocs if they're of a compatible size for that. I also use some zippered bags that came with some curtains I purchased years ago - they're clean, sturdy and (my favorite part) free! I've also got a larger zippered bag that came with a set of sheet I purchased long ago. If a project is too large to fit in a Ziploc or one of my other bags then it generally lives in a pillowcase. Easy to transport and keeps things clean.

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June 22, 2007: suggested by Kathryn(http://threadsofdesire.blogspot.com/)

When you start a new work do you look for something small, do you lookfor another huge project or do you consider your UFOs?

The permalink to this post is: http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2007/06/sbq-the-choices-we-make/

This really depends for me. If I've just finished a large project, then I may very well kit up and start another large piece, particularly if there is a large piece that has been calling for me for quite a while. I often consider my UFOs or unfinished projects from classes I've taken as they are usually pieces I want to work on but haven't had time to get done. For the most part I think it depends on my mood at that moment.

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July 3, 2007:

Do you consider yourself a "floss miser?"

The permalink to this post is: http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2007/07/one-thousand/

Absolutely. Or at least I do when it comes to pieces I'm stitching for myself anyway. When I'm working for a designer on a model, I tend to use floss more liberally as I'm far more concerned that the finished product be as perfect as I can manage. As a result, I'm more likely to use shorter lengths of floss and have more wasteage than I would on a piece that is just for me. DMC is so cheap that I don't worry overly much about 'wasting' it, but often find myself going 'for pity's sake, it's only 50 cents to buy another skein!' when I'm stitching down to the last iota of the thread. I'm definitely more frugal with my silks and other specialty fibres - if I've spent close to $5 or more on a card or skein, I'm going to get the most for my money!

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So, why does blogger hate me?


I know I'm not the best blogger in the world. I'm not even funny. Or entertaining. Just plain old boring me.


So why is it when I have a chatty post full of lovely pictures, blogger decides that I'm just not worth having around?


I've been trying to post for over a week. I give up. Uncle!


Maybe another time blogger will let me post pretty pictures. Until then - I have been stitching. Really. Stop laughing.

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Beginnings, endings and celebrations....

***Note that I started this blog post almost 2 weeks ago - it's taken this long for blogger to agree to let me finish and post it!

It's been an incredibly busy two weeks since I last poasted. I've been so busy I pretty much need to get the calendar out to figure out what the heck I've been up to!

First I went bowling with DS#1's Grade 5 class (fun, but noisy). Then DH and both boys went to the Scout Camp of the Century at a local park. There were over 300 boys at this event who camped out at the park for the weekend and did a huge variety of activities over the weekend.

This is just a small portion of the tents set up at the park....

That means I had a weekend all to myself - no kids, no hubby - ahhhh, bliss. I rented a bunch of chick flicks and mostly vegged on the couch. It was DH's birthday over the weekend while they were camping so when the boys returned home, we had cake and presents for DH. We squeezed Father's day in there too somewhere. I'm sure of it. I think. Okay, maybe.

The following week had me running to various meetings for both boys regarding their classes next year. This was a major event for DS#1 as he is heading off to middle school next year. It will be a large change for him, but one he is looking forward to.


A project that has been near and dear to my heart for the last few years finally got off the ground last week as well - the gardens at my sons' school. They have been horribly neglected for the last 3 years and were more weeds than anything. After begging and pleading with the school, a group of volunteers finally got permission to actually do something. So, we planted a few flowering perennials and drought-tolerant plants and weeded and weeded and weeded. We made an enormous difference in the appearance of our school in just a few days. The school board is supposed to be planting some shrubbery in August and then we volunteers will come in to add some spring-flowering bulbs and re-plant some of the tubers and bulbs we've rescued. I'm presently in possession of an enormous bag (it probably weighs a good 30lbs.!) of iris tubers that we dug out of the weed-bed....



This past weekend led us to a celebration for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary. Not too far from my home there is a Danish campground/park/retirement village/restaurant. My family goes there quite frequently as it's one of the few places around to find real Danish food and celebrations of traditional Danish events. This past weekend was the celebration for St. Hans Aften - a midsummer's celebration. There is a big bonfire, burning of a witch effigy (to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits) and fireworks. Handy that this celebration happens on my parent's anniversary. Two for the price of one!

My Mom and Dad (in an almost great picture of them - they don't photograph well! :-) )

The St. Hans Aften bonfire - shortly after the witch met up with the flames!

This week has had me preparing for a large event for our family - DS#1's graduation from his primary school. He has been at this school for 6 years now and will be moving on to middle school. Monday I spent decorating for the reception after the graduation ceremony and yesterday was the ceremony (in the 40+ C heat + humidity - can you say sweat???). It was an emotional day to see my 'little' boy graduate, but wonderful to see all those kids who I've known since kindergarden stand up and receive their certificates.

Cameron receiving his certificate from his principal. His teacher is at the podium with fellow classmates behind him.

Today I sent the boys off to school for the last time this year with gifts and flowers for their teachers. I can't believe that next year I will only be walking one of my boys to school everyday as my oldest will be bussed to a nearby school. I don't think it has hit me yet. I'm so proud of both of my boys - they've had a wonderful school year.

Of course, now I'm faced with what the heck to do with them until September. Gak. Why did I agree to be a SAHM again??????????????? :-)



Despite all this insane busy-ness, I have been stitching. Really. I mean it. Stop laughing. I have!



Okay, I'll prove it!




These two ornaments are from the June 2007 issue of The Cross Stitcher. They're very nice, quick and small ornaments - all done in one colour making them an easy, portable stitch. I've used a 32 ct. belfast linen in platinum and just used the recommended DMC fibres on them. There are actually 4 in the set, but the other two are in progress right now as my travelling project.

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Finished Something!

After DS#2's zoo trip on Tuesday, I was worn out and bleary-eyed, so I decided I'd spend a little time finishing a couple of finished pieces (no matter how I phrase that, it sounds odd, doesn't it?).....

I made two flat-folds for two things I finished stitching recently:

The first one is School Treats from the Trilogy which I have finished into a flat-fold for DS#2's teacher. I found this really cool brick-patterned fabric for the flat fold which looks amazing with this piece. Made the cording too and found the ribbon for the sides floating around in my massive box of ribbons (someday I'll take a picture to illustrate just how bad my addiction to ribbon really is).

The second picture is Friendship Blooms by Lizzie*Kate that I stitched a while back. I have no clue what I'm going to do with it now that it's finished, but maybe something will come up. I made the cording myself for this too.

Silly me forgot to sandwich the ribbon for the sides in my flat-fold instead of gluing it to the inside.... I remembered - just not until after I had all the pieces of the flat fold glued together. Sometimes I am such a dolt! Oh well, with a bit of luck no one will notice but me! :-) (well, now, of course *you* will notice it since I just pointed it out, but maybe you won't tell on me????)

Off to scrub a toilet or two or three...... *sigh*

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Weekend Adventures, Happy Dances & SBQ

It's been a gorgeous weekend here in my little corner of the planet. Friday took everyone by surprise though when in the late afternoon it became extremely dark (my solar lights came on a 4:30 in the afternoon because it was so dark) and very, very, very windy. I turned on the weather channel to discover that there were actually tornado warnings for my area and also for the areas where my parents were cottaging and my in-laws living. The heavens opened and deluged us with almost 1/2 " of rain in minutes. Then as suddenly as it appeared, it moved off. Lots of trees down or with large branches missing. We didn't lose power, but much of southern Ontario did for quite a while. Since then the weather has been gorgeous - sunny, warm and not too hot. I guess we're getting something back for that wretched Friday afternoon!

This weekend is a bit of a special weekend for the city of Brampton, where I live. It's called Open Doors Brampton and many of our architecturally interesting and historic buildings are open to the public free of charge. We rounded up the boys and spent some of yesterday touring our original courthouse and jail and our local Armoury. Here's a picture of the jail (currently undergoing some outdoor renovations). The jail also houses an art gallery that is presently displaying some amazing artwork done by local high school students. There are some talented students out there. I'm jealous - I can't draw stick people!

You can almost make out me and the boys in the picture too. DH is a bit of a picture-a-holic and we were all a bit annoyed with his endless 'stand together and smile' requests! LOL!

I did squeeze in a bit of time since I last posted to finish off two little projects that I've been working on. There was so little left to do on them that I just sat down and finished the darned things....

First we have my Small Spot Sampler by Timeless Designs:

Small Spot Sampler Copyright © Timeless Designs

Stitched on 32-count Belfast Vintage Linen - Autumn Field from Zweigart using a combination of Anchor and DMC.

For some odd reason I was procrastinating on the little row of eyelets. I like doing eyelets and am able to do them easily and fairly evenly, yet I drag my feet when it's time to actually do them. Silly, isn't it?

My second happy dance is the piece I wrote about in my last post, School Treats by the Trilogy.

School Treats Copyright © The Trilogy

Stitched on 32-count Vintage Antique Ivory from Wichelt Imports Inc. using a combination of GAST and WDW.

I really enjoyed this piece, but can't say anything good about the fabric itself. It felt like cardboard in the hands and was very stiff to work with. It actually has bends in it from the Q-snap - I can't recall ever having that problem with a fabric before. I have to admit, I'm kind of a Zweigart fan when it comes to fabrics. :-)

Finally to wrap up, here's this week's SBQ suggested by Ish (http://ishsuth.wordpress.com/):

What has been your most challenging project and why?

The permalink to this post is: http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2007/06/sbq-challenging-projects/

Hmmmmm - this is a hard one to say really. I've done a large variety of projects in my time using a variety of techniques. I can't pinpoint one that has been the most challenging as they all have had their challenges. I still vividly recall the wedding sampler piece I did for my BIL & SIL that I still refer to as the piece with the da** doves. It just about drove me loopy with all the shades of white/gray & BF. But maybe the truest answer to this question is that it'll be the project I haven't started yet..... I'm dying to try making a temari ball (I think I've collected at least 5 different books on the subject and many, many web links)... That will be the most challenging project, when I get around to it.... :-)

Back to the models!

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Whoops! Where did May go?

Well, I finally looked at the calendar today and did a double take. What the heck happened to May? I'm sure I had at least another week left!

It's been a terrifically busy couple of weeks for me - mostly with kid stuff. DS#1 had a class trip (which was fun, but hot!) and we also had a meeting regarding his middle school placement. After much tooth-gnashing, brow-beating and frustration, I've managed to get him into a contained gifted program for the next 3 years. It hasn't been simple and I've had to wade through an enormous amount of political school crap to get here. At least it's over!

This week it's the school's Jump Rope for Heart event and somehow I managed to get myself put in charge of the volunteers and freezies for the kids. I'm lucky that there are so many willing helpers around the school so things will go well. Now we just need to get the weather to co-operate. It's gotten downright cold here today and we've had a couple of downpours already this morning and it's barely 10AM! I'll likely have to bring in my hanging baskets and plants tonight as they're calling for frost. In June. I can't believe it. I'm not sure if I can remember ever having frost in June here where I am.

Stitch-wise, I haven't had a heck of a lot of time to stitch this last week. I proofread a fantastic Canadian needlework magazine called "A Needle Pulling Thread" (there's a link to ANPT's website in my sidebar over there). I had to proof the summer issue last week and it took up a good chunk of time. I so enjoy this magazine and it's a joy to be the proofreader for it. Every issue gets better and better. The summer issue is fascinating! Go buy it once it hits newsstands! :-)

I have worked on the models some more in the last couple of weeks and I have started a little piece that I'll finish into a flat fold for DS#2's teacher. I'm stitching a piece called "School Treats" by the Trilogy. I found it as a kit at my LNS. It's all stitched with WDW and GAST fibres and it very sweet. It's going very quickly too as it's a lot of blocks of one colour. (sorry it's not the best photo - it's so wet and dreary here today that there's no good light to be had!)

School Treats Copyright © The Trilogy

I'm behind on SBQ's as well. Here's last week's:

How many needles do you use during a project? Have you ever loaded up a needle for every color? Do you use a new needle for every project or recycle your favorite needle?

The permalink to this post is:http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2007/05/sbq-needle-mania/

For the most part, it depends. Most often I will only use one needle. I love Piecemaker needles (preferably their 26s) and have a good number of those in my stash. My couch gets hungry and must periodically be fed needles, so I keep lots about. If I have a project that has a lot of confetti stitching, then I will thread up some needles with a variety of colours. It helps things go faster so that I'm not constantly re-threading a needle. One of the current models I'm working on was giving me fits and I found I was having trouble working on it. Then I got out my magnetic needle card (the one that LoRan makes), threaded up a bunch of the colours that were driving me mad and off I went. I am lusting after the Pako needle organizer thing, but I'm not sure if I'll buy it or not. I don't know that I'd ever have that many needles threaded up all at once! I finished 3 entire pages of the model in record time after that. I do throw out needles if they've lost their finish or are just icky to stitch with. If one has an eye that keeps shredding fibres it's instantly tossed.

Well, off to stitch - have to head into school soon to work with my little Grade 1's with their reading!

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Exchange Received

Well, the mailman seems to like me this week.... Look what I received yesterday!

This is what I received in the Dragon Dreams Exchange over at the Rotation Stitchers BB. I have *loved* this pattern for years, but never got around to stitching it. I love how it has been finished and the butterfly charm at the bottom is simply gorgeous. Reading is one of my favorite pastimes (besides stitching, that is) so it fits perfectly. Thank you so much to my exchange partner Sara.

I've also been busy in the garden - here's a couple of pictures of some of the baskets & pots at my front door. I'll likely not do much else out front as we are hopefully going to be re-landscaping the front entry way. Currently the path is so narrow that folks have to walk single file to our front door.....

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SBQ and a little finish!

I might be setting a record here - another post in less than a week! :-)

Thanks to all the kind folks who posted comments about my Dragon Dreams Exchange. I'm glad Ruth liked what I sent. I've never given a stitched gift to another stitcher before and had a bad case of nerves that my stitching wouldn't be up to par - or that my finishing wouldn't be! I've stitched for a very long time, but I've only just recently starting finishing things in ways besides framing. It took me quite a while to get over the idea of preserving every piece forever.... While some of my work is handled with all the care of a good conservator, I've come to accept and be quite happy with the realization that every piece doesn't have to be that way. It's allowed me to get in there with glue with some fearlessness. (heaven help me now!)

This past weekend was a long weekend for Canada - a time to celebrate the Queen's birthday and get an extra day off work! I spent most of the weekend in the garden catching up on my pots and my veggie patch. If the darn onions would just die down already so I could pick them, then I could finish getting my veggies in. Ah well, soon....

I did get in some stitching time - mostly working on my two models. They're both coming along quite well and I hope I'll finish them soon. With a bit of luck the designers will think they're coming along well too! ;-)

I did squeeze in one little thing for myself though as this chart has been yodeling to me for the last 3 weeks and I couldn't ignore it any longer. Here it is:

Ink Circles May 2007 Freebie Celtic Knot

Stitched on 32-count Opalescent Lugana - Daffodil by Silkweaver
DMC: 550 (Dark Purple), 552 (Medium Purple) , 554 (Light Purple)

I have had the Lugana for a few years now and have been looking for just the right thing to stitch on it - it's such a pretty yellow IRL and sparkly too. This freebie seems perfect on it. I may just attempt a back piece for it and make my first biscornu out of it, but we'll see. I've had a real hankering to stitch something from Ink Circles as of late. My LNS doesn't carry their patterns (gasp!) but I've yet to bring myself to order Cirque des Cercles - it would end up shoving everything else I've got to the side! I may stitch the Bouquet for Cheryl freebie next if I can find a good fabric and fibre in the stash horde....

Time for another SBQ!

This SBQ was suggested Juls (http://afairyprincessdreams.blogspot.com/) and is:

If you could only stitch one more piece what would it be and why?

The permalink to this post is: http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2007/05/sbq-last-call/

Oh my is this a difficult question to answer. It would be so easy to say I couldn't possibly choose since there are so many I like, but somehow that feels like a bit of a cop-out to me.... So, what would I stitch? Well, I have to admit that I don't have a specific pattern in mind, but I would want to stitch a birth sampler for my youngest son, Bryce. I stitched this one for Cameron when I was pregnant with Bryce:

Note that I've blurred out the relevant details such as his full name and birthdate. I found this pattern in an old Cross-Stitch & Needlework (formerly Cross-Stitch & Country Crafts) and I loved it for its sentiment and elegance. So many birth samplers are so cutesy that they just don't appeal to me. I loved this one for its elegance. It's something that Cameron will hopefully want displayed in his own home some day.

I would love to do something similar for Bryce, but I don't want to stitch the same thing again - even if I did change the colours/linen/whatever it wouldn't be right to me somehow. He deserves his own special something, I just haven't found it yet.

So, in a very long-winded fashion, I guess my answer to the SBQ would be a birth sampler for my youngest son!

Time to get ready to head to school - it's time to help my Grade 1s with their reading!

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Exchange sent and I've been tagged!

Egads, has it really been over a week since I've posted? Things have been somewhat crazy in my neck of the woods this week. I've been busy with my book club, school stuff (pizza money counting & ice cream day), stitching (naturally) and gardening......

I was part of the Dragon Dreams exchange over at the Rotation Stitchers BB and I sent out my package to my recipient this week. She got it yesterday and sounds quite happy about it. I'm relieved! Being my first exchange I was quite unsure of just what I had gotten myself into and I was hoping my finishing would be up to par. Here's some pictures:

Moon Dragon

Copyright © Dragon Dreams Inc.

Stitched over one on 20ct. mystery fabric using recommended fibres

I mounted the finished piece inside of what started out life as a jewelry box. I tripped over this box at a second-hand shop and just knew it would make a fabulous home for a stitched piece. I took the box apart, sanded and painted it black, lined the inside with some pretty fabric and then mounted my stitched piece.

I finished my piece relatively early, so I got ambitious and also stitched this for my exchange partner:

Letter 'R' from Dragon Alphabet

Copyright © Dragon Dreams Inc.

Stitched over two on 32-count mystery fabric with recommended fibres

I thought it turned out kind of cute and was another first for me - I've never actually finished a scissor fob. Hopefully my exchange recipient will overlook all the deficiencies in the piece. :-) I had some lavendar that I had dried last year from my garden and I stuffed a little bit of it in the fob to give it a nice smell. Hopefully it'll help remind Ruth that stitching is supposed to be a relaxing experience!

Then it was time to fill the newly lined box with a few goodies......

I included some Dinky-Dyes and another hand-dyed fibre by a Canadian company, some pretty little notecards I found whilst shopping and a container of beads in a variety of blues.

I hope Ruth enjoys what I sent her and isn't too disappointed in what I completed. This was a huge undertaking for me but I'm glad I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and tried something new.

Now for the tag. Meari tagged me for the current meme making the rounds, 7 random things. I'm not sure I can come up with 7, but here goes nothing!

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I'm adopted. I was adopted when I was 6 weeks old. I have met up with some of my birth family, but sadly both of my birth parents passed away before I could meet them. It's been interesting meeting this whole other family.
2. I speak a shocking quantity of languages. I can speak French, Russian, German and Danish with some fluency (although my Russian, German and Danish are decidedly rusty) and small smatterings of both Italian and Greek.
3. I really hate any vegetable that has a smell when cooked - broccoli is a great example of this. So is cabbage. Yuk.
4. I'm allergic to turnip. My mother tried for years to 'sneak' it into things like soups and stews, only to find me bowing to the porcelain god in the wee hours of the morning. I avoid it at all costs (and my mother has finally stopped trying to feed it to me!).
5. I'm a techno-dweeb. I love toys, technology and cool stuff to play with. I had the most fun when I worked for Wireless at Nortel - we got to play with all kinds of new wireless gadgets.
6. I met my husband when I was 14. We started dating when I was 16, got engaged when I was 18 and got married two weeks before I turned 23. Two kids and thirteen years later and we're still happy and in love. He's such a great guy!
7. I'm an obsessive-compulsive dead-header of flowers. If I see a flower that needs dead-heading, I have to dead-head it. I've been known to do it at restaurants that have hanging baskets near the table where I'm sitting. I do it to my neighbours and friends gardens. When helping my son deliver papers, I'll do it at those houses too. I do it anywhere I see a dead flower head. Someone stop me before I get arrested!

And that's all folks! I'm not going to tag anyone else as this meme has been floating around for a while now and I can't think of anyone who hasn't already done it. If you haven't done it and would like to, feel free. Consider it free tagging!

Off to shower and garden a bit!

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I won! I won! I won!

I generally consider myself rather unlucky when it comes to contests and such. Imagine my surprise, joy and all around giddiness when I was informed that I won the blog candy offered at The Sparklie Things Blog (don't you just *LOVE* that blog name???) last week. It looks as if there are some amazingly yummy threads coming my way. I feel so blessed. Now I need to decide just how I'm going to pass on my good fortune as I can't just keep this to myself. Keep checking this space, you never know what I'm going to come up with! :-)



My spot of good fortune came at just the right time as between still not feeling well (I think I'm actually going another round with this wretched cold!) and other stresses I've been quite down for the last little while. Both my little darlings are causing me no small amount of stress as of late, but it's neither of their faults - it's just life. My oldest DS is getting ready to go off to middle school next fall. It should be a simple process, but sadly for him it's not. Cameron has been classed as gifted (don't read too much into that, it's only Grade 5!) and as a result he has to go through this long, involved, STUPID process to determine what middle school he'll be attending next year. It's causing me no small amount of stress as I'm continually jumping through hoops to make sure he'll get into a school with a contained gifted program and neither his current school nor his school board is being helpful at all! With a bit of luck though the whole thing will be resolved at the next meeting I attend on May 31. I was happy when Cameron was classed as gifted, but now I'm not so sure about the whole thing.... *sigh* Oh well!


My little Bryce has come out with his own set of difficulties too. He's been struggling a little bit in school - nothing hugely major, but the school felt we should have it checked out by a professional. So, one psychoeducational assessment later and it turns out that Bryce has Inattentive ADD with the added bonus of a writing disability. It explains a lot of his difficulties in school, but I'm still unsure of what impact this will have on the rest of his schooling. The upshot of the assessment is that he is considered to be at the high end of average intelligence - almost gifted in fact. It explains why he's been able to cope as well as he has up until now, but as academic demands increase, he may struggle more. So, now we know. Next up is figuring out what comes next!

So, that's why the stitching is suffering slightly. The models are still receiving attention, but not nearly as much as I'd like. I haven't really picked up much else, although for my birthday weekend I did finally relent and let myself start a project that has been waiting for me for at least 5 or maybe 6 years - L&L's Nantucket Rose. I haven't got much done on it yet, so no point posting a progress picture and it's not going to get much needle time until the models get done - they're my top priority. But it was a nice birthday treat to myself to start a project that has called me for years.

And it's SBQ time!

Today's SBQ was suggested by Ish (http://ishsuth.wordpress.com/) and is:

How do you choose a project for an exchange? Do you pick solely onwhat you know of the taste of the recipient or are there other reasonsyou pick the piece you do?

The permalink to this post is: http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2007/05/sbq-exchange-choices/

Well, I'm participating in my first exchange ever, so I don't think I'll have a great answer to this one.... I'm just about to mail out my first exchange which is a Dragon Dreams exchange over at the Rotation Stitchers BB. Since the exchange is designer-specific, it was relatively easy to pick a project to stitch. I have to admit though that I had my finishing idea first and then chose the right design to fit the finishing. When I can post pictures that'll make more sense, really!

If I participate in another exchange then I would likely do my utmost to get a feel for what things my recipient likes and attempt to give them something they would like, even if it wasn't my taste.

Finally, here's a little picture of me with my boys with the birthday cake that they baked for me:

And yes, I'm grimacing in the picture. I was feeling quite awful at the time and really didn't want my picture taken, but DH insisted. At least the boys look cute (Bryce is at the front & Cameron at the back)! :-)

Anyway, I think I'll treat myself to some flower shopping for the garden - it's time to get a few baskets done!

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The Story of the Christmas Spider.....

At the Spring CreativFestival I was able to make an adorable little Christmas Spider at a make it and take it from Dragon's Lair Beads. I think I finally may have managed a halfway decent picture of my little guy, but I apologise for all blurriness. My camera and I are having a little bit of an argument over just what 'in focus' means apparently. Here he is:

He also came with this sweet story of why every Christmas tree should have a spider on it:

A long time ago a housewife was busily cleaning for Christmas. the spiders fled upstairs to the attic to escape the broom. When the house became quiet the spiders slowly crept downstairs for a peek. Oh what a beautiful Christmas tree! In their excitement they scurried up the trunk and out along each branch. They were filled with happiness as they climbed amongst the glittering beauty. But alas! By the time they were through climbing, the tree was completely shrouded in their dustry grey spider web. When Santa Claus came with the gifts for the children and saw the tree covered with spider webs, he smiled as he saw how happy the spiders were, but knew how heartbroken the mother would be if she saw the tree covered with dusty webs. So he turned the webs into silver and gold. The tree sparkled and shimmered and was even more beautiful than before. That's why we have tinsel on our tree and every tree should have a Christmas spider in its branches.

I'm afraid I cannot attribute this text to anyone as there was no information written on the sheet. If you know to whom I owe an attribution, please let me know!

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Here's this week's SBQ suggested Kathryn:

How many WIPs do you have? How many UFOs do you have? When does a WIP become a UFO?

The permalink to this post is: http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2007/05/sbq-wips-and-ufos/

Ummmmm - well, I don't exactly count them.... I'm rather terrified of the thought actually! In terms of WIPs, well right now I've got 2 models on the go and I usually have another smaller travel project floating about with me too (an ornament or something along those lines). I don't have anything else large on the go as the models require top attention, since they're paying jobs..... I'm not sure how many UFOs I have but I do make an effort to pull at least one out every few months and finish it up if possible. Many of my present UFOs are from classes I've taken and I just haven't had time to return to the project. I personally consider a piece a UFO if it leaves the stitching basket beside the couch where my stitching nook is. If it's in the basket it's being worked on, even if I may not have touched it in recent months.... :-)

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I'm finally starting to feel a little more human, but I'm still so stuffed up that I feel vaguely like I'm swimming underwater. I've done nothing useful with myself this week at all. Zero energy. I don't think I've even picked up a needle. That's how you know I'm sick!

Onwards and upwards from here, right? I've got to get better for Saturday - DH and my boys are baking me a cake for my birthday! :-)

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