Bonnie's World

Giveaway Win

2012-01-24T19:59:00.000-05:00

On January 7th Leslie at Stitching Under the Sea announced the winner of her Giveaway and...

I WON!!

This is the first time I have won anything on a blog giveaway. Friday the thread arrived in the mail, but with being at retreat I didn't get it until Sunday night

I won the one of a kind from Dinky Dyes

Wonderful thread and pretty card

Thanks again Leslie!!

Giveaway heads up

2012-01-24T08:28:00.004-05:00

Autumn a new blogger is having a sweet Valentine giveaway.
Go check her blog out and you might win a cute pattern :)

IHSW, TUSAL, Retreat, and WIPS

2012-01-23T19:44:00.001-05:00

This is going to be one large post, as I have lots to share!

IHSW
First, this past weekend was the Internation Hermit and Stitch Weekend. Although I was with a group most of the weekend, I did get some solitude before my good friend Dani arrived at Retreat. Just to prove I had a bit of Hermit time, I took a few pics ;)

Chair for Dani

Where Liane eventually sat

RETREAT
This weekend was also the Knowledge and Needles Winter Retreat. I arrived just after noon and got all set up.
I will share my progress further down in the post, but here are some finishes from some others.
For more pics, check out Dani and Ann's Blogs :) Fran will most likely post some too.

Finish by Anne W.

Clare did this one

Dani's two crazy challenge finishes

Liane's finishes

WIP UPDATE
At retreat, I worked on my Winter Mandala by Ink Circles. Here is a before and after pic. As usual I did a lot more than I thought I did!

Winter Mandala @ Jan 17th

Winter Mandala after retreat

Sunday afternoon I decided to pull out my HAED and stitch a few blocks.

Magic Evening Nov 24th

Magic Evening Jan 22

TUSAL
Tonight is also the first TUSAL of the new year. This is organized by DaffyCat
At the beginning of the year I emptied my ort container like I have the two past years.
So here is my froggy and my Ort container after January has been added.

Lots of orts in froggy this month. Most from Winter Mandala

Ort Container for January

January 2012 IHSW + Pre retreat

2012-01-19T20:58:00.001-05:00

If you haven't been over to Joysze's blog , this weekend is the first Internation Hermit and Stitch Weekend.

I hemmed and hawed about signing up sine I won't actually be alone, but after talking to Dani, whom is signing up, and whom I will be with on the weekend, I decided to go ahead and sign up.

IHSW

Speaking of the weekend, I am off to the January retreat. With work and school, I really need a nice relaxing weekend with no major "life" distractions.

What do you have going on this weekend?

stress relief due to winter?

2012-01-17T20:57:00.003-05:00

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I had a reading and assignment weekend. After dinner Saturday, I pulled out my winter mandala for some stress relief.

I did the same Sunday morning and Sunday night after dinner again.

Unfortunately last night, I did not any stitching done. Tonight when I got home from work, I went right to bed to try and kill a headache. After getting up I did some laundry and finished up one assignment question.

Here is where I am as of tonight... finally some colour getting added :)

Full Winter Mandala

Close up of bottom right corner - COLOUR!

Well that is it for tonight... I am going to stitch for an hour and then back to bed.
Thank goodness I am off for some major stress relief this weekend... :)

WIPocalypse reminder + PV

2012-01-14T13:24:00.000-05:00

Today is a reading day.

I am behind in my readings and need to stop procrastinating and just do it.
Taking a little break for tea (pumpkin chai... yum) and looking at a few blogs

I wanted to remind you all as well that the sign up for the WIPocalypse will be closing soon.
Per Measi's post:

"The final deadline for registering for the WIPocalypse is January 15, 2012 (11:59 U.S. Eastern Time). If you’ve missed the deadline, you’re welcome to stitch with us in spirit and share your progress, but I won’t be adding any more official participants after that deadline.

Well tea is ready and it is already after 1pm. I should get to my readings and figure out how to do present value on my new calculator ($40!... think of all the stash I could have bought with that)

I am hoping to relax after dinner and do some more stitching on my winter mandala.
Tomorrow is assignment 1 day.

Wish me luck :)

Small update

2012-01-12T22:16:00.001-05:00

I haven't put many stitches in this week, but thought I would share my progress

I have started putting some colour into my winter mandala

WIPocalypse 1 + fobbing fool

2012-01-09T07:56:00.002-05:00

Today is the first progress post for the WIPocolypse.
I have only worked on one project since January 1st, on my 4 seasons mandala SAL.
I am currently working on Winter

Winter
All black outlines done :)

Winter
A bit of colour started

I also made another fob yesturday

Well.... Off to work

Late night fobbing

2012-01-08T09:25:00.003-05:00

As the weekend got closer, I thought I would have lots of free time. As it turned out, I was out most of Saturday doing various things like helping my church (45 minute drive each way), a stop at Micheals and Future shop, Tea latte at Starbucks and then home. When I got back into town, I remembered a store I had been hearing about on the radio. It was a beading store called Bears Beads. I looked it up on my phone and then tried to find it. Wasn't too hard thank goodness since they were to close is about 45 minutes.

It was a busy and exhausting day, but a productive one as well.

Last night around 10:30 I was wide awake, but my madalas were not calling to me at all, and didn't feel like getting one of my WIP's out. I looked over at my pink scissors and thought I would go through the beads I bought at Micheals and the new store, and maybe make a fob for this pair.

2:30 am later
Beads organized
3 fobs made

All 3 done

Found the perfect charm, at the new store, for these
little scissors

Close up on Pink Ribbon fob

Another pair of cheapies, but deserving of bling
Charm from stash

Love these purple beads.
They were used on Kathy's fob I made for her

The reason I went for beads. Thought I had
the perfect charm for these, but needed different beads
Ended up with different charm.

These yellow beads were another find from new store

Well i'm off to make tea (although for some reason I'm craving coffee this morning) and hopefully get some stitching on my winter mandala done. It is WIPocolypse posting day tomorrow, and I would like a good update to post!

winter day 3 + a little tease

2012-01-04T09:14:00.001-05:00

I am currently at home waiting for the furnace guy to finish the yearly checkup. Figures... I could have stitched for a few hours, but no... HE HAD TO ARRIVE ON TIME!! LOL we can never be happy can we.

Last night I did manage to get a bit done on my winter mandala... although not as much as I wanted. For about an hour after dinner I had no desire to anything at all

Here is where I was as of last night

Winter - January 3

Not the greatest pic, but I did put a bit of colour in

Later in the night, I decided to put winter away and do a scissor fob. I was wanting to do one of my new scissors, but don't have any pink beads. Then I remembered a stitchy friend. She pointed out last year that I had not given her a fob like I have done with some other stitchy friends. I told her I needed to find the perfect charm for hers. Well about a week after that, I found the perfect little charm for her. I knew I had all the beads I needed for hers, so got to work on it. I am pleased with the result. I won't be giving it to her for a few weeks, and since she is a reader, I can only give you a sneak peak. I am sure this will be more of a tease for the recipient though ;)

what will it look like?

Well it looks like I will be heading to work soon. Hope you all have a great day

Winter day 2 + new challenge

2012-01-03T09:18:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I had intentions to stay at work and then walk over to my Photo Club Meeting. By 3pm I was tired, and just wanted to go home.

I ordered hubby and I pizza to pick up and went home at 5. After working on my blog and a bit of course work (not as much as I should have), I worked on my 4 seasons mandalas.

Here is where I got to before going to bed last night

Winter as of December 2'12

Last night before bed I looked through a few blogs and noticed Daffycat had a great summary on some SAL's and challenges going on in 2012. There was one on her list that I had not heard about before, so thought I should check it out.

From Daffycat's Blog:

Finally,we have Becky's BAP Challenge. This is a project to stitch between January1st and December 31st of 2012. The project must be at least 10 x 12 and not acurrent WIP. There is a prize to be given away (a $100 GC) drawn from thosethat finish their project. This challenge is a post-any-time but does needto be updated when there is progress.

If you are stitching on a smaller fabric count, you just need to follow the "at least 175x200 stitch count" rule.

I was happy to see that the 4 mandalas together fit in this category and I have joined the challenge!

To every thing there is a season

2012-01-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

This post is a day late, but I have family stuff and stitching to do inbetween.

First up, my ORTS

Orts from Dec 24 to Dec 31

Dumping the frog

ORTS for 2011
Lots of colours

Look from above at 2011

ORTS spread out

I am signed up to participate in the 2012 TUSAL and starting with a clean jar.

***************************************************

Next up is my NEW START!

Beatrice, Dani, Rebecca, Christin, Tracey, Clare, and Trista are all doing the 4 seasons mandalas as a SAL for 2012

I am doing mine on one piece of fabric kinda the way the picture shows

I am starting with Winter

Winter after day 1

***************************************************

I wish you have...

12 months of happiness,

52 weeks of fun,

365 days of success,

8,760 hours of good health,

52,600 minutes of good luck and

3,153,600 seconds of joy.

Happy New Year!

WIPocalypse 2012 starting pics

2011-12-31T10:50:00.000-05:00

December 31st is here. I guess it is time to show how what many WIP's look like as I prepare for WIPocalypse.

My new start for 2012 will be the 4 seasons mandalas by Ink Circles

I also am going to add Baroque by Ink Circles and Spring Quakers to my new starts. Spring Quakers is ready to go, but I still need to pick out fabric and thread for Baroque.

The following are the WIP's I'm also including, but not in any particular order.

Magnificent Dragon - also known as Blair's stupid dragon

The bramble and the rose - Ink Circles

Fireweed - Ink Circles

Fish City

Magic Evening - Heaven and Earth

Sabrina - Mirabilia

The Castle - Teresa Wentzler

On a side note, I received a lot of comments about the size and and quantity of my WIP's for the WIPocalypse. With work and school, I have no intention to get them all done this year. I am mearly keeping all my options open. I would be very happy to get one new and one WIP completed!

In a few minutes I am off to my mom's for a dinner. I hope to not be to long today as I would like to get back to Sabrina. I am also doing a Harry Potter Marathon until and after the CDN/US junior hockey game tonight

GO CANADA GO!!

Well this is probably going to be my last post of the year. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe night, whatever you decide to do!

Sabrina's Dress

2011-12-28T21:03:00.001-05:00

I'm still plugging away on Sabrina
This dress is going to contain a TON of beads!

Does it look like I'm getting anywhere on it??

Yes Virginia, there is a TUSAL

2011-12-24T18:20:00.001-05:00

Well it is Christmas Eve. Thai food is in my belly, and am about the settle in for the night

But first, I need to present you with my last TUSAL for the year.

On a seperate note, see that "My Bark Avenue" under the last picture. That is my calendar for next year :) This year Cathie added a kitten to her store (along with her 2 miniture bull terriers). You wouldn't beleive how close they have become.

That's it for tonight

I wish you all a

VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Sabrina update

2011-12-21T18:59:00.001-05:00

I have been giving sabrina some love. Here is a pic from before the weekend when I started working on her, and a post as of sunday night. Unfortunately I haven't stitched since Sunday.

Before

After
More white and some blue done

Wipocalypse 2012 list

2011-12-14T22:19:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it is the 14th of December already!
I have been procrastinating a bit as to my list, but thought I should get it done

So, here is my list. These are not in any order except for the first one. Also, these pics are what the finised product ~~should~~ will look like when done. I will post progress on each in the new year, since I plan to work on a bunch of these WIPS over the next couple of weeks.

Main focus for the start of 2012 - 4 Seasons Mandalas by Ink Circles

Fish City - started around 5 years ago

The bramble and the rose - Ink Cirlces

Fireweed - Ink Circles

Magnificiant Dragon - also known as Blair's stupid dragon

The Castle - Teresa Wentzler

Sabrina - Mirabilia

Magic Evening - Heaven and Earth

I am sure I am missing something, but will add to this list if I discover anything.

WIPs given some love

2011-12-13T21:35:00.001-05:00

Ever since I finished CdCx, I haven't been able to settle in one project. I did pull out Blair's dragon but that didn't last long.
Next I worked on Fish City.

Fish City before love

Fish city after love

On Sunday I was having a really rough day.... felt crappy and couldn't settle on doing anything. I pulled out Bramble and Rose for a bit. I don't have a before pic. Thought I had one, so didn't take one before I started. Looks like I haven't taken a pic of this since APRIL!! So, here is Bramble after the love

Bramble after weekend love

On saturday I drove out to my favorite LNS, Knowledge and Needles. Ann had emailed me to tell me her 40ct Linen had come in. I have decided to do my January start, The Four Seasons Mandalas, on 40ct. This will be the first time I have stitched on 40ct other than trying Dani's at retreat.

Another one bits the dust

2011-12-03T22:42:00.001-05:00

WOOT WOOT WOOT
Yes that is right, I had a finish just a few moments ago!

Cirque des Carreux
DONE

Close up of the last section
Done tonight

Ripped

2011-12-03T09:15:00.000-05:00

Todays photohunt is perfect for me as a stitcher
Who of us haven't had to "RIP" something out??
I am pretty sure I have posted this pic before on my blog, but am bringing it back for today.
This is from my Cirque des Carreux when I realized I had two different dye lots in my thread.

Done

2011-12-01T20:52:00.001-05:00

EXAM IS DONE!!
On my way to Starbucks for my reward, an earl grey latte
Then home to maybe stitch
I am going to also reward myself with a stitchy weekend, before the next course starts on WEDNESDAY

Hope you all have a great night
B

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

November

2011-11-30T22:36:00.001-05:00

Well I did it. With this post I have posted everyday in November and managed to complete NaBloPoMo.

Thank you so much for bearing with me :)

Today I was off from work and had a study day. Exam is tomorrow night...

So for today, I am just going to show how my Cirque has progressed through this crazy month

CdCx - November 4, 2011

CdCx - November 30, 2011

Well I doubt I will blog tomorrow with final cram session and then the actual exam.

Wish me luck!

Kit?

2011-11-29T21:30:00.001-05:00

Another night of studying and now time for a break.

I was trying to think of a blog post and decided to go with the same thing Christin posted.

Given the option, would you rather buy a chart and get the material and floss together yourself, or buy a pre-packed kit?

I used to buy kits all the time... until I learned there was more to cross-stitch than kits.

When I did buy kits in the past 5 years or so, I always swapped out the fabric. I am not a fan of working with Aida any more.

I am currently doing a pattern from a kit for my hubby. I swapped out the fabric, but wish I had of swapped the thread too... HATE IT!

So I guess to answer the question, I would rather get the material and floss myself.

Well I am off to watch a Movie and relax for a few hours before bed. Tomorrow and Thursday are study days before my exam on Thursday night.

Movie I picked to de-stress

Have a great night all!

2/3

2011-11-28T23:24:00.001-05:00

I managed to find small amounts of time over the past few days and worked in CdCx when I could.
I managed to finish the second middle part between study times today
Hopefully this weekend I can finish!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone and posted just in time :)

wedding

2011-11-27T19:14:00.001-05:00

Yesturday I took the day off studying so I could attend my brother-in-laws wedding.
It turned out to be a beautiful day.

Here are some pics from the day. Sorry they aren't the greatest... I did not have much luck in a very dark church.

Front of the church
Decorated for Christmas

Mr & Mrs

Outside the church

My beautiful niece who was also a bridesmaid

Hubby Blair, BIL Chad, BIL Ron, and MIL Marlene

Ron and Rachel
Father and Daughter

Hand-written

2011-11-26T09:30:00.000-05:00

The photo-hunt for today is Hand-written.
I couldn't really think of a pic for this, until I just searched through my pics and noticed something from my Quebec 2011 trip.

November TUSAL

2011-11-25T19:17:00.001-05:00

It is another new moon, and with that comes the TUSAL

Lots and lots of colours

Little froggy, some threads visable

Lots of CdCx threads

Froggy dumped into jar and hungry for more

Magic Evening

2011-11-24T21:59:00.001-05:00

Here is another WIP on my list.
This one has actually been started over this year, as I wasn't happy with it.
As you can see, I am not very far on this one AT ALL

Fish City

2011-11-23T17:30:00.000-05:00

Here is another WIP. This one hasn't had any blog attention or stitching attention for some time.

I fell in love with this pattern a long time ago and it actually got me stitching again after a dry spell.

It has been a WIP for a very long time, and think it definitely deserves to be on the Wipocolypse list for 2012.

Sorry the pics are not the greatest... I took them this morning with my iPhone

Sabrina

2011-11-22T21:25:00.001-05:00

Tonight was another study night. Exam is less than 2 weeks away.

About half an hour ago Leonard decided that I had enough reading for one night and proceded to sit in my lap, on my text book. Tried to get a pic, but of course he moved to quickly.

I was talking to Christin about WIPS and I meantioned to her about the Wipocolypse. I know it is coming up to that time when I need to post my WIPS that I want to get done before the end of the world ;)
I then realized that I have not posted a pic of Sabrina. I actually have no idea when I started it now :(
I know it was before October 3rd though as that is the first mentioned here.

So here it is... a pic of Sabrina where it stands tonight. This will be added to the 2012 WIP list.

Sabrina (Mirabillia) as of Nov 22'11

Egg

2011-11-21T21:42:00.001-05:00

Well tonight instead of doing something fun (cough cough stitching) I had to do non-paying work. I am the treasur for my local TOPS group, and I was very behind.

Well I am finally done, but nothing blog worther to report.

Instead, I will present you will a few interesting images. I am currently in a photography course (cause i'm not busy enough) and my first assignment was to photography a hard boiled egg 50 times without moving it or adding any props. The object was to learn about light.
Here are a few of my best (in my opinion)

1/3

2011-11-20T21:33:00.001-05:00

I found a little bit of stitching time today, and decided to join hubby in the "man cave"
We watched star wars in blue ray while I worked on cirque des carreux
I managed to finish one part of the middle section! That is one done and two to go for a happy dance

I can't believe it is Sunday night already! The weekends seem to go so fast lately!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Photohunt - Wet/Rain

2011-11-19T09:09:00.000-05:00

When I saw the theme for the this week I knew what photo I wanted to post
I just had to find it... and I am so glad I did.

Back in 2008 I went to a corn roast at my cousin's house. Later in the afternoon, the kids were getting a little restless so John pulled out a bucket, filled it with water, and dumped in a bag of apples.

The kids LOVED it!!

I actually picked 2 pics for today. They are both of my cousin Christine and John's kids.

Kyle with his first attempt

Katelyn didn't get an apple, but still looked like
a princess :)

Cute distraction

2011-11-18T21:56:00.001-05:00

I found an hour to stitch tonight, but unfortunately I have a growth on my lap

He is just too cute to move though!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bramble

2011-11-17T20:34:00.001-05:00

I pulled out my bramble and rose for a bit tonight. It looks so sad... I should work on it more often

TUSAL 2012

2011-11-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

The sign up for the totally useless stitch a long is up on Daffy Cat's page

Go to this post and leave a comment to join.

The rules are all there for anyone new to this SAL

She even has the dates of the New Moons listed if you want to add to a calendar or reminder

I can't wait for another exciting year ;)

Fall Retreat 2011

2011-11-15T20:25:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I attended the Knowledge and Needles Fall Retreat. This is the third one I have been to.

I arrived friday afternoon and quickly got all my stuff upacked. Friday afternoon and night we just stitched away. I did manage to get some pics of some finishes that were displayed.

Nan's quilt squares. I did the L for leaves

Beatrices Halloween Spicy Spiral

Barbs trees

Saturday was more stitching and eating. Around 1:30 we headed over to Ann's for lunch and some shopping. Lunch was absolutely AMAZING! check out what we had

The menu

Potato Soup

The Entree

Very yummy dessert

We also got little gift boxes at the table when we arrived.

Lovely carries threads, a note pad, chapstick and a charm.
I got a little kitty face :)

Saturday night we did your ornament exchange. It was a lot of fun and all the ornaments looked amazing. AGAIN, no duplicates! Here are some of the ornaments.

Nan, who got my ornament. I did it on 25ct over 1

Tracey's ornament. This was her first year attending.

Adriana's ornament. She doesn't attend, but wanted to be in the exchange.
Can you believe she is in her 90's!! Her work is amazing!

Dani's Ornament

Rebecca's Joy Ornament

Beatrice's ornament.

Sunday is always a bittersweet day. We had a great weekend, but it is hard to say good bye to some friends that won't see each other for at least a few months.
Here are some other random pics of the weekend.

Beatrice
Waiting patiently for pick her ornament

Lianne
All snuggled in the couch

Sheila
Working on a santa

Dani
In her element... witth tea and her camera

A to Z

2011-11-14T18:15:00.000-05:00

I have seen this on a few blogs over the past month, and thought I would do it as well.
If you want to know more about me, read on... if not, I promise to have a stitching related post soon.
A. Age: 33
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore that you hate: Cleaning the bathroom and doing dishes

D. Dogs: None, but I do have 2 cats named Leonard and Sheldon

E. Essential start to your day: Not sure if it is essential, but I usually check my email.

F. Favorite color: Green

G. Gold or Silver: Definitely Gold

H. Height: 5' 2"

I. Instruments you play: Played clarinet in High School. Also took piano lessons when I was younger

J. Job title: Analyst (in an accoutning firm)

K. Kids: none yet, but consider by cats my kids

L. Live: Small town, Ontario Canada

M. Make of car: Nissan Sentra

N. Nicknames: BonBon and a few from Hubby I won't repeat here

O. Overnight hospital stays: None *knock on wood*

P. Pet peeves: would rather not say at the moment

Q. Quote from a movie: May the force be with you

R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: 1 brother, 2 brother-in-laws

T. Time You Wake Up: Weekdays it is between 6:30 and 6:45 am. Weekends, depends on what I have planned, but usually before 9am

U. Underwear: Always wear. Can't remember colour today

V. Vegetable you hate: asparagus, brussel sprouts, mushrooms

W. What makes you run late: Looking for keys

X. X-Rays you’ve had: dental and x-rays before I started getting chiropractic treatments

Y. Yummy food that you make: Chicken brushetta, Chili, a few others

Z. Zoo animal: I like a lot of them, Tigers, Lions, Giraffe's etc.

CdCx

2011-11-13T22:04:00.001-05:00

Here is a pic of my carreaux as of tonight. I worked on it all weekend, and am happy with my progress.

I did take lots of pics this weekend, and will hopefully blog about that tomorrow.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

TWO

2011-11-12T11:27:00.000-05:00

Today I am at another stitchy event. This time the annual Knowledge and Needles Fall Retreat!
I have been looking forward to this since the spring retreat in March!!

Saturday is Photohunt day, and when I saw the theme for today, I thought it would be perfect for a pic of my little babies.

Leonard and Sheldon
February 2008

This was the boys back in 2008. Can you believe they turned 3 at the end of October!!

Hope you are having a great weekend :)

Remembrance Day: Lest we forget

2011-11-11T11:00:00.000-05:00

Again this year, today's post is a tribute to our fallen soldiers. I WILL REMEMBER

Tom Hanson/The Canadian Press

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

En-lightened cottage

2011-11-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

On friday night I headed to Nicole's cottage for some stitching R&R. I arrived around 8pm and set up my area. My footstool comes in handy again! lol

I decided to work on Cirque des carreux on the weekend.

On saturday, the other girls learned how to make these adorable papers books. I also showed a few people how to do scissor fobs.

Here a few pics of the girls ddoing the paper crafts

Getting ready to make the paper books

Helen the lovely instructor, Theresa looking on

Nicole doing hers

Helen and Theresa making theirs

This is the one that Helen made for Nicole's birthday.
There are little pocets in the end of each page where you
can stuff little things :)

Sherry, Suzanne and I just looked on while the others made their books.

Sherry working on a wedding sampler

I just love Suzannes little stitching case

After pics inside, I decided to take a few pictures of the beautiful outside.

Looking out from deck at the back of the cottage.

Simple Woman's Daybook ~ 08-Nov-2011

2011-11-09T08:30:00.000-05:00

I noticed this on Dee's Blog yesterday and it actually comes from the simple woman's daybook. These answers get answered every Tuesday I guess....

The answers are actually from yesterday but I didn't get a chance to post until this morning.

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... Overcast and grey

I am thinking... about the assignment I need to complete tonight

I am thankful... I have managed to stay away today

I am wearing... work clothes - beige pants, brown shirt

I am creating... a spreadsheet for my boss

I am going... crazy

I am wondering...why didn't I work on my assignment on Sunday, even though I wasn't feel well

I am reading... GL reports for the spreadsheet

I am hoping... I get my assignment done before 10pm tonight, and don't have to stay up until midnight

I am looking forward to... RETREAT on friday!!

I am hearing... Star 93.3 (cobourg)

Around the house... I'm at work

I am pondering... getting back to work

One of my favorite things... mincemeat tarts - I just got once from this little bake shop in town. yum!

A few plans for the rest of the week: A FEW?? I WISH!! Tonight is assignment, tomorrow is photography course, Thursday is fancy dinner for work, then thank the baby Jesus I am off Friday and headed to retreat

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

I hope this isn't me tonight!

How do you organize your stash?

2011-11-08T16:00:00.000-05:00

I am in the middle of creating a stash room and getting all my cross-stitch stuff organized.
I thought this would be a great time to ask all of you how you organize your stash!

So... how do you organize your stash? What about things like thread, fabric, charts, magazines, kreinik, beads?

Hopefully some time this week, I will be able to take a pic of where i'm at with my room.

Also, if you have a blog post about how you organize stuff, put in your comment. I would LOVE to see pics as well :)

Brown Bag

2011-11-07T20:00:00.000-05:00

In october at my photography club, we did something called brown bag photography. Basically you take 5 random objects and put them in a brown paper bag. You leave it at the meeting and grab someone elses bag and photography the contents. The goal is to try and be creative. I was extreamly happy with mine and knew what I wanted to do with it.

Here is the photo I submitted for tonights meeting.

Stitches n'scraps

Post weekend cirque update

2011-11-06T21:13:00.002-05:00

I had a great stitchy friday night and saturday.
I did get some other fun pictures, but for now here is an update of my cirque des carreaux. Sorry about the poor picture quality on the after.... I will try and get a better one later

Before

After

Light

2011-11-05T13:00:00.000-04:00

Today I am off at a stitchy event.

I think it is about time for a photohunt! The theme for this week is Light. On thursday, I was on my way back from a clients. I looked around to make sure there were no cops, grabbed my phone and snapped a pic. Quality is not the greatest, but I thought the light made this pic look kinda cool.

Light

Hope you all are having a great weekend!!

And I'm off

2011-11-04T09:01:00.000-04:00

I am home from work, finished packing, and the car is loaded
Now i'm off to Nicole's cottage until Saturday night for some stitching stress relief.

We, in my usual stitchy group, always laugh about how much stuff we need for a weekend away of stitching... well here is the car ready to go, FOR JUST ME, for one night, and one full day

Contents include: clothes, blanket, pillow, food, stitching bag, OTT light, and my foot stool.
Wait until next week when I will be at Fall retreat and there will be 2 people in the car!

A monthly high

2011-11-03T20:26:00.000-04:00

Tonight was my weekly weight loss meeting. It isn't something I dont' talk about often on my blog, but I struggle with my weight almost every day. Since having my gall bladder removed, I am on a restricted diet for aprox. 6 weeks. It will be 4 weeks ago tomorrow. This revised diet actually helped me to loose some weight. It was enough to get the Monthly High Loser at my TOPS group for October. I did go up a bit this week, but evil chocolate is to blame! I am going to put my certificate on my fridge and hopefully it will help me with a loss next week. At least all the halloween candy is gone!
My group is a lovely bunch of ladies that all come to help each other out when we struggle, and help us celebrate when we have a sucess...even a small one.

I am home from my meeting now, with a salad for dinner, and hopefully can get some stitching done. Even a little bit would be nice :)

A group of ladies waiting for our meeting to begin.

The castle update

2011-11-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

Last night I was going to work on TW The Castle. Instead, my mom came down for a visit.
She went through some wedding pics, and also some old cross stitch supplies I had pulled. I managed to get rid of a bunch of Aida, and some smallish kits that I will never touch now. She was very happy with her loot :)

Speaking of TW the castle, here is what it looked like last night

Tonight I have darts so no stitching :(

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

NaBloPoMo 2011

2011-11-01T17:30:00.000-04:00

Last year I attempted what I thought was the impossible, and due to one cute little puppy I failed. So after seeing Dani post on her blog, I thought what the heck... why not try again!

From 2010: So for the month of November, I am going to attempt to blog everyday. Consider this your warning - it may be short & sweet, may only be a picture, and it might not be stitching related. I will try my best however to make it interesting. I may include some history, or a review of a tv show just to make things interesting. One thing I will not do - post my CGA notes - I won't bore you with them!! :)

For 2011, it will pretty much the same. I now have a mobile app for blogging, so hopefully you will get more pictures than useless holidays or nonsense.

Check out the badge on my page and click on it if you want more info or would like to join in on the fun!

TUSAL October 2011

2011-10-26T19:00:00.000-04:00

Well my assignment got submitted last night and today is TUSAL day
Here is pic of my orts

Wait... what is that?? Why that is my new lttle froggy!

I am going to start using it to hold my monthy orts... and HOPEFULLY it will keep the pesky frogs away! I just got him on the weekend, so there isn't much in his belly yet

Threads from TW The Castle

And here is a pic of the inside of the big ort jar. On top is threads from Cirque, TW castle, and of the finished scarecrow.

a scarecrow, a cat, and two frogs

2011-10-24T19:47:00.000-04:00

I forgot to post earlier that I did finish the scarecrow at Rebecca's a few weeks ago!

Scarecrow ~ The cross stitcher magazine

Finished Oct 16, 2011

I did work on the TW the castle that night, but realized that I had messed up at least one colour. With all the blending I felt it would be easier to frog it and start over :(

So... I spend 1.5 nights frogging and then restarted.

TW The Castle

As at October 23, 2011

This past saturday, I went on a road trip with a 3 stitching friends. Around 9:30 Anne P., Beatrice, and Kathy picked me up and we went on our way to Quilts and Critters in Millbrook. They were having they annual sale, and the 3 of them had never been. First stop in Millbrook was a little shop called Bear Essentials. It had losts of interesting things including tea pots, jewellery and art just to name a few. Kathy pointed this little treasure out and I thought I just had to have it!

My new monthly ort container :)

Lets just hope this little guy keeps the nastly frogs away... I have had enough of them lately!!

On our way back from Millbrook we stopped at a wonderful little shop called Herma's. Lots and lots of very neat things in there as well as well as a ton of Gourment food. I walked out of there with some garlic oil, steak seasoning, pepper jelly, and some blackcurrent jam. After lunch at the Buttermilk we headed to a book store to look at there selection of cross stitch magazines and then on to another fabric store in Cobourg called Stitch Witch. There I noticed the cutest set of scissor and just had to get them

Cat scissors

Speacking of scissors, I got the new ginghers in the mail last week.. I think they are lovely!

Gingher Tessa

Other than boring course stuff, that is about it for now. See you on Wednesday for TUSAL!

A change for a night

2011-10-18T19:39:00.001-04:00

I was going to work on CdCx, but Dani thought I should give TW The Castle some love. I haven't worked on it in a while
Here is where I am before I work on it

Not too exciting eh!

Hope you have a great evening!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pre-Weekend Post

2011-10-14T20:16:00.001-04:00

Here is a pic of my scarecrow before I start my stitchy weekend

Also, in case I decide to work on CdCx, here is a pic of that too.

Hope you all have a wonderful stitch filled weekend!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Scarecrow update

2011-10-10T12:05:00.001-04:00

My mom stopped in for a quick visit on Saturday to see how I was doing. I talked a bit about my stitching, and she mentioned her scarecrow again. She said she actually put the boy up in the kitchen, and was waiting for the girl to get done. YA YA OK OK I got the hint, and actually took it out. I have worked on it a bit over the weekend when I was up to stitching. I couldn't find an older progress pics in my elements folder so looked back in my blog. The last time I posted a pic of this, was October 2010!!
I guess I really do need to finally just work on it and get it done.
Here is a pic of it back in 2010 and a pic as of this morning.

Not all the progress was done over the weekend, but did get most of the right hand side of the dress done.

Hope all my canadian readers are enjoying a great thanksgiving weekend. I am now waiting for hubby to get home from the gym, and then we are going to get working on our assignment that is due tomorrow.

Mid-week update

2011-10-05T22:59:00.000-04:00

Just checking out a new blogging app in case I want to post on the go :)

Here is a pic of my CdCx that I worked on for a bit tonight

Also wanted to say a Happy Thanksgiving to ally Canadian friends. Please have a wonderful and safe long weekend :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Apple picking 2011

2011-10-05T17:05:00.000-04:00

Last year I met with a dear friend Amy and her family to go Apple picking near Cobourg. I had so much fun, that when she mentioned it this year, I had to say yes.

I did blog about this last year, but wanted to give you a picture of what her 2 adorable children looked like 1 year ago and a pic of them now

Hayden 2010

Hayden 2011

Abby 2010

Abby 2011

Can you believe how big they have gotten? Especially Abby...too cute!!

And now some more pics of our great trip

October outing and an update

2011-10-03T18:35:00.002-04:00

I have one more "picture post" to publish from the photography club, but thought I would sneak in a stitching related post. I am actually heading to my next meeting in less than an hour.

On Saturday, Beatrice had a few of the "Travelling Stitcherhood" over for a stitchy day. I actually went up on Friday night and stayed until Sunday morning. I didn't get any pics of the actual event, but you can check out Dani's page for a few pics... including a horrible one of me!

I did manage to take a pic of my Cirque des carreaux before and after the weekend. Other than working on Sabrina friday night, I only worked on CdCx

As at Saturday morning

As of Sunday night

Primitive Designs

2011-09-30T17:38:00.001-04:00

On September 24th I attended an outing with the Northumberland Photography Club.

We went to a little shop north of where I work called Primitive Designs. I had never been to this shop before, but always wanted to go.

Hope you enjoy a few pics I took while I was there

Loved the colour of this pot

Loved this guys face

Just the face of a very BIG maddussa

There was lots of these guys, but really liked the face on this one

Have you ever seen a boat in a lightbulb??

I ams so going back for one of these guys!

This is actually a bowl and there is also plates like this as well

Hope you enjoyed my pics. Only one more day of pics and then a stitchy post... I PROMISE!!

Harvest Festival

2011-09-28T17:13:00.001-04:00

September 19th was the annual Harvest Festival in downtown Cobourg. The main downtown street gets blocked off, it it turns into a big farmers market at one end, and a chili cookoff at the other.
This year, the weather was AMAZING! so I decided to go down and see what I could find.

Below are some pics I took of the day.

Early morning setting up

Early morning looking down the main street

My favorite candy of all time

Maple candies YUM!!

Love sunflowers

So colourful!

Our town crier (Tom)

TUSAL for September 2011

2011-09-27T17:05:00.001-04:00

TUSAL for August 2011

TUSAL for September 2011

Small finish and a small update

2011-09-26T19:36:00.000-04:00

I have been very bad at blogging lately!I went over my pics and am going to post a few catch ups over the rest of the week.
Please bear with me!
*****************************************************************

On a board on facebook, a group of ladies was talking about this thread called sulky blendables. Sounded interesting and thought I would check it out. There was a fabric store beside a clients in Whitby, and one day when I was there, I looked and found some.

I didn't know what I should do with it, but decided to do a JBW using it.
I liked the way it turned out.

JBW - French Country Love

Sulky Blendables thread

I also have an update on Cirque des Carreux. Sorry about the angle, but it is the best pic.

Cirque Des carreux - Ink Circles

September 11, 2011

Part 2 on the way....

A Labour of Love weekend

2011-09-06T22:21:00.001-04:00

This weekend was the last long weekend of the summer here in Canada. That also meant that it was also Kathy's annual stitchy weekend.

Friday night my hubby dropped me off at Beatrice's around 7pm. After a little incident with the car hubby went on his way home, and Beatrice and I went on our way to Kathy's. When we arrived, Beth and Lynn had also arrived at Kathy's.

We had a nice little chat and got some stitching done. Beatrice and I then headed back to her place where I crashed for the weekend.

Beatrice and I headed out and arrived at aproximately 10am. I got my little "nest" all set up for the day and started to stitch. I didn't get ANY pics of the weekend other than my stitching.... still can't believe it!! Soon the 5 of us were joined by Fran, Anne, Nan, Judy, Barb, and Angie. (hopefully I didn't leave anyone out) So we stitched, we ate lots of food, and I got lots of education about all things that come with aging :) Anne from K&N also payed a visit later on Saturday.

Here is the quilt square for Nan as of Saturday morning

Sunday started pretty much the same way, but less Beatrice, who went to church with her Mom. Both Beatrice and her mom arrived later. Judy and Claire also joined us for some stitching.
Sunday night after everyone but Kathy, Beatrice and I had left, I had a little happy dance... Yes I finished my quilt square!

Nan's quilt square from Prairie Schooler

On monday Beatrice and I headed back over to Kathy's. We had a great visit and I worked on my Cirque des carreux. Beatrice headed out around 12:30 and then hubby picked me up around 2pm.

All in all it was a really great weekend. Unfortunately Dani is going through a family issue at the moment, and couldn't join us. Christin also stayed behind for moral support. Rebecca had a wedding on Saturday and a family reunion on Sunday, so couldn't join us either. I missed the 3 of them but hope to see them soon... especially Dani, since I really want to give her a big hug...

Hope you all have a great stitch filled week!

TUSAL for August

2011-08-29T18:59:00.000-04:00

The moon has gone through another cycle and with that comes the TUSAL.
My Ort jar doesn't look like it has changed much,

Full view in the sun

Close up to show some colours from Blair's dragon

and some white from the JBW angel

And since I did not want them to curse the other orts,

here is my frogging from Cirque des Carreux.

Poor Carrie's Autumn Leaves :(

Hope you all have a great week... I have my exam on Thursday:

A frog, an open house, and a finish

2011-08-25T21:05:00.000-04:00

While at Rebecca's a few weeks ago I realized that I had two different dye lots for Cirque des Carreux! I contacted Ann at Knowlege and Needles. She said she had 6 skeins of Carries Autumn Leaves and would put them aside for me. If it was one type I would have to frog about 1/3 out of what I had done. If it was the other, I might as well start over. Was I ever happy to see that she had the right ones I needed!! On sunday, I frogged while I listened to a lecture.

What was left of CdCx after the frogging.

(less the re-start in upper left corner)

The whole top portion was completely stitched

And here are the threads after I pulled them out

****************************************************************************

Last Saturday (20th) I attended my third open house at Knowledge and Needles. Read about my first and second times if you wish. It is amazing the friendships I have created over the past 3 years... and it all started with opening that car door ;)

I forgot to take my SLR, but did get a couple of pictures. I couldnt' decide what I wanted to work on, so I took out the JBW angel I started last week. I am glad I decided on that since I was up and down most of the day. I did do some shopping... some thread and some fabric.

Anne, Kathy, Christin, Dani

Chatting

Some of the beautiful work

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After most people had left, Dani and Christin were heading back with Kathy to her place. Kathy invited me to come back with them and stitch some more if I wanted. Of course I said yes! While I was there, I had a.....

FINISH!!

It was a small finish, but still a finish in my books!! Upon the finish Kathy handed me the finish pom-poms. I had intended to take some cute pics of them, but later on in the night, Dani also had a finish on a RR she was working on. I imediately handed them over to her. Check out her blog later and she might post about them. I wonder who will get these next??

JBW Angel

Not sure what I am going to do with it yet...

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I also realized it has been a while since I have posted my WIPS. While not all of them are here, these are the main ones I am working on besides Cirque des carreux.

Letter "L" for another stitcher. She is going to make these into a quilt.

Magnificent wizard - aslo known as Blair's stupid dragon

Lots of colour changes, but getting there

****************************************************************************

I also have made some new scissor fobs for birthday gifts this year.

For Christin

For Dani

For Kathy

For Beatrice

I also made one for Rebecca after she informed me I should make one for her back in June.

Well, that is about all I think for tonight. Hopefully I can get back into posting more! Hope you all have a great Friday and a even better weekend!

It only takes a moment

2011-08-18T09:14:00.001-04:00

Before I start this post, I would like to advise my readers that it is non-stitching related.

Today I dedicate this post to my Cousins who were taken way to young.

*********************************************************

16 years ago today life changed. It changed for me, it changed for my parents, it changed for my family.
It especially changed for my my Aunt, my Uncle, and my cousin.

August 18, 1995 started as any normal day for myself. I don't remember exactly what I was doing, but I vaguely remember being with my friend Amy in the evening. I also remember that when I left her house on the short walk home I had an uneasy feeling... it really can't be explained.

The phone rang around 11pm... never good news.
To this day I can still remember getting out of bed and standing at the top of the stairs and hearing my mom say back on the phone "Are they OK?" I was then told about the accident. I asked the same... "Are they OK"..... the answer was no........

They had been in a fatal car accident not 15 minutes away from home. To this day there is permanent cross on the side of the road.

Age wise I was between them. Katrina was 16, I was 17, Angela was 17, but would have had her 18th birthday that year.

They may have been taken way too early, but the memories I have of them will live forever. They also have a beautiful little nephew.

Below are a couple of pics I got my aunt to send me. Please dont' laugh too hard at the fashion ;)

(L-R) Katrina, Me, Angela, Christine

Not sure of the year - Taken at my Gramma's house (Now Aunts)

Don't you love the white socks and black shoes lol

I also noticed when uploaded this, that they put a quilt down for us to sit on... too funny :)

(L-R) Katrina, Me, Angela

I think this was taken in 1993, but not sure. Taken at my Gramma's house ~ Christmas time

OMG look at my hair!!

We think of you with love today,

As we do so often,

And feel again the bitter blow,

That never seems to soften.

Especially today we pray,

Just to let you know,

How lonely life is without you,

And how we miss you so.

No one knows the heartache,

Or what your parting cost,

But Heaven in all it's glory,

Has gained what we have lost.

Unknown

From My Gnome To Yours - Giveaway

2011-08-16T13:19:00.000-04:00

Daffycat is having a giveaway!

It is a very cute scissor fob and needle minder.

Please take a look :)

from-my-gnome-to-yours

Quebec City 2011, part 2

2011-08-03T21:00:00.002-04:00

Sunday started out like Saturday, but instead of going back to the old city, we headed in the oposite direction. Last year Blair and I didn't get to see the falls and really wanted to do it this year. Todd had never been either.

View from the cable car

Bridge over the falls

Looking down over the falls

View from the other side, walkin down the stairs

Dani and I

After, we headed further east and visited the Canyon Ste-Anne. None of us had been there before and it looked really interesting!

Blair about to go over the first bridge at the start of the falls

Water rushing over the start of the falls

Beautiful

Amazing

After a great late lunch, we headed back to the hotel. After a short stop we headed back down to the old city. We looked for a horse and carriage to take us on a ride. Our driver was much quieter this time which was a shame. The guy Blair and I had last year was amazing and we learned a lot from him. We wondered around a bit more after our ride and headed down to the lower city for dinnner. This time we hit an italian resturant with a wood stove. Again, the food was amazing. Dani and I both had pizzas done in the wood oven. After dinner, we walked back along the board walk and then back to the hotel. It was a long, but amazing day.

The next mornin we had breakfast and then made our way back to Dani and Todd's, and then Blair and I headed home.

It was a packed, but amazing few days in one of the prettiest towns in Canada.

Quebec City 2011, part 1

2011-08-02T20:29:00.000-04:00

On the 22nd, Dani and I along with our other half's Todd and Blair made our way to Quebec City.
That night we didn't do anything too exciting but did manage to find a showing of Harry Potter in English.

Saturday morning we headed to breakfast and then made our way into the old city. Below are some pics I took along the full day of walking around.

Some graffiti around our hotel

Flowers in the Joan of Arc Garden

Statue of Joan of Arc

Walking on the boardwalk beside the Chateau Frontenac

One of the various street performers

This guy would move if you gave him money

One of the many statues hidden around the city

Looking down into the lower city

Lower city

and also the place we ate..food was amazing!

Saturday night we also did the ghost walk. I got back to the hotel tired, but it was a great day.

Stay tuned for part 2 when visited not one but two waterfalls :)

TUSAL for July 30'11

2011-07-30T22:58:00.000-04:00

I almost forgot to post tonight, but got a reminder.

Here are some pics of my current ORTS.

I haven't had much time up go through pics from my adventure to Quebec City yet, but hopefully I can on Monday.

A blogoversary giveaway

2011-07-21T15:23:00.001-04:00

Nope... not mine

But, Gabi of Lady of the Floss is having a Blogoversary and her giveaway is a gift certifiacate to Anita's Little Stitches

Who couldn't use more stash??

*****************
As for me, I am hours away from another adventrue... catch you all later

Beautiful

2011-07-19T19:44:00.001-04:00

Last weekend DH and I went on a camping trip. We went somewhere I have never been, but heard was beautiful.
We went to Algonquin Park
Friday morning we were out of the house around 9am and started the 4hr drive. Check in is 2pm and we wanted as much time there as possible. We drove right through until we hit a little town called Whitney, about 1/2 hr from the campground. We stopped for a quick lunch since we were actually running about 1 hr ahead of shedule.
After I passed the parks entrance I had a very hard time keeping the car at 80km. The view was breathtaking!

We arived at our campground, Lake of Two Rivers CG, at around 1:30 and were allowed to enter early. We found our spacious campsite and quickly got to work setting up the tent. It actually went up easier this time than it did a year ago... amazing when you actually READ the instructions lol
After getting stuff set up, we made our way down to the beach. This is the beautiful view that awaited us.

That night we also took a quick walk to the store for Kawartha Dairy ice cream. I was happy to see they had KD ice cream since IMHO it is the second best ice cream I have ever had. The first being COWS in PEI which you can't get off the island, so first in Ontario :)

We also started a fire (first try btw... I rock). Holy crap it got cool friday night!

Saturday morning I awoke early with the urge to hit the ladies room. I fiqured it was starting to be daylight so I didn't think I would run into any bears. Lesson learned... wear your glasses! I saw a glimpse of a shadow and first thing that went into my head was bear. I headed back to the tent and grabed my glasses. I re-emerged very cautiously and realized that it was another camper moving around and not a bear. DH didn't let me live it down all weekend.......

After a good breakfast we decided to hit one of the many trails at the park. We thought the 6km Bat

Lake trail looked interesting. Lesson two.. take lots of water when you decide to do a 6km moderate trail hike! By the end of the walk I was feeling de-hydrated and was very tired! Looking back at the pictures from the hike, I think it was worth it though... just amazing! Here are just a few of the almost 100 pictures I took on the hike.

Start of the trail

One of the many little bridges

Cute little froggy

Lovely little bridge around a small waterfall

Was Gargamel here?? :(

The view from the lookout that made the whole trek worth it

Acidic Bat Lake

I ended up putting the camera away about 15 mintues after the lake picture. I was having trouble walking on the trail (didn't want to sprain my ankle for the 2nd year in a row on holidays) and making sure I didn't drop the camera.

Late Saturday afternoon we on were joined by my BIL Chad and his family, and my MIL and her friend. We had a very nice campfire with them on Saturday night, and a nice chat Sunday morning after we packed up our camp.

About 1pm it was time for us to head home. Traffic was actually better than I thought and we arrived home after a short stop in Peterborough for lunch and picking up my car at my Mom's.

All in all it was a great camping trip, although it was a little short. I think we are going to head up there again next year and make it a long weekend (Friday to Monday).

This weekend I am off on another little adventrue and will hopefully blog early next week, but might be later.

Happy Dance x2

2011-07-12T07:55:00.000-04:00

Last night around 10:30pm I finished Cirque des Cercles!

Here are a couple of pics. I still have to put my name on, just trying to figure out a good spot.

Cirque des Cercles - Ink Circles

32ct Lemon Drop

Carries Creations - Epiphany

Close up of Epiphany

On the weekend I attended my first outing with the Northumberland Photography Club. Unfortunately I think i got too much sun, and ended up leaving before the astronomy part. I did get some neat pictures of the old cemetery, and I will post some pictures of that soon.

Getting closer

2011-07-08T17:37:00.000-04:00

In between work and course reading, I am still working away at CdC
Part of me is getting sad that this one will end, but on the other side it means that I get to start Sabrina soon :)

Here is a couple of pics of Cdc as of tonight.

CdC @ July 9'11

CdC @ July 9'11 - close up of middle sections

Tomorrow (July 10) is one popular day! I have been invited to 2 family reunions (one my mom's side, and one for Blair's moms side), a BBQ of a fellow blogger, and the Photography club BBQ. I think there was a few others too. As much as I would have loved the blogger BBQ to meet some new people, I have a big assignment I need to work on on Sunday. I decided to go with the Photography club BBQ since it is closer and it is only half the day. There is a hike to a cemetery, a BBQ, a bonfire, and then a shoot the moon photopraphy session. I can't wait to attend my first outing with the NPC. Hopefully I will have some great pics for you to view in upcoming blog posts.

It has been a while since I have posted a photohunt. The current theme is Busy.
On June 18th, hubby and I went to the Toronto Zoo. Talk about busy!! This pic was taken in "Sting Ray Bay" which was also a busy location during the day.

Sting Ray Bay - Toronto Zoo

June 18, 2011

Hope you all have a GREAT weekend!!

TUSAL for JULY

2011-07-01T08:00:00.003-04:00

First things first...

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!

I am so thankful for a day off... it has been a busy week!

I am about to head of to check out the vendor area and the art and craft tents at the waterfront festival.

Before it do though, I want to update my TUSAL. I decided for a change, I would take my orts out and get some air. I decided to introduce them to my new deck.

sitting on the railing

Checking out the new bistro set

Close up of the orts to show all the purple/blue from CdC

I hope you all have a wonderful Canada Day to all my Canadian friends, and I would also like to wish a happy Independence Day to my American freinds

Cirque update

2011-06-28T21:00:00.000-04:00

As I told a friend on facebook that she hasn't updated her blog in a while, she reminded me I haven't done mine in a week either!

Last night I got some studying done, and didn't have much time to update the blog. Tonight I took a few hours off as I had one of those evenings and wouldn't have been productive anyway. I started to cut the grass (too hot to finish) and played around with my new tripod (bought with birthday money).

Now for the picture part of this post. Here is a pic of the before and after on cirque de cercles. It has been my main WIP and I can feel the end in site! I am still enjoying this stitch a lot.

CdC as of June 14'11

CdC as of June 28'11

Last weekend I was invited to Kathy's place for a stitchy weekend. I arrived Saturday morning and followed by Beatrice. Dani and Christin had arrived Friday night. No pics were taken, but as you can see from pics above, I did get lots of stitching in. Almost all of the update was done on the weekend :)

This weekend is a long weekend in Canada, with Friday being Canada Day. Here in lovely Cobourg, we have a wonderful waterfront festival each year. Lots of vendors and arts and crafts tents to visit. I plan on going down to the tents Friday morning and most likely Saturday sometime as well. If you are planning a trip down and want a walking buddy, let me know. I can guide you in a good place to park if you do not want to take the shuttle.

Well I should try and get a bit more grass cut before it gets too dark out.
Hope you all have a great stitchy week!

A trip to the zoo

2011-06-20T20:27:00.000-04:00

On saturday, hubby and I decided to go to the Toronto zoo.
It turned out to be an extreamly warm day and we only stayed until 2:30. We both decided that it would be better for us to go back in the fall when the temperature is nicer.

Here are some pics for your enjoyment.

I have done a bit on Cdc, but no pics to show this time.

Beautiful Georgian Bay

2011-06-13T20:51:00.000-04:00

I spent the weekend up at Sheila's (no blog) cottage on beautiful Georgian Bay.

Friday mid morning I was picked up by Rebecca and her mom Sylvia. We had a short stop at the Lonestar in Whitby for lunch and to pick up chips and Salsa for Kathy. We arrived around 4pm and after unpacking we made our way down to the main house with our stitching. Beatrice, Kathy, Dani, and Christin had arrived Thursday and spent most of the day Friday on the deck stitching. Friday night Sheila's husband BBQ for us and we also had some amazing salads. Friday night was not a late one.

Saturday morning most of us were up bright and early. We were soon joined by Ann, Barb, and Clare. We stitched all day in the porch since it wasn't the greatest day for deck stitching. Around 7pm we headed off to dinner at a restaurant in Port Severn. After dinner, back to stitching. Again, not a late night for most of us.

Sunday I got up a bit earlier as I wanted to take some pictures. Man was it ever chilly outside!!
I got a few shots in, but not as many as I was hoping for.
Eventually we all headed down to the main house and stitched until just before noon. We had to vacate the cottage by noon and got most of our stuff packed in the cars. Around 1pm it was time to say goodbye.

It was an incredible fun packed weekend and can't wait until next year to do it all again.
Actually Dani and I might be heading up there in July when we are on holidays.

A view from the cottage, looking out at the bay

A view of the cottage, from the water

During the weekend, I only worked on Cirque de Cercles. Here is a before and after pic. I didn't think I had done that much but after looking, I did actually get a good chunk done.

Before the weekend

After Sunday night

Stitching update

2011-06-07T22:27:00.000-04:00

Where has the past few weeks gone?? or better yet, where did May go??

I haven't been able to stitch as much as I would have wanted in the past few weeks, but some is better than none.

On Sunday, my mommy came down and helped me plant some shrubs in my front flower bed. OMG was I ever sore and tired on Monday!! I will try and take some pics on Sunday... if they haven't died before then lol

On monday I aslo started my next course. It looks like it is going to be very challenging, but hopefully I can do it and still have a few hours a week to stitch :)

This weekend I am off to Georgian Bay for a stitching weekend. Can't wait!!! I hope I can get lots done on CdC.

Anyway, here are a few photos of my Cirque des cercles for your viewing pleasure :)

Someone is having a giveaway

2011-06-02T09:16:00.000-04:00

Jennifer's blog Confessions of a Serial Starter turned 3 and she is having a giveaway

Contests ends on June 10th.

Stop by and comment if you want a chance to win

June TUSAL

2011-06-01T10:16:00.000-04:00

Here is my Ort Contariner as of this morning. Sorry the pictures aren't the greastest... I took with my Iphone as I didn't know if I would have time tonight to use my good camera.

Not too many added this month as I have been working on Cirque des Cercles. You don't get many orts when you don't have any colour changes lol

Life is just a walk in the park

2011-05-25T20:33:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was a long weekend in Canada.
I got a hold of Beatrice and asked if she wanted some company on Saturday, since I wanted to stop at Knowledge and Needles anyway.

I arrived at her place around 11am. We had a quick lunch and then off we went to Ann's. After a short shopping trip we made our way to Presqu'ile Provincial Park in Brighton.

It has probably been around 8 years since I had been there. They recently updated the marsh boardwalk and it looks great!

Here are some pics from our walk.

A piece of the old boardwalk

I also have been working on Cirque des Cercles

Here is where I am as of tonight

update

2011-05-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

My goodness how time flies! I can't believe it has been over 2 weeks since I last blogged.

Last weekend I attended Dani's annual Get Together.
Friday night I loaded up the car and headed east to pick Rebecca up. We made a couple of short stops and then we were off Dani's. We had a little car trouble on the way up (wind shield wipers stopped working) but managed to safely arrive around 10pm. Christin was already there and giving Zeus lots of cuddles.

Saturday morning Dani and I drove to Canadian Tire to get my mom's car fixed. The weather man was calling for TONS of rain! I manged driving there in one piece (a little harder than friday night) and left the car with them for the day. Dani and I headed back to her place. We were soon joined by Lynn and then Beatrice and Kathy. Later in the afternoon Dani's friend Amy (no blog...yet) arrived.

Dani made her KickAss Lasagna for dinner and for desert we had an amazing chocolate skor triffle made by Amy.

Sunday morning the four of us (Dani, Christin, Rebecca and I) headed for breakfast at this little spot Dani loves. I am a fan too. After breaky we picked up my car (yah fixed!) and headed back to Dani's for more stitching. Around 3pm Rebecca and I said our goodbyes and headed back to her house.

Even though I had a little hiccup with mom's car, the weekend was amazing and very relaxing!
Thanks again to Dani for hosting and to Rebecca for the company on the drives.

As for stitching, I did stitch.... I just didn't have time this morning to take pictures. I worked on Cirque de Cercles for all of Saturday and then worked on Blair's dragon and Cirque de Carreaux for a bit on Sunday.
Hopefully I will get some stitching done this long weekend (YAH!!) and have some pics to show you.

May TUSAL

2011-05-03T20:11:00.000-04:00

Its the new moon again, which means I have to update my Orts!

Lots of green from Paradigm Lost, blue/purple from Cirque des cercels and other colours are from Dani's quilt squares

Speaking of CdC, here is an update since working on it on Sunday

Cirque de cercles, Ink Circles

May 1, 2011

Now... back to stitching!!

Almost the end!

2011-04-27T21:19:00.001-04:00

It is just over a week since my last blog post. Not mch happend last week besides lots of work, but the weekend and this week has been better.

On Sunday, I attended Easter dinner at my Aunts house. I don't get to spend as much time with this side of the family so I was a nice change. I can't believe how big my cousin's kids are getting!!

My cousin(in-law) and hubby sharing a special moment :)

The easter bunny has stopped by and the kids had fun looking for hidden eggs... minus the 5 I ate on them...shhhhhhh

While they were looking, I spotted these eggs and thought they would make for interesting pictures

Yesturday was my 33rd birthday. I received some lovely flowers at work!

First the flowers from my Boss showed up

Then about an hour later these showed up from my hubby

Here they are together on my desk

My mom drove down and took Blair and I out for dinner at the Railside in Port Hope. VERY good food!!

That was about it for my evening. Hockey kept Blair entertained and I did some stitching. We will celebrate my birthday either this sunday or next sunday by going for lunch/dinner and a movie. I also want to stop at pick up a few things I want to buy with my Birthday Money :)

April 26th seems to be a popular birthday. I share my special day with an uncle, an old neighbour, a guy I played darts with, a friends hubby, and of course with once of my oldest friends, Amy

For her birthday I made her a scissor fob featuring her 2 wonderful children's birthstones and of course hers (ours). I then asked her (before she knew she was getting said fob.. i hope) if she had scissors just for embroidery... SHE DIDN"T!! Well I couldn't let that happen, so I ordered a small pair from the states and hoped they would come in in time. (They did with a week to spare!)

For some reason, I didnt' take a picture of just her fob (I have pics combined with the ones for my mom) so I will steal her picture from her blog to share with you.

Amy's fob with stones for November and December, plus April

I looked at the PhotoHunt for the week before I went away on the weekend. This weeks theme was Dusty. Nothing jumped out at me while out and about so the only thing I could think about was Cavendish Beach, PEI. Here is a pic of a dune at the beach... hopefully it counts lol

Cavendish Beach, PEI July 18, 2010

On a side note, Tax season will be done on Monday May 2nd... YAH!!!!

Happy Dance!!

2011-04-18T22:53:00.000-04:00

Yes!! I did a happy dance before bed last night

PARADIGM LOST IS DONE!!

Paradigm Lost (Long Dog Samplers)

Finished April 17, 2011

Other than work keeping me busy I also have finished 2 more scissor fobs

I haven't done one in awhile, but the Photohunt for this week is "Road" - #261

This picture was taken on my honeymoon in Haliburton, Ontario.

I would have loved to have returned to this location someday, but unfortunately the resort was sold and is not privatetly owned cottages. 'Tis life isn't it.

I haven't decided which of my many WIP's is going to be my main focus. I have a feeling I won't be able to get much accomplished in the next few weeks. Hopefully I can spend May doing lots of stitching before I start a new course in June.

Have a great stitchy week!

A GIVEAWAY!!

2011-04-13T11:14:00.001-04:00

Please check out this blog for not one wonderful giveaway, but 5!

http://crossstitchandcupcakes.blogspot.com/2011/04/blogoversary-giveaways.html

First April update

2011-04-07T21:16:00.000-04:00

I can't believe my last real update on Paradigm Lost was in February!

So here is a pic of where I am now and a before pic

BEFORE:

Paradigm Lost - February 23'11

CURRENT

Paradigm Lost - April 6'11

I have really been enjoying working on this!

Since March retreat, I have also done a few more scissor fobs, and a quilt square for Dani.

Hopefully the next update is not so far away!

TUSAL April'11

2011-04-03T16:53:00.000-04:00

Tax season is upon me but I have been working on Paradigm Lost. No picture at the moment, but hopefully tomorrow.

Today is time to report on my TUSAL. Sorry for poor picture quality

Still lots of green, but on top a bit of other colours from Dani's first quilt square I am doing for her.

Have a good evening!

Spring retreat and a lesson

2011-03-20T19:57:00.001-04:00

This weekend I attended the Knowledge and Needles annual spring retreat.
Christin arrived around noon on Thursday and hung out with "the boys" while I was at work.
Friday morning we went for breakfast with Blair, dropped him off at work, did a little antiquing in Cobourg, and then we were on our way to the retreat.

We arrived just after noon and there was a few others already there. We got all our stuff set up and had a quick lunch, then settle in to a weekend of stitching, eating (not much by me this time) , chatting, and some sleep thrown in there too.

On saturday we headed out to Knowledge and Needles for lunch and some retail therepy. I did not purchase any stash as I spend my retreat budget the week before at K&N open house.

Speaking of which, I visited with Beatrice last weekend and both of us went to the open house together. It was a great afternoon and evening!

Today, before we left retreat, Christin fixed the scissor fob she made me last year and then her and Dani explained how to make beaded scissor fobs and went through what I needed to make my own. After reatreat I drove 20 minutes out of my way and stopped at Micheals in Belleville and picked up a few things I needed. Thanks to a 40% discount and a gift card from my mommy, I got the basics of what I needed. When I arrived home, I unpacked the car and got to work on my first beaded fob. I AM HOOCKED!!!
After my first one I started a second one. Here is a pic of the two I made. The scissors where both gifts from great stitching friends

Top - Dovo scissors from Christin and Dani

There is a D & C in the beads, and the charm is the chinese symbol for friendship

Bottom - From Kathy

Haven't found the right charm for these yet, but at the moment a dragon is attached.

As for stitching, I worked on Paradigm Lost all weekend... and was very proud of myelf for that. I didn't have time to take a picture yet, other than a during pic, but hopefully will update this week.
Here is the pic I posted on facebook while I was stitching

Working on Paradigm Lost while relaxing at reatreat

Small update

2011-03-10T21:26:00.000-05:00

No pics to share as I have been busying studying for my exam, which was last night
Economics is very dry and I am very glad this course if over.

I am currently taking a semester off for 1) a break, and 2) tax season.

I can't wait to spend some nights stitching instead of reading a text book!

Next weekend I get to attend the Spring Retreat put on my Knowledge and Needles. On Thursday afternoon Christin is going to come by Train to my place and then we will go together to the Timberhouse.
I CAN"T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I should get back to some tidying up and some relaxing.

Now... if only this rain will stop!!!

B

TUSAL March'11

2011-03-03T22:43:00.000-05:00

Below is my update for the TUSAL. I have not done as much stitching this month as I would have liked, but that is life

Here is my Ort Vase ... lots of green form Paradigm Lost, and a bit of red/pink from my one day on The bramble and rose

Orts, March'11

And I took a close up for your viewing pleasure

Lots of green orts, with a bit of colour
Look to the right... that is what is taking up my stitching time...
Exam on wednesday, and then a semester off!!

If you look at the right of the close up pic, you will see what has been taking up my time... Economics
Good thing... Exam is on wednesday and then I am taking a semester off!!

Paradigm not so Lost

2011-02-23T20:35:00.000-05:00

It is has been just over 2 weeks since I blogged last. My bad

Work, and my course has kept me pretty busy

Last weekend hubby and I got to attend another SENS game, and we got to spend a few hours in Ottawa this time. We checked out the mall downtown (too cold to check out winterlude) and then met Christin for lunch.

When I haven't been studying I have been concentrating on Paradigm Lost. I can't believe how well this one is coming along! I was hoping to have it done by March Retreat, but don't think that is going to happen. The next 2 weeks I have an exam to study for.

Here is a before and after pic of Paradigm Lost

BEFORE

Paradigm Lost - Long Dog

As of February 7, 2011

AFTER

Paradigm Lost - Long Dog

As of February 23, 2011

CLOSE UP

Update and a surprise!

2011-02-07T19:38:00.000-05:00

Today was an okay day.. I woke up tried and grouchy. Then I had to drive to a Clients aprox 35 mintues away. While there I started to get out of my grouchy mood, as I knew an appointment at at Hair Salon was awaiting me when I got home. You see the hair sylist who did my hair back in November left the Salon and I just found her last week :)

Nature decided to call so instead of just kicking the hubby out I had to actually stop the car. I decided to grab the mail instead of waiting until I came home and inside that mailbox... A SURPRISE!!

Oh my... what did my dear friend Kathy send me??

Ahhhhh... cute card! What could be inside?

OMG!!! Wow :)

My new lovely scissors at home in my scissor frog

Now for the update

For some reason Paradigm Lost has been totally calling me. It is the only project I have been working on lately. Here is an update from last night.

Paradigm Lost - February 6, 2011

Have a great week

TUSAL Feb 03'11

2011-02-03T08:39:00.001-05:00

I actually rememered YAH!!!

If you are interested in finding out more about the TUSAL, check out Daffycat's Blog
Here are a couple of pics of my Orts. Not very many at the moment, and mostly green from Paradigm Lost

Here is hopeing I can get March done too :)

End of January update

2011-01-31T20:28:00.000-05:00

Okay this month has just flown by! crazy fast!!

Nothing really to talk about since my last update, so I will just entertain you with pictures.

Paradigm Lost

and a close up

Fish City

Cirque de Carreaux

and a close up

Cirque des Cercles

and a close up of the beautiful colour

The Bramble and Rose

Well I think that is it for now.

Post retreat update

2011-01-26T21:23:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I attended the Knowledge and Needles First annual Winter Retreat. For pics check out Dani's blog... I didn't get around to taking many pics.

On the weekend, for some reason I couldn't stay on one project.
Below are my progress pics. I also worked on Blair's dragon, but not enough to show a new pic.

Cirque de Cercles

Ink Circles - Jan26'11

Close up of Cirque de Cercles

Paradigm Lost

Long Dog - Jan 26'11

Fish City (Stoney Creek Collection)

Jan 26'11

Cirque de Carreux

Ink Circles - Jan 26'11

I really need to start concentrating more on one project. I don't feel like I am getting anything done...especially since my time is more precious now. Oh well... I will figure it out :)

GOOD IDEA

2011-01-24T09:26:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to update everyone about that pepsi refresh grant that I mentioned before

Northern Lights Daycare made it into the TOP 3!

All the legal work is out of the way, and now are officially a recipient!!

Special thanks to all my readers who voted... even if you only voted once

I am sure it helped!!

A Memory

2011-01-11T09:35:00.001-05:00

Grandmother

If There Are Roses In Heaven

Will You Send One Just For Me

So I Can Hold It Close To My Heart

Where You Will Always Be

I Will Lay It On My Pillow Each Night

As The Angels Tuck Me In

I Will Know That You Are Near Me

And Feel Your Presence Once Again

I Am Thankful For All The Years

You Were There To Help Me Through

I Will Always Remember “My Precious Grandmother”

Whose Love Was Honest And True!

In Loving Memory Of Muriel Blackbourn

Who Received Her Angel Wings - January 11, 2010