Merry Christmas

It's been awhile! I 've been reading everyone's blog and drooling over your autumn and Christmas decor and creations. Not sure why I haven't posted but here I am. I finished a few projects over the past few months. I am all finished 'Winter Greens' by LHN and the four pieces for my kitchen , cake, cupcake, tart and pie from CCN . I just have to find the right frames or wait for a frame sale! I have finished two ornaments for gifts which I will show in an upcoming post when the recipients receive them . The blog header that I am now showing is very special . About 6 weeks ago we received an email from Easter Seals saying out of 12 entries my daughter won a contest for designing a Christmas card for the CEO of Bruce Power.She designed this at camp this summer . She received her prize yesterday , an art kit and a beautiful framed picture of the original design and the card back and front. Her picture is on the back and a description of where she attends school etc.

I won a contest on the LHN blog . I got to choose a current chart and I chose 'Be Merry , Belle Pepper ' I had wanted to purchase this chart so it came as a wonderful treat.

Here is a picture of my two favorite people that I included in our Christmas card this year .

My daughter is now in grade 9 and it has been an adjustment . Especially since the elevator/lift has been broken 3x!! It failed again this week. Some of her classes can move downstairs but not all. Hopefully 2011 will run more smoothly for her. My son is now driving . Has what is called in Ontario a G2 license. Can drive himself to guitar and basketball practice so that is a big help.

.One of my stitching goals is to finally finish 'Lo' as I have been doing some work on it . I still really love it .

Also I purchased 'Christmas Rules by Lizzie Kate and got the fabric but it wasn't wide enough so am waiting for some more fabric.

In November I had a wonderful day spent with fellow stitcher Judy . She posted on her blog about our visit. We actually got to stitch in my living room for a bit so it was fun . That is where I discovered that 'Christmas Rules' wasn't going to work on my fabric with Judy's help. I really love that design. Well I will be back with some pics of my Christmas ornament gifties.

I wish all my blogger friends and their families a wonderful Christmas and all the best in 2011!

Part 3 finale!

Having another heatwave in the Toronto area but not as hot as it was on my trip to Santa Fe New Mexico! We started out on July 10th and flew to L.A. for two days and then drove to San Diego California. Before we left L.A. we had a stop at Elisabeth's fav.store where she stocked up on outfits for her dolls. In San Diego we stayed in Del Mar and the beach was beautiful ( insert your most dreamy beach scene here!) We visited the San Diego zoo and saw every animal you could ever think of . My personal favs were the mother panda and her 18month old baby . Luckily we were there at lunch to see them out and not asleep. After frying ourselves at the zoo we headed back to our lovely hotel Hilton that was across from a race track started up by Jimmy Durante, Lucille Ball and others. It was the biggest race track I had ever seen. After 4 days in San Diego we drove back to L. A. and flew to Denver stayed a night and drove the next day to Santa Fe, New Mexico whose daily temps of over 100degrees didn't really agree with my children but they managed to enjoy themselves. We stayed at the Big Thunder resort and casino( casino unbeknownst to my husband who booked it all online! ) Beautiful place. On the last day I spent $5.94 in the 1 cent slot and won $ 69. 06 and promptly walked out ! Able to buy everyone lunch at least. Elisabeth bought moccasins that were made in Canada! and Nicholas bought a cool hat . I bought a t shirt . The drive to Santa Fe from Denver is spectacular . We took in the Albuqurque Isotopes baseball game . Luckily in the shade at 102 degrees at 6pm when the game started and 82 degrees when it ended after 8 pm in a thunderstorm . All in all it was a wonderful family trip. Had my parents here for this past weekend as we attended a beautiful wedding in Toronto at the Steam Whistle Brewery. My cousin's daughter was married. They had some fun touches, a box of flip flops if you had sore feet from your high heels, a candy table for favours, a soapbox photo booth where you could dress up and have your pic taken . some of the dressups were hilarious, horns, funny glasses, and sparklers on the patio when it got dark for the bride and groom to go thru and get their picture taken . A really fun time!

Now tomorrow I pick up Elisabeth at Easter Seals camp where she has been for 10 days. Where the time went I have no clue. They don't start back to school till Sept 7th so hope we can still have some more fun . Going to have a quiet stitching evening as I have to get up early to drive 2 hrs to pick her up . The boys are taking in 'The Black Keys' concert in Toronto tonight . So that will be a nice evening out for them. Hope to have some more finishes to show in the very near future.Thanks for visiting!

Part 3 (a)

Back to what my blog was originally about! Have a finish to share. Totally finished 'cake ' from CCN . Only have one more to go and then I will frame them for my kitchen which was painted on the Canadian long weekend. So my bare wall needs filling.

Now for my 'Christmas in July 'piece. I saw this on the ABC needlework therapy retreat header finished as a decorated cube and couldn't wait to make one myself. I just love the soft fabric that is flecked with gold.Excuse the dark picture. Since I took the pic I have stitched some more so will update later in the week.

Can never seem to place my pics right like so many other bloggers can . Lastly I stitched these Christmas silverware holders years ago for my Mom and am going to change George to Grampa and Mom to Elisabeth to fill in the missing holders as I haven't seen these around in years.

So that is my stitching finally to show.I hope to stitch on 'Lo' this week too as Lee is finished her sampler ( for weeks now!)

Part 2

Well when I last left off I had been to Montreal with the grade 8 class. The following weekend we attended my brother Peter's wedding to Aimee in Windsor Ontario. It started off with a family dinner at the Tecumseh Roadhouse where we got to meet a lot of Aimee's family that we didn't know . I will never trust mapquest again as we got lost with their directions and had to phone for help . Anyhow all went well and the wedding was held in Aimee's parents beautiful backyard and then on to the reception at a local restaurant.

Here we all are. Aimee has two sons Josh 19

and Jonah 14 who also has special needs.I am the one in the black dress. I had hoped to find a more colourful dress for this lovely occasion but was unsuccessful .

So after that lovely day we headed back home the next day to prepare for June 28th , Elisabeth's grade 8 graduation. What can I say , I thought she looked just beautiful and the whole ceremony and evening was great. She received the special education advisory commitee award from our school board. The speech that the lady from the board read was the longest one of the night and Elisabeth was thrilled. She has

done a lot to mentor two younger girls in the school with special needs so this was the icing on the cake for all her accomplishments at the school for the last three yrs.Now she goes on to high school and she can hardly wait even though she will miss everyone at elementary school .We got her dress in Tuscon AZ when we were there at March break . So as of June 25th my little whippersnapper is at Easter Seals camp outside of London Ontario. She waited all year to go to this wonderful camp and was the driving force to get there . Lots of tears when I left though so I have spent the last two nights a bit sleepless. Just got a call from the camp that she is having a wonderful time and has signed up for sledge hockey to try it out . Go girl!! So I can rest easy tonight. Will post part 3 to tell you about our trip away from July 10-21 and then finally will have some Christmas in July stitching to show and a find! Thanks for visiting!

Bonjour( where I have been part 1)

Well as July heads on in full throttle heat mode in the greater Toronto area ( or GTA as us locals call it)I am finally getting back to let those who are interested know what I have been up to for the past two months since Iblogged last. This will involve a series of posts as there have been numerous events and at the end I will share some so called Christmas in July stitching.

On May 30th my daughter Elisabeth had a wonderful day celebrating the opening of our Maplegrove United Church elevator. This was a yr long project that involved a whole new entrance , elevator , air conditioning and new accessible bathrooms and floors and many more additions too numerous to mention. For the 11 yrs she has been attending the church

, 9 have been spent with her being carried up stairs by many strong men . On the celebration day she made a speech thanking all of these hearty souls . Well there was not a dry eye in the church that was filled to capacity for the celebration . She received a standing ovation and her proud mother , father and brother were again reminded that

yes one little ( big) soul can make a difference in this world as the church had been debating putting in an

elevator for 20plus years.

Now the church is accessible to all and she can now invite some of her friends that are in w/c's to watch her dance or just attend church with her.

The week of June 1st was Elisabeth's dance recital , she takes part in a musical theatre group and they performed a medley of 'Lion King' songs. Also she is in the Spirit Moves dance liturgical dance company . So she had two numbers in four shows with 2 rehersals so it was a long week with the special athletes track meet thrown in . Her last in elementary school .

Here is her beautiful costume from the musical theatre number, the other

girls wore red, yellow , peach, it was just a beautiful sight , and a pic from the track meet.

Can't forget my DS who rode 50 km in the Becel ride for heart and with his team ' Passing Fancy ' raised over $1000.

So I thought after all this excitement there would be a lull but no the fun continued with my trip to Montreal Quebec on June 16-18th with Elisabeth's grade 8 class. I couldn't figure out how they could make the trip in such a short time but after spending 3 full days with 41 grade 8 students I was more than ready to come home . Just to let you know what it is like to travel with a w/c . The coach bus arrived at 8:30 am for our departure but didn't depart until 10:30 as the driver didn't have a clue how to work the w/c lift that had been planned for since fall of 2009( 10 whole months ago!!!!!) Well with the principal who was going on the trip and some other great

folks they managed to work it and we got away in the day long pouring rain ! Making all our destinations on time ( what they were going to do with the two extra hours with 41 excited students is beyond me ) I must say no one complained which made DD and I more than happy . To make a long story short Montreal is a wonderful city and I hope to go back in the near future.Here is a pic of DD and I at the Olympic stadium where the games were held in 1976. When I was a teen I saw a baseball game there but hadn't been back since. Today it is used for concerts, swimming , championship diving , fitness center . It has a huge elevator that we rode up in and got a wonderful view of the city.The other activities included visiting a sugar shack, and on the last day going to circus school which was Elisabeth's fav.

So that concludes part 1 of what I have been up to . I will post in a few days of the rest of the story as I can't believe all the things that have gone on in two months.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

All around the yard

Wanted to share these pictures of spring around our yard.The French lilac is my favorite every year. It's scent is so fragrant.

Stash pictures

Happy Friday everyone! Here finally are the pics of my Birthday stash from April and an extra I just couldn't resist. I hope all the Moms have a great mother's day this weekend. No plans yet here but after church it is opening day for the Senior Blue Jays ! Yes my son is a Blue Jay this year.I think we are in for some cooler weather this weekend so it may be a winter coat game.

So to explain my stash. I just couldn't resist 'Shores of HRH' I love everything to do with the sea. After seeing' My Hometown 'on Siobhan's blog I caved and got that one too. 'Valentine Rose' by BBD, 'Together ' by Heart in Hand and the 'plum cottage sampler' couldn't resist that one either. And then there is 'Eiffel Quaker' by Jardin Prive. We are painting our dusty rose living room walls another colour to match our new leather sofa and loveseat that is on the brown tones. The colours in the 'Eiffel Quaker ' on the cover of the leaflet would be beautiful. Since I have a love of Paris it called out my name. As well, I have been drooling over the beautiful quaker designs out there. I got 'Lady's quaker 'awhile back and it is great.Not sure when you will see the starts on any of these but there's hope. So there we have it ! Off to enjoy Friday and hope to stitch a bit.

Stitching Bloggers Question

Lee at Lakestitcher has posed the question to all of the stitching bloggers , are you a process stitcher or a project stitcher. I would have to say I am a process stitcher as I have many WIPs

in progress. MANY!!!! some that haven't even hit this blog for their debut yet! And some that are so ancient they will be called dinosaurs! I enjoy perusing the new patterns, choosing the fiber and fabric and then unless the project is a gift , I am all gung ho till I find something else! I must say I am getting better since I started blogging . I really enjoy the whole stitching process.

In other parts of my life I would have to say that I do get projects finished and that is improving since blogging too as I am inspired by fellow bloggers finishes and want to be like them. Not just xstitch projects but household ones too. bday stash pics are coming soon!

A bit of progress

Well a bit of progress was made over the weekend on 'Lo' I was having a bit of 'thoughts of ripping' No not my clothes off silly! but the dark stitches of Pelican gray! However in this mornings beautiful light I felt that I could live with how it was transpiring. What do you think?

Our yard is coming to life with the most glorious buds. This is the earliest our french lilac has burst . I will be posting pics soon along with my birthday stash. This will be a shorty today .

I had a lovely day out last week with a fellow blogger Judy. She wrote some very kind comments on her blog about our outing and visit. She had some wonderful stitching to show me , as well as her lovely home . It was a great day out and we hope to get together again soon and do some stitching sometime. Enjoy the beautiful day.

until next time...

Lo

Happy Monday everyone! Where did April go? It has to be one of my fav months as my bday and DD's bday and springtime occur( well usually in Canada it changes from spring to summer in one day but not this year) Lots of beautiful blooms abound in my neck of the woods. Here is my weekend progress on 'Lo' I really enjoyed stitching this part and again am loving this piece.Unfortunately you can see some of my threads behind the fabric ! Lee is just about at the same point as I am in the project but has a few more stitched motifs at the bottom of her piece. It is fun to stitch this with another lovely stitcher.Next time I will show you my birthday stash that arrived in the mail today. ( hurrah!!)I am reading Jodi Picoult's new book ' House Rules' . Only have a week more to have it out of the fast lane at the library so must get going . Really enjoying it . Must go and tend to DD who has a cold/cough and has been home all day from school .

Until next time....

Back to'Lo' and some new finishes

Happy spring day everyone! I am back to stitching on 'Lo' with Lee and am happy to be back at it. Here is the latest pic. I got the top two flowers and the word 'rose' and part of 'How ' done. It was a struggle as my daughter had a science test to study for but our work paid off and she did well on Monday with it. We both celebrated birthdays in the last two weeks and she was very happy with her birthday as her Educational Assistants spoiled her with a purple boa and a crown to wear on her special day . She came home a very happy gal.

As for dear son , he is learning to drive and my first experience with him was a bit nerve wracking to say the least! My DH has better luck but if you are just starting behind the wheel it there is bound to be some anxiety for your passengers. We'll get him enrolled in a local driving school very soon.

Here are my 'cupcake' and 'tart' finishes from CCN. I may add some beads to cupcake as it calls for french knots and I think the beads would look pretty . They are quick to stitch so I must think of a new colour for my kitchen so I can get them framed when done and up on the freshly painted wall.

I would like to thank Jayne at ' An eye for threads" for nominating me for the beautiful blogger award! What an honour! I will blog more about this when I can get Mr. Technical ( my DS ) to assist me.

Until then have a wonderful stitching week.

Stashatolla, Spring break and a Start!

Long time no hear! I have been back over a week now from our March break trip to Tuscon Arizona. Am behind on blog reading and the 3 hour time difference has made me more forgetful and out of it than usual!

We had a wonderful time in Tuscon . This is the second year we have gone to the Westward Look Resort . The scenery is beautiful. There just happens to be a wonderful cross stitch shop in Tuscon that has wonderful models everywhere and helpful staff. They were having a great sale too .

I was able to get a lot of stash from a $2 box that when I took it to the cash it was only $1!!

Things I might not have bought at full price.

I didn't take any pics of the inside of the store as the owner wasn't there but they certainly have a full stock . Here is what I purchased, If you

click on the picture you will see 'Tis Spring' by Homespun elegance. It came with a little gold ladybug charm. I saw the little house neighborhood done over one and it was beautiful. Got some linen for another future project.The Cricket Collection leaflet was $1 at a place called Bookmans that sold used books, records, magazines and a lot of craft mags with a sprinkling of x stitch leaflets. My son had a heyday in there as he found a lot of books he wanted. I also had a new start . I hope to do four of these and put them in my kitchen . The first one is 'Cupcake' , with tart, pie and cake hopefully to follow in the near future.In the picture are the new scissors I treated myself to. Elizabeth I with embedded with roses. I just love them. I hope to make a rose fob( in my dreams !!)

It is always great to get back home after a trip, but it has been a whirlwind since. Next tuesday I am having a birthday and my one year of blogging is coming up on April 29th. I am going to have a little give away to celebrate so stay tuned. Must get caught up on what everyone has been up to. Happy Easter everyone!!

Stitching Progress

Well more progress to show on 'Lo'. The vine on the right took forever to stitch . Both Lee ( my SAL partner from Lake Stitcher) and I agree. The finished product is worth it though. So many little flowers scattered throughout are fun too.

Almost time to move my Q snaps.

The post brought a lovely treat from my Mom the other day . Another lovely bag! One for me and an early birthday present for my daughter's friend Kristin who when she saw DD 's wondered what brand it was. She is an engineering student in Toronto and they spend time together doing fun girly things so we wanted to have Mom make her a bag too . Needless to say she was thrilled to get it. Her bag is the bright pink one on the left with black

trim and my new spring bag is on the right , made out of leftover fabric from the quilt Mom made me for Christmas. I certainly shrieked when I opened it as you never know what they will look like but are always wonderful when they arrive. ( I don't think my Mom has ever made anything that didn't look great)

I promise my next post will show some stash that is slowly coming in the mail.

Have a wonderful week!

A win !!

Well the mail brought me a lovely surprise when I won a draw on Carol' s blog stitchingdream that Carol had for her birthday. I hadn't seen this wonderful Christmas ornament chart before. She generously sent the threads and this cute quilt card along with it . Thank you so much Carol and Happy happy birthday. I have certainly met some wonderful stitching friends since I started my blog . What a wonderful blog world!

Not much to show yet on 'Lo ' but will have some progress next week . We got some wonderful news last week when I took my daughter to see the surgeon for her checkup. She doesn't need surgery on her legs so we don't see him for another two years when she is 16. We were all thrilled as we know that we are keeping her moving in her walker at school and exercises done at home. She had surgery when she was 5 and it is a painful memory for her.

I have been having fun looking at all the Nashville releases and hope to have some new stash to share soon( to add to my millions of other projects!!) join the club right? !

Canada is doing so well at the Olympics as are the U. S. and the rest of the world. It is certainly fun to watch.

I wanted to mention that the heart from my last post is from a magazine but I am not sure which one. I can't even recall what prompted me to stitch it , it was so long ago. It would look lovely in red though.

Before I go here are my Valentine flowers that my sweetie sent me .They were a wonderful surprise.I have cut them off and put them in the bowl to enjoy the final days of their beauty!

Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments you leave , they are a bright spot during these dull winter days !

A finish and a Valentine

I finished 'Practice Kindness' I added the key as I love keys and have seen them on various blogs. Not sure I am thrilled about how the pale year showed up but I think with a dark frame I can handle it. Think I will take it to be framed soon before it gathers dust. I guess it can be my first finish for 2010 even though I probably started it in 1995 when the pattern came out. I forgot to mention in my last post that those beautiful threads are Weeks dye works threads. Just loving them on 'Lo'

I hope everyone has a great Valentine's weekend and gets some well deserved stitching time in .

Here is a heart that I stitched a few years back that would look good in red too . I can't even remember where it came from but with my destashing I am sure it will turn up.

Happy Heart's day!

Progress on 'Lo'

Well with the Superbowl yesterday I managed to get some stitching in with my SAL partner Lee at Lakestitcher. Here is my latest progress. I love this design and the threads are so surprising with every stitch when they change colour . I finished Practice Kindness but will be taking out what I stitched as the year as it looks too big and I think stitch it over one. Hope to show it to you soon. I hope all my blogging friends are staying warm and safe in the snow belts.

We have had such little snow this year, better not speak too soon!! I will try and post some snow pics later in the week.

That's the craziest excuse for not x-stitching I've ever heard!

Well last week has come and gone and I didn't end up posting but have a little gem to show you that I made for my true love. ( I am sure he will be thrilled hee hee ha ha!!) I received this in an order I placed from a webshop a few yrs back and finally stitched it up .

As for "Lo" and "Practice Kindness.."I have had a few things come up that have kept me from stitching . One day I went for a haircut to the salon and while driving home encountered the police blocking off my section of a very long street that runs down to Lake Ontario.

Apparently an elderly lady had driven out of our local hospital right into an apartment building 4 doors down from my house!!! The poor lad sleeping in the apartment went to hospital and was alright thank goodness . The little lady was also fine. Certainly could have been worse. I couldn't get to my house so I ran errands till the street opened 4 hrs later. Was planning on stitching that day but hard to top that one!! I am sure my fellow bloggers have had good intentions to stitch on certain days and have been interrupted by unwanted intrusions. Some things one just can't help!! Tomorrow is my Dear Son's 16th Birthday . I just turned around twice and....... I will be making the 4 layer skor bar cake shown in an October post for dear husbands birthday and hope to celebrate at a local restaurant.

Hope to be back soon with more progress on 'Lo'( there has been some!) and a finish!

Lo how a Rose....ever will be finished? !

Decided to show you my poor progress on

'Lo' I blame it on the over one stitching and poor eyesight but have remedied that with a new pair of readers so hopefully next

week I will make more progress.

Next up is a sweet heart I started yrs ago but intend to finish it so I can put it up at the top of my blog in time ( or before!) Valentine's Day. I love the colours in this gem.This chart is from Heart and Hand, way back in the 90's!!!I have a lot of those charts from the 80's and 90's as you may have guessed !It is a bit primitive for you prim lovers out there!I wanted to mention that I won a draw on April's blog Itching to Stitch! It was a draw for a pattern by Pine Mountain called " Ready, Set , Snow" and once done will fit in one of Pine Mountains pillows. Thank you April! Well enjoy the weekend, we are having some lovely mild temps in the Toronto area. Good for walking !

Until next week....

Happy New Year Stitchers and friends!

My Christmas village in the front window

Lots to show as I have been saving my photos for this post. We had a great holiday and my annual working at New Years went well. Enjoyed our time with family and my Mom was certainly busy this year quilting up a storm as usual. Here are the pictures to show !Here is my daughter with a beautiful Jim Shore angel at

church.

My parents gift laden tree! It always looks so beautiful. That huge bag with the Santa on it was for me!! Along with the goodies I will show you shortly , my Mom had got me some pieces from my Thistle crystal that is discontinued. It was the never ending bag!! Santa was good to all of us.My Mom loved her cross stitch box. I was so happy it turned out so well and I was able

to get it done for Christmas.

Our Christmas day dessert , Toblerone cheesecake . I think a little mouse had a sample.

We had dinner with my parents and next year we will be with my inlaws. This year I actually brought along some cross stitch to do while the card game was going on . I will show that in a future post. I did play scrabble though but can never beat my husband or SIL!

The beautiful Christmas cardinal quilt my

Mom made for my daughter!

A close up shot , I love the colours!

My beautiful surprise quilt and a close up!

But wait there is more.....!!!

My Mom also made my DD and I these beautiful quilted bags! I just love the colours on these too!

Now onto stitchy stuff. I got this beautiful kit that I am looking forward to starting. I love snowmen!

So that is it for today . I will have some stitching to share next time as I have a UFO that I pulled out of my stash for Valentine's day to finish and have to show my work on 'Lo how a Rose'

Hope everyone is having a great stitchy month!