Some pictures

October 30, 2007

Here are the two bibs that I made for my brother and sister-in-law for when their first grandchild, who won't even be born until May, comes to their house to visit. I think that they are a little excited about the addition to the family!
"If you think I'm cute...you should see my grandma" and "I got my good looks from my grandpa" Yes we are a somewhat vain family!

Here is my progress on Kaleidoscope. I am looking forward to starting the colour!
And last but not least here is my progress as of last Friday on Pretty Pumpkins (Glendon Place) . I did not get much done the previous week but made up for it this time around. I think I prefer stitching on the bright orange pumpkin parts more than the duller green leaves.
I worked today on backstitching "Its good to be Queen" and her throne is assuming some definition.
This week we start on the big Cirque des Cercles/ Paradigm Lost SAL. That one is going to be fun..and will take up Wednesday's stitching time...with PP on Fridays. Maybe I should just assign days to the rest of my works in progress as well!

I had a very pleasant vist with Jeannette Douglas at the Creative Festival in Toronto on Sunday. Other than seeing her I was a little disappointed with the amount of cross stitch at the show. But if you were a quilter, scrapbooker, rubber stamper or in the market for a sewing machine or a huge sewing machine quilting thing, I suppose you would have enjoyed yourself.

Dan took me out for lunch later and that was fun. We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory which we had not visitied in about 17 or 18 years!

Computer worries

October 26, 2007

Our computer had a fit last night and slipped into a computer coma-like state. Steve, the computer go-to guy tells me that while it is not likely to actually expire this weekend, I should prepare for the worst. I have the computer home again, after he worked his magic on it. It is once again conscious and functioning, and he is busy at his shop de-coding something that will tell him the extent of the problem.

Consequently instead of taking pictures and displaying them as I had planned to do today, I think I will take it easy on the poor thing and just write a bit of text and not burden it with more pokes and prods in the back side as would happen if I inserted the camera cable thing to get pictures off the camera and into the computer.

If I had taken pictures I would have included an up date of Pretty Pumpkins which would not have shown you much since today is the day to work on it and I did very little last week...so really no progress to report. I do plan to stitch on it this afternoon though so next week I'll have something to report.

My "It's good to be Queen" has progressed to the stage where back stitching and embellishments are required. That means the piece is almost done!!!!

I stitched a bib for my SIL's new grandchild which is expected in May (!). Then decided I need to do one for my brother too...so it is partly done. By next week I'll have two bibs to show. I am going to give them to the soon-to-be grandparents for Christmas . They will get a kick out of them.

I also have all the black stuff done on Kaleidoscope. That is going to be a smashing piece. I am looking forward to starting on all the gorgeous colours inside the black swirly designs.

I think that is all my stitching for the last week. The teapot did not make it out of the bag yesterday...the Queen took precedence!

An abundance of Teapots

October 20, 2007

The Thursday stitchers had their teapots on display this week. We are at varying stages of completion...

Adriana...

Lisa's .....
Barb' s....
And of course show-off Angie has hers finished!!! Looks great doesn't it???

Barb's HAED Santa is really coming along also...

My stitching has been slow at best this week...nothing to show. Even Pretty Pumpkins which I worked on yesterday shows little progress...I just couldn't get into anything this week.

Oh well...I'll get back in the groove soon.

Meanwhile, I was tagged with a "You make me smile" award from both Beatrice and Kathy. I am touched and honoured. Thank You my friends!

Pretty Pumpkins

October 16, 2007

Here is my progress as of last Friday on Pretty Pumpkins. I just love this design!
Unfortunately is is about the only stitching I have to show this time around. I did do a bit on "Its good to be Queen" this morning at Joyce's but not enough that it would look like progress if I took a picture.
I have found a really sweet bib pattern that I am going to do for my sister-in-law for Christmas. She and my brother are thrilled and delighted that their daughter and son-in-law will be presenting them with their first grandchild in May. The bib has a couple of cutsey ducks or chicks on it and the saying...If you think I'm cute, you should see my grandma" Susan will love it. I'll tell her that it is for when the baby visits at their house.

We're going to Florida!!!

October 12, 2007

Well we aren't going until January but it is a neat vacation and something to look forward to! We are going to be renting a friend's condo right on Daytona Beach. We have been to both the condo and Daytona before so we know our way around. Actually we have been to Daytona a number of times since my Mom used to go there for a few months in the winter (where her sister also had a place) for a number of years after my Dad died.

Anyway our friends Bruce and Luci will likely be joining us for a week (Bruce and Luci , of the chicken lamp!...for those of you who have seen it) so we will have a lot of laughs while there with them. I must post a picture of the chicken lamp sometime...not that it has anything to do with stitching...but oh well...

And if that is not enough, when we leave Daytona we will be heading to Nashville for the Cross stitch show!!! Man the winter is going to go by so fast if we are away from mid January till mid February...and when we get back I will have my big Open House of all the Nashville goodies to look forward to.

What a good day this has been.
Also it is my day for working on Pretty Pumpkins...have I mentioned in the last five minutes how much I am enjoying this SAL and this pattern???

Election Day in Ontario

October 10, 2007

These works in progress pictures are not in the order that I wanted them but oh well...here they are...
On the weekend I finished a little house on my friend Marg's round robin. However Marg doesn't want to see her RR until it has made the rounds so I did not take a picture. I did think though that since I had a finish that I was entitled to a new start so I pulled out Kaleidoscope by Ink Circles and here is my progress so far. While visiting with Joyce yesterday morning I dutifully stitched on It's good to be Queen and I am pleased to note that she now is wearing the skirt to her dress.
If you have quessed that my interest in the Queen is waning, you are correct. This is my new favourite work in progress... Pretty Pumpkins by Glendon Place. It only sees the light of day on Fridays. It is a joy to stitch, even over one...and the colours are fun!
If you live in Ontario...don't forget to vote.

A slow week for stitching

October 5, 2007

I have no pictures and not much to report this week. Monday and Tuesday were write-offs as far as stitching is concerned. On Wednesday I started a house on Marg's Neighbourhood RR. It is cute and coming along nicely but Marg doesn't want to see her neighbourhood until we have all contributed to it, and I haven't even finished my little house yet anyway, so no pic of it. This is just a small RR a few of us are involved in...no deadlines or anything so it will be awhile before it ever gets home to Marg!
Thursday was Teapot day with the Thursday stitchers and it is progressing...slowly.
Today is Pretty Pumpkins day and I am looking forward to getting back at my tiny stitches in those gorgeous fall colours after I do a bit of housework (yuck).
I also have to make a couple of loaves of bread. A word to the wise... don't try to make bread on a day when 9 or 10 people are coming to the house to stitch, or if you do make some , be sure the loaves are baked before the company arrives. Yesterday, I had a couple of loaves proofing in the oven (yeah there is a handy little bread proof button on the stove...you push it, and shove the loaves in the oven for 45 minutes) The trick is...don't forget they are there when the stitchers arrive or else the loaves will proof for 3 hours and 45 minutes instead of 45minutes. This is not good. I re-shaped the loaves and baked them anyway but they are pretty misshapen and really not very good. At least the piece of toast I had this morning was no prize.
I do the dough in the bread maker and the rest in the oven. I guess I'll be making more today. Yesterday's effort may be OK for dressing (oh! and I am cooking a turkey on Sunday so all is not wasted) or for the birds.
I did make some apple crisp after the bread yesterday and it turned out so my day was not a total cooking disaster.

Pretty Pumpkins

October 1, 2007

Okay so these are cars, not pumpkins but I thought it was pretty cute to have two beetles in the garage for the night. Helen came for a visit on Sunday and we had a lovely day of driving around Prince Edward County. It was gorgeous out and the County is always a restful place to visit. The leaves are not out in all their glory yet but it was still beautiful. We hit Wellington, Bloomfield (great ice cream), Picton and Lake on the Mountain before heading home. At home Dan was ready to make dinner for us after having already washed both Helen's car and David's truck. David is on a business trip so they switched vehicles for the week. The truck doesn't fit in the garage so Helen's car got to use it for the night. Here is my (2 Fridays) progress on Glendon Place's Pretty Pumpkins. It is over one on 25 count moss green lugana. I enjoyed every minute I stitched on it on Friday and am sorry that I won't be picking it up again until Friday. The colours are fun and the stitching is easy...well, I can say that now that did not have to rip out a bunch this time around.
Beatrice did Glendon Place's Witching it was Halloween and said it was an absolute joy to stitch.
If you use the link to look at Beatrice's witch..the picture of it is on the August 13 blog entry. I don't know how to make the link go directly there.