Monday, May 30, 2005

Party Time

DS's first little kids birthday party went on without a hitch Saturday, I can't believe my little guy will be turning 5 this week. He even had some surprise guests. We were just lighting the candles when I saw a silver honda pull in the McDonalds parking lot, then I saw the hometown honda label on the back and knew mom and dad had arrived :) I wondered why she was asking what time his part went from last week. DS has some very generous friends and I hope that they had a good time. One little guy couldn't contain his excitement about his gift and pulled out one of the bad guys from Power Rangers S(something something something) before DS had a chance to open it. DS was super excited as he knows that's about the only way one would sneak it's way into the house as I won't buy them.

Sunday was pretty good, although I spent most of the morning looking out the window at my flower garden that still needs to be hoed so I can get my remaining 3 perennials in but the rain just wouldn't go away. After lunch I proceeded downstairs and tidied up the craft room. Now that the door is up on the closet it actually looks clean, before no matter how much was in the closet it still looked messy because you could see it all sitting there. Now to pick out some paint and some mouldings. I love having a craft room, eventhough from time to time my crafting supplies seem to sneak upstairs and collect near the love seat ;)

There's actually some blue sky out this afternoon, it seems like it's been raining forever. I guess I'll be mowing again as soon as I get home. It seems like there's only enough sunlight to finish mowing the lawn and then it's back to rain lately, sigh. Hopefully DH will offer to do the back lawn so I can get some stitching time in.

Friday, May 27, 2005

25 Most Asked Stitching Questions:

I saw this on Dani's Blog and lifted it because I thought they were
neat questions.

1. How old were you when you started cross stitching?
Eighteen (one month off being 19)

2. Who taught you to cross stitch?
Myself, I'd wanted to learn for over a year but the couple people
that I knew that stitched never found the time to show me, so I read
the instructions in the kit I bought and the rest is history

3. What inspired you to begin cross stitching?
The long story: I always admired needlework and at the time had a
line of needleworking role moms all the way up to my great
grandmother, each with their own niche and cross stitch hadn't been
taken yet ;)
The short story: Was in the process of splitting with my high school
sweetie and needed something to do.

4. What has been your most difficult cross stitch piece?
A toss up between the border by TW on my elemental dragons and my
Witches of Booville by Stoney Creek, neight of which are done.

5. Do you have friends that stitch?
I think I only have one friend who doesn't

6. What is your favorite stitched piece?
My Peace And Quiet Please Dragon managest to trump even my Mirabilias

7. What is your favorite fabric?
Any sparkling evenweave, preferably 32 ct

8. What is your favorite fiber?
Rainbow Gallery Petit treasure braid, the metallic I find that
behaves the best with little effort.

9. What is your favorite needle?
Piecemaker 28's

10. Do you prefer black & white or colored charts?
Black and white.

11. How many Works In Progress do you have at this time?
Normally a big project and an ornament but lately I've had more
starts than finishes

12. How many UFO's do you have at this time?
3 Elemental Dragons & Witches of Boovile and The Wedding

13. How many cross stitch charts/kits/mags do you own?
Too many to count! I'm a serious chart collector!

14. How much fabric do you have in stock at this time?
One shelf of the craft closet is dedicated to it.

15. Where is your favorite place to stitch?
In my living room, on the couch under my mock-Ott Lite.

16. What is your favorite time of day to stitch?
Any time of day as long as I'm stitching is a good time of day!

17. How many pieces have you stitched in your lifetime?
My guess is too many to count! Just under 100 if you count all the
small projects and ornaments.

18. Do you give your stitched pieces away?
In exchanges and mostly to my mother and grandmother, although I did
do one for the MIL this christmas...brownie points ;)

19. How many different fibers do you have in stock at this time?
This may be a long list...
DMC (complete set)
GAST
WDW
Caron Waterlillies/Wildflowers/WaterColours
Gloriana Silks
Silk N' Colors
Dinky Dyes
Rainbow Galleries treasure braid, fuzzy stuff, wisper, splendor
Kreinik braid, ribbon, silk mori
Needle necessities
WDW and DMC perle cottons
Cresent Colours
Olde Willow Stitchery
Six Strand Sweets

I'm sure I've forgotten some too!

20. How many pairs of scissors do you own?
One but I really should invest in another and allocate them to
hardanger.

21. Do you use stitching enhancers (lights, scroll frames...etc)?
Just a mock-Ott Lite, I like the feel of the fabric in my hands too
much to do anything else

22. How many pieces that have been stitched but not yet framed or
finished off in some other way do you have at this time?
About 10, mostly ornaments, only big one left to frame is Secret
Santa

23. Do you have a craft/stitching room?
Why yes I do and we'd need to have three more kids for me to lose
it, and I think I'd lose my marbles before I lost my craft room ;)

24. Why do you stitch?
a)I like having something to show for my time,
b)Stress relief+++
c)The stitching friends
d)Heart felt gifts

25. What is your most memorable time related to cross stitching?
It's a toss up between the number of detours we made on our second
trip to retreat and almost heading to Nova Scotia or hearing about
the 'Victoria's Secret' retreat around the dinner table at retreat.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

No Surgery...What a Relief!

Well after 5 months of wondering yesterday we found out that surgery wouldn't be necessary on DS's bump on his scar, the ultrasound couldn't find a hole indicating a hernia so it's been deemed a lump of scar tissue. Yippee!!

We had a very productive weekend around the house even with DH down with the cold I had earlier in the week, even if it came on the sad news of DH's cousin's daughter passing away at 20 months of complications due to TTTS. Over the weekend when DS and I weren't finishing up George's Marvelous Medicine I made quite a bit of headway on my Mirabilia Guardian Angel, now if only I had a digital camera to update my progress. While out for groceries/market I picked up a bleeding heart (FIL killed mine last year by accident) and PJM Rhododendrum, thank goodness for coop money at the pumps to soften the blow of buying yet another shrub ;)

On Monday I put together DH's workbench that he received for his birthday and proceded to install the closet door in my craft room (which looks much easier than it was ;)). After a family bowling trip I also put up my hummingbird feeder, it's amazing how much more we're getting done this year now that all of our stuff is unpacked in the house. Last night DH dug up a quadrant of an old flower bed (I think the previous owners first wife was a gardener and not the second) and I finally planted some perennials, although I'll miss them in the morning as they were sitting on my sunny kitchen window ledge for a couple of weeks now. After scrubbing all the dirt off my fingers it was safe to go back to stitching white on the angel. I thought I'd reward myself and take a little break after an hour and stitch on a Shepherd's Bush ornament that I'd started Monday night but it appears the one I chose is the only one that has colours different than the other 4 ornaments so I now have to order 4 Weeks Dye Works, sigh....

Friday, May 20, 2005

Post Episode III Day

Getting to Star Wars yesterday was great, I was really happy with the movie and am hoping to go back to digest everything. Today's kind of a let down knowing the story is over, sigh... When Return of the King came out it wasn't as bad, there were only three years aloted to covering the whole trilogy in theatres, for the six years for the Star Wars prequels really leaves a little void in my entertainment world. But my Thursday night's have recovered post Friends-era so I'm sure in time it will pass ;) If the ending wasn't so sad, well as sad as any sci-fi movie can get I'm sure this would be a bit easier ;)


When I got home my mother, who is in town to cover for ds's sitter who is taking a well deserved vacation, and I headed off to scrapbooking. It was neat watching her scrapbook for the first time. Originally she was the one that had talked about scrapbooking and I just caught her enthusiasm and tried it first. We had fun at Tracy's and got a sneak preview of her new Fiddlestitch Cottage teapot coming out the first day of summer.


When we arrived back at the house I started ladder lacing an afghan/throw while catching the end of the season finale of CSI. Instead of the gym today I went home to see how DS and mom were making out and had lunch with them which was nice. It's nice to see DS during non evening hours.


Hopefully this weekend will see a big improvement in the Guardian Angel and maybe a finish on my Dragon Drams Christmas ornament. With Monday being a holiday I'm really hoping to also get the ladder lacing done on that afghan/throw...

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Stitching Night Recap

Last night was the monthly Friends That Count get together. I really look forward to a little mommy time, especially where I've been doing alot of running for DS pre-surgery appointments. We had a new stitcher last night who had the most beautiful Blossom Harvest I have ever seen, it's such a shame the Mirabilia pictures just don't do them justice. We were also lamenting about the local sewing shop closing it's doors at the end of June. With whatever issues we've had with the store over the year (definitely not the staff though), we'll be pretty much up a creek when it comes to beads and specialty flosses, guess I'll be calling the shops in Miramichi and Moncton a bit more now...sigh.

Back to stitching, I made some more head way on Mirabilia's Guardian Angel, I started stitching in the grey/blue that is at the bottom of her form. Towards the end of the night, when I was getting tired of the colour, I pulled out my creamy white afghan material, divided it into two for baby throws and put my fringe lines and trenches in for ladder lacing. Hopefully I can get them done before some of my friends have their babies this year. What a baby boom!

Today is pretty exciting, DH and I will be heading out to Star Wars at 3:15. That meant alot of extra time put in here and there for the last three days but it'll be soo worth it. Tonight we have my mother visiting as she's taking care of DS tomorrow, I'll be introducing her to scrapbooking at our bi-weekly Creative Memories get together. I can't wait!!