Imagination Creation Happy Dance

And Presenting my latest happy dance...

Imagination Creation on 28ct Blue Spruce

Getting Prepped for a Happy Dance!

The Imagination Creation is really coming along, I just have one little spot of stitching to do in the wings now and then I can complete the backstitching. After watching Cold Case Files I was too chicken to go downstairs and look for the floss I needed. I did however get the tail backstitched before bed. Once it's done I'll be back on finishing up Giggles which I'm hoping will only take a week or two (especially where I have vacation coming up really soon it should be more that obtainable goal).

Last night Alex passed his depth perception retest with flying colours, even getting the bonus box. Yippee!! After not completing it twice I was getting worried, the first time the test was administred after 45 minutes of eye and ear tests which I didn't expect him to complete and after all that at age 3 screening clinic and the test the dr the second time ended up running late and into the time that he usually winds down for bed. Although before the appointment Alex was concerned that he didn't have Xray vision. He was the first kid ever to offer the doctor one of the treats he'd received as a reward for doing well in his test...I was so proud. Then of course at soccer he just did NOT want to listen at all and I had to follow him out on the field a couple times which was REALLY embarassing. Although he loves soccer practice it's one of the rare occasions that you can really tell he's an only child (for the next couple years anyway).

Tonight we need to do a little shopping for our day at Oromocto Lake. I'll also have to have an employment talk with DH tonight, we found out this morning that one of our friends is moving to Nova Scotia and his current position would be right up DH's alley...It would be really nice to have both of us working in town when Alex starts school in the fall.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

Have you ever done a color conversion? If so, what did you think about your results and would you do it again? If not, would you like to try someday?

I have done one small colour conversion and that was in my Precious Moments Bless This House, I changed the colour of the girls hair to red so we could imagine it being Matt and I building the sand castle, until he pointed out after framing that I hadn't changed the colour of the boy's eyes to hazel!!

I did like it, mind you I didn't think up the colours on my own. I don't change the colours too often, but will be using someone's conversions for Celtic Autumn, purple is just not an autumn colour for me. I'm much rather content playing with the fabric colours things are stitched on.

Friends That Count

Last night was our monthly Friends That Count get together. It was soooo nice to stitch in airconditioned comfort. Faith Ann had her Celtic Christmas in which was truly breath taking. We also got a sneak peek at the new Fiddlestitch Cottage Autumn teapot and I LOVE the colours. I finally gave my Imagination Creation some spririt and she now has eyes!! She was really beginning to creep me out. I had planned on stitching on Giggles half the night but I had borrowed one of the spools of Kreinik from Cathey (where mine is missing) and that took me to half time so I didn't actually have to take it home. Lucy had some new Canterbury Cross fabric swatches in as well, I may have to order more than my Flax afghan that just came in ;) Overall it was just a really fun night and it felt really good to get out. When I arrived home the house had cooled off upstairs, I thought we might be downstairs last night but everything was ambient upstairs. We've grappled with the thought of an airconditioner but it's soo hard to justify spending that kind of money when it's so nice downstairs and there are two bedrooms waiting for us to use. I have no idea why the lower lever of the house is so cool but I'm not complaining, at least not this summer... :)

He Has Arrived

Harry and his Thunderbolt, or whatever he's flying these days as I'm back on the Goblet of Fire has arrived at the house, yippee!! I'm sure Matt will be holed up in the basement when I get back from stitching night. I went for a walk at lunch hour and my goodness it was hot, it's a good thing I put the pork out to defrost so we can lay it on the grill and not heat up the entire house. I wonder if any other goodies arrived in the mail today :)

A Creation in Need of a Spirit

Last night after Alex went to bed Matt and I hooked up the Xbox to the little TV down in the playroom, blew up the airmattress and popped in The Last Samurai. It was nice to stitch downstairs. Although after looking at the Imagination Creation last night I realized he needs some eyes, he kind of looks soulless and hollow at the moment. I don't usually leave the eyes until last (well in this project DMC wise). Thinking about this made me look at my own soul and spirit a little which was feeling a little bruised yesterday. I was surprised at how an off the cuff comment about pro active people made by a friend could hurt so much. It probably wasn't even meant as a personal dig but it hurt none the less. I don't look down on people that don't speak up, doing so is more of a calling and in some cases, especially my own, an unwanted one. Anytime I have spoken up over issues in my heart it has been an honest attempt to leave the world a better place than I entered it, I was hoping for silent support from those around me, although I seem more than singled out for being pro active sometimes and I guess it hurts. Thankfully I have a wonderful little family who listens and understands sometimes, and I think actually seeing my vulnerable side reminds them that even though I can have a strong voice and resolve that it doesn't necessarily mean that I have strong 'skin'.

I also have a great circle of friends, and the power to heal, forgive and forget. I don't know what I'd do without my friends at work or stitching. Speaking of whom I can't wait to get out to stitch with them in an air conditioned room tonight! I'm really interested to see what everyone is stitching these days, plug away a little at Giggles and then maybe get back to adding some spirit in my Imagination Creation, he deserves the gift of sight.

Still No Harry

Well I was a little disappointed last night when Harry wasn't in the mailbox! Oh well...it's not like I was going to be the one in the family reading it first. Last night we took Alex to Charlie and the The Chocolate Factory. I've never seen him so enthralled in a movie before. I spent the first 20 minutes wiping the occasional tear out of my eye as the depiction of the Bucket Family was truly touching. We also made the quickest bathroom trip in history as Alex didn't want to miss a second of the movie (after 15 minutes of crossing and uncrossing his little legs). I was impressed on it's interpretation of the book and how the back story that was created didn't take away from the original magic of the book. My sole disappointment was after the movie when we went across the hall to the book store and the only Roald Dahl books that they had were Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and ones we already owned...I was hoping to pick up the Witches which they had three copies of last month.

After returning home and putting to bed one excited but exhausted monkey I sat and worked on my Dragon Dreams Imagination Creation until bedtime. I knew that there was a small erratum in the chart but couldn't remember which colour, although I found I was out of one colour, the one that was the problem but Matt already had the computer tied up so there was no checking online for the correction for me...sigh. Tonight's shaping up to be a fairly quiet night after groceries, I'm hoping to finish the DMC's in the pattern by the end of the night and be ready to work on some of the specialty fibres as of tomorrow. I can't wait!

The Road Life Chooses

Sometimes it's nice to sit back and reflect on the road that life chooses to lead you on. I was once very naive to think that I actually had a choice ;) Having a friend have another baby has made me reflect on the life altering experience that was having Alex and the completely different road it led me on. Before him I was a happy go lucky academic force to be reckonned with, I rarely had a complaint as I'd solely focussed on getting the answers right and not wrong. I had a list a mile long on what I would and wouldn't do when I did have children and assumed that everything I'd conquer everything as I'd always done before. HAH!!!!! I woke up to the real world the day Alex was born and I experienced one nurse who regarded marital status higher than intellectual. Little did I know what path she was leading me on. After 24 hours of being a human soother for Alex either by pinkie or breast my utmost objections to a soother were broken down. At 4 weeks discovering that there are people that can be so linguistically discriminatory that they can justify neglecting an infact in dire need of medical attention who hasn't even learned to speak the english his mother had yet, molded a mother with no voice into one who wasn't afraid to be heard (but still has a hard time calling the doctor for an appointment ;)) And it's still changing, preparing Alex to be a participant in the anti bullying movement and wanting him to speak up if he sees something wrong has led me to seriously consider the role model that I set for him and again speak up when I see things that are wrong. How can I expect him to do something that I in turn won't? As I look back I still wonder who on earth was that girl holed up in the engineering library by day and living a healthy active social life at night five years ago. Mind you I'd be very happy if life just provided me with a survey but seeing as I've surrendered and acknowledged it's control I'm slowly accepting the role it's dealt.

Sunday...A Day of Rest

Sunday was truly a day to unwind. We didn't do too much around the house. I had planned on mowing the lawn but it was just too hot and humid, cutting it in all that heat isn't good for it anyway. So after lunch and after having a little down time with Alex I headed in for a nap. After a couple interruptions by the boys (why am I the only one who knows where everything is located??) I got up and stitched some on my Dragon Dreams Imagination Creation until we headed out for a picnic at the lake. It was our first trip to the lake the summer and it was really nice to unwind there. Alex had a great time attempting to swim, Matt attempted to nap and learned that sign language isn't so silent, the group next to us was signing away and apparently there was quite a bit of slapping and grunting. He should have been in with us anyway ;) When he did come in we soaked him good ;) Now it's back to stitching in front of the fan, I can't wait to see this creation come to life!!

June's Ornament Finish

Holly Days Stocking Completed!!

A Tea With The Dragon

Saturday was an official girls day out. We all piled in to Cathey's car and made the pilgrimage to Moncton aka shopping mecca of New Brunswick. Our first stop was Barbara Ann's to pick up some stash from her closing sale. We all chipped in to get her the Willow Tree Angel of Courage (thanks Cathey for the great idea) and she was truly touched, there were some tears when we left the store for the last time. One less stop on our pre-retreat shopping trip.

Our next stop was Elite framing, we've heard such great things about Sandi and Coral Cathey and I knew that they were the only ones that were going to handle our Secret Santa and The Quiltmaker. If they're good enough to frame all of Jennifer's models surely our projects are in good hands. :) I didn't realize that Santa was going to be sooo difficult to find a mat for, trying to bring out the colour in the tree (a needlepaint) yielded alot of teals as any greens clashed with the hue. Finally we found a gorgeous velour matt that was perfect.

Then we were off to lunch at the mall and made a quick stop into Because You Count to pick up some more stash. At the CNSS Jennifer unveiled her Dragon of the Deeps which is truly amazing, I can't wait until mine arrives in the mail sometime in the next couple of weeks!!!!! Tea with the Dragon was awesome and very informative!! We also got a sneak peek of To Trim a Tree which is DEFINITELY going on the to stitch pretty much when it comes out list (Will Guardian Angel ever see the light of day???).

The boys survived their day without mom with flying colours and the house was in tip top shape, I was truly impressed. When we drove in there was also a big brown bunny under the deck, maybe he's the one that's been knawing on my perennials?? Matt is eagerly awaiting the new Harry Potter to arrive at the doorstep. I preordered just so I wouldn't have to drive to the store (gas is expensive), why drive when you can have it shipped for free.

Today is the Dragon Dreams stitch along day over on the Needle and Thread bulletin board, I'm hoping to work on something between mowing the lawn and hopefully having a picnic supper at the lake :)

It's A BOY!

Jackson Elliott Ryan arrived sometime over the noon hour today, I pretty much jumped out of my seat at work when my phone rang!! It's a really good thing I told Eleni that I have a no holds barred naming process before she named him as if we ever have another boy my heart is pretty much set on the name Jack. Matt comes from a big family and trying to avoid names was just too out out of control, besides, how many times do you actually get to name a child, you might as well do what YOU want to do. Mind you when we do have another we're going with the no spilling the name until the birth policy, so if my mother happens to be reading this pretend to be surprised if you ever have a grandson called Jack!!!!!

I've been just too excited to sit still eventhough we did attend the strawberry supper at my grandmother's church tonight. I've been bouncing around the house ever since, my mind missed the message that it should be resting. I beaded the teddy bear for my mill hill stocking ornament, I'm hoping to finish that up tomorrow night. I didn't get any of my reading in although we did get another chapter of Alex's book in. And after 40 minutes of tossing and turning here I am blogging away WAY passed my bedtime as I'm just too excited to sleep :)

A LONG Wait

I'm just generally excited about the birth of my dear friends second child, which should have taken place about two hours ago and am still anxiously sitting by the phone, hoping she's feeling well enough to call before I head to pick up Alex for supper at my grandmother's church :) I think Matt'll be a bit relieved after this year as I think I've been driving him batty were alot of my friends are adding to their families, who wouldn't want a chance to have another and truly enjoy it after learning from all the mistakes one made the first time around (lesson number one encase the phone in cement and bury it in the back yard for a year and lesson two, the house will not self destruct and killer dust bunnies will not attack your baby while you sleep, so get some!). Having an excuse to stitch some baby designs would also be fun too!!!

Deck Demo Is Looking Good

After scraping aimlessly and missing valuable stitching time I've decided that if I had the extra money I'd really start from scratch on the deck, maybe I can live with an opaque stain for a couple more years. I think I'll look into what it'll cost to replace the top planking of the deck over the weekend and decide where to go from there. Opaque stain was just not made for a northern climate where people have to shovel off their decks!!! There that's my rant for the night.

Stitching wise nada today although I did make a wee bit of progress on giggles and my stocking last night, tonight has just been in limbo. Between groceries and talking to a dear friend hours before she delivers baby #2 (I'm soo jealous ;)) things are just off of their usual schedule although change is good.

Tonight Alex and I started Lemony Snicket's The Bad Beginning, he really enjoyed the way it was written (and I thought it was kind of neat as every so often when there was a big word (for him anyway) it would kind of give a more familiar word in a very off hand manner. We've gone through my on hand stock of Roal Dahl books (I'd love to know where my copy of Matilda is hiding) so I thought I'd try one of these books to give us a change of pace. And if Alex decides it isn't for him by then I'll have had a chance to get to the bookstore and pick up The Witches or Judy Blume's Fudge. It just amazes me how he's changed from reading board books to asking to be read to from a chapter book every night. I wasn't a book worm until my third grade teacher introduced us to the works of Roald Dahl, Judy Blume and Beverly Clearly. I think of applied more of the things I learned in that year of school to life in general than all of my years in university.

I'm getting really anxious for the stitching show, even if it isn't that great. I've put alot of work into fixing up the outside of the house and I could use a change of scenery for the day. Tea with the Dragon should be a blast!! Well I should shower and read another chapter of the book before it gets too late....I can't wait to learn more about Baby Ryan (yes that's a last name I know nothing more than he or she is healthy and ready to meet the world)!!

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

Q : What do you do when you have some sort of obligation stitching to do,but don't want to do it?

I don't really do too much obligation stitching, if I decide to stitch something for a birthday or Christmas I give myself plenty of time, choose a smaller scale project or have a back up plan should it not get done on time. Stitching for me is something I do to relieve stress, not generate it ;)

How To Drive A Standard...According to DS

Today when we arrived home in the reliable rust mobile and parked beside the nice Corolla which I can't drive (standard) Alex looks at me and says "Mommy, I'll teach you to drive Daddy's car!" I was mildly intrigued by this so I asked him to continue...and here are THE RULES
RULE #1 (and yes he's saying Rule Number 1) Don't Crash The Car
RULE #2 Don't Kill Anybody
RULE #3 If someone tries to crash your car honk your horn
RULE #4 Don't Open Your Car Doors On Daddy's Car
RULE #5 Don't Hurt Daddy's Car At All

Good Grief...

Way to Go Ontario/Progress

Way to go Ontario, It's nice to see that at least one province has some common sense concerning vehicle safety. Bets anyone on how long it will take New Brunswick to follow suit with similar legislation, 5-10 years and another what 10-20 before it's enforced (considering how long I've been filing statements on the other mother at daycare who has kept her daughter up in the front seat/beltless since she was about 8 months when there's a perfectly good carseat in the back)

Last night I'd fully intended to read alot of Potter but when I clicked on A&E there was an episode of Cold Case Files on at 8 so I picked up the nearest thing to stitch and met the goal I'd set for myself on the weekend so now I can get back to Giggles...


Charmed Stocking progess

Do any Giggles stitchers know what is supposed to go in his right mitten where I've left a one square hole?? The pattern has a really bright pink but I think that's a mistake. Here's how far I got with Giggles before moving to the small beading project above (darn when the instructions ask you to cross stitch the petit beads, I zoom through the half stitched beads, plus the greens looked very similar so it took having my bead bowl under the light, not my usual stitching position)


Giggles Progress

Oh back to Potter, I did get a chapter read last night, considering it was 20+ pages I consider that pretty good, it was really hard to put the book down and go to bed at a decent hour. I think Alex and I'll be starting the first book in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events or maybe I can stall him long enough until we go to the mall Sunday for Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and pick up a new Roald Dahl book then, I guess we'll play it by ear!

A Change of Procedure?

I just got off the phone after another productive, not, call to Royal Bank. I inquired as to when they paid my tax account as the letter I received from them claims they paid the correct amount. They paid May 25th! It was corrected by the province March 28th and the corrected balance has been public since that date at SNB online. I received notice of them changing my payments in late June after they'd already taken one with the extra 100+ missing. The response I receive 'well this is the way we do things', if I worked on 2 month old statistical data I think I'd be fired!! Royal Bank, kindly change your procedures!!!!

Book Worm

I think the book worm is back! All weekend I had a hard time concentrating on stitching so I decided to pick up Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire which I've just had a hard time getting into (and need to finish up before the movie). Well, I'm now almost half way through. I think stitching might be on the back burner for a little bit. The book is finally picking up. The first 200 pages were kind of boggy, the first chapter was very promising and then I got lost in quidditch, my least favorite part of the book. I used to read alot before we had Alex but back when we were in the apartment it was just too noisy and there were too many distractions to get much quality reading time in so stitching took over. Now with the house and Alex content to play for hours on end with his action figures (which I'll never understand) there is now time for a good read. I can't wait!! I've really missed my VC Andrews book and poor Kinsey Millhone is stuck a J is for Judgement :) Now to convince Matt to buy me a lounge chair for outside....

It's Has To Look Worse Before It Looks Better

I'm beginning to accept this in reference to refinishing the deck. I managed to get some of the aweful teal stain off of the floor today, although finding my scrub brush OR owning a pressure washer would have been a HUGE help! Matt has yet to take a crow bar to pry off the post tops with really need to be replaced, the previous owner nailed them in place and lowered their life expectancy immensely.

Today's been a ho hum kind of day. Alex let us sleep in until 10...wow (I really needed it as my shoulder was kinked up half the night not letting me have any sort of quality sleep) and then I worked on a mill hill kit that I'd started on the drive to Grand Falls last week. I'd like to have the beading on the stocking portion of the kit done before I work on Giggle's boots.

On the family front Matt had wonderful news Friday, a very large raise!! I'm glad to see him appreciated for all the hard work that he does, if only my own employer showed that much respect for it's employees, or mainly just me, any policy change they've done has for lack of better words 'screwed' me over. I do have a code issue to bring up with my supervisor and I'll probably bring up a salary issue that's been ticking me off for awhile now off the records. Alex has also finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! On Friday, it was so cute, Alex decided to try to read to a little girl in the stands. He grabbed the book out of my bag and started "Once upon a time there was a little boy named Charlie Bucket..." It amazes me how he went right from board books and Dr Seuss right to novels!