Pillows

I had a successful weekend making 5 pillows, 2 I can't show till they have reached their new homes.

Here we have LHN Berries, Peace and Be Joyful in Hope. The respective fabrics is what was used for their backing. I may do this again in a few days. Seems if I get a few of them lined up I have better success of them getting done.

We had a HOT weekend, a little too hot, but nicer than the cold dreary cloudy skies.

Lovely Day

It has turned out to be a lovely day, the sky is blue, the sun is out and it is very warm with a nice cool breeze. We haven't had too many of these days and it sure is nice.

On to stitching.

On the Hoe Blog I took part of the LHN exchange and Staci sent this wonderful package to me.
She took part of the Thread Gathering and stitched a floss and scissor fobs on her own hand-dyed 22ct hardanger. I've admired this type of finish for a while now, so it really means a lot to me. I just may give it a try one day.

Tomorrow I will share some of my stitching. If I say this I will have to keep my blog up to date right? We'll see....

74 Days Ago

was the last time I posted. I don't know where the time goes. Then I thought spring had arrived, now we are into summer and the weather is lousy. We do get a few nice days, but most are cloudy and cold. On the stitching front, I don't have pictures to show, but have done lots (for me) stitching. I will take pictures in the morning and be sure to post them, maybe not all in one day. Speaking of time, it was a year ago that 4 people signed up for a PIF, 2 no longer have blogs and I don't know how to get in touch with them, for the other 2 I have one stitched and am working on the 2nd. When I have both done I will mail them out, I promise it will be no later than July 15th, 2 weeks late is better than never. Like many other stitchers out there I have heaps of patterns I want to stitch, not to mention all the new patterns that keep coming out. At times I feel so overwhelmed and don't know what to do. How do you handle your ever growing list and decide what to stitch and when ?

Spring has Arrived !

Yes, according to Tiger spring has finally arrived and she can look for rocks. I'm sure glad she wasn't trying to pick up the one in front of her. Yesterday and today have been gorgeous days, sunny and warm, I only hope it will last.

Last week I received this lovely pin keep from Aniza in Malaysia , as part of the Hooked on Exchange group. She choose a pattern from a favorite designer of mine, LHN, and stitched it 1 over 28ct.It is so tiny and delicate and I just LOVE it. Thanks Aniza.

I also received some stash in the mail and couldn't resist doing this one right up. Called Modern Bloom, it is an exclusive from Brittercup Designs and Stitches 'N Things. I'm a "little" disappointed in the Cinders floss, which should be red/black, I could see no red in it and it stitched up as black, but it is still a cute design. The floss minder I bought from Monique of Studio Twenty. It's just the cutest and I love it.

Earlier in the week I started a LHN Scissor Fob and then yesterday noticed some fabric that would be perfect for LHN My Needle's Work, so started that. I have a "few" others I'm working on, so am going to try a rotation system, which always fails for me, but will try anyways.

Thanks to all who come by to read my blog, I'm not very good at keeping things up to date, this is my first post for April and the month is already half over.

Scissor Fob

My Prairie Schooler yahoo group did a scissor fob exchange and I received this lovely fob and card made by Bev from England. It came in the mail this morning just as I was finishing hers. Today's the deadline for mailing, talk about cutting it close.

I'm meeting a friend for lunch today at the River Rock Casino the link should take you to a virtual tour of the casino, just picture me sitting there loosing my money while my friend wins ! She always wins, just one of those lucky people.

Wacky Weather

Hey what's this white stuff and why is it so cold ?? That's right we awoke to snow on the ground this morning. I can't wait till spring arrives, oh wait it did, must have missed us. I know other areas have it worse than we do, but come on it's almost April.



I have been so ill the last week, too much Easter chocolate. I know better than to over indulge, but I LOVE chocolate. I did this at Christmas and swore I would never do it again. Not to mention the weight gain, yup I ate so much it shows on the scale.

I had a big surprise last week, eHandcrafts , my favorite on-line shop, had a St. Patrick's Day drawing and I won out of 30 people ! The prize was $17.00 to spend at the shop and I am going to stock up on some dyed threads.

I have finished stitching a scissor fob and a pin keep for two exchanges I am in. Just need to put them together this weekend and in the mail. Should be able to show photos in a couple of weeks.

Hope everyone who reads my blog had a Happy Easter.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I managed to get the stitching but not the finishing done in time. I will do that today, so it will be ready for next year :) It is stitched on 18 ct. white Aida with DMC701.

Birds is an HIH design stitched with DMC on Sassy's 28 ct. Lugana Morning Blue.

I have 3 other designs stitched for exchanges, just need to finish them. Can't show them here as I wouldn't want to spoil any surprises.

Schoolgirl Lessons

I received this pattern in the mail the other day and just knew I had to stitch it right away. It is from LHN recommending Rose of Sharon by CC Belle Soie . I've used these silks in other colors before and just loved them and not had a problem. It's hard to tell in the picture but the red has turned this white fabric pinkish. Should I have rinsed the thread first ? I used Jubilee fabric, does it not go well with dyed floss ? One thing I am definitely not going to do is wash it, that would be a disaster !! I was going to stitch the bottom of this for the back, finishing it as a pillow. I am still going to finish it as a pillow, but will find some fabric for the back, in the meantime it will go with the rest of my "finishes" waiting to be finished. I really have to set aside a day and do some, my drawer is getting full.

Pink

First we have the tree that Terri designed for Stitch Pink . I had stitched this up some time ago and used dyed thread and it ran when I ironed it. After living in the laundry room and going through every hot wash I remembered to put it in, it is as clean as it will get.

Second we have a design from Tantes Zolder stitched on 28 ct. with DMC CV4180. Thinking of making this into a pin keep. This design would be better in a solid color for the hearts to stand out more.

And last we have a Pink Butterfly from

DMC also using DMC CV4120. This is my first pillow tuck and I just "tucked" it in for the photo. There is not enough fabric to "fill" the tuck. Any help in how I would get this to stay put would be appreciated.

This is the Gastown Steam Clock. It is situated in the oldest part of downtown Vancouver.

Happy Valentine's Day

In Feb. 2000 a girl at my work asked if anyone wanted some Love Birds. I said sure I will take 2, my Dad had always talked about getting a pair. I asked her to bring them in on Feb. 14 (Dad's birthday) as this would be the perfect gift. Imagine my surprise when she comes in with a couple of finches. Her family were calling them love birds as they bred like rabbits :) Needless to say Dad laughed and off we went to the pet store and bought two Love Birds, naming them Sonny and Cher. Shortly after midnight New Year's Eve I happened to look in their cage and Cher had passed. Sonny was broken hearted, he started sticking his head out the bars of his cage begging for affection. If we let him out he would come and sit on our head or shoulder, like always, but now was pecking to the point of biting. He truly missed his mate. A friend had an extra Love Bird, who she said needed a mate, so Sumas came to join Sonny 2 weeks ago and they are very happy together. Sumas is a baby, 2 or 3 years old and a bit smaller than Sonny, but they are Love Birds, which says it all.

New Look

Just like a haircut or wardrobe I was getting tired of the same old look. Came across this site http://www.pyzam.com/ and thought why not. While it may look like I know what I am doing, I really don't. When I was saving the new template it said something about saving widgets, what the heck are they ??? Guess I didn't agree to saving them and now half my blog is gone. Thankfully none of my posts are gone, just the sidebar, which probably needed updating anyways. Hopefully next time I will know what I am doing :)

I do have some stitching done, but my camera battery is being charged.

This is BC Place, future home of the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics. While I won't be going to see them, I do remember like it were yesterday, going to see Pope John Paul II in 1984.

Hooked on Exchanging

This is the fob I received from Nic in the scissor fob exchange. She also included some beads, buttons, WDW and Rainbow floss.

If you would like to see what I sent to Jean you will need to look at HOE blog as I can't find where I saved the picture of hers.

Today we have a photo of the main branch of the Vancovuer Public Library.

Hope Perches

is stitched on 32 ct. Belfast Vintage with hand dyed floss from Stranded by the Sea, no name on the card, does say Limited Edition. When looking for more of the fabric I was going to use I found a scrap of the one shown and I think it matches perfectly. Once again I don't have enough, but I'm pretty sure I bought this at Michael's, if so I should be able to get more. Groundhog Day is stitched on 32 ct. Vintage Linen.

To get to Michael's in North Vancovuer I would need to to cross this bridge, The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing Bridge.

Update

Thank you to everyone for your good wishes for my Tiger. She is doing very well, wanting to roll and rub her back, which she can now do as we went and had the stitches removed this afternoon. Now if her hair would just grow back faster so I don't have that constant reminder of the incident.

I do have some stitching finishes, just don't have pictures to show. We had heaps of snow this week, so I had loads of time to stitch. I got Groundhog Day done and Hope Perches by The Sampler Girl . I forgot I had ordered this and when it came in the mail yesterday I started it right away and got it done by evening. I want to finish it off into a pillow as shown on the pattern, just don't know if I have enough of the right fabric on hand. May have to go shopping :)
I'll post the pictures tomorrow.


These Totem Poles greet visitors to Stanley Park. Please take a stroll through this link, you will be amazed at the beauty of this park, it sure brought back some great childhood memories of my visits. I just may have to find some time this summer to go again.

Tiger and Stitches

BEWARE, long story, no stitching of our kind and photo at end not so pleasant.

I woke up this morning and thought it feels like an off day, something just wasn't right. Took Mom to Tim Horton's for coffee and was thinking about how I was going to spend the day after I took Tiger to Trout Lake. Mom settled that for me, asked if I would drop her off at a friends and pick her up on my way back. No problem. Dropped her off, stopped and bought treats for Tiger, gassed up the car, got to Trout Lake and decided to park in the west parking lot instead of going to the north parking lot (where I usually park), mistake #1. We started walking and as I was nearing the south end of the lake I saw a city truck and a women with 6 dogs. My first instinct was to put Tiger on her leash (this end of the lake is not off leash for dogs) , realized they were just chatting and were not animal control, but park workers, so didn't bother with the leash, mistake #2. As we walked by her 6 dogs "swarmed" Tiger, I got a hold of her collar and pulled her away and walked off. The women did call off her dogs and said she was sorry. I walked a little ways, realized Tiger was out of sorts stopped to hug and pet her, when I then realized she had been bitten on the back. I turned back and in the meantime the women was walking off in the other direction. I walked as fast as I could and started yelling for her to stop as I needed to talk to her. I must have yelled this out about 3 times, saying lady in the black coat with the white dogs, so she would know it was her being asked to stop. By this time I am getting very agitated and will admit I did use the B.... word. I'm sure she did have some female dogs :) She finally stops and turns around and as I am still walking towards her I asked if she would please come here as I needed to talk to her about what happened, she says she doesn't take orders from me. I get to her and show her Tiger's back, she does say she is sorry, but my dog turned on hers first and she has 3 witnesses. Words were exchanged and I went back to the city workers to ask them their version of what happened. Well they saw her dogs go after mine and she immediately put a muzzle on the dog who bit Tiger. I started to go towards the parking lot and see her heading in the same direction and had this awful thought that the van I had parked next to was hers. I thought this as the van had no back seats and was covered in pillows and blankets as was the front seat and filled with "junk". One of the park workers came after me and asked if that women was still here and we kept looking and finally saw her with one dog on a leash going toward the van. Yup it was hers, the other 5 were already in the van. The park worker went up to her and said that she saw her dog go after mine and that she would be responsible for half the vet bill. Long story short, she admitted "one" of her dogs bit mine but she didn't know which one, gave me her first name and phone #, I also took down her plate number. City worker gave me her name and # and advised me to call Animal Control, which I did after I got home from the vet. Something this women said made me think she had problems in the past with her dogs or at least the one. Guess what, she is "known" to animal control. I need to send in a signed statement, have already e-mailed them photos and they will be going to her house to talk to her. So far the vet bill is 468.42, they had to sedate Tiger and put a drain in as when she was bit the dog pulled and there is a pocket that could fill with fluid, she has 5 stitches in her. Decided not to show the close up I sent Animal Control, it is just too awful.

Mountain View

It may have been cold today, but the sun was out, and it was such a nice treat after all the rain we had yesterday. As I was driving about today I had the most spectacular view of our mountains. I didn't have my camera, so found this on-line to show you. These are known as "The Lions".

I have nothing to show for stitching. Am finishing up my exchange to put in the mail this week. Have two things started, I know I wasn't suppose to start anything new but couldn't help it.

Still de-cluttering my home. It's amazing how much paper and junk I have accumulated. I decided to start with my spare room and I should be finished by the weekend. Once done I can then start moving "organized stuff" into it.

Scissor Fob

I have stitched a scissor fob, front and back and 3 1/2 sides together, leaving an opening for the batting. I had forgotten that I need to add something to hang the scissors on with. Would it be okay if the hanger was just from one corner or should there be something at the opposite corner ? I have looked at other scissor fobs and they all have both corners done. I thought of using a cording around it but don't have a color to match. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is for an exchange and I want it to look really good.

This is Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver. I have been there a few times, taking out of town relatives, but have never gotten the nerve to walk across.

Stitching Goals

I have decided not to set any .........yet. I am using January to do an exchange at Hooked on Exchanging, finish WIP'S, some finishing (ornaments/pillows and such), organize my stash by starting with getting my floss back into order. Right now I have floss here and there with patterns here and there, other "stuff" here and there and they are not all in the same "here and there". Clutter may be the right word to use :) I have a huge collection of paperback books that I have read and need to get rid of and that alone will make ton's of space available. I have started my list of stitching goals and it's a bit over whelming. Once everything gets put in it's place I will see what I have or need. There is nothing like pulling out a pattern and and seeing that it calls for a dyed floss that you don't have on hand and yet the model is stitched with it and you really want it to look like that :) It has happened to me so many times. I plan on "kitting" my projects up and am hoping this will help.

Speaking of reading, well I did mention my paperback books. I just finished a delightful book by Sophie Kinsella "The Undomestic Goddess". I could just picture what was being written in my mind and bring it to life. I am now having a hard time getting into reading a Mary Higgins Clark book and I can usually finish her books in no time.

I leave you with an aerial view of downtown Vancouver.

Stitching Bloggers 2007 Birthday Club

I received these lovely gifts from Julianne. My first ever tin finish and I just love the red and white design and the scissors. A fantastic PS Santa ornament. Gentle Art threads and one by Stranded By The Sea in blues which is absolutely awesome, I can just see a bluebird design done in this. A Gold Collection petites kit, which I can't wait to get started on. Some lovely blue flowered fabric and 28ct. Quaker "Country" fabric and a little frog post it. Oh and I can't forget the little gold bag with Werther's candies...yummy !



Post edited to read Julianne with a link to her blog. My apologies for having confused your name with Jean.