Bent Creek Snappers

Monday morning - after a busy weekend. I didn't get too much time for stitching except for last night while watching a movie - A History of Violence. It was a freebie as it was supposed to be in when my hubby wanted it, but it wasn't, so he got it for free yesterday. Gotta love Blockbusters. Okay movie, some very graphic sex scenes which was surprising. But the movie starred Viggo Mortensen, so that alone made it worth watching in my books.

This morning I dug out my poor Bent Creek Snappers WIP. This poor thing has been untouched the past month, even though I had planned to work on at least one section per month to keep up with doing the entire monthly series on one piece of fabric. I can't believe into 3 months into the new year, and I have already fallen behind in my very sad rotation list.

I'm hoping by posting pics, I'll be able to get back on track and work on this this week. Hey there are still a few days left to March. And look at the cool little buttons I picked up at Michael's last week to use on it. The patterns came with 'snaps' but I don't think they look quite right on this piece.

SBQ

here is this week’s question as suggested by Carol:

Have you ever participated in a needlework mystery (i.e., a design that you started before knowing how it will look in the end and by which you receive parts of the design via the internet, magazines, or leaflets at spaced intervals)? If so, why did you decide to do the mystery? What appealed to you about it? Did you enjoy it? If you have not done a mystery, would you ever do one?

I have never done a needlework mystery, although I have seen pics of beautiful ones from Chatelaine. Its tempting, but the idea of countless hours of work going into something that you may not like once you have finished?

But on the other hand, I have done several quilting mysteries. The instructions come once a month at a meeting at the quilt shop. There isn't a huge time investment and I enjoy the inspiration I get from going to the shop, that I might not have visited monthly otherwise. That plus the fact that each month we finish off one block, and if you don't like the way the blocks are looking, you can always donate them or make them into a charity quilt, so its really not a waste to me.

Which reminds me, the next meeting for the club I'm currently in is tomorrow morning!

Oh so pretty.....Stash

Don't you just love going to the mailbox when there is a huge package waiting for you?

Here it is: my reward for my new raise ~ Chatelaine's Taj Mahal kit from European Cross Stitch. Wow I could hardly wait to get dinner and the dishes cleared away so that I could open up my treasure and see all the pretty flossies. Course hubby and son couldn't wait to get away from this crazed giddy person, but that was fine with me. They just don't get it.

And of course, I had to take pictures....






If only I could dig in and start this one right away.....but I've got to get my stitching gift finished first...........

Stitching Update?

I can't post any updates from my weekend stitching since I am working on a surprise for someone who may be reading this.

So instead I decided to post a picture of my daughter Kelly's newest family addition: Meet Molly, a little 16 week old Shih-Poo, that she just got on Friday. She sent some pics yesterday so we could see her. So far big brother Bailey has not been too interested in his little sister, but I'm sure he'll come around.

My house is finally starting to get back to some sense of normal. Rick got the kitchen and the family room painted - after days spent pouring over paint samples (that sounds kinda funny) we decided on 2 slightly different shades of tan and the end result is great. The colours look fantastic with the wood furniture we have. And my TW Tradewinds has taken its place over the fireplace. My Visa is smoking from a Saturday shopping expedition to Ikea to pick up a table for behind our couch and an amazing print on canvas called "Misty Lane" that is now over the couch, plus a few other must-haves. Ikea loves me!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here is an SBQ (which I found on Christine's blog and copied over....)

Do you stitch “over one?” If so, describe your experiences. If not, have you considered it?

I was thrown into over-one's in my first large cross stitched piece - TW's Castle Sampler. The letters around the border are all done in over one. It took a while before I realized why the floss seemed to 'disappear' in the threads of the linen!

Since then I have come to appreciate more the finished look of over-one, so while its not my favourite thing to stitch, I did finish an entire piece done over-one on 25-ct evenweave.

Owl in Flight probably took me about 1 1/2 years to stitch - mainly because while I enjoyed working on it, after a few days, I really felt like I was going a little cross-eyed. I finished it in February 2005. And my big plans initially were to stitch a couple more from this series....ambitious huh?!?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Almost Spring Cuts

I couldn't take the messy winter coats on these dogs another day. Sam and Stu were such an overgrown mess, it was hard to tell one end from the other! Not a good thing. So it was into the shop for a new razor and off came the fur. Sam was first and he was actually pretty good about staying still for me. Luckily he is a small dog! And a couple of pounds lighter once his winter coat was gone.

Then came Stu, with the other two hovering around to make sure I didn't hurt him. Of course I never thought about taking 'before' pics until Stu was missing a large strip down his back. So here are the after shots anyways.

Poor Phoebe didn't get her turn today. After 2 dogs and a huge bag full of doggy hair, the razor was put away for another day. Course they had to get some treats for being good little doggies, and the coats had to come out cause it isn't quite spring yet.

TGIF

Thursday night was Sampler 4 Saison night! I picked it up and managed to get a couple motifs finished. I'm still working in the top corner 'Spring' section but I'm getting closer to that tree all the time!



Here is the finished picture:








And here is my progress as of last night.

Well, my first photos didn't work, thank goodness for that editing button.

And when did that photo button appear? At least I got my photos to come through, although next time I'll try to position them a little better.

Tonight I'm off to a gallery opening in Toronto. Its the work of one of the ladies my daughter works with at the Cancer Centre. Just gotta make sure we get there in the time for the wine and cheese - what am I saying, I have to drive?!? Well, cheese anyone?

Its a Start!

A new beginning! Now if I can just figure out how this works....and how to post pictures....and how to create links....and set up my profile....and, ohmigod, what have I got myself into???