And we're off!

For 2 weeks vacation! I was going to try to find a picture of a sunbather, lazying about on a beach, with a drink in bed, and pretend it was me, but honestly I'm too tired. Why is it when you're about to start a vacation, that you get dumped with work? Combine that house renovations, inside and out, and trying to organize my new sewing room, which has really been neglected and I am definitely ready to head out of here tomorrow!

Hubby and I did manage to get our kitchen ready last night however as our new kitchen appliances arrive today - new fridge, stove, microwave and dishwasher! No more cursing the size of my fridge (and of course now the family has downsized) and no more whining about the dirty dishes coming out of the dishwasher. And wouldn't you know, I won't get to enjoy them as I'll be washing dishes at the cottage for the next 2 weeks! May be I'll buy paper plates, the kind we can put in the compost bin.

And of course I did manage to pack my stitching bag :-D I haven't packed my clothes yet, in fact I still have to do laundry! Yes, I am a true stitcher!

And here is Glenna's RR, all finished and in fact in the mail, winging its way on to Carissa, early as I won't be back until after August 1st, and I didn't want to send it off late.


Have a wonderful couple of weeks and 'see' you all when I get back!

Dill PIckle Green?

HELP!

There are just too many to choose from! I went to pick out green colour paint chips to choose a green paint for my new sewing room...and I can't pick one! There just isn't quite the right colour that I want for my room. And oh vey, the names on these colours, where do they come up with them? I think I really prefer the names they assign to our lovely silks and even the numbering of good ol' DMC. Yes there is even one called 'Dill Pickle' and as much as I love nothing better than a good crunchy dill pickle, I don't really think I want to paint my room that colour.

So far, I'm leaning towards Hancock Green and Van Alen Green, although the Italian Ice Green is nice, but a little light. I wonder if I should pull out some of my floss and get the paint people to computer colour match one of those?

I added a link on my sidebar to the Prairie Schooler Wreath SAL started up by Tanya, designer of The Sampler Girl. We're starting on July 23 and there's lots of room for whoever wants to join us!

PIF from Rachel

Look what the mailman brought:



Rachel sent this to me for her PIF gift! And it is spectacular!!! What a fantastic gift lovingly stitching with 'Amitie' in honour of friendship. Rachel, I am so thrilled with this beautiful little pillow and I was so delighted to open up the package and marvel at your amazing one-over stitching. Purple is one of my favourite colours, something that I don't indulge in very often, so that makes it something even more cherished. Thank you, dear friend!!!

I didn't get a chance to get a picture of this on the blog earlier....it was a busy weekend as we got Carrie and J-F moved on Saturday into their new apartment. Then Saturday night, hubby and I got down to business of organizing some of the empty space (gasp!) in our house. I have an empty bedroom that I am going to use for a sewing room. I haven't moved too much into there yet, although my desk and sewing machine have taken up residence, as I think I will repaint and I'm undecided over colours of green....there are just too many. I really lucked out early Saturday morning. We went to some garage sales before the moving truck arrived and I found a a white chest of drawers from Ikea for only $30. It will hold (or ahem, hide) a ton of my stitching goodies. Now I'm shopping on Craig's list for some white bookcases that I can use for storage in the closet. I thought this would be a little easier on my non existent budget than a closet organizer. And hubby is happily unpacking his computer(s) that he has sorely missed since he packed up his office for Kristy. He has taken over the basement finished rec room which will become his den/office/cave.

Here are some moving out pics. I forgot to take the camera to the new apartment which is really cute, its a 2-bedroom in a 5-plex building, built in the 1950's, so very roomy with large bright airy windows. Its only a 10-minute walk to the hospital where Carrie works. There are 2 entrances to the apartment, a main entrance and back fire escape, chicken Mum however decided she didn't like the fire escape however and will stick to the main entrance!


Carrie directing the moving men (her friends)


Hubby organizing as usual.


Nick sitting on the job...as usual.

I'm in love!

I'm in love......with my new Dazor lamp! And it was well worth the wait. I bought it from an Ebay shop and had it mailed to Kelly (always wanting to save those few $$) and she brought it home with her when she came back for her visit. Lucky I did, man it was a heavy box! Its the Dazor task table lamp with the magnifier and wow, is it sweet! Its perfect for stitching on the 40 ct fabrics, the light is great and the magnification is amazing. Best of it, it adjusts like magic to wherever I want it! I'm back in business!!

Of course I thought I would be ripping through the Houses of Hawk Run Hollow now......but I forgot how many stitches there are each and every one of these blocks! Each block in itself is a huge accomplishment. So I'm back to just enjoying the stitching itself and the somewhat strange colour combinations, especially since I'm using the DMC, and not the NPI silks. I have swapped a couple out when I thought they were a little too freaky for even my taste.

And I have a start on Glenna's Neighbour RR:


I left the top of Glenna's house peeking out from the bottom. There will be a fence, trees, grass and hopefully some room for some potted plants in my area still to come!

Thank you for the comments on Joanie's pincushion bag! I wish I could take credit for the pattern but no, it was a pattern that I used for it, that I had picked up at a local quilt shop. If anyone is interested in trying their hand at it, let me know and I can pass along the info.

I'm so excited that Kathy (Kathy's Sit and Stitch) asked me to join her and a couple of other bloggers in a Paradigm Lost SAL starting later this fall. So my startitis will have to wait until then. Meanwhile may be I can work on some of my WIP's or may be even a poor UFO or two....or may be I can start something small ;-D

My Birthday Exchange received

Joanie (Joanie's World) let me know that she received the birthday present I had sent to her for her birthday on June 24th. I was relieved to know she liked it. I made her a pincushion bag and a matching scissor fob (Prairie Schooler Birdsong I) and sent along a pair of scissors to go along with it. The pincushion bag is quite sweet and was fun to make. Its made in the style of a drawstring purse (like a bourse) and opens up to reveal a pincushion in the centre, with lots of pockets to hold all the stitching gadgets and goodies that we might need. I'll definitely have to make another one of these!



We had a wonderful....though chilly....5 days at the cottage over the Canada Day weekend. I haven't had a chance to catch up with any blog reading but I'll leave you with a couple of pictures!


Kelly and Chris at the campfire.


Nick and Sam.


Kristy and Miss Maisie.



And a final one of hubby and me!