Ouch!

Just a quick note...I haven't been blogging since I had emergency surgery last Friday night for an ovarian cyst. I haven't been able to sit at the computer so I haven't been able to read any of the wonderful blogs that I love to visit so much...and I already miss you all. Hopefully in the next few days, it will be easier to be at the computer and I can start catching up with everyone.

But I have been able to stitch and that's always a step in the right direction! Hopefully next time I blog, I'll have some stitching pictures to show!

Crocheting

I think my playing around recently with the knitted and crocheted blocks for the Cancer Quilts, has put the crochet bug into me! Look what I've been up to the last couple of days.
My niece is expecting a baby next month ~ her due date is February 29th ~ and I was at a lost as to what to make for her. I looked at so many baby samplers recently and nothing was appealing to me. So on a Saturday shopping trip with Carrie, she convinced me to make a baby blanket instead. I love the yarn, its called Baby Softee and its gorgeous and light feeling. I picked out the variegated colour first and then went with the blue and mauve. Although my strong feeling is that Sandra is having a boy...you can never until he/she arrives.

Its a dull day here and snowing quite a bit now. I guess winter has decided that its back again and no more comfy temp's for us. I don't mind the snow but its just so dark....
Of course fresh snow always makes the dogs a little frisky. I had a hard time getting Kelsey to stay still long enough to get a picture of her. I have about 8 blurry ones and only one where I was able to get a clear shot of her.

Four's ~ I've been Tagged and so have you!

4 Jobs I've had:

Page (working in the public library)
Purchasing Assistant
Medical Secretary
Transcriptionist

4 Movies I watch over and over:

The Trouble with Angels

Gone with the Wind

Wizard of Oz

Its a Wonderful Life

4 Places I have been:

Vancouver, B.C.
Quebec City
Cozumel, Mexico
East and West Berlin, Germany

4 Places I have lived:

Scarborough, Ontario
Stuttgart, Germany
Toronto, Ontario
Whitby, Ontario

4 TV Shows I watch:

CSI
Gray's Anatomy
24
House

4 People Who e-mail me regularly

Marg
Barb
Carrie
East-enders

4 Favourite foods:

Swiss Chalet chicken
Barbecue potato chips
Lindor chocolates
Chicken fajitas

4 Places I would rather be:

On vacation just about anywhere in~
The U.K.
Cancun
Hawaii
Our cottage

4 Things I'm looking forward to:

Our trip to Las Vegas next month
Stitching Get-together next Saturday
Finishing off some of my WIP's
Arrival of spring

People to tag:

Anyone who wants to join in!

Whew, if you read through all this, you deserve a skein of gold thread!

I is for Inn

I picked up my Carriage House Alphabet series the other night and started in on "Inn". I finished it up the next night and then outlined a couple more borders. I am really hoping to get one of these done a week and then I could see a finish....later this year LOL! I'm using a mixture of DMC and GAST for this design, GAST threads where I think the variegation will show up and DMC in the little bits, where its hardly worth threading a needle.

And on the weekend, I mostly hibernated after a flu bug hit me on Friday. But I got a lot accomplished on LHN's Home of a Needleworker once I started to feel better.

Thank you so much for your comments on the crocheted/knitted blocks from the Cancer Centre. I didn't work on any of the actual blocks, these are all done by the patients themselves with donated materials. My only effort was in putting them together. I had hoped to start on one of the knitted afghans last weekend, but I'm going to try the whipped stitch as suggested by Marg on one set, and the mattress stitch suggested by Glenna on another. Thanks so much for the suggestions and the cool web link too!

And for anyone in the Southern Ontario region, there is a new Cash for Cancer commercial airing on CTV which shows the Durham Regional Cancer Centre. If you happen to catch the commercial look for the therapist who you see full face in the segment ~ its my daughter Carrie! That 30 second spot took them 8 hours to film!

Knitting and knitting and some crocheting too!

Two to three months ago, the Cancer Centre where Carrie works started a program with donated yarns, needles and crochet hooks in their waiting room, asking for patients and their families to knit/crochet blocks as a way to pass their time while waiting for their appointments. And who would have thought there were so many knitters/crocheters out there? The knitted and crocheted blocks have started pouring in....and I offered my help in assembling them for lap size blankets.
The lap blankets are going to be donated to the Oncology Floor of the hospital and to Hearth Place, which is a local support centre for cancer patients.

Carrie brought me the first 80 or so blocks before Christmas and they have started to come in slow but sure ever since. So over the Christmas break, I got my first blanket put together. I used just the crocheted blocks in these since I could put them together easily with a crocheted stitch. I used 40 blocks, 8x5, to make a nice sized blanket and then did a double crochet around the edge to make it look more finished.
It looks pretty, doesn't it. I wish I knew how many people had their hands involved in the making of these!
And look what she brought me last night! Most of the blocks I have now are knitted, and there are enough for about 3 more blankets. Any ideas....thoughts.... about a fairly easy, nice looking way of putting these together? I had thought to use the same single crochet as I put together the first blanket, but my hook is not going to go through these very easily and I don't want to ruin the look of the blocks. I need to get going on these lovely blocks before they take over my sewing room!

Some more progress...and if you look really closely, you can see the outline of doors and windows in my little house. I didn't have much time to stitch over the past couple of days, as we still have more Christmas visits to get in with family, and friends, before one friends heads back to Edmonton for work for the next few months.

And more dull dreary weather, but with rain! Our weather has been so strange, we have hit a record high already today with temperatures that are going into the 10's C. With rain forecast for the next few days, they are predicting that all our snow will soon be gone. And this is January???

But I am happy dancing in spite of no finishes for me, because....the kids are back in school today! And they both got up without any prompting...I guess that warning last night did some good. But I wonder how long it will last.....

Home of a Needleworker

Here is my January 1st start - LHN's Home of a Needleworker. I switched out the DMC for GAST Cinnamon, not a lot of variegation but I love the colour. And not a bad start either!

I tried taking a picture first, and even though we are having a bright sunny day (YEAH) but cold -12 degrees C, my picture still came out dark and gloomy. Must be something on the settings that I haven't got quite right. Once I figure it out, I think I'll retake my WIP photos, they are awful and certainly aren't encouraging me to continue with them.

We went out for a wonderful New Year's Day brunch with Carrie and JF and some of their friends who were still recuperating from the celebrations of the night (and morning). But today its back to work and back to the drudgery for me, although the teenagers are still in bed of course. I don't expect to see them until past noon. Well they might as well enjoy their last few days of holiday.