Stitching Retreat

What a great day at Ann's annual stitching retreat! We left in the morning, anticipating getting there early and getting a good seat, only to find about 8-9 cars already there! But with Ann's new stitching room, there are lots of great seats and fantastic lighting provided by the sky lights. Lunch of course was amazing as always, as everything always brings such delicious food and its too tempting to try a little bit of everything. The dessert table was so enticing....with so much goodies and cakes, but with diabetes now, I resisted and only ate a small piece of carrot nut bread and fruit only.

It was so great to see and catch up with stitching friends that I hadn't seen for a couple of years and I was looking forwards to finally meeting my new blogging friends. Its so funny to meet people face to face that I feel I know already through their blogs!

I did get a few pictures, although not enough I realize now, as I must have taken them later in the afternoon and I have too many shadows from the skylights. Believe me, the lighting was much better in the room than what shows up in the pictures!


Here is Christin (Christin's Ramblings) and Beatrice (Stitching with a View) showing off their partially completed TW's Castles.



Just outside is a peek at Rebecca (Rebel in Ontario), and inside are Beth on the left and Kathy (Kathy's Sit and Stitch) sitting next to Ann's amazing Prairie Schooler quilt on the wall.



A not very clear picture of Kathy at the end of the table in the stitching room, with several of the ladies in Ann's Thursday afternoon stitching group.



Colleen and Marj mostly kept to the much quieter dining room with Carmen and Paula for most of the day. I didn't get a picture of several of the people who were there, including our lovely hostess, Ann (Knowledge and Needles), or Dani (Dani...Black Belt Stitching Wizard), who was always visiting at different areas of stitching groups, nor did I get a chance to meet everyone! There were over 20 people there - what an amazing group!

Of course I did pay a visit to Ann's shop, Knowledge and Needles, conveniently located next to the house, and with Anita's (ahem) encouragement only managed to fall off my stash diet a little. I did want to pick up some 25 ct fabric so I could try some over-one stitching with my super-fantastic new Dazor magnifier at hand, so I found two fat-quarters in cream and antique white. Ann had some of the new JBW patterns, these are just so sweet and too hard to resist these cute little patterns. I found a Prairie Schooler Christmas Ark pattern, that I thought I could adapt into a birth sampler, as I just found out I am about to become a great-auntie again. And 3 of us, Anita, Marg and I bought the last of Ann's Spring Fever biscornu kits. Not such a bad stash haul and actually it was only $2 over my stash budget that I had saved up, so no guilt on my part! I can climb back up on the wagon again....at least until my birthday :-D

PIF from Cindy

I got a very nice gift in the mail today ~ a very sweet biscornu from Cindy (Random Stitching Ramblings) as a PIF gift. Cindy was so sweet to note my love of purples and stitched this in a lovely variegated purple floss! I love it and it is taking a place of honour as my very first biscornu. She noted that it was the first one she had made and I was in awe of her amazing work. I have been too chicken to attempt such a thing myself! I only wish my photography skills were better!!

I have been enjoying my very quiet house, but I can admit that its actually a little too quiet for me? The first 2-3 days were great but now its eerie and even the dogs have become too quiet for me! I keep thinking I must remember this when the kids have me ready to pull my hair out and when they come home bringing in 3-4 friends a piece, expecting all to eat. Hubby and I were so bored with each other last night that when our brother-in-law dropped by with a friend, we almost jumped all over them.

So I will be very much looking forwards to Ann's (Knowledge and Needles) annual retreat this Saturday. She is expecting 30 stitchers to be there. I missed the last 2 retreats because of illness so I am very anxious to get to this one! There are going to be several other bloggers there so look for lots of pictures after this weekend!

Sadly to say though I am officially on a Stash Diet, so other than perhaps a little fabric, I don't expect to be bringing home any new stash...... :-(

PS Wreath SAL

Here are my first 2 blocks done for the 12 days of Christmas SAL. So I haven't fallen behind...yet! Click on the link on my sidebar and see what some of the other ladies are doing. Some are doing the new Cranberry Christmas pattern and others have decided to do entirely different PS patterns. What a great variety!

Hubby worked hard this weekend on my sewing room, it is all freshly painted, and then he installed my cutting table and some new cabinets he had made for me to store all of my quilting/stitching stash. I spent a good part of Sunday moving everything up 2 flights of stairs and sorting through, trying to organize things. Pictures will come, once things start to look a little more organized.

Then we were off to take Kristy and Nick to Zoo Camp at Jungle Cat World for a week at teen camp which means, yes, gasp, an entire week with the house to ourselves! We celebrated last night with dinner out at hubby's favourite restaurant, he certainly deserved it after his hard work on the weekend. And then he had to make another trip out to the zoo as Nick had forgotten an extra pair of shoes for caving which they are doing today. Caving, which also means water caving, not an experience for claustrophobic me but the kids are very excited about it. Kristy has done it before and loves it. I can't imagine Nick will be able to fit his 6'2" body in a lot of these enclosed tiny spaces but....I won't think about that.

I am also stitching on my square for the Fair and Square Exchange. My partner for Round #2 is Carol. I had so many choices when it came time to find a design for her, as she loves so many styles, and although my first thought was of course to stitch a house for her, as we are in a Neighbourhood RR together. I finally decided on something and got started on the weekend. Of course I won't be showing that here although may be a peek later on.

A Holiday Happy Dance

Houses of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings on 40 ct Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linens

I did a little happy dancing while on vacation - I finished off House 5 of Houses of Hawk Run Hollow! And I even got started on House 6, the dreaded black house, as this block is completely filled in. I had great intentions of getting a lot accomplished, but my Prairie Schooler turkey was just too much fun to play with last week and I couldn't put him down.

Where has this week gone? This is the first day I have been able to leave my windows open and the a/c hasn't come chugging on first thing in the morning. Ahh, some fresh air, that's what it feels like! I still haven't caught up on my blog reading, and I haven't completely unpacked or caught up on my laundry yet. Well that's what weekends are for! And for some stitching too I hope!!

Oh and I finally picked out a paint colour for my sewing room - its called Seaway Mist. And wouldn't you know after looking at dozens of colours a few weeks ago, this one was the first one I picked up from Home Depot! I would post a picture but hubby made off with my paint chip when he went off to buy the paint. I think he was afraid I would change my mind or something, hmmm, like I would ever do that?

Home again!

We're back from 2 weeks of glorious vacation! And that was 2 weeks of glorious weather at the cottage, what more could you ask for? It was very restful and absolutely what we needed ~ lots of time spent boating, visiting, soaking up the sun (even a little sunburn), enjoying our little beach, and yes, lots and lots of stitching!

And while there were LOTs of bills waiting for us at home, there were also the new charts from Prairie Schooler waiting for me too. I wish I could have gotten these before I went away!




I did start a new stitching project for my holidays....couldn't resist....its a Prairie Schooler chart, since I hadn't received the newest releases yet. This is from Book 93 called Harvest Time. I started with the last chart and I hope to do all 3 and make them into a new wallhanging, well one day anyways LOL, for my new sewing room...the colour of which is still undecided! But hubby is wanting to start painting so a decision will have to be made soon. I got more paint chip samples from Home Depot, hopefully I'll have better luck with Ralph Laurin!

Harvest Time by Prairie Schooler on 18 ct Oatmeal

I am looking forwards to visiting and catching up with everyone's blogs over the next few days!

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!

Fair and Square Exchange

My Fair and Square Exchange package arrived from Barbara, and all the way from Malaysia. Look at the wonderful square she stitched for me! Barbara noted my love of Prairie Schooler designs and alphabets and managed to combine both for me in this wonderful square!! I haven't decided yet how to finish these - into a pinkeep, needlebook, or save them up and make them into a small wallhanging. I have finished off my squares for Barbara and will have to get them into the post office so she gets them soon.

Sign-ups for Round #2 are still being accepted if anyone wants to take part. The squares are small - no bigger than 50x50 so not a huge amount of time to do and they do not need to be finished as that will be left up to the receiver. Here is the blog site: Fair and Square if anyone is interested if joining us! There are great pictures of some of the blocks received so far.

I'm still tossing around ideas for a new start and I have been going through my stash looking at what has been languishing ~ so far I have Celtic Banner or Paradigm Lost or an HAED pattern that I bought 2 years ago and got all ready to start on my summer holidays (I can't believe that was really 2 years ago already!). Or may be I should just start all 3 LOL!

Wednesday is finally here and that means Kelly and Chris are on their way here for a 10 day visit! Hubby has booked the next week off work and I have only Thursday and Friday to work and all of next week off! So we will be cottage-bound for 5 days over our Canada Day weekend. I'll won't be around much for the next week or so but I hope to have lots of pictures to show next week! Have a great week all!!

Where do you buy your wool?

From an alpaca farm of course! This is where Marg and I ventured out to on Saturday morning after we had visited the local weaver's studio where they were having an amazing wool sale. I resisted the idea of buying a loom, as much as the thought entices me of one day trying my hand at weaving. Although table top looms were also for sale, I couldn't resist coming away with a huge bag full of wool that was priced by the pound!

I bought some wonderful worsted weight wool for a comfy sweater for myself, a bag of 10 skeins of mohair, and a cone of merino wool, a lace weight, that will work for the Mystery Stole that we have signed up for. With almost 3000 members signed up on the Yahoo group, new members are still being accepted for the group if any knitters out there are interested. The first clues are due on this coming Friday. This is a mystery lace knitting project designed by Melanie of Pink Lemon Twist.

I bought all this for a whopping $20!



Poor Nancy had to work and didn't make it to our little outing. And look what she missed ~ Marg can't wear wool as she is too allergic, so she wanted to get alpaca for her mystery stole. So off we went to the nearby alpaca farm/store where we met the owner, Lori, and spent the next 2 hours visiting her shop and farm. What an adventure! She showed us her products from beginning to end and it was fascinating and we had a great time. And we met all her beautiful alpacas, including a 10 day old baby, as well as her wonderful Leonburger dogs which she also breeds. We will definitely have to get Nancy there the next time and who knows, she may just have to come home with an Alpaca.


Here is a picture of Margarette and Prince William after recent their hair cuts!


Kristy's move on Friday went great and between her case worker, her and me, we had all her clothes unpacked and hung in the closet and her dresser in no time. Monte was a little perturbed with the move and took to hiding under his towel once his aquarium tank was placed in. He's not nearly as big (or scary) as I had thought he was going to be. His food (mice) have been tucked away in the freezer and as long as I don't have to deal with that, we'll get along quite nicely I'm sure.

Thank you everyone for all your well wishes!!!

My Round Robin returns!

We had our final Guild meeting for the year on Wednesday night and it was the return of the Round Robins! We started exchanging these in September so in all there were 10 exchanges, once per month. The lay-out was Christmas trees, but always being one to be different, I didn't go with a traditional theme and chose Celtic knots, to follow in my Irish/Scottish heritage. And because I love the meaning of what Celtic knotwork represents, that of neverending life.

I sent along a variety of gold and green threads and fibres along with my fabric and stitched the top element of the tree. And look at the gorgeous tree that I got in return. Its breathtaking!!! Several of the ladies stitched over-1 for their sections and there was a lot of Petite Treasure braid used, I only wished all the sparkly showed up better in the picture. What a wonderful keepsake I have!

Today is official moving day for Kristy! This afternoon we have borrowed a friend's truck to move her boxes, bed and dresser. And our first official day as a foster home now that we have our official approval, signed, sealed and delivered. Tomorrow is a family get-together with my clan, poor girl, we throwing her right into the frying pan!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Finally... we had a Tour

Carrie started her new job as a Radiation Therapist at the Durham Cancer Centre in early May when the centre officially opened, but the public tour was only held this past Thursday and of course hubby and I were very anxious to attend! And wow - very snazzy place and very state of the art. It was definitely well worth the years and years of waiting that the people of this area have had to go through. They have only been open 5 weeks and are already expanding!


So far in the Radiation Centre, only 3 machines are available and Carrie is posing with here with one. It was pretty cool to see everything in person after having her describe everything to us. How impressive to have our own tour guide!

We had a wonderful weekend at the cottage - the weather is spoiling us!

Not too much to show on the stitching front, I worked on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow, House #5. I felt like I spent a lot of time on it, but not too much to show for it!



I'm working on getting my birthday present together for the Bloggers Birthday Club, I'm almost ready to get my parcel into the mail. And then I'm ready to start my first squares for the Fair and Square exchange for Barbara.

But I have to confess, I can feel a case of startitis coming on, especially since I have officially finished off my Prairie Schooler blocks. I have so many things waiting for me to start. I think I need to start making a list.....decisions, decisions!

Two Finishes

I'm behind getting updates posted on my blog. I actually worked on these this past weekend while at the cottage. Should I mention how wonderful it is to sit by the water's edge and stitch? Silly me, part of me was in the sun and I had a not so nice sunburn to show for it, but how nice it was to get some work done on my 40 ct fabric for a change. I stitched 'F is for Farm' on my Carriage House Samplings Alphabet.

Kelly and Chris are coming for a 10 day visit and are arriving June 27th. So to take advantage of the cheaper shipping costs, I ordered myself a Dazor task lamp with a magnifier and had it sent to Kelly's address. She has already received it - wow US postal service is amazing - 4 days - and she'll bring it with her when she comes since they are driving here. No more complaining from me about not being able to stitch on 40 ct fabrics. And I dare not, with all these Neighbourhood RR's arriving at my door on 36 and 40 ct linens!

And my piece de resistance ~ my finished Z is for Zinnias!

That makes 26......yes, you read correctly, 26 finished Prairie Schooler alphabet blocks! I started these in June 2004 and finished in June 2007! I hate to say it, but I'm actually kind of sad to be finished these.....but I still have to make them into a quilt. Its going to be one enormous quilt!

And yet another meeting yesterday with the Children's Aid. We are now a probationary foster care home and read over our 14 page long report and signed it off. Whew! Work is progressing on Kristy's bedroom. Rick and Jean-Francois have painted - 4 coats of white, to cover what once was blue, and have taped it off for pink stripes to go on next. Yes, she is definitely a pink girl! I'm not too sure how Monte (the snake) feels about stripes though.

PIF from Su

Look at the sweet surprise that graced my mailbox yesterday. Su (Contemplating My Needle and Thread) sent me a PIF ~ a lovely pinkeep, a design from Shepherd's Bush called My Garden. Its done on a very tiny count of fabric, she didn't specify, but it looks like a 36 or 40 ct. Her stitching is immaculate and her finishing of this tiny wee thing is just superb! What a treasure!!!

Thank you so much for this wonderful gift, Su! I love it and can't wait to put it in my basket of lovelies from my stitching friends!

Garden Exchange from Chris

I opened up my mail box to get a huge bulging package from Chris .

She was my partner for the Garden theme exchange for the SBEBB and she stitched Just Nan's Charm garden and made it into this lovely little pillow. For some reason the camera has decided to turn the linen pinkish, its really a lovely natural linen, and she used the cutest charms that look like garden tools.
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And look at the lovely goodies she included with the beautiful pillow she made! I neglected to include the beautiful box of note cards that were also included in her package. I felt thoroughly spoiled by her generosity!!!

We're off to the cottage this afternoon, once Nick is home from school, and provided I get through my work.

We have been given an official move-in date for Kristy - June 22! That's the last day of school for the kids and only 2 weeks away. Hubby has been packing up his 'office' in earnest now to clean up the bedroom that we will be giving to Kris. We have to take her out next week to pick out a paint colour. She will be bringing a bed and dresser from her old home and we have a computer and desk for her here. Everything else I guess we'll see what she needs once she has moved in.

Did I mention she has a snake? A 4 foot long python, named Monte. I didn't realize that fostering a snake was part of the deal?!?! Hmmm, as long as he stays in his cage and doesn't take to snacking on small dogs.

A quilt start

Thank you all for your Anniversary well wishes! All your comments were so wonderful and heartwarming to read. Thank you to each and every one of you to take the time to leave such lovely words for us!!!

Before I forget, here is a picture of the flowers hubby brought me for our anniversary. Beautiful aren't they! I only wish cut roses lasted longer, sadly they don't look as spectacular now a few short days later.

Hubby had a guys weekend at the cottage and I stayed home and decided to have a quilting weekend. It was hot, hot, hot on Saturday, much nicer to stay inside with the A/C going, although I did venture out with Carrie to go apartment hunting. She and J-F have decided they need a little more space and its time for them to move on to their own place.



I bought these fabrics at a local fabric shop 1-2 months ago during a 50% off sale. I couldn't resist, the fabric line was called Sunporch and they are so pretty and so soft. And with the sale price, they were $5/metre each. Its time for a quilt for the cottage, so I was busy Saturday and Sunday and got these made up:

So far this is only one type of block, there is one more style that will be interspersed with these ones. I got quite a few made up so far, kind of an assembly line process, with getting most of the cutting done in the beginning and them laying out all your pieces and zipping them through the machine.

This afternoon we have a meeting with Kristy's case worker and her current foster mother and the kinship worker. Don't these people ever get tired of meetings? I know I am......they should all be over with soon!

Its our Anniversary!

Here we are ~ 27 years ago today! Ohmigosh, we look like such babies. Of course I was, although I didn't think so at the time. Isn't it amazing how we think we know so much at the time and on looking back, realize we really don't know much at all. I really think life is much kinder to us in that way. Probably we would never leave the comfort of our Mum & Dad's at all if we knew what was waiting for us out there!

Thank you, dear blogging friends for visiting and reading my blog. And thank you even more for taking the time to leave a kind comment. You will never know how much your comments touch my heart and leave a smile on my face. The blogging world is full of such wonderful kind people, it has really opened up such a rewarding world for me, and even when I'm not posting, I'm eagerly looking for new posts to catch up on what is going on in your worlds.

I know I sound a little pensive, its looking through old photo albums that does that to me. I wanted to find just the right photo to put on my blog, and realized how much I was missing the people who are no longer here, and wanting the ones who are to know how much I love and cherish them....so bear with me!

Z is for Zinnias

I finished up my Hello Neighbour RR piece, I really didn't add too much more, so I didn't re-scan it. Its all ready to be mailed out to Carissa. And I also finished up my Garden themed exchange for the SBEBB which is ready to be mailed out too!

So for my weekend stitching, I started on my very last Prairie Schooler block, Z is for Zinnias:




This is on 28 ct evenweaver, I think its a 28 ct Ivory Lugana, I really needed something nice and easy on the eyes after working last week on the 40 ct linen.

I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself since Friday. I had blood work taken last week and then went in for my physical on Friday morning and it turns out my blood sugars are in the diabetic range. The doctor says this probably explains why I've been having so many funny troubles with my eyes recently. I ended up stitching my RR with my glasses off most of the time! So more blood work is in store - a 2 hour glucose tolerance test anyways. Meanwhile I'm trying to stick to hubby's diet - he is also a diabetic but with amazing willpower - and hopefully these blood sugars will come down enough that I won't need medications.

We are having weekly home assessments with Toronto Children's Aid for our fostering program. Two more interviews are scheduled for this week. How do you spell stressful? I will be so glad when its over! But things are looking good for us.

PIF from Vonna

Look what arrived in my mail yesterday afternoon! A fantastic Pay-it-forward gift from Vonna! She made a beautifullly beaded scissor fob from the loveliest sparkly beads and included these lovely scissors with them, and some very pretty variegated DMC threads, along with the postcard from Indiana.

WOW is all I can say. I'm sure everyone has seen the wonderful works of art Vonna (The Twisted Stitcher) has created on her blog and to be the receiver of one of her lovely pieces has made me feel very special! Vonna puts so much thought and kindness into all that she does, seeing one her packages come into the mail with my name on it, has made me feel like I have won the lottery! Thank you, Vonna, for this very special gift that you made for me! I shall cherish it!!

Some catching up

I was stitching up a frenzy over this Victoria Day Holiday weekend! After realizing I didn't have any suitable 40 ct fabric for my Hello Neighbour Round Robin, I had to scurry about trying to find a place that could ship some to me quickly and Drema from Needlecraft Corner came through for me. Wednesday my fabric came and I quickly started sectioning off my areas. I settled on blocks of 80x80 and after 2 nights of going cross-eyed, finally got all my threads to line up. Its amazing how many times I miscounted by just one fabric thread. So 4 days later, I'm well on my way to getting my block finished. And I realize a bird is just missing his head! I'm still undecided about where to put my initials/country.....

So we were off to the cottage for our first long weekend of the season. Its was wonderfully sunny all weekend, if a little on the chilly side, even though the kids braved the water and went swimming - well quick dips was more like it!



The forest is usually awash with our provincial flower - trilliums - and they were still a few left. Hubby managed to get a picture of this brilliant looking one.

My T-shirt girls!

While my 2 girls were not together on Mother's Day, when they were together last month, they took this picture to give to me for Mother's Day on Sunday. Note the cute T-shirts they were wearing.

Probably the last time they were seen in public wearing the same clothes was when they were 3 and 6 years old!

The Birthday Quilt

I finished the birthday quilt in time! And sewed the last few stitches of the binding in place that afternoon, in amongst the deadlines for work, phew, I hate cutting things that close. I didn't have time to cut all the loose threads from the back, but I don't think Kristy noticed. She was quite thrilled when she opened the quilt up and saw it, and the first thing she did was to wrap herself in it! So although I neglected to get a picture of the entire quilt, I did get this picture of Kristy, looking very warm and cozy with her new quilt.

Here is a picture of the birthday girl with Carrie and her ice cream cake.


And a picture of Kristy and Nick, in her new sweater, pink of course!

I hope everyone who celebrated Mother's Day yesterday had a wonderful day. I was wonderfully spoiled by my kids and Carrie cooked one of my favourite dinners for me, a Rachel Ray recipe, Greek-a-tiki chicken. yum-O! Hubby and I went shopping and we streeeeetched his income tax refund quite a bit and ordered a new living room sofa, brown leather, and two wing back chairs. The couch will actually arrive tomorrow, but the chairs not for several weeks, as we had to special order those. How's that for a Mother's Day gift?!?! I had actually hoped we would be able to repaint the living room first, but when they said they had a couch in stock, I wasn't about to say no.

And a Happy Dance - I finished up my latest Prairie Schooler block ~ Y is for Yarn: