Mar 31/10

Making headway on the HAED Iris again:

I find that I can only work on it for so long and then I have to do a quick and fun project like an ornament or two or five! I may start on the kit I bought in Newfoundland for my next HAED break. My ex's mother gave me some good advice yesterday when she said that never let a man hold you back from anything. She and I have been friends for a long time and even though things did not work out with her son, the friendship remains.

A gratuitous cat pciture:

What a great way to spend the afternoon!

Mar 27/10

A different kind of craft project----destruction by a pissed off ex-girlfriend. These socks were accidently left in my suitcase after the night at the spa hotel and this is how they look now.

Man! That felt good to stuff that mess into an envelope!

Mar 23/10

To follow up on the little comment I slipped in about things not working out between me and the guy from Newfoundland, I am going to indulge in a little blogging therapy. I was head over heels with this guy and had a fantastic trip to Newfoundland a few weeks ago. There was no indication when I talked to him the last time on the phone that there was anything on his mind about the status of our relationship. Now keep in mind that this guy does not like to talk on the phone or send text messages so you can imagine my surprise on Friday when there was a text message on my phone from him. You can imagine my shock when I read that he thought that things were not going to work out between us because of the distance. There was the usual "you are a great girl" and "sorry", blah blah blah. He then turned off his phone and disappeared to his aunt and uncle's place down around the bay. I could have called their house to talk with him, but I chose to leave a message on his cell phone saying that I was in shock and could he please call me when he got the message. So, the sum of the weekend has been lots of tears and a wicked migraine on my part and no phone call from him nor did he answer his phone on Sunday when he returned to St John's. I stopped trying to reach him when a couple of my wise friends told me that I may never get the explanation that I want and deserve so let it go. No point in torturing myself. This is the way he wants to handle things so this is the way he is going to handle things.

I can actually laugh about it now. Imagine! I, *me* the girl who could not get a date in high school to save her life, was dumped by text message. Another story for the memory bank and to kvetch about over coffee with my girlfriends!

Mar 21/10

It has been a while since I have blogged! Between work and my trip to Newfoundland, I just have not had the time to update things.

I found this kit in the NONIA shop on Water Street in St John's. The jellybean houses of St John's are a delightful splash of colour that captivated me so I was pretty excited to find this kit by chance as I was about to leave the shop. I am not sure when I will stitch it because the guy I visited in Newfoundland ended things between us the other day and it was painful to even look at the package today to photograph it. Maybe when time has allowed a few wounds to heal......

These four photos are of "Snow Wishes" by Cathy Coombes of The Victoria Sampler-Designs by Cathy Jean found in the 2009 JCS Ornament edition. I used 28 count Monaco and played around with the colours from my mystery thread box. I mimicked the design colours in the first photo and then played around with the combinations on the other three just to see what would turn out. I used beads on the snowflake for the first design and then switched to just using DMC Light Effects E3747 because I like how the blue tint mimics the colour of snow.

March 2/10

So, over the past few weeks I have been glued to my television watching the Olympics on the 4 different channels that were available to me. Apparently I was not alone as I heard yesterday that 26 million Canadians watched the men's hockey gold medal game on Sunday night! All of that tv time of course meant stitching time and I got a good start on my ornaments for Christmas 2010.

"Peace" by Blackbird Designs was stitched on mystery 14 count Aida with threads from my mystery box. Both designs can be found in JCS 2009 Ornament edition.

Although this photo does not show it well, "Peace" by Homespun Elegance was stitched on a remnant of that 14 count Aida. This ornament was stitched at the Hampton Curling Club during the men's gold medal curling game on Saturday night between Canada and Norway. One of the club members who was there watching the game reminded me of sashiko, a form of Japanese stitching that I remember seeing my grandmother do when I was a child. Unfortunately, my grandmother died when I was 15 years old so she did not get to teach me much about sashiko although I do have a piece that she stitched as a table runner. My mom brought me some sashiko kits from Japan when she was there in 2008 so I should dig those out and try my hand at it.

Three more sleeps before I head to Newfoundland! It is going to be a whirlwind visit, but I am looking forward to meeting Michael's extended  family and to seeing a Canadian province that I have never been to before. Michael told me last night that he is not 100% sure how to get to Signal Hill, the one place I really want to see, even though he grew up in the St Johns region so I told him to let me ask for directions because I can get away with more having a mainlander accent!