Sept 28/10

Well, what else to do on a wet and rainy morning besides pay bills and finish several little projects (submitting continuing education tests and fixing my bird feeder)? Oh yes! Update my blog. My needle has been going fast and furious in the evenings these past few weeks:

These first three ornaments are the almost finished versions of the bird stamp Dimension series that I purchased earlier this year. I am doing two at a time because I bought two of each, but have only taken a picture of one of each pair as an example of what I have been up to. The back stitching still needs to be done on all of them so they are far from complete although it is a nice feeling to at least have the main body completed.

 I am fascinated with cardinals these days after seeing a couple of them two years ago. They are making an appearance in our region of the country and I was lucky enough to have some of them in my yard. Birds are such amazing creatures and I am also very surprised that any survive in my yard because, yes, I am one of those cat owners who lets her cats out without bells. Before anyone yells at me, no one in my immediate neighbourhood has problems with mice so there are trade-offs. I used to put bells on my cats until the little beggars figured out how to adjust their collars on their necks so the bells did not ring.

 And who can resist Lizzie Kate? Not me! I have also been playing around with floss and fabric colours, using whatever I have on hand to stitch up these ornaments. I always keep the pattern photos close by while selecting the floss and stitching so that I remain true to the designer's original ideas in terms of colour and constantly refer back to the photos. These ornaments come from L*K's Tiny Tidings VII and XV.

 Last but certainly not least came this beautiful post card from my brother. At first I thought that it was a photo and then I looked at the caption on the back. This picture is titled "A Long Halt" and was painted by Silvia Pecota. You know that our soldiers have been there more than long enough when there are postcards of their missions.......



Sept 17/10

Stash picure for Christine (and others!). Here is what I managed to limit myself to last weekend when I was at the cross stitch shop, Because You Count, in Moncton. The fabric is even weave odds and ends. The rolls of linen were tempting, but my hands break out after handling linen any length of time.

And here is the result of using one of my new patterns and a piece of the odds and ends:

The threads were taken out of my trusty mystery thread box, of course. I have a couple of co-workers who are as cat-mad as I am so I am thinking about doing this one again, but maybe with a dark grey cat this time.

Well, off to workity work I go so that I can continue to feed both my stitching habit and my cats!

Sept 12/10

I realized as I was uploading pictures that I have yet to post a picture of Cooper, the most recent feline addition to my house. This picture is one that I took the other night while she was sleeping on the couch beside me as I stitched. It took her at least a month to feel comfortable here, the cool reception by the other 2 cats was part of the issue as was me going away for two weeks shortly after she joined us, but by the way that she is sleeping with a fully exposed belly, I would say that she is comfortable now!

And then there is darling Penelope who makes herself comfortable in the funniest of places:

Apparently, the kids in El Salvador need white cat hair on their school supplies. The hair must make learning easier or more fun or something! When she is not sleeping there, she hides out in the paper recycling basket which is where she just went to because I am not paying enough attention to her.

The 4 zucchini plants in my back yard are still being uber productive. So far this week, I have made a stirfry and spaghetti sauce with zucchini. Here are the muffins I made the other day:

 

Recipe:
3 cups grated zucchini unpeeled (I put mine in the blender)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup oil
Mix in large bowl and set aside.

Sift together:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Add dry ingredients to zucchini mix and blend. Then stir in 2 cups of whole wheat flour (I used all purpose because it was too late to run to the grocery store).
Drop into muffin tins and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

I should post some pictures of the ornaments I am working on and of the stash I bought yesterday. Since I had to drive to Moncton yesterday to get something from my brother's house to mail to him in Afghanistan, I figured that a stop at Because You Count was a just reward for driving 150km to find a SCUBA license. I came away with a couple of Lizzie Kate Christmas ornament patterns and three rolls of odds and ends fabric left over from the cutting table. Again, if I ever stop blogging, just assume that the pile of stash that I have toppled over and that I am buried underneath it! :-)

Sept 6/10

Another postcard from Afghanistan:

The funny part was that my brother was actually home on leave when it arrived! Both postcards have taken almost 30 days to get here which is not bad considering there is no regular mail bag service out of KAF (they throw a bag on the plane if there is room). On the back he laments the soccer fever that gripped the base during the World Cup, probably amplified somewhat for him as his roommate at the time was from Holland!

And a little produce from my garden. Tomatoes and zucchinis are in abundance in my little garden this year. I am thinking that pasta and some kind of tomato and zucchini dish are in order for supper tonight. The grocery store here in town has some awesome local corn that I have now had 2 nights in a row for supper. Fresh corn, lots of butter, good friends, what more can one ask for?

Sept 3/10

Yikes! Where did the summer go? Mind you, this heat wave we are in at the moment is making us feel like summer is hanging on even though we are on the cusp of the Labour Day Weekend. I need to make a final inspection of my yard this afternoon to make sure that everything is secured or put away as Hurricane Earl is still expected to be classified as a hurricane when he passes over this region tomorrow. When I was out last night putting away my lawn chairs, I stopped to look at my brook which is really more of a series of stagnant puddles at the moment. I have lived here for over 10 years and have never seen that brook stop moving. The forecast is for several inches of rain tomorrow and we need it! This region is usually so lush and it still is compared to truly dry areas like Adelaide, Australia, but we need rain!

Despite the heat, I have managed to get some stitching done, mostly because it requires so little movement on my part so it was something I could do without sweating up a storm. I have also been on eBay and bought some more patterns because I needed them. If you are a Teresa Wentzler fan like me, a pattern like Diamond in Squares is absolutely irresistible!

Well, I should get going! I have to stop in to the post office to mail off a parcel for a friend in Mongolia and go for a 90 minute deep tissue massage (a treat to myself for all of the extra hours I have been working recently!). Then, who knows what I will get up to!