Sept 11/08

The baby quilt has been completed and is now waiting for a turn in the washing machine before being mailed off! School has started so I am uncertain about talking any large projects for the next few months because of a lack of time. My focus may be more on smalls to give away as Christmas gifts.


The remnants of Hurricane Hanna hit this region on Saturday night. My normally docile creek was a raging mass of brown water when I went out on Sunday to see what damage had been done in the neighbourhood. The brook had risen at least 5 feet in less than 12 hours because of all the rain. I did not have any flooding problems, but some of my neighbours had extensive water damage.


This little guy was hanging out on the side of the road on Saturday when I went out to my property in the country to get more wood to burn in my firepit. He sat there for a very long time so I just had to take his picture!

Sept 6/08

Well, I would have had a photo of the finished baby quilt if the kit had had enough floss to finish it! I had even had to use one skein that I had in my stash and that was still not enough so now I will have to wait until Tuesday when I go into the city to buy one more skein to finish it up! Grrrrr! The thing that really irritates me is that I am not a wasteful stitcher so the kit must have been very short on the colour for me to have to go through 2 skeins of DMC to finish it up. The poor cow on the bottom left only has 1 finished leg at the moment.

Aug. 19/08

Last night I realized that I had not taken any photos of this cute little quilt to post on my blog. This quilt was started about 2 weeks ago and is stitching up very quickly. At first, I was unsure what I thought of it because it strikes me as being a little trendy and I was wondering what I would think of it in 20 or 30 years, assuming that the receiver keeps it forever as a keepsake. The more I stitch on it, the more it kind of grows on me. The colours are really cute and the little animals become more adorable as they appear on the hoop.

I was working on this quilt last night while watching Simon Whitfield battle his way to Olympic silver in men's triathlon at the Beijing Olympics. GO Simon!

Aug 8/08

Yay! Another finish laundered and ready to head to the mail. This is going to one of my cousins who has almost completed her year long maternity leave. Nothing like squeaking under the wire! I am now well into the next quilt!

June 29/08

Here is my June ornament: "Winter Love" by Sam Sarah Design Studio from JCS 2007 Christmas Ornaments. Both hats are now green in this one because I chose to stitch it on black Monaco instead of the oatmeal colour suggested in the magazine. The black hat on the right hand snowman would have been lost on this fabric. The one thing that I dislike about stitching on black fabric besides having some difficulty seeing the holes is how the cat hair is glaringly evident despite my best efforts to keep it at bay.


Here's an update on the baby quilt. Another square and a bit have been completely stitched......

June 21/08

The cross stitch portion of the quilt is now complete. If you squint at the top left hand corner, you can see that I have finished the backstitching and satin stitches on the toucan. I was so engrossed in this square last night that I misread the clock in the livingroom. My brain thought that it was 12:30am which is late enough, but not too late for a night owl like me even if I have to work at 9am. The shocked expression on my face must have been priceless when I wandered out to the kitchen to see 1:30am on the microwave. Today was a two-pot-of-coffee day at work just to keep me functional!

I have just come home from a lovely wedding out in the country, complete with a reception held in an old barn overlooking the Belleisle Bay. Weddings are not my thing, but this one was beautiful on so many levels and the love in the room was overwhelming. Best of luck to Christine and Derick!

June 10/08

A few more stitches have gone into the quilt. I was quite surprised to look at it last night to realize that I only have a few almost finished squares and one square to fully stitch before I start the back stitching. There is a moment when the piece has been worked on forever, but suddenly comes together and begins to look like the picture on the pattern. That moment for me was last night as I was reviewing the piece before putting it away.

A friend of mine who is involved in various community building activities recently came to speak at my Rotary Club. Cory has been to Uganda for a project called Stitch Uganda Together where he raised money for sewing machines so that people can develop a method for generating income. I was reminded of his visit to our club today when I heard that one of the club members has asked him to speak at the local nursing home about his project. The funny part about this friendship is that Cory and I met very randomly one night in the middle of the dance floor at a local club where we were both listening and dancing to an awesome band and then we kept running into each other. The more I talk with him, the more I am fascinated by the stuff he does (art therapy with school children, the Uganda thing, the Action Hero Network).

My recent life lessons: do not walk on the train track and if you think something looks dangerous, it probably is. I had to dive off the tracks the other day as I was exploring my country property and ten minutes later I fell backwards about a metre or more from a log that was spanning a small gully and landed flat on my back. I am very fortunate in that I did not knock myself out or break my back on a rock because no one knew I was out in the woods. Oh yeah, add "tell someone where you are going when going into the woods" to that life lesson list. Apparently, all those years in Girl Guides have taught me nothing. :-S

June 7/08

I made a little progress last night on it. I know that I am getting old when I am spending my Friday nights cross stitching and admitting to it!!! Oh well, at least I am not hungover.

Before I sat down to stitch, I did some more Ebay browsing (but no bidding!). Teresa Wentzler is one of my favourite designers and I have quite a collection of her patterns so I flipped through my pattern shelf to make sure that I was not "watching" patterns on Ebay that I already have. Browsing that shelf kind of scared me because I have so many patterns now that I have forgotten what is on that shelf! Despite that, I may just have to bid on two of the TW pattern lots that were on offer on Ebay because I do not have "Day" and "Night" or the "Four Seasons Fairies".

Today is a somewhat, kind of, maybe lazy day for me after working 8 days in a row to cover for a co-workers vacation and I am participating in the Relay for Life. For those unfamiliar with the idea, it is a 12 hour fundraising relay for cancer research. One of my co-workers asked me yesterday why it was held overnight and I actually had the answer! It is done that way to show solidarity with those currently facing cancer during the darkest hours emotionally and physically during the day. As a hazard of the job, I have seen cancer take down too many amazing people and I am humbled by their courage and the courage of their families every time as they face this disease. For me, cancer is a different disease than heart disease or diabetes or any other disease because something is growing in the body and robbing the body of life.

So, I am going to head out to the woods for a little while and then go help out with the clean up for the Rotary club sponsored Survivors' Dinner before participating in the Relay. Each and every one of us can do so much if we all do something.

May 25/08

I made some progress on the baby quilt last night. After working all day and then having my sister over so she could use my computer, I decided that it was a good Saturday night to watch movies and stitch. I hope to have the quilt done soon so that I can get onto the second quilt that needs to be stitched!


I decided to stitch up this ornie the other day because I had enough left over fabric after stitching the other ornie. This design is "Snowflake Heart " from Wild Heart Designs in JCS 2006 Christmas ornaments. Once again, mystery cloth and mystery threads. To give it a "snowy" effect, I used 2 different colours to give the piece a bit of depth like a true snowflake.

May 17/08

Here is a wee update on the baby quilt. I have been pretty busy these past few weeks in between being away in the Dominican and then getting back to work, visiting with a cousin who was in town, getting a new bed (there is heaven on Earth!! LOL!), etc.....I have managed to spend a little time stitching these past few nights so here is a stitching update before people start to think that this blog is no longer about stitching! And of course, Penelope had to see what I was doing and she walked over the quilt just as I snapped the photo.

May 2/08

In between all of the other madness, I have managed to put a few more stitches into this baby quilt. The project is now on hold until I come home from the Dominican Republic in a week's time.

The final shot of my suitcase full of school supplies for the Dominican Republic just before it was zipped shut. Thanks to my very generous family and friends for supporting me in this idea. I hope that in our small way we are helping some more children in their education. There are many children in our own communities here in the Global North who could also use school supplies because their parents can not afford them for one reason or another. Donations to the schools or the local foodbanks would be greatly appreciated, I am sure. I had a heartwarming experience this morning when I learned that the leftover food from the Rotary fundraiser last night went to a single mom and three kids who had contacted the Hampton Food Bank in desperate need. I am glad that I sought out Jean Hartlen who was attending our event and who does alot of benevolent work in our community. I will never now who they are, but I can sleep well tonight knowing that some kids who would be otherwise hungry got a good feed of roast beef and veggies and a lovely treat of cheesecake today.

Apr 16/08

Two of my cousins have had babies recently and I have been slow in my cousinly duties in doing up quilts for these latest editions to the Ono dynasty! This picture shows the start I have made on the first quilt. I am not saying which baby this one is for in case my cousins read this blog!