May 12/08

The Habitat for Humanity trip to the Dominican Republic was fantastic beyond any expectations that I had before leaving. This photo kind of sums it up for me at the moment. One afternoon we went to a primary school in San Francisco de Marcoso, the city where we were working, and did a colouring exercise with the children so that they could learn the names of colours in English. This little girl was in the classroom where I went to help the kids. She was really quiet at first, but soon she was holding my hand and showing me off to all of her friends on the playground!



The team (see photo!), the workers on site and everyone that I met along the way were fantastic! The Dominicans have such a joie de vivre that it is both infectious and deafening (imagine being in a cab at midnight with the stereo volume on 50!). Like the Salvadorans before them, I have fallen in love with yet another Hispanic culture.

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.

April 30/08

Wow! It does not seem that long ago that I was checking out Habitat for Humanity teams going to the Caribbean and Central America because I am leaving in 3 days for the Dominican Republic for a week of building houses and fellowship. The suitcase is packed full of school supplies that friends of mine have donated for the children there. There are scribblers, rulers, calculators, math sets, pencils, markers, sandals, hair accessories, erasers, glue and so on packed in that bag. If this experience is even half of the experience I had in El Salvador in 2006, it will be amazing.

While travelling to distant shores is my way to see and help the world, I encourage everyone to take a look around them to see what they can do. There are so many problems to tackle in this world and so many solutions if we could all just try to do a little bit every day. Imagine the possibilities......

Apr 25/08

I went back to the ceramic painting place yesterday and painted a second goblet. Now that I have a better handle on how the paints work and what the colours turn out like, I felt alot more confident and creative as I played around with this one!

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!

Apr 10/08

The finished product! I think it turned out not half bad for a first try!

On a health note, I am still coughing up the dregs from the nether regions of my lungs, but things are getting better......finally!

Apr 4/08

Not much stitching going on these past few days because my life has revolved around medicating myself. I came down with a fever over a week ago and that has eventually developed into a sinus infection and a lung infection. The doctor did not say I have pneumonia, but the lung infection is on the lower right side of my back. I actually thought that I had a muscle pull from coughing so much, but she said that what I was feeling is the infection because the site of the "muscle pull" is where my breath sounds were decreased yesterday. I had to bail on a Rotary club fundraiser last night because I could not stand up any longer and I hated leaving because it is our biggest fundraiser of the year, but the other club members insisted that they could get by without me.

So, here I sit in my pyjamas for the 4th day in the past week or so and feel like crap. The antibiotics are starting to take effect, but I sound like I smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day and my cheeks have a rosy, feverish hue........I am not a very patient patient!!

April 2/08

This little beauty is the Victorian Lace Snowflake by Karen Kluba. The design is in the JCS 2007 Christmas Ornaments issue. I played around with the materials as usual, using up mystery cloth, using the Mill Hill beads I had on hand (03003)and variegated metallic DMC floss instead of the materials called for in the pattern.

Working on the ornaments is a nice little break from the two mega projects that I am working away at. I am making Christmas stockings for my immediate family and 2 baby quilts for some recent additions to the extended family. Those items take a big chunk of time so it is fun to complete a quick and easy project in between.

Mar 29/08

I finished the stitching part on this ornament last night. It is "Easter Bonnet Duck Ornament" from the April 2008 "The Cross Stitcher". I stitched it on a mystery cloth from my grab bag and with mystery threads from my mystery threads box. Yet another small attempt to use up this stash that is spilling over the shelves!

Mar 27/08

Tried out another artistic endeavour tonight at
Seramik tonight with my friend Val. I was a little intimidated when I walked in because two of my uni. classmates were there and they are artists so I was a bit worried about my attempts at painting! Once we got over being overwhelmed by the selection of colours, we had a blast painting and gossiping away! I can not wait to see what the fired version of the piece will look like and I can not wait to go back to try that again!

Mar. 23/08

I saw this group quilts for breast cancer on Cheryl's blog (Bezza Chezza) and just had to join since my community just lost a wonderful woman to breast cancer. This woman's spirit and courage in facing this disease and her openness to everyone about her struggles were truly inspiring. I deal with cancer patients every day and often times feel helpless when all I can do is hand over their prescriptions and give them a hug of encouragement. When I get a moment later on today, I will go through my "wee" pile of patterns to find something to make for this group.

March 21/08

The Wreath of All Seasons is done! Mind you, it was not completed in time to be framed and raffled off at Curl for Cancer, but it has been completed and I can pass on the pattern to someone else who is looking forward to stitching this!

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate Easter. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

Mar 12/08

This photo is kind of stitching related in that alot of her hair has been stitched into projects over the years! One of her favourite sleeping spots, besides in the sun, is beside me on the couch when I am doing my cross stitch!

Mar 11/08

Here is the last panel, the blue heart, and the silk fabric that I picked up from Fabricville. The colours of the silk fabric is not coming through very well in this photo, but it is going to look pretty cool with the hearts. There were several other silks and brocades that really caught my eye when I was shopping for fabric this afternoon, but they were either too busy or not really appropriate for the friend I have decided to make this for. For anyone in Canada, Fabricville is having some awesome sales at the moment for non-club members, too! I bought 3 metres of silk for $24.99---buy 1m, get 2m free!

A quick stop at the mailbox on the way home revealed the first of 2 baby quilts that I had ordered from Mary Maxim to do up for my 2 newest second cousins, Gracie and Madison! My fingers will have to be flying for the next while!

Mar 9/08

I found this blog today while reading Anne's Featherstitching blog and thought that it is a great site: Stitch Pink. Cancer has touched so many lives around me so I think that it is important for everyone to be aware of the disease and to do what they can to prevent it.



ETA I fixed the link! Sorry for the inconvenience!

Mar. 7/08

Here is the yellow version of the Alphabet Heart. Between yucky weather (wind, snow,rain, freezing rain, etc.) and March Break, I have had some extra time on my hands to stitch. I started the last panel in blue last night!

Mar. 2/08

Here is the green version of the Alphabet Heart! I have really been enjoying picking out the colours and using up alot of my thread stash as well as planning how to finish the whole thing as a wall hanging. The yellow version for friendship is well underway now!

The wreath has been lingering untouched while I work at the heart project, but I did put a few back stitches into it last night as well. We were being hit by a good sized snow storm last night so it was the perfect night to hang out in my jammies and stitch because the roads were too terrible to think about going any where!

Feb 22/08

Here is the purple version of the Alphabet Heart. I am about to pick through my threads to decide on the green version before I collapse into bed tonight. Having to work this weekend will put a dent in my time and energy, but I hope to get some stitching done!

One of my little daily joys is to check my map stats. It never ceases to amaze me that my little blog gets hits from all around the world. My favourite surprise was Ankara, Turkey because it just seems to exotic to me, but all the others are cool, too. I would be thrilled if you all would post a comment even if it is just to say "Hi!" so that I can check out your blogs as well! Happy stitching wherever you may be!

Feb 16/08

This is my January ornie. I had been holding off on posting about it because I needed to find the time to look for something to attach to the centre of the design like the snowflake that the designer used. There was nothing suitable in my bag of tricks so I have decided that this ornament is done, at least stitching wise. This design is the bargello star ornament designed by DebBee's Designs for the JCS 2007 Christmas Ornaments. I fudged some of the colours because I did not have any Weeks floss or the Kreinik braid that was called for. You can compare my version with hers since hers is on the cover of the magazine!

Feb 15/08

Some stitching has been occurring around this place. This pattern is one that C. sent me from her blog. I am thinking of doing the pattern in several other colours like yellow, purple,and green to represent the different emotions and turning it into a wall hanging.

Other than that, I have adopted a new kitty this week so things have been furry around here as the other two cats get used to an interloper! Please say hello to Miss Penelope who has come out of hiding and is busy exploring the rest of the house.

Feb 2/08

Not much to really report on the stitching front although I am almost done an ornament for the ornament blog! There are just not enough hours in the day between sleeping, eating, working, trying to get into shape, trying to maintain a social life and taking a course at the university. How do people with kids get anything done?!


My Curl for Cancer team was the top fundraising team for the second year in a row and we have the medals to prove it! I also won alot of stuff in the silent auction like a car safety kit, custom framing and a night at the Delta Brunswick! The Delta is close to some bars that my friends and I like so I figured that some weekend we might need to crash our drunken butts there!


My Curl for Cancer team was called the Peace Rocks. The cranes were my inspiration because they are a symbol of peace and hope and I love the story of Sadako Sasaki and the 1 000 cranes. The story is so moving and beautiful about her battle with leukemia that was caused by the atom bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. Plus, I took a wee chance to celebrate something of my heritage while doing a sport I love with people I love to hang out with!

Jan 20/08

A few stitches have been done around this place, but mostly I have been increasing my stash through donations from other people who are decluttering their craft supplies. One friend gave me several large pieces of Aida cloth that she no longer uses because her interest in cross stitch has waned in favour of other crafts. The photo today is of the bag of patterns that one of my co-workers gave me because she no longer cross stitches and she was cleaning out her stuff. Not all of the patterns appeal to me, but there are lots to look through!

Jan. 7/08

I am quite excited about this little bargain that I found on Chapters Indigo online. Yup, that price sticker is very much correct, plus I got a percentage off for being an irewards member and it was free shipping for orders over $39. Not much accomplished on the stitching side of things because a few viruses and the Christmas holidays have kept me away from my stitching. Right now, I am procrastinating from my grad school application because I am stumped as to how to properly promote myself in my letter of intention. Arghh!!!!


This is what the snow looked like on my deck yesterday before the weather warmed up and melted alot of it down. I call my table the "snow mushroom" in this photo! We have received alot of snow this winter so far------4 storms in 7 days makes me very weary from shovelling the driveway.

December 29/07

No stitching pictures to show because I have been too busy working, hanging out with family and going out with friends. One of my fantastic customers saw this card while out shopping one day and bought it for me. You know, if I had a loonie ($1 for you non-Canucks) for every time I have heard this, I would be comfortably retired to an island in the Caribbean with the biggest stitching stash in the world!

I hope that everyone is enjoying the holidays and I wish you all the best in 2008.

Dec. 19/07

I was away to Toronto last weekend for my aunt's 60th birthday party. The surprise party was held at the Japanese Cultural Centre which was a real treat for me because I know very little about my Japanese side. My uncle took this photo of me there in front of the sign that represents my generation in Canada. I am not sure why it is important to know one's generation, but I know that it is important.

Dec. 11/07

Life has been slowly getting back to normal. My mom is recovering from her surgery with no apparent after effects from the post-surgical complications! Thank heavens for small and big mercies! My papers are all handed in and my one and only exam is written so now I can concentrate on relaxing and hanging out when I am not working. Apparently, Christmas is only a few days away, but I have already had my Christmas miracle so everything else is not important to me this year like cards and gifts and decorating.

I did finish a couple of ornaments to give to family when I go to Toronto this weekend for a visit. The snowmen are sitting on the backing fabric that I bought to finish them. It is awesome to spend my evenings again in front of the TV with my stitching and my cat curled up asleep beside me.

Nov. 27/07

Well, a little bit of stitching did get done on the wreath as I sat at my mom's bedside in the hospital (she came home last night) and as I relaxed and regrouped. Now that I am almost feeling human again, the stitching will have to sit to one side as I scramble to get two papers done for next Monday. They were due this Wednesday and Thursday, but my prof very kindly gave me an extension because of my mom's hospital adventure. Speaking of which, I need to get cracking some more on those papers....

Nov 22/07

Well, very little stitching has been done here of late. My mom had a hysterectomy last week and ended up back in hospital with complications. Her kids have been at her bedside all day, every day as we wait for her to get better. We have counted 12 different doctors at her bedside this week and a lot of amazing nursing staff who have definitely earned their pay looking after her various ailments (and there have been many!). Mom has been an amazing patient to the point where she has been apologizing to the nursing staff because she is making so much work for them because she is so weak at the moment. Oh! It has been a week!

Nov. 15/07

Well, this post is kind of about stitching, but not really. I was being a little philosophical and teary-eyed tonight as I put a few stitches into my wreath piece. Truth be told, I had a little meltdown last weekend. Exhaustion and some life stuff just got the best of me and this past weekend was one of the darkest few days I have had in a long time because I can usually see it coming and prevent myself from falling so far. There are those of you who check this blog who know what a bastard depression is for me and how that demon can engulf me for no apparent reason. As I was stitching tonight, I was thinking about how grateful I am for my family and friends who are always there for me and how they love me unconditionally even if they do not understand how I feel and why I feel that way. I was also thinking about an old friend who I hear from sporadically and he hears from me sporadically, but somehow he knew to pop back onto the scene just when I needed him most. Then, there is the new friend who sent me a lovely message today about how I cheer him up after one of our university classes each week by telling him that everything is going to be okay. Last but not least, there is my family who drag me along behind them or pull me out of my emotional cave when they need to. Mom once said that at the end of days when the world is going to hell, the ones who will stand with you and protect you are your family.

Stitching a piece is kind of like life. There are the first stitches that you put into a piece to get it going. You work away at different bits and then all of the sudden the bits start to take form. Sometimes, you put away the project and neglect it in favour of something else and other times, you are totally dedicated. There are some beautiful, amazing finishes and there are other pieces that rot away at the bottom of the project pile because the mistakes are too unbearable to face. Some threads are blended and others are shiny and specialized and some are just your every day average threads.

I am so thankful for the love of my family and friends, old and new, IRL and online. Thank you.

Nov. 4/07

A few more stitches have gone into my wreath, but nothing worth photographing so instead I am sharing my new-to-me Teresa Wentzler patterns that I have recently bought off Ebay. I am not a big fan of all the dragon stuff, but I love her other designs. I wonder if Betty Ford has a program for cross stitch patterns addictions.

Oct. 29/07

My fingers have started to grow keyboard keys at the ends because I spend so much time typing up stuff for my classes! My head is swirling with tidbits about Southeast Asia, prostitution and pharmacy stuff. It is no wonder that I am looking more dazed and confused than ever!
As you can see, I have managed to put a few stitches into the wreath. Stitching is such a wonderful way to wind down at the end of the day and allow my mind to relax so that the chips fall where they may.

Oct 18/07

Last night during my class on global issues, we were discussing the UN Millennium Development Goals which has set that whole train of thought off again for me. The Millennium Goals can be found here. The discussion in class circled around the idea about how many countries will probably not be able to reach these goals because it would mean that they would have to develop their social programs at a rate that has never occurred before historically in many of those countries. Earlier this year, I had asked myself what I can do as an individual to ensure that these goals are met. I still can not fully answer that question, but I am reminded that I had pledged to do something as often as possible to further those goals. Even little actions would be of consequence, in my opinion. So, I would challenge everyone who takes a peak at this blog to take a peak at the MDGs and to take a moment to think about the things that they can do. Some suggestions that I have are to write your government representatives to ask them what your government is doing to ensure the success of this program, donating or volunteering to charities that have women, children or health as one of their cornerstones, become more energy efficient, read about other countries to become more familiar with a place you currently know nothing about, and so on!

So, that stitching thing. Yeah, I do not have much progress to share although most days I do manage to get a stitch or two into the wreath project I am stitching for a Curl for Cancer fundraiser.

If anyone is in the Hampton area this weekend, there is a chili and chowder fundraiser at the Legion on Main Street from 4-7 pm on Saturday. The proceeds are going towards the trip I am planning to El Salvador so that my Rotary club can sponsor a house in El Salvador through Habit for Humanity. Many thanks to the Lions Club for working with us and putting this event on!

Oct 13/07

So, when I was all bright and shiny and walking across the big stage to get my diploma, they did not tell us that there would be days where I would just shake my head and lock the door behind me when I leave the pharmacy. In the past 2 shifts, I have talked to 2 Mounties doing drug investigations (love the uniform, the conversation could be more fun), a man who lost his wife a year ago after 50 or so years of marriage and hearing him say that he feels he has no reason to live, a man who wants to take female hormones so that he can have breasts and dealt with 4 or 5 other conversations where the health issues were of a delicate and serious matter and I did what I could to sort them out. Somehow, what to cook for supper has lost its importance tonight, but it was nice after one conversation when one lady said that she was really hoping that I was working today so that she could ask me the questions she needed answers to.

Oh! I am listening to the national news as I type this and the protest in Saint John against turning UNBSJ into a polytechnic has made the national news. Way to go!

Stitching has been low on the priority list, mostly because I can barely keep my eyes open by the time I get everything else done and think about doing some stitchin!

Oct 9/07

To maintain my sanity, I have been putting a few stitches into the wreath every night as I decompress in front of the television before falling into bed. It is slowly coming to life!



Here is a photo, and a cute one at that, of the two critters who share my house with me. Actually, it is more that they rule the place and I pay the mortgage, but let's not get into that!!! LOL!

Well, back to the grind. I am working on two research papers, one on prostitution and AIDS and the other on Laos. My eyes are getting buggy from staring at computer screens and trying to figure out the whole on-line research system that the university uses.

Oct. 1/07

So, I was faced with a piece of paper tonight that had 3 questions on it. They were (more or less):
1. What do Marxism and Social Darwinism have in common?
2. Describe the left and right spectra of the political system in terms of globalization.
3. Make a case for Universalism or Cultural Relativism and use examples from your own life.

I will never again complain that science exams were hard because at least with multiple choice questions, the correct answer was somewhere in front of me and I just had to reason it out. These friggin' essay papers where a blank page mocks me as I try to assemble something that sounds like a remotely coherent answer to questions like those are HARD! Two hours later, the hand gripping the pen and my brain were numb after scratching out answers that I hope will pass muster.

It did not help that anxiety kept my mind whirling all last night so sleep was elusive. Then, I put in an 8 hour shift at the pharmacy with one 20 minute break to shove my lunch into my face because things were busy all day before rushing in to the university to write the exam. I dreaded hearing the doctor's line ring because they all wanted to ask me questions today about odd stuff since the local docs are all mistaken and fooled into believing that I know lots of neat pharmacy things (actually, I am tickled pink that they all love to call to pick my brain)and I really had to struggle to think.

Well, maybe a hot shower and some stitching will the perfect end to a hectic day.

Sept 30/07

I have managed to put a few stitches into the wreath as a way of resetting my brain after reading all kinds of articles on topics like Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma/Myanmar), prostitution and fair trade. University is such an interesting place to be for me because of all the interesting topics and interesting people that I have been meeting. The fun part of being the older student in the class is that I have no fear of speaking up during discussions and I have no fear of chatting up everyone because I am not trying to find my way in life or fit into any cliques. One student told me that she has never felt very comfortable about speaking up in class until this year now that her classes are more of the seminar style instead of the lecture style. I never spoke much in class either the first time around so I can totally relate. Now, after speaking in front of 600 people at the Rotary District Conference when I was in Australia, I have no fear of talking away like a magpie in front of a group!

Of course, stitching is never far from my mind despite all of the work and school stuff that gets shoved into my head everyday! I just received a pattern the other day from ink circles called Kaleidoscope. If you like geometric patterns with interesting colour variations, check out the site! I read about the designer in the recent edition of Just Cross Stitch and immediately went to check out the website because the pictures in the article drew me in. It will be ages before I get to actually stitch it because I have several stockings to do and then a few other patterns that I want to stitch as well, but the pattern collector in me just had to have it! Plus, I recently took several non-cross stitch books off of my pattern shelf because they were crafts that I will never get to and I figure that the Rotary Book sale in October (October 12 and 13 at the Hampton Seniors Resource Centre for anyone in this neck of the woods!)would be a better place for them so I have more room on the shelf for more cross stitch patterns!

Well, I must get back to studying for my exam on globalization tomorrow night.

Sept 25/07

The 2-3 hours each evening that I used to spend in front of the TV with cross stitch hoop in hand have been curtailed severely. Last night, I had had ENOUGH of topics on globalization (I have an exam on the 1st) so I said, "Screw it!" and stitched to my heart's content! Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff I am reading and writing, but I just need a few more hours in the day to nourish my soul by stitching and exercising.

Speaking of exercising, thank heavens that I gave up pop and chips at the same time as my exercise routine took a nose dive or I would be growing exponentially. My strategy is that I have to donate $5 to charity for every bag of chips or serving of pop that I ingest. For someone who had one of each every day at work, this is a major step. To help me through, I drink lots of water at work and make sure that I take lots of fruit to munch on instead of reaching for the chips. I am admittedly a scale-a-holic and step on it numerous times a day which is not healthy, but I can only break one habit at a time, okay?! The scale is telling me though that this cut back in empty calories is nudging my weight down despite little or no walking or running as a concerted exercise effort. Who knew? Well, yeah, I did know, but it was so much easier to grab a bag of chips than it was to remember to buy enough fruit to last until my next trip to the grocery store and to pack enough in my lunch bag each day.

Well, back to the academic grind!

Sept 16/07

I am avoiding reading an account of colonialization in South East Asia so I am here at the computer attending to some very important things!!LOL!!

Actually, I do have a stitching anecdote that I forgot to share the other day. I mentioned that I was at the closest cross stitch shop to me with a friend who is looking for some hobbies. As part of explaining my fascination/addiction, I mentioned that I follow blogs about stitching. Her jaw literally dropped as she asked me if I was joking. She was absolutely blown away by this whole subculture that she had never even heard of before. She was amazed that there was a whole shop devoted to cross stitch and that people would blog about their stitching. I will have to show her my craft supply collection as proof of my addiction because she could just not picture having shelves full of all the stuff that she saw at the store the other day.

Okay, fun time is over. Back to reading about the British, the Dutch and the French and their colonization of SEA.

Sept 15/07

Here is an update on the wreath! I was at Because you Count the other day with a friend who had expressed an interest about cross stitch. While we were looking around, I told her about this piece and one of the shop owners came running over. Apparently, just that morning, someone had been talking with her about trying to find this particular pattern. The lady's phone number is beside me here on the desk to remind me to call her sometime soon.

My stitching progress will probably slow to a crawl after this weekend as I go back to work and get slogging away at my school work. Eating and sleeping may be optional as well!

If anybody in the general vicinity of Moncton is interested, there is an event going on at Because You Count (164 Collishaw) on September 25th between 11:30am and 2pm. Sue Hillis of Sue Hillis Designs will be there. Plus, the shop is having a 16% off everything except floss during the week of Sept. 24-29th. Just thought you might like to know!

Sept 10/07

Here is an update on the wreath project. I am on holidays this week so I have been spending 3-4 hours an evening on this to get as much done as possible before school starts drowning me in paper.

So far, my holidays have been lovely and relaxing and I plan to spend the rest of the week in the same mode. Feesh and kids came down from Moncton on Saturday and we attended the first annual Roots Festival in Bloomfield. We sat out in a hayfield by the bridges and listened to local entertainers while eating the most awesome home made ice cream sandwiches. Then, they came over here for pizza out on the deck. Sunday started with babysitting my nephew while Thor ran the Hampton 5-miler. We had a blast cheering on Daddy and all of the other runners. The rest of the day was spent at the library, then on my bed reading the stuff I photocopied at the library before napping and going to watch Jove play softball.

Today, I am going to do yard work as soon as I quit playing around with the Internet and go to 2 Rotary meetings this evening. My bedding is going through the wash while I type this. I am in puttering mode which is one of my most productive modes because I start out with a vague purpose and do what ever catches my attention about needing to get done. At the end of the day, I invariably sit back in awe at everything I have completed while puttering.

Sept 6/07

Here is my August ornie which I actually completed in September! It is called "Christmas Tree 2007" by Jeannette Douglas and is in the October 2007 JCS. I stitched it on a mystery cloth that I pulled out of my stash. The cloth felt kind of interesting, perhaps it has wool in it??


This is a Dimensions kit called "Wreath of All Seasons" that I am stitching for a fundraiser for my Curl for Cancer team. Now that classes have started, I am not sure if it will be completed in time, but I am stitching for dear life at the moment to get as much done as possible ASAP before I get buried in readings and papers.

Sept 5/07

No stitching pictures today, mostly because I am too lazy to photograph the ornie that I stitched from the latest JCS. Instead, I am going to crow about the comments I received from my professor who read my papers for his globalization class. Keep in mind that I was extremely nervous about writing papers because I was not an arts major at Dal so I only ever wrote one paper during my 4 years there although I can do a nice job on a lab report! Plus, I could choose my own topics and that took me forever to decide because what the hell do I know about globalization and what kind of stuff this prof likes. The first paper on biofuel production and the increase in food costs took me over a week to write because I struggled with trying to actually write the darn thing in the first place. A friend who is working towards her PhD reviewed it for me and gave the thumbs up so I went on to write about the global clothing market. The second paper was much less painful to write. The bibliographies were a lesson or two learned as well so a little prayer was said before I emailed the essays to the prof last Friday.

His response came back on Sunday and I cried triumphant tears as I read that he thought I had done an excellent job!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!! I feel so much more confident as I head to the university tomorrow to start my class in the Politics of Prostitution. My other classes this term are the Politics of Asia and Global Issues. My class selection is a bit schizophrenic, but it was more about trying to fit the classes around my work schedule than trying to build a strong CV for my Masters application. My advisor is teaching two of those classes. She recommended that I worry more about writing good papers for the courses than the actual course content because the goal is to show St Mary's that I am so brilliant that they would be fools to not accept me into the IDS program.

There is so much to this university thing that I have had to re-learn like where to get a parking pass (I did not need one the last go round at uni.), how to get a student card, what to take to class to take notes, where to find my classes, figuring out the university web site (ahem, we did not have the internet back in my Dal gal days) and so on. So, tomorrow, I will be the old girl in the back of the class trying to figger all of this out! Wish me luck!

August 28/07

I finished the puzzle biscornu last night. The freebie came form this site which took me a while to figure out because I do not read German at all, but the biscornu patterns motivated me to figure out how to get the patterns!!

This one is stitched again with mystery threads on a 28 count Monaco (I think, I chucked the tag out!). I did one side in green and the other side in blue to give a little contrast. I have done a couple of other variations that still need to have the final finish, but this was my favourite variation.

Aug 19/07

Another small finish. I think that I am addicted to smalls at the moment because I do not have to wait six months to see the finished result and I see definite shrinkage of the stash! This one is "Renaissance Bookmark" by Teresa Wentzler. The design was a freebie from her site. I do forget what I stitched it on, but I think that it is a 28 count lugana. ETA: I have just realized that this picture does absolutely nothing to show how beautiful the design truly is so I will have to try again to get a better photo.

Some sad news. I just heard on Friday that my LNS has closed. Admittedly, I have not been there in a while since the motherlode of a stash that I have has had everything I have needed for any of my recent projects. Now, the closest NS is over 100km away in Moncton.

This weekend has been rather busy, kicking off with a wedding shower on Thursday, moving books on Friday night for the Rotary club, a birthday party and a wedding reception on Saturday and I am off to my mom's here in a minute for a lunch with my sister and her boyfriend who are here from Halifax. Then, I need to mow the lawn and research a topic for my course on globalization for the second essay of the course. Thank heavens that Monday is a vacation day for me because I sure need it!

My heart sank this morning as I was waking up to the newscast. Another Canadian soldier has died in Afghanistan. Knowing that my brother is on-call on the notification team at CFB Gagetown this week made the news even more sad although fortunately (poor choice of words in the circumstances, for sure), the soldier was based at CFB Valcartier so my brother does not have to tell a family that their loved one has died. War sucks.

Aug 15/07

Here is the ornie I stitched for the July ornie SAL. He is called "Stuffed Snowman" from Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cross Stitch 1996. He is stitched on mystery fabric with mystery threads from my mystery thread box and his arms are twigs from the yard instead of wire as in the pattern. His scarf is braided from the mystery threads because I have little or no cotton cloth in my craft room.

Aug 10/07

No stitching pictures, but I was playing around with my new camera yesterday and took some pictures as proof of my stitching addiction! May I introduce you to my stash (the shelves on the right contain my recycling centre):

and my pattern collection:

The thread drawers really make my stash look way worse than it is! Several years ago, my boss helped out a friend who was closing a craft store and sold off her inventory in our store. One day, I was in the stockroom and saw all of the DMC floss that was sitting out there so I offered to buy it up! I have long lost the total, but I got the floss for about 20 cents a skein and should have enough to do me for at least 10 or 15 years of stitching!

I am currently working on a freebie bookmark that I found on Teresa Wentzler's site. My stitching has been slowed a bit by a mega migraine that hit me on Saturday and lingered for 4 days as a nagging soreness on the side of my head. Stress and allergies are so not my friend!

Life has an interesting way of coming full circle sometimes. Last night, I had a couple over for dinner. Shawn is the brother of Matt Kidner who was here in 2001 as a Rotary Youth Exchange student. I visited with their family in Australia in 2004 when I was there on the Rotary Group Study Exchange. Shawn and his girlfriend Steph are here in Canada this year on a working holiday visa and are in this region for a month or two. It was so cool to be sitting out on my deck last night and talking about all of the people and places that we have in common.

July 30/07

May I introduce the first of the stockings that I am cross stitching for my family? My intention had been to do my mom's first, but there was a huge delay in getting the fabric because the order was lost in the mail from the supplier, but my LNS has yet to call me 4 months later to let me know if it has come in so I ordered it from eBay. The result is that my stocking is now stitched instead.

EDITED TO ADD: The stocking is a Dimensions kit called "Holiday Harmony".

July 26/07

Hold onto your hats, folks! I finally have some stitching pictures to post! These are my first biscornus and while I am proud of them, please do not look too closely at how badly I negotiated the corners when stitching them together!

The one on the left is one that I designed with my cross stitch pattern maker one night and the other is Protection from Lady Periphaeria (see the blog for Peri on the right). As part of playing around with my design, I stitched it using pink (DMC 223) on one side and a brown from my mystery threads container. I stitched Peri's with another thread from my mystery collection called Coron #222. The beads are Mill Hill.


I have made some headway in my christmas stocking. The backstitching is almost done and then it is on to stitching my name before attempting to assemble it.

July 23/07

Here is a photo of my brother and his son with his university diploma. When I was about to take the photo, his son pointed to the diploma and asked, "What's that?". I replied, "One of the two things in the world your daddy is most proud of."


Me and my nephew, or The Helmetheads as my mom called us that afternoon!


The most use my exercise mat has seen in a while!

July 19/07

The biopsy procedure went well yesterday and now we just have to wait for the results to come back in the next two weeks. Both of the doctors involved are on holidays over the next two weeks so we have no choice, but to be patient. The patient is in a little bit of discomfort, but I knew that things would be fine when the second thing she said to me was, "Can we stop at Tim Hortons on the way home?". Canuck, through and through.

The daughter(me), on the other hand, is exhausted. I went into work at 3pm instead of my usual 1pm for an evening shift because I just could NOT get it together and get out the door. The stress of the past week or so caught up with me and floored me. I still do not feel great, but hopefully another good night's rest will help because I begin my weekend shift tomorrow! Work sucks and will continue to suck hard for a while yet. The new pharmacist is supposedly starting at the end of July, but she is unavailable for most of the month of August so guess who might get one day of vacation during the month of August to squeeze something that might look like a long weekend. I have not taken any vacation time since last November and have only been away from work for more than 2 days once in that time period because the schedule has rotated in such a way that my weekends to work have fallen on 3 of the 4 Canadian summer long weekends. Something is going to break sooner or later and I suspect that my sanity will the thing to break. Stress is not my friend and my anxiety and upset about all of the recent bad news that keeps making itself known to me has me feeling really fragile. Oh well, the more I dwell on it, the worse it gets so maybe I should just go to bed.

Tomorrow, I am going to pick up my brother's engineering diploma that I had framed for him as a graduation gift. I am very excited about it because he has worked so hard to get this degree and I am very, very, very, very proud of him!! I am also dropping off two boxes of materials left over from my renovations to the ReStore which is on Rothesay Ave in Saint John for anyone reading this who has materials that they no longer need. The store will be opening as soon as they have an adequate inventory.

July 14/07

I am in a slightly better head space today. Funny what a good dose of sunshine and a good night's sleep will do. As soon as I turn off the computer, I am going outside to work on staining my decks and weeding my flower beds. My shed also needs a little attention as everything is just haphazardly thrown in there and there are some things in there that can go to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. For instance, there is a bag of nails leftover from when the shed is built and several bits of lumber that I will never use, but maybe someone else can use them.

I put some stitches last night into the biscornu that I designed so hopefully within the next week I will have finished pictures of the biscornu that Peri designed and the one that I attempted.

The website that holds my UNB course on globalization is down this morning so I could not get any reading done there despite my best intentions. My original goal had been to finish it in July, but here we are mid-month and I am nowhere near being done. The thought of writing papers has been somewhat paralyzing to me, but the thought of the $500+ tuition that I paid for the course keeps me slogging away at it.

July 13/07

So, this week has kind of sucked. On Tuesday, my boss finally told my co-workers that he has prostate cancer. Four of us were told a month and a half ago, but we were not to tell anyone else until he had several tests to determine exactly what he was facing. On Wednesday, my mom called me at work to ask me what I had been diagnosed with last year when the lymph nodes on the right side of my neck swelled last May. She had just come from an appointment with a surgeon about the swollen lymph node in her armpit and he used the phrase "It looks like a lymphoma" when he examined her. She is having it removed on Wednesday morning at 8am so I hope that everyone reading this sends out a little hope and love on behalf of my mom. This all on top of the death of the wife of my town's mayor. She was a friend and the mother of a guy I grew up with. She will be greatly missed.

Needless to say, not much stitching or course work has been done this week because I can barely get home from work and eat before taking a nap just to stay awake until bedtime. Stress is so not my friend.

July 5/07

The rain today put a little dent into my plan to stain my deck and stoop today. The sinus headache that went migraine-like also put a dent into my plans today. The only reason why I crawled out of the house at 9am was because I had to meet up with a fellow Rotarian so that I could get a plaque that needs to be engraved. I am sure that I looked so graceful and beautiful when I had to pull over to throw up on the side of the road. Needless to say, it was back to bed for me until the meds could kick in and the sinuses could unblock. I began my day for the second time at noon.

Not much stitching in the past few days because I have been busy reading through my online course notes for a course on globalization. Today's reading included the transcript from a speech that US President Wilson gave in 1918 where he outlined his Fourteen Points to create international stability. He concentrated mostly on problem spots in Europe, but it struck me as ironic because his 14 points are still very valid today if we just substitute Middle Eastern countries for the European ones he used. Plus ca change, plus ca reste le meme.

Things I am up to this week: Strawberry Festival at the Bloomfield Hall (good food + old friends and neighbours = good times), getting my brother's engineering degree framed for his graduation gift, helping out at a Habitat for Humanity site on Saturday(my friends' house is being torn down and HfH is salvaging whatever they can sell in their ReStore) and having some co-workers over for a BBQ on Sunday.

July 2/07

Life has been busy with work and family so not much stitching although I am working on my first biscornu called Protection from Periphaeria Designs. Stitching over one thread has been a challenge and is slowing me down because I am having to adjust where I place my needle and how far to swing my hand as I stitch. The end result will be cool, I am sure!

My El Salvador trip has been confirmed for March 1-9, 2008 and I have a trip code which has not yet been posted on the Habitat site to accept donations. Now, I just have to finish building the team!

Yesterday was Canada Day here in Canada so I went to watch the town fireworks last night with my family. My nephew managed to stay awake until the end, but I would bet that he is rather bear-like this morning! He loved the little Army helmet that I bought for him at the Citadel in Quebec City because now he looks "just like Daddy!".