July 23/08

More colour is bursting out all over my yard while few are appearing on any stitching projects I have on the go! I have been busy this week digging out my three compost bins (I am a bit obsessive) and spreading the soil on the lawn and in the flower beds. A garter snake had been making its home in one of the bins and I really do not know who was more frightened when it slithered out this evening, me or the snake!


This asiatic lily is the first one I planted and year after year, it produces impressive blooms.


With all the talk of hive collapse, my guess is that there is a very healthy hive somewhere around here because my flowers are all buzzing with bees and hummingbirds. A few years ago, I did a little reading about how to plant to attract bees and hummingbirds and I think that I have been wildly successful. I came across 2 hummingbirds this evening while I was out taking photos and the blooms are crawling and buzzing with bees. Besides, bee balm and company are so much more attractive than those ugly red hummingbird feeders I have seen at the hardware store and alot less maintenance!


This day lily has such a pretty colour and is a nice change from the yellows and pinks/reds of the rest of the flowers.


The rudbeckia, aka brown eyed susans, are making their appearance now. They are such a cheerful loking flower that make me smile when I come across them hidden between some of my shrubs at the edge of the lawn.


The purple coneflower is such an odd looking flower in my opinion. Perhaps because it is odd that I like it so much and have 4 or 5 purple and white ones planted in the front bed!

July 22/08

My stitching is coming along slowly! I just started the back stitching on the T. Wentzler bookmarks last night so they will probably not be in the mail on time. Instead of stitching, I have been busy enjoying the great weather we have been having by working out in the yard and hanging out with my friends. I even went for a 6km jog on Sunday! My stopwatch battery has died so I have no idea of my time, but I was thrilled that I completed my old loop and still felt like a human being afterwards!

My Habitat trip to Mongolia is on hold a bit until Habitat International finishes all of the restructuring that it is doing within its organizations. We have been told that no new trips will be accepted until at least September so I have been using the time to find out more information about Mongolia and to acquire some books about the country.

Without airing all of my family's dirty laundry, I would just like to say that life is too short and that family is all important. My mom used to say that at the end of days when the world is going crazy, your friends will be busy looking after themselves and their families and it is your family that will be the only people who are left to save your ass. (Ok, Mom might not have said the word "ass", but you get the idea) Please do not wait until it is too late to make any amends that need to be made if there is any chance that the situation could be salvaged. I know that this sounds kind of two faced coming from someone who does not speak to her own father and believe me, that is a demon I constantly wrestle with, but once the person is gone, it is too late.

July 14/08

I have been on vacation for the past week and did more reading than stitching, but here are a few pictures to share!

I stayed at a beautiful cottage in Marshville, NS, just outside of Tatamagouche. As you can see, the sunsets on the beach are fantastic.


And yet another sunset.


The tide was out, exposing the mudflats and the life therein.


As I was chatting over drinks and munchies about my next possible Habitat for Humanity trip which is looking like it will involve going to Mongolia with one of the guys I met in the Dominican Republic, I noticed this menu cover at Your Father's Moustache on Spring Garden Road in Halifax, NS (my favourite pub on my favourite street in my favourite city!!)!

When my brain slowed down each day from being crammed full of readings on colonialism, I would put a few stitches into these bookmarks designed by Teresa Wentzler. I have a deadline as they need to be in the mail shortly to friends who share the same birthday as me!

July 7/08

Recently, I noticed that my cat does this weird thing when she sleeps and she is usually dead asleep when she gets all twisted around like this. The only way I can wake her is by touching her because she does not hear her name as she is so deeply asleep. Last night while I was stitching, I finally remembered to have my camera by my side and this is what I captured. I am really not sure how this position can be comfortable, but Penelope does not seem to mind!

July 5/08

One of my favourite places in the world is St. Martins, New Brunswick. The village is small and unspoiled, the shore is gorgeous and the Fundy Trail is a great place to spend time hiking and exploring the Bay of Fundy coastline. Plus, one of the restaurants there makes the BEST fish and chips around. The lobster is pretty good there, too, and probably just off one of the boats that you can see in the harbour at the wharf.


This mushroom was growing alongside the Fundy Trail. I do not know much about mushrooms, but I thought that it was pretty interesting looking!


The gardens around my house are bursting into colour. Every day there seems to be a new bloom in every corner. I do not remember all of the names of the flowers in my yard; I just know that I like'em!

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 27/08

The display of colour is moving around the gardens to the Asiatics that are bursting into bloom. These vibrant orange blooms are the first to make their appearance, but a quick inspection in the other beds revealed that several others are about to do the same.


The stella d'oro lily is one of my all time favourites because the bright yellow blooms are so cheery and this lily blooms most of the summer. I just love this plant because it is so beautiful and long lasting.


The glazing and firing made my little dinosaur look awesome! I can not wait until August to give this to my nephew!

June 23/08

My mother and my Rotary club got me good tonight. It is not unusual for my mother to be at our meetings because she gets roped into alot of our club activities since she is related to me. I was a bit surprised to walk into the meeting to see her there when I was not expecting her to be there, but I fell for all of the lines the other members gave me! Later on during the meeting, one of the members stood up to give a presentation and I kind of zoned out because I was anxious to get over to the Little League ballfield to watch my friends' sons play baseball so you can imagine my surprise when I hear, "And I would like to present this Paul Harris Fellow to Virginia Stites for all that she does to make the world a better place." What a great recognition from my club! I certainly am not involved to get awards and am usually quite embarrassed when singled out for any project that I am involved in, but I am pleased as punch to be recognized by people who I am inspired and supported by in so many ways.

June 22/08

My stitching has been slowed up a bit by some tendonitis in my right arm and my social life! I was at a wedding last night and today I was poking around Saint John with J & C as we did breakfast and then shopped at Michaels and a furniture auction place. My siberian irises are the latest blooms making their appearance in my gardens. What a lovely show they are putting on!


While I was snapping photos of the irises, my dear Penelope stopped to smell my toes. She has been a lively addition to my household this spring!

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 18/08

Another ceramic masterpiece by moi! My nephew LOVES, loves, LOVES dinosaurs so I could not resist this "piggy" bank when I went to paint ceramics tonight. If I do say so myself, it is kind of adorable. C.'s birthday is in August and I think that it will be a great gift!

June 16/08

Instead of stitching, I have been busy working around my yard and enjoying the flora and fauna. The bees are having a great time in the honeysuckle bush out back. The hum of their buzzing is almost alarming because there are so many in the bush! The hummingbirds are making several appearances as are the sparrows and a blue jay stopped by the other evening.

My purple irises are best described as profuse! They are so beautiful and welcoming when I drive down the street towards my house!


The lilies are adding a splash of yellow not too far from the irises!


Now, these lupins I can not take any credit for, but they grow like mad in the empty lot beside my house. They add a lot of colour to the neighbourhood!

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.

June 6/08

I have managed to get a few stitches into the baby blanket this week, but there has been little time between working 12 out of 14 days and socializing with A. while she is home! I have received a lovely parcel from an Ebay seller of Lavender and Lace patterns that will probably not ever get completed until my next lifetime or the one after that! My purchasing of patterns far exceeds my life expectancy.

June 3/08

No stitchy pictures today. I have been having too much fun with one of my friends who is home from college in the US. She is only home for a week or so until she heads off to Princeton for the summer for a very prestigious program. I am very proud of my girl Aicha!!! Not only is she beautiful and funny, but she is smart, too!

There has been a little bit of drama in these parts. Some jerk stole my VISA number recently and now I have no VISA card until the new one arrives. I am really annoyed, but I guess that I am lucky in that this is the first time in 16 years that I have had something like this happen. Crooked and dishonest people suck.

On a good note, it is beautiful and sunny here today and I am heading out the door to enjoy the morning before I have to go to work.

May 30/08

No stitching pictures today-----just a little musing. Last night, some friends and I were flipping through my blog and one of them asked me how I knew Barbara because she faithfully posts comments on my entries. That question got me to thinking about comments or lack thereof on my blog because I regularly check my stats and can see how many people check into my blog every day. Saint John, Rothesay and Hampton show up quite regularly on the stats counter and my curiousity gets the better of me! Who is checking out my blog? Leave a comment or message me! I like to know these things!

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 22/08

Chelssie commented in an email the other day that she is making all of her Christmas presents this year so that reminded me that I should stitch another ornament or two. This one is called "Emblem of Friendship" by Cherished Stitches and is found in the 2006 JCS Christmas Ornaments edition. I am working on a second design that I found in the same magazine and hopefully it will be completed tomorrow! Stitching smalls is a nice break from the big projects and gives me that instant gratification that I crave!

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 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!