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!