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!