TUSAL and IHSW

A wee bit late for my TUSAL and IHSW post but that's how it goes.  Loads of orts this month from all the frogging and stitching I was doing.  I thought I'd try something different to display my orts. 

On Sunday night, I stayed up to 2 am to try and squeeze in as much stitching on Jane as I could since I was robbed of Saturday!

I really want to finish up the motifs then move onto the 1 over 1....so close to finishing her!!!!!!

I've decided that I should start a fall ornie and set aside my Maisonette des Fraises for now.  I had a minimal start on it and now that summer is at an end, I need to look ahead to fall.  Of course dearest Titus got involved in the photo shoot.  It's really hard to move him out of the photo.  I tried to move him away but he kept coming back onto my floss toss! 

This Thursday I am off to Prince George and will be fishing with my family for a few days.  Really looking forward to being on a boat and fishing!!! I'll take some photos of my fish!

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last two posts!!

Hugs from me and Titus!

Part 2: 34 Degrees, A Summer Finish and IHSW

What to do on a super hot Friday? Stitch and take cold showers!!! That's about all I can do at the moment.  I may take off to a mall or the library to get some respite from our apartment but that means walking in this heat! I'm looking out our window and I spy some juicy blackberries...perhaps I will pick some! Gotta love those blackberries!

Last night, I stitched my little hot heart away and finished up Summer Quaker.  I did a lot of it while camping but just couldn't quite finish it in time.  I'm now mulling over how to finish it because there are 3 other seasons to stitch and I should probably do something that I can repeat easily.  Well, I'll let it come to me as it usually does over time.  I really need to get cracking on stitching Fall pieces. It seems that I'm always a month or two behind!! For now, feast your eyes on the lovely berry and rose colours of Summer Quaker.  

Now onto some lovely stash and gifts I have recently received.  Before we left for our trip, I received my amazing win from the most generous lady, Nancy from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. I chose a selection of threads including Nan's Red which I have been wanting for awhile. Wow does she include a lot of thread! I definitely will be purchasing from her in the future! I also selected some trims and have been dying to feel the chenille trim and cluny lace.  I can't wait to make some cute Christmas ornies and use those trims!

Oh! Who's that sniffing my trims?!??!!! 

I also ordered some threads and fabric from Needlecraft Corner for my pattern The Magic Garden Sampler.  Funny thing is I didn't see the other column of threads so I actually ordered only half the threads.  Sigh.  I'll have to order more another time! I really love the customer service from Needlecraft and how fast my orders arrive from the States.  Stash fast is a good thing!

Titus the Stashoholic

There's my big fluffy boy!!!! He's a stashaholic can't you tell?!!!

Bear with me, I've got a little more to show! So just this morning the sweetest little package arrived from Portugal, from the sweet and very creative Nia!! She sent me the cutest little giraffe thread winder with my favourite DMC thread wrapped around his neck like a warm scarf! I've named him Georgie the Giraffe and he's just too cute! THANK YOU NIA you made me smile and my day!!!

Georgie the Giraffe and cute postie from Nia

Last note!! It's IHSW weekend and I have all of Saturday booked...insert frown here.  I'll be working on either Jane or Knotgarden or both as much as I can squeeze in.  Here's a look at Jane.  I managed to stitch a bit on her last night in the cool night air.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend stitching!!

I almost forgot something! GASP! Thank you to my new followers for joining my blog and a big thank you to all for looking at my camping pictures.  If you haven't seen them yet, you can take a look at the post below :D

HUGS from me and Titus!!

Part 1: Camping and Cycling

I'm back from camping at Porpoise Bay!! A bit exhausted and annoyed that I can't cool off with a swim in the bay.  It's hot here and in our apartment it's about 4 degrees hotter than outside.  Yuck.  The thing with vacations is that you always want to go back as soon as you come home.  Granted, I do enjoy sleeping on a bed instead of a blow up mattress and snuggling with Titus, who by the way hasn't left our side since we came home, but I do miss being outdoors and not having any cares in the world.  Here are some highlights of our trip:

1. Meeting an amazing couple from the Yukon, the man was a teacher like me

2. Swimming in the clear water of the bay

3. Walking to the estuary and watching the kingfishers and enjoying the quiet

4. Seeing the meteor showers, the milky way and the gazillion stars in the night sky

5. The quiet by the estuary

6. Did I mention the quiet? Oh yes I did...three times....see I like quiet and listening to nothing but the birds!

7. Reading a good thriller at night with my headlamp

8. Stitching, although I didn't do as much as I'd like

9. Surviving the crazy lightning and thunderstorm on our second night there.

10. Being with my husband

11. Thinking we won the Caramilk Golden Key Contest of $250,000.  Yes, we thought we had the key (it was an image on the wrapper). Then I read the rules and saw that there was a 1 in 10 chance of winning.  My hubby said we could take the buyout of getting a lifetime supply of caramilk bars so we started doing the math.  Upon closer inspection of the wrapper and the rules, yes it took us a few times, I realized that it was an actual key that we needed, not what we thought was the key.  After the let down, we laughed for a long time about how we actually thought we won money.  You know what's funnier? My first words when we thought we won was "let's pack up and go cash in our prize!" Too funny!!!!!

Things that I didn't like on our trip...and yes there were a few moments!

1. After the torrential rain for 7 hours, a lot of our stuff was damp and took forever to dry...my pjs had a funky smell to them

2. The 150 mountain bike people that invaded our campground on our anniversary

3. They had a truck to carry their stuff!! So jealous!

4. They had a band AND a catering company to provide them with food....the pulled pork looked so good

5. Walking towards a secluded beach and stepping on barnacles that tore up my feet.  Luckily some fellow campers had hydrogen peroxide with them so I could clean my wounds

6. Not being alone with my husband on our anniversary :(

7. The big massive hill that went on for miles on our way back! But I'm glad we conquered it!! So it should be a highlight instead!!

Next year we will go somewhere more secluded and less busy.  It is time for a change anyways since this was our third time there.  

Enjoy the photos and if you like you can look at the web album too.  Oh and my sister's camera is mine now.  I bought it from her.  Unfortunately, I forgot to pack the charger so half of our trip is on my cell phone camera.  Anyways, here's the link:

Porpoise Bay Trip 2012

playing around with my camera settings

The nasty barnacles

Favourite photo of the Salmon Habitat that I'm going to print and frame 

The estuary, my favourite place to muse and be at peace

Looks like a miniature forest

Hubby's Kite!

I hope you enjoyed the photos.  I really had fun trying out all the different functions!!

Thank you all for your lovely comments and well wishes on my trip. I have a lot of catching up to do and hope to do so soon.  I will do another post after this to do with stitching and IHSW.  

Hugs! I'll be back later with those stitching photos!!

Bike Trip and a Blog Break

Hello my lovelies!!

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post and welcome to my new followers! The heat is on here in the lower mainland as we depart for the Sunshine Coast tomorrow morning!! Very excited to get away camping, reading, and stitching.  I am bringing a couple of smalls with me to work on while relaxing by the bay.  I hope to get some amazing photos too since my sister dropped off her Nikon Coolpix camera for me! I took some better photos of Jane, who I've been working on all week.  I've been concentrating on working on the border and hope to get that done, move onto the motifs, then the 1 over 1 and finally the satin stitched snake.  I've got a ways to go but I'm feeling closer to being finished! I'm already looking at a couple of samplers to start for next year, but I can't decide.  I'll fill you in when I make the choice.  

 I didn't get a chance to work on Knotgarden this weekend.  I hope Joyce will forgive me...I'm sure she will.  I got the scroll rods fixed too today and am looking forward to placing them on the rods and then onto my lapstand.  Finally! As for the zipper crisis, I haven't touched it yet but found a really great tutorial that makes zippers seem so easy to install. Heh, we'll see when I give it a go. When I get back from camping, I'm going to buy a new, longer zipper and some more fabric and try it again.  I won't let a wee little zipper get the best of me!! I've also printed off a couple of little fall smalls that I hope to stitch when I visit my family in Prince George, since September is around the corner and I love stitching fall designs! 

Some lovely flowers from my Nana's patio.

 

Titus says bye!!

Have a wonderful few weeks and I hope to catch up with everyone when I come back! Big hugs to all!!