Offically 1/2 Done!

Today was a PD day at work and for the first time in a long time I took a day of annual leave. I don't think I've done that in seven years. The result of being at home today of course is that I've managed to finish the backstitching on The Castle to date. This means I'm officially at the 1/2 way mark! Yippeee!

However shortly The Castle will get put aside for a short while ... this is why my October goal was to work on it not finish it. In the mail are the supplies for a model for the magazine A Needle Pulling Thread. Its got a very tight deadline so I'll have to drop all other projects until it is done. I'm quite flattered as they contacted me to stitch this piece.

I also finally got pictures of my Sweetheart Tree RR. When I started this last year I didn't really plan this RR at all. Actually to the point where I didn't realize that I didn't have enough fabric on hand. Therefore I had to improvise and use two pieces I had on hand which weren't quite the same white. However I'm pleased with what I got back. I'll have to eventually turn them into two bell pulls.

Next on my stitching to-do list is my Fair & Square round 3 piece since I've got that model on the way I want it done ASAP!

End Of Another Weekend

Well I was a good girl, and stayed home all weekend nursing my cold. I've got a bit of a cough now, but I'm not as miserable as I was Friday night... and you can ask Christin I was starting to whine!

So between naps and blog surfing this weekend I got this far on The Castle :

Hmmm do you think we can finish this by November 1st when the Paradigm Lost SAL starts???

Tomorrow being Monday I'll pick Tour de Marques back up!

Yup, Its A Cold

The human body is amazing thing (sarcastic note to my voice). Remember that scratchy throat I complained about? Well, I am sick... I have a cold! The same cold Todd has had for over a week now. So I'm going to lay low this weekend just stitch and nap when the urge hits me.

Soooo here's my progress on The Castle before I pick up need and thread today...

Castle SAL

Finally, I can get back to participating in the Castle SAL over at my BB (link in my sidebar). The last time I posted a progress picture from this project was April 21st of this year. So I did the math and I have 15 Saturdays worth of stitching to make up for! So I figure I'm allowed to work on this for 15 non-Saturdays to make up for lost time... right?

Anyhow this is my progress for this past Saturday August 11th. I did work on it a little bit on Saturday but I spent most of it finishing Kathy's RR. So to make up for that I worked on it most of the day today!

Tomorrow I'm back to work *sob* I'll miss being on vacation! When I get home I'll do some stretching on the pieces I need to get framed this week then I'll figure out what to put on the next Neighborhood RR and get going on that!

Castle SAL Progress

Well, I didn't get as much stitched today as I would of liked. I lost a couple of hours in the morning to teaching at TKD (I love teaching Saturday mornings...not). Then there was that afternoon nap... LOL.

So here's what I got done

Lately I've gotten a little spoilt through the mail! My dear Friend Ann of Knowledge and Needles RAK'ed me with the dark blue DMC colour variations that I was planning on buying from her shop. Also I received from Clare another stitcher in the province who I helped in the past Long Dog's St. Georges! Thank you both ladies I feel so spoilt!!!

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to picking Noah's Sub back up.

The Castle Progress

Well I'm pretty tired tonight, didn't do anything but stitch this weekend so no good reason why. So let's get down to business... here's The Castle by Teresa Wentzler. I got a good chunk done on Saturday.

Tomorrow I'll treat you with my Noah's Sub progress. I also worked on Tour Des Marques for the first time since January... Maybe I'll share that progress (not much really) later in the week when I need something to blog about.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter one and all. I hope you're all enjoying your long weekend, with family and friends. We're not having a traditional Easter this year, Todd and I are not going to any family dinner. We had our Nephew over until early yesterday evening, that night we had a few friends and Todd's sister over for poker and UFC 69. Today we're just laying low, watching the Malaysian Grand Prix that we PVR'ed last night (at 2am... I thank the genius who invented the PVR!). Hunter posed for a lovely little Easter picture for us yesterday.

On Noah's Sub I'm still in never-never yellow land, and I'll be sharing a progress picture of that with you tomorrow. Today, I've got my progress on The Castle to share with you... I'm now officially 1/4 done! Yay! Next Saturday I'll start the bottom right hand page.

Today I'm going to start a small design (a freebie) called Hedgehog Quaker by The Workbasket to test floss colours for Paradigm Lost by Long Dog that I'll be starting in the fall. I'm actually going to stitch this design three times as I have three colours I want to test on the fabric I've chosen.

Lovely Weekend!

On Saturday morning I hopped into my car (yes folks, on the road again... didn't I just get back home? Yes.) first I drove down to Kingston and met Vicki, one of the stitchers from my bulletin board Needle and Thread. I got to meet her new granddaughter, beautiful wee thing with lots of hair! We had a nice visit and a cup of coffee before it was time for me to hit the road again. I was on my way to visit Ann, owner of Knowledge and Needles. I love going to visit Ann and her husband Dan I always have a great time... and I get fed well.

I got a lovely gift from Ann and Dan after helping them sort out their audio-visual equipment... One of the charts I had been eyeing in Ann's shop the day before! Thank you Ann and Dan!

I finally got to work on The Castle this weekend and a little bit on Noah's Sub!

All just backstitching on The Castle!

Finally finished the sky on my current page of Noah's Sub.

HD #7 For 2007 & Castle Progress

Saturday I ended up with some time to work on The Castle between a tournament committee meeting at TKD and yet another migraine (I'm getting seriously sick of those!).




I managed to finish all the cross stitching on my current page, and I got a start on the backstitching.



Sunday I pulled out the freebie I started earlier in the month. I finished it just a short while ago. I'm not sure what I'm going to finish it as... maybe a bookmark? LOL. This freebie I found in an old issue of my LNS's newsletter

Bookmark Freebie

cThe Prairie Schooler

Stitched on mystery linen using DMC cotton.

Progress and Presents

Last week I made good progress on Noah's Submarine. The water on my current page is finished and I've gotten a number of animals/fish stitched up.

On Saturday while working on The Castle I found a boo boo! I was not happy! The section of rocks below the dragon's tali were all one stitch too high! It just wasn't something I could fudge. So out came my fine pointed scissors and out went that whole section! It took me all weekend to get those rocks put in! I was hoping to finish all the Cross Stitch on that page... for obvious reasons that didn't happen. I doubt I'm going to get any time on The Castle next weekend. I'll be attending The International Instructor's Course for TKD being given by Master Lu, it's on from Friday-Sunday.

Today I got a lovely gift in the mail today! Erica one of my fellow stitchers on the Internet offered to pick up the festive issue of A Needle Pulling Thread... my local Chapters was out of copies. Well she sent me this lovely parcel! Thank you Erica!

Weekly Progress Update

Alrighty lades and gents(???) Here's my update on my two big projects, The Castle and Noah's Submarine.

This past week I only worked on Noah's Sub at lunchtime. My evenings were spent on the ornament I just finished on Saturday.

I didn't have much stitching time this weekend so I only finished the cross stitching on the rocks on the Castle and a wee bit of dragon.

This week I should be able to work on The Sub all week long!

Ornament #3 ... AKA HD #5 And a Little Hip

Well I finished that new start from Monday... it did take me all week but its done, and its pretty!

Hope Needleroll Ornament

c2005 Jeannette Douglas Designs

Stitched on 28ct Metallic Lugana Gold/Cream using : NN, Kreinik Metallics, Rainbow Gallery Very Velvet, DMC floss, Mill Hill Beads

I have to say that Jeannette does a great job using specialty stitches and fibres for maximum effect! This ornament was part of the JCS 06 Ornament RR I'm in.


Today's the Castle SAL... I'll be picking that up shortly, I don't know if I'm actually going to get much done on it this weekend. Tonight we have people coming over to watch UFC 67. Tomorrow there's the Superbowl.




Last night I had a great time! My Mum and I went out for dinner and we tried a new Indian Resturant. Oh my gosh it was to die for! Then we went to see my favourite band in concert. Last night the Tragically Hip played Scotia Bank Place. I think this is the 8th or 9th time I've seen them live. They put on a great show, and had a great mix of new music and the older hits! But they didn't play my two favourites... Nautical Disaster or Gus The Polar Bear From Central Park.

Is anyone else out there huge Hip fans like me?

Castle and Sub Progress

I'm being bad at blogging again. Honestly, I have a good excuse, I've been staying offline to get in stitching time! Its just so tempting sometimes to spend a couple of hours surfing the net.

This week I decided to start taking Noah's Sub with me to work. I've been getting in about 30 minutes each day at lunch, and it really shows in my progress picture!

Friday night through this evening I've been working on The Castle. I've almost finished all the rocks on the current page!

Progress Pictures

Well despite various TKD things I had to go to on both Saturday and Sunday I was quite industrious and stitched.

So right to business... here's progress on The Castle

Progress on Noah's Sub

HD #3 & Castle Progress

I know, I'm bad not posting for several days again! I have to admit I've been spending a lot of my time surfing the net on info for my San Diego/Yuma trip! I'm still very excited about it. I only have one thing left to do, and that's choose a hotel... which I'm having a hard time doing as a lot of the ones in the price range I'd like to pay have a lot of negative comments on Expedia. Should I really be worried about reviews I really won't be spending time in the room besides sleeping!

On Saturday I finished my first ornament for the year, which is finish #3 for 2007. I'm giving myself a little challenge, seeing how many items I can finish before I break down and buy new stash. Now I do have two conditions on my little project challenge. First of all I'm allowed to buy stuff to work on projects I already have, be it fabric, fibres, beads, etc. Also when I do go away in March, any stash bought on my trip doesn't count! Whenever I travel I always try to hit needlework/craft shops in the area.

Charmed Santa Faces

MHCSF14 - Father Christmas

c1999 Mill Hill

Stitched on : perforated paper using DMC cotton floss, Mill Hill Beads & Charm

Of course, yesterday being Saturday also meant it was time for The Castle SAL! Boy do I wish this was my focus project (but I am determined to finish Noah's Sub before the summer!). It stitches up so smoothly so far and I'm really enjoying it. Here's my progress from January 13th.


Today I'm going to work on Tour Des Marques for a few hours. I'm finding now that I'm back to work I'm not accomplishing as much on it during an evening... and well even with my Ott Lite, over one at night is not the easiest. After I get sick of over one I'll switch over to Noah's Sub. I also need to pick a new travel project, most likely a freebie since I finished that Mill Hill Santa.

Castle SAL progress!

I can't believe I forgot to do this, this morning when I posted my photo over at Needle and Thread!!! So here it is... I lost about three hours of stitching time when I was called to a last minute meeting for organizing the Friendship Tournament we'll be putting on at Taekwon-Do in March. I'm in charge of the obstacle course competition for the 4-6 year olds.

Happy New Year = Castle SAL!!

New Year's Eve I hopped into my car (again) and this time went the opposite direction on the 401 to Cornwall. For the last few years Chrisanne and I have gotten together for stitching in the New Year! To me its the perfect way to start a New Year, a little stitching with a friend. Some of you may ask... but what about Todd? Well we've been together a long time (too long some would say not to be married), and there have been too many New Year's Eves where I've been sitting up by myself because he's sound asleep. I asked Todd to call me at midnight if he was awake... my cell never rang... as usual he slept in the New Year. So that's the "so what about Todd".

I started out my evening with Moon Dragon by Dragon Dreams. I was really hoping to squeak in one last Happy Dance before the New Year but alas at midnight the backstitching wasn't finished. So I put the wee dragon away and pulled out the big dragon, Teresa Wentzler's The Castle! It was officially New Year's Day so I wanted to start! I probably shouldn't have, it felt like my eyelids were sticking to my eyeballs. This morning, I ended up ripping out what I had put in. In the daylight I could see that the horizon of the piece would not line up with the colour change in my fabric. So for my second start I stitched the mountains/hills in the background first so they would sit on the colour change. Here is my progress after New Year's Day.

Before I really put in any time on The Castle today (oops I should say yesterday, its after midnight), I decided to finish up Moon Dragon! As usual the backstitching took longer than I thought, I had a couple more hours to put in on it. However I get to celebrate my first Happy Dance of the year on New Year's Day! I'm pleased with how Moon Dragon turned out and she looks great on the natural linen (that I stole from my Mirabilia Christmas Fairy kit). I'll be putting Teresa Wentzler's Sun Dragon on the same fabric sometime in the future.

Moon Dragon

c2006 Dragon Dreams - 2006 Fall Creativ Festival Progressive Workshop Bonus Design

32ct Natural Linen using DMC cotton and Kreinik #4 Braid

December Goals and SBQ

Its that time again... another month has passed, and another is starting!

November - Recap

Stitch last TWRR - Done

Finish Celestial Fob - Done

Finish Dragon Needlecase class from TW - Done

Finish Mini Autumn Sampler class from TW - Done

Stitch Sweetheart Tree RR - Done

Stitch an ornament for exchange - Did two!

Noah's Sub... if there's time - Yup!

December Goals

Stitch an Ornament

Stitch a Freebie

Finish a Page on Noah's Sub

Finish Mini Cottages 4

Wow! This is why I love setting manageable goals each month... it really helps you to realize what you've accomplished. Sometimes you think you get nothing done... then you look back at those goals and voila! You've actually accomplished something! Because I was feeling like I had gotten very little done in November. I hope my goals for December are modest and achievable. With time off for Christmas... they should be.

Now catching up on those SBQ's again!

Q : Do you stitch Christmas ornaments? If so, how many do you stitch each year and for whom? If not, why not?

A : Yay an easy one to answer... if you know me then you know my answer is "well duh!" Of course I do! Some would say I stitch a lot of them. I think this year I'm up to 15 ornaments. Now where do they all go? Every year I give one to each of the secretaries and my co-worker, then there's the ornament exchanges I sign up for. There are ornaments for friends and family. I think they make fantastic and thoughtful gifts.

Q : How do you secure your thread when you begin a new one? Specifically,do you or have you ever used a waste knot?

A : I don't use a waste knot when I stitch... that would be a waste of time... then I'd have to go back and secure that thread. My stitching friends know I like to get stitching, and not waste time on silly things like tucking threads in later, gridding fabric or the like! When I start a new thread I leave a bit of a tail on the back of the fabric with one finger I hold that thread off to the direction I'm stitching in and catch it with my stitches... voila its secured with minimal stitching time wasted. Life is all about maximizing stitching time.

Well lately I've had a serious case of want-to-start-it-itis!!! Sunday evening before bed I got Tour Des Marques by The Silver Lining all kitted up. This is a piece that Beth, Christin and I have been intending to stitch as a SAL for the last two years. I think we're finally getting to a stage where we might actually start! Both Beth and I are ready to go, Christin is waiting for her fabric to arrive. We haven't sorted out when we'll be working on this piece. Seems like 2007 will be the year of the Stitch-A-Long between Tour and The Castle. I am happy to say we've corrupted another stitching friend into joining Chrisitn, Chrisanne and I (and many of you online) to stitch The Castle on Saturdays in 2007! Yes, Beatrice (you've seen her photo in many of my "Brighton" stitching activities) is going to join us, and I think this will be her first TW how exciting! My fabric has arrived for the Castle, and soon I'll have to start putting floss together, for that New Year's start! Chrisanne... are we going to stitch in the New Year again???

Since the weekend I've been working on Noah's Sub when I have time... always wishing I was working on something else! LOL I do like this project but can't get obsessed with the piece like I do others. Well, I was also bad... I did make a small start this week... I couldn't help myself! I started Jennifer Aikman-Smith's Moon Dragon a pattern Jennifer gave to us during her Celestial Fob workshop. I plan to put Teresa Wentzler's Sun Dragon on the other half of the fabric! But I'm only letting myself work on it a wee bit at a time so that Noah's Sub doesn't take a back seat... again... and again... and again!

Off to stitch!

Photo : Siberian Iris from my gardens.