Knowledge & Needles Retreat 2008

I'll have a full report for you later... but here's the gang!!!!

Pre-Retreat Progress

Just a quick blog entry to show you where I am with Blackstone Fantasy Garden before I head off for Ann's Retrat on Saturday. I'll be heading to Kingston after work tomorrow with Christin, where I'll spend the night at Beth's and she'll visit her parents. On Saturday morning we'll all meet up again and drive down to Ann's. While at Ann's I plan to fill in all those outlines so I don't have to do any frogging when I get back home!

Fair & Square Round 8 From Suzanne

I had a pleasant surprise in the mail today from Suzanne! It was the gorgeous squares she stitched me for round 8 of Fair & Square.

Aren't they beautiful???

I have been stitching the last few days, but not a lot its been a busy few days. Also I have been battling migraines yet again. I have done a little work on my Prarie Schooler Santa also I've been working on the outlines on Balckstone Fantasy Garden. This may sound very boring, but there's a method to my madness! On Saturday I'm off to Ann's one day retreat (there's an invite on her blog if you're anywhere near Brighton, Ontario), she's held it for about 8 years now. Its a great day, there's no cost, just your gas to get there and a contribution to the potluck! I think we're expecting about 30 stitchers on Saturday and with that many ladies around talking I know I won't be able to focus on intricate counting or colour changes. So my plan is to do the filling in between the outlines of the big Celtic knot. I will pack a number of other projects as well in case I feel I need a challenge. So if you're going to Ann's retreat... I'll see you on Saturday!

Well I didn't have a good night at Weight Watchers last night. Despite the jeans I had bought almost three weeks ago starting to be loose, I had a gain. Argh I'm now up 1.5 lbs! I know, I have no one else to blame but myself. I wasn't as vigilant with my foods, and I didn't earn one single activity point! I do think we need these hiccups every once and awhile to whip us back into shape, and out of complacency.

SBQ : August 7th

Q :What do you do to your thread clippings? Do you just scrap them or do you use them in something else?

A : I put them into a big mason jar. On January 1st of each year I empty that jar into the garbage and start fresh!

August Goals and New Starts

I know its been a few days since I posted! After I finished Moonlight Guardian I decided to go ahead and start a new project. Well, lets say I fell in love! I just couldn't put down my new start... or my latest book "Twilight" by Stephenie Myer. So I kinda fell off of the face of cyber space for awhile! Ooops!

Unfortunately we all have to come back to reality eventually. In the case of my book, I finished reading it last night (and will be picking up the next book New Moon tomorrow). When it comes to stitching... well vacations unfortunately always have an end and I must go to work in the morning. I really don't want to go back to work at all! There's so much to do and I'm not sure if I'm going to get it all done before the start of the new school year!

I'm very late in setting my goals for August!

July Re-cap :

Finish Double Flip-Its - YES
Finish Fair & Square rd. 8 -YES
Stitch an ornament - YES
Finish Moonlight Guardian (being ambitious) - Almost!!!

August Goals :

Finish Moonlight Guardian

Stitch an ornament

Work on Blackstone Fantasy Garden

Work on Paradigm Lost

Here are my two new starts, on Thursday after finishing Moonlight Guardian I started Blackstone Fantasy Garden by Ink Circles. I'm stitching it on 28ct Opalescent Lugana using Carrie's Threads (called for in the design).

My second start, which I started this evening is the 1992 Prarie Schooler Santa stitched over one on 25ct Potato Lugana using DMC cotton.

Presenting... Indigo!!!

*Shake*Shake*Shake*

*Shake*Shake*Shake*

Shake your booty!!!!

Yup ladies and gents, I am happy dancing here in Brighton today! I tried my best to finish Moonlight Guardian (aka : Indigo) last night. But my poor eyes got the best of me and I had to stop for the night just after completing the backstitching. However I prevailed today and finished up the beading during Ann's Thursday Stitching Group! It was wonderful to share my happy dance with about 13 other stitchers in the room! So often we celebrate our happy dances alone, at home.

Moonlight Guardian (Indigo)

c Dragon Dreams

Stitched on 28ct Blue Spruce Linen

Stitched using DMC Rayon & Cotton, Krenik #4 Braid, Caron Waterlillies, and Mill Hill Beads

Also what better day to celebrate a HD than on a good friend's Birthday! Happy 60th Birthday Beatrice! We celebrated with cake and tea during stitching today.

I also wanted to share a picture with you of Adriana, Beatrice's Mom who at almost 92 (next week) is still stitching... on evenweave! Here she is showing two of her latest finishes and getting ready to start a third in the same series!

While stitching at Ann's I've been quite entertained by this nest of baby robins whose parents made their nest in Dan's ladder. Poor Dan, he needed it at one point but just couldn't disturb the nest!

Last weekend I took a picture of the view off of the deck where I stitch when I'm at the cottage. Isn't this just a heavenly place to stitch?

Last but not least... this wouldn't be a genuine post from Ann's without a picture of one of the girlie dogs. Here's Paddy all pooped after this afternoon's company!

Almost There...

Greetings readers! Its been far too many days once again! Friday morning Todd came home from work several hours earlier than I expected and we were packed and off to the cottage for the long weekend! Unfortunately there's no Internet access that I can hook into (can you say unprotected wireless signal?) at the lake. Of course there rarely are any crazy adventures at the cottage. I pretty much spend my day going for walks, having a meal of some sort, stitching on the deck, and maybe a little fishing with Todd (and getting a sunburn whenever I go in the boat!).

I've been home for a day and I'm about to head out again tomorrow morning (ahhh long live the Road Warrior!). I'll be zipping off to Brighton in my trusty car (good car, car!) to visit with Ann for a few days. Thursday I'll get to hang with her Thursday stitching group where we'll be celebrating Beatrice's 60th Birthday! (mmmm cake!) Then there's Ann's smaller Friday stitching group. Can you guess what I'll be doing at Ann's?

Indigo (Moonlight Guardian) has been getting a lot of my attention whenever I've been able to spare it. I have to say she's almost there! I've got a little bit of cross stitching left, backstitching, beads and she'll be done! So watch this space for a Happy Dance!!!

I've already got my stitching packed to go to Ann's and I'm not sure what I'm going to work on next once Moonlight Guardian is done! I could treat myself to a new start... and if I do feel generous I've got Ink Circles Blackstone Fantasy Garden kitted up. I could start this month's ornament which is also kitted up, a prairie schooler Santa I plan to stitch over one. I could finally give Paradigm Lost a little love. Also I've been thinking the last few days I should really get working on Jeannette Douglas's Pomegranates and Pears. I took the class at last October's Gananoque Inn Retreat (hosted by Knit One, Stitch Too ... formerly the Cross Stitch Cupboard) and since I'll be going again this year I should really have it completed for the stitcher's gallery. Decisions... decisions.

I guess you'll just have to stay tuned to see what I decide!

On the Weight Watchers front... I'm happy to report a loss of 2.5 lbs this week! Yay! I wasn't sure what to expect when I stepped on the scale tonight as being at the cottage I am at the mercy of my MIL's excellent cooking. I guess I was very good and went for enough walks! This now puts me at a total of 34 lbs lost! Hopefully this means I'll be able to meet my goal of being down a total of 40lbs by the first week of school in September. On Saturday evening I got a great reaction from Todd's Dad when I got changed to go play Euchre with him and Todd at a nearby church. I had changed into my new jeans and a top I had bought form American Eagle in the US last week (its nice to finally be a size where I can shop pretty much anywhere, not just the plus sized stores). He was a little surprised to see just how much I had lost. I have to admit its hard to tell when you're wearing your old clothes that are too big. I just don't have the heart to put too much money into my wardrobe when I still have a long way to go.

Well I must get to bed I've got a 3 hour drive ahead of me tomorrow!