Stitching Progress & Photo Hunt

Boy, all I wanted to do this week was STITCH!  Too bad silly things like work, and exercise kept getting in the way!  Besides those silly things I think I did well this week.

Teresa Wentzler's Byzantine Ornament #3

The Accolade, almost finished another row on this!

The end of Art Deco Spirits is getting closer and closer!  I'm filling in all the black at the moment

I missed last week's PhotoHunt, so I'll get us caught up on that before I get to this week's in my next post.  The theme for last week was "Hands"

This is from my friend Jason's wedding in July of 2010, I stitched Wedding Row for Jason & Roxanne

Murphy's Law Monday

I love Mondays... did you catch the sarcasm in that?

This Monday was an especially brutal in more ways than one!

First of all, we woke  up to -30c... that was without the windchill.  Due to the cold temperatures and my car not having a block heater, and not in the garage... it didn't want to start.  Todd first tried to start the car at about 6:40am he finally got it going at 9am!

While he was outside in the freezing cold trying to get my poor little car-car started I knew the furnace just wasn't working right.  You could hear it start to pump oil from the tank, the furnace would prime, the fan would come on for about 45 seconds then it would cut out and the whole process would start again.  There were fumes in the house that had started to burn my eyes after a few hours and we were struggling to maintain a consistent temperature.  I just knew it wasn't right but I had to get into work!  Because of our concern for the fumes and the cats we did leave a window open when we left the house. 

Todd and I agreed I would call the oil company (we have oil heat) who we have a service plan on our furnace with and deal with this.  Unfortunately if Todd doesn't work he doesn't get paid, whereas I have a personal day and sick days.  I was a little flustered when they asked me if I could be back at the house an hour later for a service man.  So I pretty much left work not long after I got there.  It took the poor service guy until 2:30 PM to fix my furnace!

Excuse my french, but what a shitty day!

I swear I'm never going to feel warm  ever again!

I was able to make some use of my time at home (besides trying to keep warm), I did the finishing on my latest snowflake.

First Annual Knowledge & Needles January Retreat

Early on in the fall Ann, owner of Knowledge and Needles decided  to host a new retreat for 2011.  She wanted to open up a retreat to a different group of stitchers, instead of the usual suspects you have seen in quite a few of my past retreat reports.  She set this one up first for her Friday Stitchers and then the remaining spots were opened up.  I of course e-mailed Ann back in September letting her know if there were any extra spots or drop outs that I would be happy to come.  The retreat took place at the usual spot, the Timberhouse Bed & Breakfast in Brighton.

Snowy, cold weather kept us inside stitching

I had met some of the Friday stitchers on past visits to Brighton, so I knew some of the ladies.  Also some of my good stitching friends were there, some of the usual suspects you have seen in the past on this blog.  This retreat, my roommate was Bonnie, we had the same room as we did back in November which was nice, we had a King Sized bed!!!  Boy did we stitch this weekend!  The weather really helped in this endeavour because it snowed and it was cold!  During the spring and fall retreats I always do my best to get out for a run each morning, now I am a fair weather runner, there is no way you're going to catch me out in the snow running!

I think at this point, I'm going to let the pictures do the talking!

The ladies chatting over Saturday morning breakfast

Ann & Sharon consulting over the DMC colour card

Sharon was pooped from stitching!  She couldn't make it in November I was so glad to see her this weekend.  She's moved further away so I dearly miss her!

The "stitching room" at Ann's set  up for lunch

Loot bags at our place settings

Chef Butthead aka "Dan" explaining Saturday's lunch menu

Ham, amazing potatoes and broccoli for lunch.  Ann made a great marmalade cake which I forgot to photograph

Saturday night I lit a bunch of candles for atmosphere and I got this awesome picture!

Ann (not Knowledge & Needles Ann) was so intent on her work this weekend!  Her enthusiasm was contagious!

Brenda was fairly new to the group and we had a few good chats

Judie checking out Fran's work

Wendy, I've not seen her in awhile either!

Clare intent on a happy dance this past weekend!  I love getting  to see Clare its just too bad she lives over 5 hours from me!

Back in September Bonnie showed up to our get together with a great stitching bag... well they're becoming popular... notice we're in alphabetical order?

So ladies, another fantastic retreat!  I can't wait for the next one in March at the tail end of March Break!  I'm coming back from Arizona just in time to attend!

So what did I get done this weekend?  Lots!

Art Deco Spirits - Air

The Accolade

Stitching Progress

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, there's been two reasons... first of all I'm enjoying my stitching so much that I haven't wanted to "distract" myself with the computer.  On top of really wanting to stitch I've been physically and mentally exhausted.  I've been pushing myself to stay up to my regular bed time just so I can stitch more.

So here's the progress on my WIPs as of bedtime Wednesday...

Art Deco Spirits, Water is coming along beautifully and I'm enjoying her!  Its also been nice to know that when I am done with a particular colour... I'm done!  Its such a nice feeling to know you won't be working with that colour again.

The Accolade, I've been working on this every day, a 10x10 block at a time before I pick up Art Deco Spirits.  I am loving it!  There is something just so pleasing about stitching over one!  Yes, yes, I'm a sick, sick girl.

I finished another snowflake... just one more to go!  I still haven't done the finishing, yet can't let that resolution slip yet!

Snowflake Cross Stitch Gold

Stitched on 28ct Ivory Jubilee

Stitched with DMC floss

I went to Tuesday stitching again this week, really enjoyed it again, my friend Amy from work joined me too!  She's not a die-hard stitcher like the rest of us... but she shall be converted!  Yes Amy, I've got you in my sights (she's a blog lurker)!  I did cut out early for two reasons though, bad weather and I was just exhausted!

I have some new stash to share with you... but I forgot to photograph it and well I can't be bothered to get the camera back out, so you'll just have to wait.

On Monday... it was FREAKIN' cold out... that's my weather station, so it really was -26 Celsius at my house and that didn't include the wind chill.  We've been having a cold week and I don't like it at all.

Hunter was being cute again... we caught him beating up my lunch bag Sunday afternoon!  Gosh he's so easy to photograph!

PhotoHunt - January 15 "Shadow"

This is a favourite photo of mine.  I was working in my craft/stash room, and Hunter came and made himself comfortable on the table.  I just love how the sunlight is filtering through the blinds.

I'm A Bag Lady!!!

I am a bag lady, I LOVE bags.  Now this love of bags fortunately isn't detrimental to my pocket book but there's nothing I enjoy more than a new bag and deciding what its for, what I'm going to put into it and how.

With the aid of Bonnie and Beatrice I've got two more bags to add to the collection!

Back in the fall I was drooling over Bonnie's new monogrammed stitching bag, loved the colours, the design and the monogram.  I also love the fact that it has a flat bottom and stays standing up.  She's here for an overnight visit as her and Blair were attending the Ottawa Senators game tonight and they are always more than welcome to stay with us, instead of spending money on a hotel.  So Bonnie asked me if I still wanted one, and deliver she did!  Thank you Bonnie I love it!

She also delivered a little gift from Beatrice.  Beatrice is a whiz at sewing and figuring out how to make things she sees.  In the fall a fellow stitcher had these great fabric "project envelopes".  She has figured out how to make them and has gifted me with one!  Thank you Beatrice, I love it and will put it to good use!

Here's the PhotoHunt from December 19, 2009 the theme was "Curved"

I came across this "lifesaver" while out for a walk with Bonnie back at retreat in November, its curved!

First Stash of the Year!

Once upon a time I used to buy a lot of stash, I don't buy anywhere near as much as I used to.  Part of that is because I already have a lot of it... I mean a lot, I have a room.  I have a good selection of fabrics and fibers, and well so many charts I don't know where to start!  The main reason I haven't been buying charts like I used to is because a lot of what's being released these days just aren't to my tastes.  Yes there's one here or there I'd like to have but nothing on the scale I used to purchase charts in.  The up side to this... I have lots to stitch!

So over the holidays I ordered myself a new pair of designer Gingers!  That seems to be my latest craze, collecting these fancy-handled beauties!  These Sonia scissors are my latest acquisition.

Here's the whole Gingher family I've put together chez Dani.

Thanks to everyone who pointed out where my mistake was on the ornament I posted a few days ago.  Some of you have asked had I found it yet?  Yes I have, and look the circle meets up!

Here's the PhotoHunt from November 28, 2010 the theme was "technology"

One of the highlights of my adult years has been witnessing this piece of technology rocketing off into space.  When I was a kid, we rarely missed a shuttle launch that was televised.  I was even very lucky when once it did a low level fly over of the suburb of Montreal I lived in (back in the 80's).  During my first trip to visit Claire in Jacksonville (the same visit where yesterday's bird came from) there happened to be a launch while I was down there, we were in St. Augustine that day and we decided on the spur of the moment to drive down to Cape Canaveral to make it to the launch.  What an AMAZING experience, this was as close as we could get to the launch site but it was still wayyyy cool!