Here are the eight garden plots in my backyard before I started gardening tonight. I cleared and turned the earth in the front right plot today. These are all in horrible shape, they have been let go for quite a few years and have been taken over by grass and weeds!

My favourite picture of the three I took tonight.

Look at those shades of purple!

Another variety of Iris in my flowerbed has come into bloom! Just beautiful!

Finally The Weekend!

Despite it being a 4 day work week due to Monday being a stat. Holiday here in Canada was I ever glad for today to end! I was very surprised in the morning that my head felt fine and I could go into work today. Actually a lot of the staff were surprised to see me. I think I should of stayed home though by the afternoon I was felling like garbage again. If I have another migraine this weekend I think I'll stay home on Monday just to rest and de-stress.

After getting home from work and doing the groceries I was out in the gardens again this evening. I took some pictures to share with you. There are pictures of my irises and the eight beds that I need to get cleared this year in the backyard. I've now got three of the eight done! Which feels great! Last year I only managed to clear two of them, this year I'm ahead by one and I want to keep going! I just keep running out of daylight!

Since coming in at 8pm I've spent the last couple of hours working on Mystery VI again. I've now got 1/4 of part 6 done, the gazebo on the top is done. I have a start on the bushes for the gazebo on the right tonight, but my eyes are starting to droop and I'm driving down to Corwall to spend the day with a good friend so its a good idea that I get ready to turn in for the night!

Never Enough Hours In The Day

And I don't think there ever will be. Some days I'm amazed at how much I can get done in a day... or how many different things but it always seems like there's not quite enough. Its always one more stitch, five more minutes, and so on.

Tonight I'm very happy with what I managed to accomplish today despite having a really bad migraine. I was able to do a full day at work, which is quite an accomplishment when I have a migraine. After work I went for my allergy shot and since I was near the dealer for my car I picked up an oil filter and new windshield wiper blades. My poor car is way overdue for an oil change! Once I got home tonight I had two options...

1. Cower in bed with my bad head.

Or.

2. Get in the gardens!

Since it was just perfect to be outside I chose option 2. I am amazed at how much better I feel for spending two hours weeding and turning the soil in my gardens! There is no trace of my migraine anymore, earlier in the day I was pretty sure I would not be making an appearance at work tomorrow. But now I know I'll be feeling up to going in.

By 7pm the blackflies and mosquitoes drove me in! I would of liked to have stayed out for another hour until sundown but I was being eaten alive. But I'm happy with what I managed to accomplish. The front bed, the iris bed, and the plot where I'll be planting my potatoes are all weeded. I cleaned up and turned the soil in the plot where I'm planting my green beans. I started re-claiming a third plot (which has been let go for many years) when the bugs won and I retreated into the house.

What I wished for more time to do tonight is stitching. I got into a good groove tonight and I've almost finished the first gazebo in part 6 of Mystery 6.

The weekend is almost upon us, hopefully I'll have the time to do what I want to do!

One last picture of my iris. I'd love to know what variety this is, so feel free to drop me an e-mail if you know.

Same flower, different angle.

Today my iris has opened up some more.

For Lack of A Better Title

Today I think has been an average day, there's really nothing earth shattering to tell you about!

I'm making good progress on my travel project : Michael Powell's Mini Cottages III. I'll keep on working on this at lunch and while I wait for web pages to come up on my computer until the end of the month. Then its ornament time again!

Part 6 of Mystery 6 is coming along nicely! It is so relieving to be doing some straight cross stitching for a change! I have to stitch up four gazebos with bushes on either side. I have the bushes done on one and I've started the gazebo. I'm using Needle Point Inc. silks for this part, its my first time using this brand. Its a nice enough silk (not overdyed) but for the cost you certainly don't get alot of it. Hopefully the high price has something to do with the grade/quality of the silk.

For weeks I've been trying to talk myself into getting back on the treadmill. I should be starting to get ready for the run during my 2nd degree black belt test (not until November but I'm not a runner so I need time). Tonight I did finally get on, but only for 15 minutes. I did run for 10 of those 15 so that is a positive not I suppose. Its quite a battle (psychologically) for me to run. Hopefully I'll get back on tomorrow. All it takes is one day at a time.

Spring has arrived and my irises are starting to bloom. This is one of the new irises I bought for my garden this year ... its supposed to be yellow/orange. Surpise! Its Dark purple!

Another Stitching Goal Met!

Yup, I managed to do it I got Part 5 of Mystery 6 done last night! And here it is...


This is another section that I found took awhile to get done. I found the outer border TRES DULL! It consisted of a single line of marlitt all the way around then that outline was filled in with 100 little boxes in rosewood silk, in between those boxes were 8 stitches in red clay. Each box was filled with a rhodes stitch done with silk perle. We were also given stuff to fill the corner sections in from part 4. I was introduced to a new stitch called the jessica stitch, very cool I liked it a lot!

Martina Webber, the designer has put out part 6 early since she won't be near her home computer at the beginning of June so I've already gotten a start on part 6 today.

I have to say I've had an excellent long weekend (its Victoria Day weekend for us Canucks), I spent it in the best way... I think. I believe I've re-fueled my creative energies. I spent all day Saturday finishing up a framing job I have been procrastinating on FOREVER. This has got me revved up and eager to get more done. Sunday evening I got together with some good friends and we stitched and watched movies until midnight. Today I've been stitching as well since late this afternoon. I'm just taking a bit of a computer break before I get at it again.

I feel ready to be creative, ready to get things done!

Hmmmm ... (or for lack of a better title)

Once again I don't think this is going to be a very productive week for me... stitching wise. Its really starting to bother me this lack of time I seem to have for stitching. Maybe this is why I'm feeling a little stressed/strung out lately. I'm not having time for my "therapy".

Last night I had to teach two classes at Taekwon-Do, both of the adult classes, the lower belt class and my own class (which really means I don't get to train at all). I also went in early for the children's class to give my classmate a hand. All classes turned out to be really good classes, but there was little stitching time.

Tonight was Guild night. I really wasn't focused enough to get much done at guild, my head is really bothering me. That makes it hard to stitch.

Tomorrow night is TKD night again... at least this time I'm going just to train! Thursday night there's a very important union meeting so I'm going to go to that... Friday is groceries! Thank god its a long weekend! My priority this weekend is to pick up the last sheet of grey matboard I need and cut the last two sets of triple mats and mount all the school letters. If I can afford it I'd like to also pick up the 30ft of molding I need and get those cut. We'll see what the weekend brings.

Check Mark #3 & 5

Yesterday I did get out in my gardens! This morning I can finally claim victory over the Iris Bed! Two weeks ago the bed was a mass of grass, weeds, and thistles. Today its a beautiful flower bed with irises! While I was on a roll I also turned the earth in the bed that will have our potatoes planted in it this year. There are still more beds to clear out... sigh. My poor back.

Last night and today I worked on Mystery 6 again. I've now got all those little boxes stitched for part 5... still plenty to do in this section.

Back to stitching!

Check Mark : Item #4

Yup, got item #4 done on my weekend to do list : finish my second Christmas ornament for May

Once I sat down to work on it for more than 10 minutes at a time it didn't take long to get my 2nd ornament done for the month!

Click HERE to see Victoria Sampler's Beyond Cross Stitch 1-4 the Symrna stitch c2000

This piece is stitched on 25ct white lugana using kreinik metallics, DMC floss and perle cotton, Caron wildflowers, and a nice little charm.

Now I'm off to work on Mystery VI

The Best of Plans

Yes folks, I have many good intentions for this weekend! I have gotten one thing out of the way and its not quite 11am. This is very good for me on a Saturday.

So here's what I hope to get done this weekend...

1. Cut 4 triple mats... done
2. Mount school letters onto said mats (planned for Sunday)
3. Try to get out in the gardens (if the black flies don't drive me in)
4. Finish my second ornament
5. Stitch on mystery 6

So I'll let you know on Sunday if any of this actually gets done.

Bad Blogger... Bad!

No Blogger people, I'm not chastising you, I'm chastising myself! Its been almost a week since my last blog (gosh this is staring to sound like Stitcher's Anonymous!). I'm trying to think of a good reason why I barely blogged in the last week! You know what I can't really think of one! I even took the week off of TKD as well.

I know I stitched... I gardened... I watched TV. Hmmm not much else I think!

Lets see in the last week in terms of stitching I did pick Mystery VI back up after getting very burnt out over part 4. I'm not sooo excited about part 5 either, I've got to stitch a million little boxes that will have a million rhodes stitches in it! Once again there was a marlitt border which I've gotten stitches. Today during the Spanish Grand Prix I worked on Bandon Lighthouse (Silver Lining) which hadn't been touched in over a month, it felt good to get some progress in on that. Also today was the Needle and Thread Dragon Dreams Stitch-A-Long, when I wasn't out in the gardens I was working on Dragon's Teaparty and made some excellent progress on it!

I think my gardens are killing me! For over a week now I've been working on my "iris garden". At the moment its more like a thistle garden! Its been let go for many years (not my fault! This is only my second summer where we've been able to garden in this house) and its bee over taken! I think I'm just past the 1/2 way point now but its been a huge battle to dig up and get rid of the thistle root system!

So who watched the Survivor Finale tonight? I did, I've faithfully watched the entire season. I feel like a fool for getting sucked in! I have to say I didn't get sucked in at the beginning, I've watched survivor 1, ignored all the rest up until Amazon, that's when I got hooked. Now CBS is letting the audience vote for one member to get a million bucks, I hope us Canucks can vote! If I can I'm casting my vote for Rupert! That man surely deserves a million bucks!

We Dance!

Yup that's right, another Happy Dance for me!

Tonight I've finished up the Lanarte Chicken. This is one of a set of little kits of barnyard animals. They are sooo cute! Last year I stitched up the sheep, so far this year the chicken. They stitched on 28ct linen with 2 strands of floss over one using a continental stitch (1/2 stitch). Very fun, very cute, and a quick stitch.

Lanarte Chicken

After finishing my chicken I picked Mystery VI back up tonight.... marlitt again... urgh! I've also gotten a start on my second May ornament.

May Goals

Its becoming a habit for me to share my stitching goals with you each month. So here they are for May...

Keep up with Mystery 6
Stitch 2 Christmas Ornaments - one done already
Finish Lanarte Hen
Finish pages 1&3 on Bandon Light

Feeling Productive... For A Change

Ahhhh... I finally feel like I'm getting something done!

Despite having a busy day on Saturday, volunteering at our Guild member's Exhibition at Tapestry House and going to a banquet that evening I managed to get some stitching in. Late into the night, actually early Sunday morning I managed to finish my second April ornament. Yes I know, we're into May but I'm counting it as an April ornament anyhow.

April Ornament - Just Nan's Special Delivery, 2003 limited edition. This piece is stitched on flax cashel 28ct linen using DMC cotton floss and perle and kreinik #4 braid. It has the cutest gold envelope charm that opens. Inside the envelope is a tiny Christmas card! I had so much fun with this piece and all the specialty stitches used in it!

Then on Sunday during the day I decided to stitch up as a surprise a name tag for my friend Vicki to wear at guild. I'm pretty darned sure she doesn't read my blog so this will be a surprise... if she does... oh well the cat is out of the bag! Its a Welsh Dragon free chart from Clwyd Needlecrafts. I stitched it in overdyed silk from KDS fibers on Aquarius Jubilee form Sugar Maple Fabrics. I just loved how it turned out.
Vicki's Nametag

Sunday evening I started my first of two ornaments for May... I just finished that up this evening. I stitched up Dragon Dream's 2000 Christmyth Fairy on 28 ct white linen using DMC cotton and Kreinik #4 braid.
May Ornament - 2000 Christmyth Fairy

I feel a little burnt out with Mystery VI at the moment so I'm taking a break of a couple of days to get myself inspired over the project again. I felt like I got absolutely nothing done in April since part 4 took me all month!