Flip!!!

Isn't this fun????

Pictures of Me!

I received my first batch of pictures from Monday's "shoot" during class.

I've Reached 10%!!!

I've done it! I've managed to reach my 10% goal at Weight Watchers! Now I have to decide on what my next focus is.

Portrait Night!

Tonight in my photography class we got to play in the studio and take photos of each other. I have to say I had a lot of fun!

I only have two regrets from tonight, not having taken more pictures. Also, not having a tripod. I lost quite a few images due to camera shake! Its hard to tell on that little screen on the back of the camera if something is slightly blurry!

Dancing In Brighton!

I am so happy that my dear friends in Brighton said that this was a good weekend for me to come down for a visit! Though getting away to the cottage last weekend was nice, this is even better! I'm surrounded by people I really care about (even Dan, I suppose), wonderful stitchers and I've been able to pick up needle and thread and forget about all the things I've got to do for at least a little while!

Friday I got to leave work and hour early (of course I had to work through my lunch to do this) so that I could hit the road and make it to Brighton at a reasonable time, as it is a 3 hour drive with no problems or long pit stops. I made it to first Kathy's to be greeted with a big hug! Dinner was great, I had take out pizza for the first time in almost 3 months (since starting Weight Watchers)! I couldn't help myself but have 2 1/2 slices! That's what flex points are for right? Kathy and I stitched late into the night, I even shared a little happy dance with her. I finished the stitching on Sally's draw gift! When I get back home I'll take some time to put it together and pop it in the mail.

Today I finally got the snow tires taken off of my car, they've got a great tire shop here in Brighton. Its also a great excuse to come down here. I know I could easily get it done in Ottawa, but Brighton is prettier I so want to retire here... in 23 YEARS! (and that's early retirement by the way) While my car was up on the hoist this gave me the chance to get out for a nice brisk 30 minute walk with my camera. Unfortunately I didn't come across anything inspiring to shoot. Also I had put on my telephoto lens and it wasn't right for shooting in town.

However, once I was back at Kathy's I got to finally witness one of the many swans that are in the area! He was so beautiful and I took so many pictures of him! At one point he came in really close to the shore (Lake Ontario), I started to back away a bit. I didn't need a big honkin' bird deciding that I was a threat. In this case I have to say my telephoto lens was the thing to go with!



During the afternoon Beatrice and Barb came by and joined us for a stitch. I decided to work on my ornament for May as I'm running out of days left in the month. Also I wanted to work on something for ME, even if it was small. For some reason that afternoon the piece was boring me and putting me to sleep! Despite the excellent company. Kathy was getting very frustrated with some gridding she had been working on for HOURS and I finally told her to hand it over. Between the two of us we got it sorted, and it was the break I needed from my ornament.


Late afternoon, it was time to leave Kathy on the shores of Lake Ontario and head a little bit inland to Ann & Dan's. Yet again Dan has fed me well, and cooked an excellent meal! He's been taking a cooking course at a local college and its really paying off (he even fed me something other than chicken for a change.... not that I ever complained because chicken is my favourite). The evening was yet again dedicated to stitching! Just before midnight I managed to happy dance yet again, finishing my ornament (I'll have to get a better picture of this when I'm home I can see my focal length wasn't too great and the letters on top are a little out of focus)!

Partridge in a Pear Tree

c2000 JBW Designs

Stitched on 28ct mystery linen

Using DMC cotton & Kreinik metallics

Sweet, Sweet Freedom!!!

Yes! I put the final stitches tonight on my last model for A Needle Pulling Thread. Its been a long haul to get six pieces done for the magazine since October of last year! Now my next two priorities are to get that gift I promised to Sally from my draw back in March, its almost half way done. Also there's the Neighbourhood RR to try and get done for June 1st. I doubt I'll be able to make that deadline as I got it VERY late this round. I'll get it done as close to the deadline as possible.

Tomorrow after work I'm hopping in my car and I'm off to spend Friday night with Kathy and Saturday night with Ann! I know I'll be seeing Beatrice as well, and whoever else I run into down in Brighton!

I'm looking forward to this!

I Love to Loose!

Gosh I don't think you can say too often that you love to loose! But I do! Loose weight that is. Yes, tonight's weigh in at WW was a successful one. This past week's loss is 3lbs! That definitely makes up for last week's 1/2 lbs gain! I am now officially 1/2 a lbs from 20lbs lost and my 10% goal!

I added a new item to my regime today to help me towards my goal weight. I did my first workout at Curves, this is on top of my 30 minute power walk at lunchtime. I'm on a one month trial at Curves, I enjoyed my first workout, we'll see down the road. I'm hoping that eventually this give me the confidence to join a full fledged gym.

Tonight I managed to work on my model as well for about an hour an a half. Slowly but surely I'm nearing the end of this project!

Farewell Long Weekend...

Were you checking for updated entries this past weekend? Well, there weren't any because its the Victoria Day long weekend (we celebrate Queen Victoria's Birthday!). Todd and I unplugged ourselves from the world starting Friday night and headed to Todd's parent's cottage with his folks and sister. We disconnected from the Internet and the phone and just spent time as a family. The weather wasn't stellar, it was cold and wet at times (very common for this long weekend) but Todd and his Dad got out fishing and Terri (his sister) and I got out for a lot of long walks.




It was nice to just get away from everything and everyone for awhile... and sleep in!



I got some nice photos on the weekend (again using the "creative zone" of the camera).




Terri and I came across this rusty old bike up against a tree. Very picturesque, could be on the front of a greeting card I think.



Then there was this cute little red squirrel that was quite bold on the road in front of us.


I did manage to stitch a little this weekend, but most of it was done today. I've almost finished my last model, just some nasty DMC metallic to put in. I am sooo looking forward to getting back to my own projects, of course first I need to find the time!


I do have some stitching to show off! Late last week Marg received the squares I sent her for round 6 of Fair and Square.

Rosebud Nametag

Freebie cDrawn Thread

Stitched on 32ct Natural Linen

Using DMC Threads

Got it!

Before I left work today I stole a tripod from work (thanks Tom!!!). Wow what a difference when I can keep the camera steady! I got this "perfect" shot of Hunter tonight.

I did also manage to model stitch tonight too!

Popping In

Hi everyone, just popping in quickly!

I've not stitched since Sunday! Boy this photography class is really taking up a lot of my time!!! I'm very slowly getting there... getting off of the automatic settings (you know the mountains, the tulip, all those settings) and onto the manual ones!

I took this picture this afternoon, I was playing with the Aperture settings on my camera. This takes a lot of practice to get your aperture and exposure right! This picture isn't perfect (it could be a little sharper) but gets the point across that I'm being challenged for a change.

As for a Weight Watchers update, I was up 1/2 a lb this week. I wasn't too happy about that yesterday. Actually between that and being exhausted (I was nodding off at the staff meeting at work), I went home ate a 100 calorie ice cream sandwich and went to bed before 7PM! I slept through to this morning when it was time to get ready for work!

Hopefully I'll have a repeat from the last time I went up 1/2 pound the next week I had a 4lbs loss!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my Mum and Todd's Mom and all the other Mothers out there!

I spent yesterday with my Mum for Mother's Day. Originally we were going to go to a quilt show, but we decided instead to go to the Tulip Festival. Boy we're both glad we did! The day started a little grey, but it turned into a gorgeous day! We were out walking about at Dow's Lake and Downtown Ottawa until 4:30pm! (I earned lots of Activity Points!) We then went out for a late lunch (more like dinner I suppose!) and I took my Mummy home.

And did I ever take pictures 248!!! This is just a small sample of what I took.

Fair & Square Round 6 Received

It was soooooooooo nice to be home this evening! After being out three nights in a row there's much to be said for being home, making dinner, and stitching! Of course I worked on my model tonight, so I have no stitching progress to share with you. However, I do have an exchange to share!

Earlier this week I received Round 6 from the Fair and Square exchange (unfortunately I'm still waiting to get something from round 5). This round my partner was Marg from Australia. She sent me this beautiful quaker freebie stitched up.

She also included some lovely extras, a stitch counter, a JBW chart, and a lovely red skein of floss. Thank you so much Marg I love it all!

Here's another photo for ya'll! One of the many lovely trilliums I've been enjoying on my lunchtime walks lately.

Weight Loss Update

Sorry I didn't post last night to update you on my progress at WW! I pretty much had dinner and was in bed by 9:30pm! Which as all my close friends know that's WAYYY early for me! My poor ole' body isn't used to being out late on week nights!

Anyhow, this week I lost 2.5lbs for a total of 17lbs. It seem that this week people are starting to notice that I've lost weight and are making comments. Which is nice!

Here's PhotoHunt #97 "Free"

Wouldn't you like to be as free as a bird to soar through the skies? To get away from the roads, stop signs, traffic lights and gridlock?

Photo Hunt #96 "Heavy"

I really enjoyed my first photography class tonight (digital photography by the way). The instructor is amusing, and from the class outline I think I'm going to get a lot out of this class! It was a bit of information overload tonight, but I'm sure it'll start to make sense after my next class on Wednesday.

"Heavy" -- That's what my suitcase is after a trip! Embarassingly enough last year when I was checking in to fly home, I had to get rid of 5lbs in my suitcase it was overweight!

This N' That

Unfortunately I have no stitchy pictures to share with you. Sorry! However I have been stitching, but on my model for A Needle Pulling Thread. Also I have finally made a start on Sally's gift for winning my 1000th post draw. Its taken me a little time to figure out what I wanted to do.

Since there's no stitchy pics, how about an old SBQ? (Eeek this one is sitting in my inbox from March 5th!)

Q : After you stitch a pattern or kit, what do you do with it?

A : Well that depends on what it is...

A Kit - If I've marked up the chart or no one I know has expressed an interested in it, it goes into a binder. I have a binder of used kit charts.

A Chart - If I want to stitch it again it goes back into the binder I found it in. If I don't want to stitch it again I'll either pass it onto a friend or arrange a trade. If I don't want to stitch it again but its autographed it'll go in a stitched charts binder.

I just realized I still haven't reviewed my goals from April and set goals for May.

April Recap :

Stitch model #6 -- Still not done!
Work on Double Flips -- Got caught up
Work on Tour Des Marques -- A little
Work on Paradigm Lost -- A little
Stitch Contest Gift -- Nope
Stitch Fair & Square Rd. 6 -- Done but not in the mail (tomorrow)

May Goals :

Finish Model #6

Finish Neighbourhood RR

Stitch Ornament

Stitch Contest Gift

Finish Double-Flips

I'm trying to keep my goals small and modest as I start my photography course tomorrow night! I don't know how much or what I'm going to get done with being in class 6 hours a week.

Blog Ketchup!

Well its been a few days since I've blogged! How can that be? So lets get you all caught up on the going-ons in my life.

Thursday my Mum, Christin, Chrisanne and I went and saw The Police in concert. I had seen Sting about 5 or so years ago when he came into town as a solo artist. I did enjoy that show. Meanwhile The Police weren't bad, I have to say I've been to better concerts! As you all know I'm an avid concert-goer and I think my opinion stands for something (for some strange reason the local paper gave the show a glowing review).

The show was opened by Elvis Costello

First of all, Sting, you surely needed a shave! Meanwhile a 5 o'clock shadow is sexy on some men, a 3 day salt & pepper growth of facial hair made you look OLD and not sexy. The t-shirt you were wearing, was thin with holes in it! My first impression, did you roll out of bed after a 3-day drinking binge, suddenly remembering that you had a concert to put on?

Second, your opening song should be something that gets the audience on its feet, dancing, singing along, and cheering. A "mellowed down" version of "Bring On The Night" didn't even get me on the edge of my seat!

Third, the 3-4 songs following the opening were so obscure that I was starting to fall asleep! I was yawning big time! My Mum went out for a smoke (she's never done this at a concert!) and Christin and Chrisanne decided to visit the facilities. Usually a visit to the ladies room is the LAST thing you want to do during a concert!

Fourth, when you did start playing the hits, the improvising, melodizing, and drawing 4 minute songs into 10 minute songs ... just sucked! I want to be able to sing along, when you go off into long guitar riffs and leave out the rest of the lyrics... just sucks. I can't fault the guitar playing, I can't fault the percussion but everything just seemed to be mellowed down and drawn out. At a concert I want to have the urge to get off of my butt and on my feet dancing and cheering you seriously disappointed me Sting!

And that's all I have to say about that.

Now on the up side... more STASH! From Christin, part of my birthday gift, that took longer than expected to arrive in the mail. A FULL set of the DMC Colour Variations! How lovely!

On Friday my order from Down Sunshine Lane arrived! I've got the last four words for the Lizzie*Kate Double Flip-its! I also added to the order Housework Never Killed Anyone and A-B-C-razy Alphabet. I'm looking forward to stitching all of these charts.

Today Christin and I went and saw Iron Man in the theaters... we both really enjoyed it! Worth the cost of a matinee!