An Evening With Tour & PhotoHunting

I really should of gone to TKD tonight, but when I got home this afternoon I laid down for a nap. I pretty much passed out for about four hours! I did get up in time to go to class, but Todd saw how groggy I was and suggested I take a rest night. I'll go to TKD tomorrow!

So I spent my evening with Tour des Marques instead! I don't know if you can see progress from my last post, but it did get a few hours attention tonight.

Now for some more PhotoHunting! Here's PhotoHunt #151 "Thankful"

I'm tankful for Mother Nature and her paintbrush! Giving me such fantastic scenes and colours to photograph!

Santa's Got a Brand New Bag

I might not of stitched much yesterday, but I did get to stitch today!

Todd was out of the house fishing today (I am a fishing widow on a regular basis), so it was a good chance to make progress on his Christmas Stocking. As you can see... Santa has his bag!

When Todd was around I worked on Art Deco Spirits, I'm still enjoying this piece.

Today I started the finishing on Flip Flops, but I don't have enough fabric for what I have in mind. So it'll be back to the quilt shop in the near future. I've got scraps of what I'd like to match tucked into my purse. Since I couldn't get that project wrapped up I did the finishing and put cord on my two ornaments from this month.

I think tomorrow when Todd's home I'll work on Tour des Marques.

PhotoHunt #150 "Warm"

I've not stitched much since my last post. I definitely did not stitch on Friday night, I pretty much crashed after a long week at work, one late day, one early day and three days of no lunch break! Today I met Christin at the movies to see the new Transformers movie (not bad), on my trip home I detoured by the gym, worked out, then took a nap during the early evening (I'm still tired from my week). I hope to shortly have a cup of tea and settle in to work on Art Deco Spirits this evening.

Since there's no stitching of worth to share with you here's a PhotoHunt instead.

PhotoHunt #150 "Warm"

There's nothing that says warm and cozy more than a wood stove in winter! This is Ann's wood stove which glows merrily all winter long!

Look Who Came Out of Hiding!

I have been stitching in fits and spurts this week... between coming home from the gym or going to Taekwon-Do (which I am proud to say I made it there three times again this week!).

Last night a project I started in 2006 ... really 2006??? It seems I also haven't worked on this piece since April of 2008. Really??? Well it came out of its little mesh bag and got worked on last night for a few hours.

Yes, folks Tour des Marques from The Silver Lining, stitched over one on 28ct. It really is a beautiful piece. I think I might alternate this piece with Art Deco Spirits when Todd is around.

The Prodigal Round Robin Returns

Well actually the round robin returned the weekend I met up with my stitching buds in Kingston, two weekends ago. I was kinda holding onto the picture of it for a blog entry when I didn't have a lot of progress on my own projects to show. I did work a bit more on Todd's Stocking between several naps on Sunday. So there's not as much progress to share as I hoped, we'll save a progress picture on that for another day. Since Todd and I had an evening at home last night I was able to work on Mirabilia's Art Deco Spirits. Boy, what a lovely piece, I'll save progress on that for another day too.

Without further ado, here's my Neighbourhood Round Robin complete, and home to stay! Once the official round robin was over I passed it onto my good friends Kathy and Beatrice to fill in the last two spaces. I just LOVE how this turned out! Thank you to everyone for working on it! Its truly a unique neighbourhood.

Onto some more good news! The SCALE was kind again!!! I've lost another pound this week. Which means all the bad I did at the beginning of June has been fixed. The 2.5lbs I put on during the first two weeks have been eradicated. Fingers crossed my body has shifted back to loosing and I'll be able to shed my LAST 8 POUNDS.

Some even more good news, well at Taekwon-Do tonight, I unofficially ended up teaching the class. I started out doing the warm-up when the instructor for the night wanted to work one on one with a WTF TKD student trying out ITF TKD. So he asked me to take over the class. Its amazing how rusty skills just kicked back in. I led the class in patterns, reviewed the 9 (sometimes 8) training secrets, and critiqued some patterns. It felt good to be at the front of the class again.

Final item on the good news agenda, well good news for me. After e-mailing back and forth with Claire's Mom and phone call/cry from Claire... it was so good to hear from Claire. It's been decided and its booked. I'll be going back down to Jacksonville, Florida July 24-Aug 2nd to give my best friend the biggest hug ever. I feel so much better knowing that I'm going down to see her in a few weeks. So strange, this March was my first trip to Florida ever, and here I am going back within the same year. But I need to see Claire.

A Nice Day Out

This morning instead of lazing about in bed, I got up and went to pick up my Mum. Instead of taking the direct route I decided to go there the round-about way, taking a few dirt roads. I came across this lovely scene of two Belgian's (I think they were Belgians, I know they're not Clydesdales) hanging in the shade of a big old tree.

Once I picked my Mum up we again went the round-about way, taking some more back roads to our destination. We came across this group of four Turkey Vultures, sitting around as the air currents weren't ideal for them to get up in the air.

Finally we got to the Country Quilter to check out their annual quilt show. I absolutely love this little exhibit! The Country Quilter is in an old house, and their exhibit is essentially quilts hanging from ropes strung between the trees in the back yard. Its just so lovely (despite the mosquitoes).

This quilt... I AM GOING TO WIN I bought 3 raffle tickets, but the draw isn't until October.

At first I thought this was someones "signature" on the back of a quilt. LOL it was a REAL dragonfly!

Of course the day involved shopping too! I bought these fat quarters, a few are for the finishing on Flip flops and the others I just liked, including one for my dragon stash (what I'm going to do with those dragon fabbies I have no clue). We followed The Country Quilter up with a trip to Quilting Quarters, then Dragon's Liar Beads. Finally we went and had lunch... a very late lunch before I took Mum home. It was a nice crafty day out with my Mum, we haven't done that in ages!

Once I was back home, and since Todd wasn't around I worked on his Christmas stocking. At the moment it doesn't look like much since its just a bunch of outlines. I think on Sunday I'll be able to start working on Santa... its a great stocking, perfect for the fisherman in your life!

I've been meaning to share these... its a graduation gift I got form one of the students graduating next week. He had a lovely note inside the box, his grandmother made all these gorgeous cards! I'll be holding onto these for just the right occasion!

June Ornaments

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and prayers for my friend Claire, her husband Patrick, and baby Liam. I have sent a link onto Claire of that post and I hope she'll look at all the wonderful comments and prayers you've offered and she'll find some solace in them. I just wish she wasn't down in Florida, and I'm up here in Canada. I wish I could be by her side right now, if Claire lets me know I'm wanted/needed I will be on the next plane out of here.

Stitching-wise I seem to be going through a wee bit of a productive phase. Since finishing Blackstone Fantasy Garden, I have put in a little bit of time on Todd's stocking, and I've also finished my two ornaments for the month of June.

Geometric Blackwork #1

cTam's Creations - Freebie

Stitched on 32ct Queen Ann's Lace Lugana

Stitched with DMC, Petite Treasure Braid, and Mill Hill Beads

Red Threads - Letter S

c2002 Rosewood Manor

Stitched on : 28ct Opalescent Lugana

Stitched with : Carrie's Creatons Raspberry

Tomorrow I've got a day out planned with my Mum, I'll be taking my camera and hope to be inspired to shoot. I haven't been inspired in a long time.

I'm Crying for my Best Friend Tonight

In January I found out my best friend from high school, Claire was pregnant with her first child, due in August. I was soooo excited! Where I work is a young staff and it seems like someone else is always announcing their pregnant. Very rarely do I get excited. But when its your best friend and you know she's going to make the best Mum in the world, you can't help but be excited.

When your friend announces a baby is on the way right away what does any stitcher start thinking... baby sampler of course. Since I had stitched Teresa Wentzler's Wedding Sampler for Claire and Patrick when they got married, I knew that her first child would get Teresa's Baby Sampler.

I visited with Claire and Patrick over March Break this year. It was such a great visit, we had some lovely days out, and talked a lot. Talked about the baby, motherhood, future plans, hopes and dreams. Claire was so excited about her upcoming ultrasound at the beginning of April, she couldn't wait to find out the sex of the baby. Unfortunately at that appointment Claire got some bad news, it turned out the baby had a condition called non-immune hydrops. That is the accumulation of fluid in the baby. All these months she and the baby had been closely monitored, he was developing properly and his heart was beating strongly.

On Monday Claire went in for a regular specialist appointment, they could not hear a heartbeat. That afternoon she was admitted to the hospital. Sadly on Tuesday morning she gave birth to a stillborn baby boy, Liam Patrick. My heart just goes out to Claire and Patrick, I was so excited for them and as the months kept passing and the baby seemed to be doing well I had hope that the baby's diagnosis wasn't as grave as the Internet made it sound. I was getting ready to start the baby sampler.

Claire, if you read this and need anything, or need me down there... just let me know!

My heart just goes out to my best friend and her family! Please if you have a moment to say a prayer for little Liam, he's in a better place now.

Happy! Happy!

Yay, this post is HAPPY! HAPPY! I've got two good things to share with you!

First of all at yesterday's weigh in I'm down 1.5lbs, the 1.5lbs I gained last week are gone! Now one more pound to get rid of and I'll be where I was at the start of June. Fingers crossed I've kick started my body back into loosing mode and I'll be able to loose my last 10lbs. I hope.

The other reason for Happy? Well this evening I was Happy Dancing! Blackstone Fantasy Garden is finished! I really enjoyed this piece, every moment was a joy, and I loved all the blackwork (well i did backstitch) involved too! I'll let the pictures tell the story!

Blackstone Fantasy Garden

c2006 Tracy Horner - Ink Circles

Stitched on : 28ct Opalescent Lugana

Stitched with : Carrie's Creation Threads

What's next on the agenda? Well I've got my two ornaments to stitch up for this month, so I'll get those done. Then I think I'm going to start working on Todd's Christmas stocking.

Weekend Update

Wow! Thank you everyone for the outpouring of positive comments, hugs and tips! I know I keep blogging for a reason! I am doing better this week, not 100% my lucky go happy self but better.

This weekend I hit the road for one of my many upcoming road trips. Christin and I headed down to Kingston and her parents home after work on Friday. Before we could even get to her parents we had a number of stops to make to pick up provisions for Sunday. Needless to say neither of us managed to put in a single stitch on Friday night.

Saturday we managed to have a fairly quiet day. In the morning I made everyone pancakes, I had been craving them... unfortunately not my best but still yummy. After breakfast Christin and I went out for a walk, where we ran into this turtle laying her eggs at the side of the road. Saturday we stitched, I napped, and we also went for an after dinner walk too.

Sunday was just a hive of activity!!! We were up early... well early for me on a Sunday. We had a quick breakfast and started getting things ready for the day. At 11am we were expectitng our stitching friends! All in all there were six of us for stitching... and EATING on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny in the company of good friends. In attendance were : Rebbecca, Kathy, Beatrice, Ann, Christin and I. I unfortunately didn't get very good pictures of Christin or Beatrice so that's why I don't have one of those two ladies to share with you. We had a fantastic dinner and all too soon we all had to hit the road... even me and Christin.

All weekend (and this evening) I worked on Blackstone Fantasy Garden... not long to go now!

Not Very Good

I went and weighed in at lunchtime yesterday, and it really wasn't any better than last week. Actually it was WORSE, I'm up another 1.5 lbs!!! That's a total of a 2.5lbs gain this month, and its only the 2nd week.

It seems that there's just food, food, and more food and I can't stop myself. I grabbed a 1/4 slice of banana loaf when I was in the office. There was a baby shower in my work area, had a piece of chocolate cake. I try to mentally rehearse turning these things down, and I can't do it. I said to myself last night, I'll only have cake if its vanilla (I love vanilla). It was chocolate, and I ate it anyhow. Sigh.

I am really not coping well right now, I'm tired (right now if I tired I'd put a round peg in a square hole), I'm so busy my head won't stop spinning, I'm unhappy, and the Super Bitch is in residence right now. As of lunchtime today Todd and I haven't spoken in 24 hours (did you know you can have a fight via text messaging... really you can). Literally, not a word. Yesterday was our 17th anniversary and there was just nothing to celebrate about the day.

I feel like everything is out of control and therefore I have no self control.

Long live Super Bitch.

Not Much To Report

Unfortunately I didn't get in as much stitching time as I would have liked to this past weekend. On Friday I headed up to the family cottage with Todd, unfortunately the lighting inside the cottage wasn't good enough for BFG, even with my little task Ott-Lite. I think next time I'll be better off with my floor model. Saturday was beautiful out but windy/cool, so I couldn't sit out on the deck to stitch (as I had hoped to). Sunday was just miserable, all I wanted to do was go home, but silly me thought it would be best to be practical and take one vehicle... which was Todd's. So I was stuck there until after dinner. Note to self : next time bring my car too. I don't mind being out at the cottage when its beautiful, when I can sit out on the deck in the sun and stitch with a view of the lake.

So here's where BFG stands as of bedtime tonight.

I had a lovely surprise in the mail today! Ann of Knowledge and Needles sent me a little giftie, a copy of Teresa Wentzler's latest design, Tracery Dragons. Which anyone who knows me, knows I collect TW's patterns. Thanks Ann! I look forward to stitching them in the... near???? future.

Tomorrow is weigh in day, because I was at the cottage I don't think I did too well this week. The pants felt a little tight this morning, hopefully (???) I was imagining it, but I don't think so. My meeting leader told me I wasn't eating enough (despite consuming my daily allowance and about half of my weekly points each week)... so this week I ate every single point available to me. Every daily point, weekly point, and activity point (I was active 6/7 days) and you know what I don't really care. I'm hoping with the end of the school year (in a few more weeks) things will calm down and get back to normal for me, there's a lot of food around right now, lots of functions and a few upcoming meals out (the first of them being tomorrow at a nice Italian restaurant which is after a wine and cheese oh my!). I hate this time of year.

I'm looking forward to this weekend, Christin and I are hitting the road in my not as trusty as it used to be, but still not bad car. We're heading down to her parents outside of Kingston to host a stitching day on Sunday! I'm looking forward to seeing all of my stitching friends again!

I Could of Just Cried

Tuesday night I really wanted to break out into tears when I stepped on the scale at Weight Watchers. I had a VERY good week last week. I was very sensible with my foods, didn't use up all those weekly points (but probably ate about half of them), was active in some form 6/7 days. What did I get for all my efforts, a 1lb gain. I'm upset, I'm frustrated, and now I understand how people can just give up and walk away from weight loss programs.

I haven't stitched a lot this week, I've been VERY tried. Here's where BFG stands!